our new home

our new home. i love writing that, saying that and thinking that.

for those of you who don't know our current home is a one bedroom

apartment that we have lived in since we got married 10 years ago.

yes, there are four of us in this apartment, but thanks to the mister

who is very handy, we have been able to stretch our stay here until

now. just a quick breakdown the kiddo's share the bedroom and the

mister made a murphy bed wall unit in our living room, so we all have

our own space. but, it is time to move on. our little fella is almost

two and very active, loves to be outside and among other circumstances

it's just time for a new home. our new home couldn't have come at

a better time (well 2 months ago would've been nice considering Christmas

is just 2 weeks away), but we weren't committed to moving 2 months ago.

we really thought the whole looking process would've taken a lot longer,

but we feel like this house was meant for us and maybe even waiting for us.

i know sounds corny, but here's the gist of it. we had been planning on

looking for a new place when we returned home from kauai. we set out

looking for "for rent" signs around our neighborhood. we found one. when

trying to find the house that belonged to the "for rent" sign, we passed by

our new home. it was "for rent" too. the other house was not us, but this

one we liked what we saw on the outside. so we called, we looked, we

liked, we signed. it just all kind of fell into place. (that's the mister's

luck, stuff like this always happens to him). so here it is. there's some

things that definitely eventually need to be changed, but for now we are

just renting. keep in mind we are getting new carpet (you'll see why),

and we are going to paint the interior in "fresh day" from behr (love that color).

be prepared there's some funky, but there's also lots of potential....

front yard

with a 2 car garage

the mister is sold!

kitchen - funky retro, it's kinda growing on me

electric stove top - no likey, but it's a rental

comes with a fridge

dining area

living room and our cute little bella

we have a fireplace!

view from the front door

one of the two bathrooms -

yes we have two bathrooms!

and yes that's a door to the backyard

in the bathroom - not sure why?

the little fella's bedroom or if

we change our minds the school room

the little miss' room

she loves this carpet - i hate this carpet

master bedroom

master bath

backyard

it's a koi pond, but i'm thinking veggie garden

more backyard - view from the east

view from the west

and a lemon tree

we are truly loving this place and can't wait to

celebrate our first Christmas in our new home.

christmas door swag +pom-poms

ok, so i was at trader joe's the other day and they had a christmas door swag

that i thought was cute and festive. it was only $6.99 which i think its pretty

reasonable. i contemplated on whether or not i should buy it. after standing

there for a minute or two i decided that i could totally make one for free which

is a real reasonable prize for me these days. home depot always has a box of tree

trimmings for free and i knew i had a ton of christmas ribbon at home, so it was

settled i was going to make my own for free. that's exactly what i did. i went to

the home depot on my way home, picked up a few branches, got out my christmas

boxes and went to town. i also came across this pom-pom tutorial the other

night and thought they would be super cute on my christmas swag.

so check it out here's my swag...

i think i might add some jingle bells to it too

what ya think?

my pom-pom maker

i likey

i found this blog today and i really like it.

a friend of mine always tells me to add more blogs

to my blog roll, so she has more things to look at.

i think you might enjoy it if you don't already do so.

go check out elsie marley. she has some cute christmas ideas.

tis the season...

make your own decorations from elsie marley

kauai the series- #10 go to north shore to find big waves

when we arrived in kauai we heard that the waves on the north shore were 30 foot.

we took a drive up to hanalei bay to see if this was true. the waves were pretty

big just off to the right of this pier, but pretty far out. we took a walk to end

of the pier just to look, but as you can tell it was a gloomy, overcast day.

we had fun though. we played on the beach in the rain and enjoyed the

beautiful surroundings. the mister even paddled out for a surf (#17 on the list)

at pine trees where the waves weren't quite as big...

kauai the series- #4 drink coconut milk

#4 on the list was from the little miss. for weeks before we left she talked

about how she couldn't wait to try the milk from a coconut. she had found

some on the beach when we first arrived and tried to get the milk out herself,

but that was a pretty hopeless task. we ended up going to the farmer's market

(#18 on the list for me) and buying one for her there. they had the much

needed tools you need to open a coconut. the end result is as follows...

tried it,

didn't really like it,

so she gave the little fella a try,

he didn't like it either,

so the mister ended up drinking it

and she got this yummy chocolate

covered banana instead.

kauai the series- #21 get shave ice

we were excited to be in kauai. we hadn't been in three years,

we were celebrating our 10 year anniversary and i think we thought it

would be just like our honeymoon all over again. think again my friend is what

i would tell myself now. 10 years ago our two precious littles did not exist and

laying on the beach relaxing just no longer exists. so after a little frustration we decided

that in order to make everyone happy and to make sure everyone got to do what

they wanted we would make a list. this turned out to be a very good idea that

made our trip much more pleasant. # 21 on our list was to get shave ice.

we did this of course more than once, but here is our first visit to JO-JO's on

the west side at what we think is the best shave ice ever...

not sure about this at first, but after one

bite he was hooked like the rest of us

waiting for her keiki's delight

rainbow shave ice w/vanilla ice cream

pure cuteness

just a bit of advice... don't share with the mister,

he'll eat it all!

hawaiian bliss

worth the wait

we heart JO-JO's

it's been a long time

yes, folks it's been a long time. too long.

the reason being that right after halloween...

we took a family vacation to kauai. we spent two relaxing weeks

uninterrupted from cell phones and/or computers to enjoy eachother.

it was very much needed for our family and i am so thankful we were able

to spend so much quality time together. i have so many pictures i want to share

with you, so for the next few days i will be posting a "kauai series" of all the

fun things we did. glad to be back!

crackin me up

seriously, my little fella does this almost everyday.

i'll pull the diaper back up and 2 seconds later i turn around and it's

back like this. i don't know what the deal is. maybe it's a

sign to come - do we a have a future plumber on our hands?

hmmm.... gotta love it though, it really does crack me up!

sweet potato + black bean enchilada's

we have been trying to eat out less over here, so for the past few nights

i've actually made dinner and it doesn't involve a box with the words

mac + cheese on it. i think i've said it before i'm really not a cook and i really

don't enjoy it, but i am beginning to think that the more i do it i just might

actually like it. i made up this recipe a couple of years ago when we had some

friends that are vegetarian over for dinner. it turns out to be one of the

mister's favorite dishes, so i made the other night for dinner.

here's what i did...

sweet potato + black bean enchilada's

1. quarter and steam about 4-5 sweet potatoes until soft. cool, remove skin and mash.

2. drain and rinse 1 can of black beans

3. heat 8-10 corn tortillas, each separately in skillet with canola oil for approx 30 seconds just to soften them. place between paper towels to absorb excess oil.

4. fill each tortilla with a spoonful of sweet potato + a spoonful of black beans, roll and place into baking dish.

5. pour a bottle of enchilada sauce ( **trader joes makes a really good red enchilada sauce) over enchiladas and top with cheese.

6. bake on 350* for approx. 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and a little crunchy around the edge.

7. let stand for 5-10 minutes and enjoy.

** i know some of you real chefs out there would never use anything out of a bottle, but i have two kiddo's and making everything from scratch just isn't happening around here.

october + little miss = party time

as you know, the little miss turned 6 this past week.

for her party this year she chose to have a gnome party.

inspired by our favorite gnome movie, the gnome mobile

we went to planning. my friend over at piccadilly studios designed

all of the graphics, and with her designs i was able to create some

really fun decorations for the party...

the little miss has a major sweet tooth, so a candy table was appropriate

for this occasion i added some red + white polka dot ribbon to some vases,

along with our special designs and some sweet treats this turned

out to be a big hit.

i made this garland by punching out different size circles

and attaching them to yarn with double stick tape.

going green, i have been saving tin cans for this purpose

not only for the party, but these make cheap, easy vases

if you want to take a bouquet of flowers to a neighbor

or friend too. (daisies our the little misses favorite too)

i made necklaces for our little party guest.

i order the wood pieces of off etsy and then used

double stick foam tape to attach the decorative piece and

completed it with a piece of yarn as the chain.

i made the birthday girl her very own giant mushroom cake,

and little mushroom cupcakes for our guest.

for the party favors each guest got a nature journal,

a cute bookmark, and a natural twig pencil.

my birthday girl.

it turned out to be a great party and

i think all of the kiddo's had a great time.

to see more of what went on throughtout the day go here.