Busy Bees

We have been swamped the last two weeks!

September brought a new Service League year, and has been consuming a large amount of my free time; the rest of my time is consumed by these two little monkeys.

Peanut and Bun
Hiking Monkeys!

Last week Hubs was out of town. And this week Bun has been a sick little baby :(

In fact, Wednesday night (midnight-ish) I came this close to taking him to the ER. He was crying so hard that I had no idea what else to do. Then, just as I was changing out of my pj's he calmed down and went to sleep (Hubs was holding him and patting his little back). A few of my friends suggested Gripe Water, and we have used it a few times in the past two days and it has been amazing!

We have our happy little baby back!!

Anyway, we have a busy weekend ahead:
* 5K in the morning - the one I mentioned here
* Wrap up the Service League Garage Sale Fundraiser - I cleaned most of the closets and moved a bunch of stuff out of the house!
* Put out the fall decor
* Tidy up the master bedroom - it *might* look like a tornado went through *maybe*

Do you have any exciting weekend plans?

PS - Welcome to my new followers!

A Bright Baby Shower

A bit ago I mentioned a baby shower I was throwing. The baby arrived last week (my incredibly-adorable-first-ever-nephew!) so I figured I should probably get to recapping the party. As luck would have it, The CSI Project is having a Party Ideas Challenge this week. So I'm linking up!

When I think of my SIL I think of bright colors; I decided that would be my "theme" for the shower.

Not exactly a theme, but it worked for decorating. Since this shower was thrown eight weeks after my son arrived, I purchased almost everything months in advance and planned to add either bright pink or turquoise accents (depending on baby's gender). This worked out great!

For invitations I simply purchased note cards, ran them through my printer and added "It's a Boy!" tags to personalize them.

so simple!

Inside:

Blankets and Booties, Diapers and Pins,
This is where the love begins!
Onesies and Bibs, Toys and More,
This is what baby showers are for!

Please Join us for a Baby Shower Honoring
Super Sister-in-Law

The tables were set with white table cloths, a runner made of turquoise tulle, a centerpiece, and small gift bags with turquoise tissue paper.

bright centerpieces on an overcast day

The guests filled their gift bags with candy from a small candy buffet to take home as a favor.

I think Buddy the Elf would approve

I kept the menu simple, my philosophy with parties is not to overwhelm people with choices. Instead I like to offer a well-planned meal that most people will enjoy. I got lots of compliments!

Michigan Salad
Assorted Mini Quiches (I totally cheated and bought these at Sam's)
Fruit Salad
Rolls and Butter
Punch
Cake

nom nom nom

my MIL turned a watermelon into a bowl shaped like a baby seal :)

I have played enough shower games and won enough bath sets/picture frames/stationary to stock a Hallmark store. I am OVER shower games.

Instead, I purchased an 8 x 8 scrapbook and everyone made a page. This was a great activity, and I hope that my SIL will enjoy filling the pages with pictures of her new little guy :)

Unmade

It was a hectic week.

So hectic, I didn't make the bed yesterday.

chaos

I love making the bed because I love getting into a made bed each night. It feels more comfortable and relaxing than climbing into a mess of blankets and trying to make them right (which never works).

I like to keep our bedding simple; fitted and flat sheet, duvet with cover, two pillows each and a throw pillow to finish. Much more feels like overkill.

And, seriously? Stacking up loads of decorative pillows takes time, and they collect dust and feel so very... 90's in aesthetic. At least to me.

I prefer my streamlined bed :)

How many pillows are on your bed?

Energized!

On Sunday we came back from a week at the lake.

I am refreshed and energized!

drool factory

I read an awesome book while on vacation, Mitten Strings for God by Katrina Kenison. It was wonderful. It's not a book about God, it's a book about slowing the pace of life down and letting your children soak up childhood, being happy with what you have, and appreciating all of the little things that make life so amazing.

I was thinking it would be really fun to do a read-along here on the blog. If you are interested let me know.

More later :)

Plans and Things

I had great blog plans this week. I was totally going to implement a new "schedule" for my posts; Monday for cleaning and organizing, Tuesday for cooking and entertaining, Wednesday for decorating, Thursday and Friday for whatever else is running through my brain.

You'll notice I only posted on Monday.

Ok, and Friday ;)

this was supposed to go on Tuesday's post

That's just how it is some weeks.

Today I am packing, for we head to the beach tomorrow :) Hooray!

And maybe I will finally make a concerted effort to figure out Live Writer. Maybe.

Direct from Clutter-ville

Let's talk about my closets....there are six in this house and at the moment, I feel like they are about to explode.

clutter to the right
perhaps I have a third child living in there?

It's not that they are too full (although, they do contain a ridiculous amount of randomness). It's that they are so unorganized. It drives me nuts. So I've decided to make closet organization a priority for the next few weeks.

Hooray!

Actually, the timing is perfect because in about a month my service organization is having a garage sale fundraiser. So I can clean out the clutter, and instead of just dropping everything at the GW I'll send it to the garage sale. Two birds, I'm all about it :)

I had a little time yesterday (double nap!!), so I tackled the hall closet.

clutter way up high

wasted space below

I decided the easiest way to do it was old-school, Clean Sweep style (I loved that show!). So I labeled three areas in my hallway "Garage Sale," "Keep," and "Craig's List" (CL was for the few items that weren't GS worthy, but still not garbage), and I had a small bag for any trash I might find.

yep, that was all mashed in my closet. yikes.

The only trash I came across was an ancient package of plastic knives which had spilled all over the floor. Knowing that I wasn't storing actual garbage made me feel much less like a hoarder :)

About an hour later I had a clean and shiny hall closet!

holy cow! there was a kid in my closet! ;)

breathing room

organized, and there is nothing on the floor!

What are your current organizing goals?

Today's Mommy Must Haves

I woke up at 3:00 to nurse* Bun this morning, he went right back to sleep but I just couldn't.

So today I am relying on some of my favorite things to keep me going.

Headbands - so I don't have to "do" my hair

Giant Coffee - it's called caffeine, it is my friend

Hotsling - currently my favorite sling for Bun, it allows me to get work done (or blog), and play with Peanut all while cuddling the bebe :)

I'm rocking this sling today, and wishing I was as cute as this model!

Crock pot - I was up at 3 AM, I can only assume I'll be completely useless by dinner time. Enter crock pot, pot roast and veggies. Hello healthy dinner!

Happy day everyone!

*speaking of nursing, Ameda is giving away a nursery makeover, check it out.

of course I don't work for any of these companies, but you knew that ;)