home tour

sister...you've been more than patient.

a great Pinterest idea!! i used burlap (my new FAV fabric!), cut fresh greens and little red berries. i then glue gunned the beans out of it. i found monogrammed, sparkly letters at Walmart and added them to the back of the chair so everyone knows where to sit. (ha,my family would laugh me out of house if i told them we were actually going to be dining here! we don't 'do' fancy. PLUS, we are a family of FIVE, not four.)

nothing spectacular about this picture but thought it was a cool shot. (thanks hon)
 

playroom.

crappy pic but here it is. wish i would have taken more up here. this was the cutest room in the whole place.

big ol' popcorn machine (can you say "nightmare"?)

this is my 'fun' tree. all the kids ornaments... i love this tree!.

this is the GIANT Falcons logo that lis painted.

isn't it AMAZING??

he was giddy.

again, bad photo quality.
and yes, he's throwing a football at me.
missed the catch.

this is the south wall of sam's room. rye and tim put up this massive sheet of galvanized metal.

it's a dry erase board AND a it's magnetic!

for a 12 year old, this is the bomb. (see, i even know the lingo.)

north wall of the playroom.

again, another one of lisa's canvas masterpieces!!

this is in the boy's room. i loved this tree. big bulbs like we had when we were kids.

i didn't want to buy all new ornaments for ANOTHER tree so i had copies of some of their favorite football pictures made and hung them on it.

dad built the shelves above the closet.

trophy's on it are compliments of my children, my hub (yeah, 1983!) and brother, tim. (1980 something)

dad and i built this chalkboard.

ok, so HE basically made it. i stood there, told him how big it should be. he measured, cut and hung it.

oh, i did do the chalkboard paint.  

also, you'll notice all their football cards stacked above the molding. dad got out his router and 'rounted' a thin line towards the top. just thin enough to slip their cards in. super cool.

 the Patriots and Titian's canvas's are also handcrafted by miss crafty pants, lis.

laundry room. notice the new paint color?

AND the cabniets are finally painted white.

and

the Santa costume was my father-in-laws. every year he used to show up in this at Christmas.

after he died, it went into a box up in the attic until it found a new home.

i not only love the santa suit but i love the memories it brings back to my hub.  

past Christmas cards displayed.

our room. how dang cute is the little giddy up on the bottle of wine??

thank you Pottery Barn.

again, our room. so peaceful.

the tree.

402 ornaments. (i counted them as i was taking them off)

2100 lights.

excessive? yes, i do believe it is.

well, it paid off.

Grandiflora www.grandiflorahomeandgarden.com had a tree 'trimming' contest and the likkels took home the grand prize.

$50 buckoroos to spend at their store.

yippee.yi. yo.

front door.

ho. ho.ho.

just keeping it real.

a ridiculous amount of nonsense. 

who would've guessed?  

my most prized Christmas possessions.

compliments of Sam and Max. Sam just informed me that his sheep is hanging out with Max's party and Max's Shepard is hanging at his! either way, i love the 5th grade school project. next year i'll have one more to add to the mix.

things are changing....

so....
i've been thinking.
it being January one and all....i'm thinking i should blog more.
yes. i. should.

i admit. i'm a big talker.
i've got big goals and great intentions but let's face it, when it comes to following thru, i'm....um....working on that.


for the past two years, i've been working on 'Project 365'.
take a picture a day for 365 days. (just in case you were confused about what the 365 meant.)
i've loved having the occasional 'catch-up day' with my girlfriends, wendi and kath (and beck) but girls, it's time i jump ship.

like with most things, i've got great intentions.
i have 3000 pictures from January to may.
10 pictures from may to October.
5 from October to December.
(ok, i'm exaggerating but you get the jest)

that being said, i have decided to give up Project 365 and do a blog post a day (or every 3 or 6 or 9) for a year. since most of my blogging is done for my sister and those out of state, i also do it for my kids. one day i hope to have another book made (thanks sister for my 2009 blog book) so that my kiddos can look back and see their life documented.
this crazy, crazy life.

i've had a notepad, by my bed for a few weeks now, jotting down some random thoughts.
random thoughts often hit me at weird hours.
like 3 am. when all the world is sleeping, i'm a jotting.
what to blog about?
what do people want to hear?
how much to share?
what stories to tell?
which ones are best kept inside these four walls?
what are we as a family passionate about?
what do we struggle with?

topics of interest??
tell me yours.

i've been stalking blogs for a good number of years now and one thing i've learned is that interesting blogs are ones that talk about funny, normal life stuff AND sometimes more serious stuff. i admit, it's easier to chat about the small stuff but this year i vow to write about some of big topics. things that our family struggles with. things that i don't usually talk about on our blog.

i love reading about these things in other peoples lives because it let's me know that we are not alone in this crazy thing called family life.
plus, if i'm going to document our lives, you'd best hold on.

this is going to be a ride.

phewwww. bloggin'....finally....

left to right......

shanda www.sprickcrew.blogspot.com, her babe, penny, yours truly, gloria, mom, lori, tricia, gg (gretchen), tessa and noel.

back in june, we were able to spend an amazing evening with some of the most dearest people on the face of the earth. shanda and tricia are my first friends.

i've written about them before and they're worth mentioning again.

shanda, tricia, kevin and ryan are the children to gloria (my mom's bff) and her hub, dan.

this family has been through SO much in the past few years and yet, they stand united.

the koemans are one of the bravest, strongest, families i have ever met.

yeah for me, i was privileged to be part of this family, so to speak.

most of my childhood memories, somehow have these people in them.

kevin and ryan married amazing girls....kate and gg. shanda and tricia married a couple of studs...matt and gary. all four 'newcomers' are the cream of the crop.

i love these people as if they were my own flesh and blood.

it feels like years of my life have been spent around this very table.

gloria has this incredible gift of hospitality. everyone who walks into her house feels loved. that's how i always feel.

over the years we have eaten more loaves of homemade (and i mean from scratch!!!) bread, pots and pots of soup, Cinnamon rolls. oh, the food. oh the people. oh the memories.

my 'tape recorder' friend. :)

my old siblings. well, they are old. older than me. yes they are. love these peeps.

Max and gg have a very special bond. after vacationing with the koemans years ago, she's the one he's still smitten with. he'll tell you so.

sam with a great throw.

jack with a great catch.

this is max. (#55) max is a machine out on the field.

my #19. he's speedy like the wind.

bai and max~ cousins and yet, best of friends. last night bai stayed overnight. a little after midnight i had to go up stairs to get these two to pipe down. they were giggling (sorry max, you were) and being all chit chatty. as much as i wanted them to quiet down, truth be told, i could have stood in the doorway and listened to them all night long. these are precious times.

my hope is they always laugh together and they always have each others back.

middle school has been good to these boys.

although, they're looking a tad bit naughty right here.

speaking of naughty.

ok, before you look at this next batch of pictures, let me give a shout out to my Bff, kath. www.wubbenworld.blogspot.com

she was a brave, brave friend.

she willingly came out to photograph. and she did it all with a good attitude.

thankfully, she knows how to deal with my children. sometimes better than me.

she caught real life.

oh no, my pictures are all out of wack. hold the picture taking session, we'll get back to that.

in the meantime, this is gina. she's my girl.

my girl got married.

my girl was the most beautiful bride.

she waited patiently (ahem, sometimes) for the perfect guy for her.

God blessed her for that.

she is now married to a great guy!!

scott is perfect for her!

sorry, forgot to upload their wedding picture!!! duh.

coming soon.

here's the bride and her non-bride cousin. i mean i was once a bride but hello, i like my life...i don't need to go running off being a bride again. not that i didn't like being a bride. i did. oh i did. i would go be a bride tomorrow if i could but since the groom needs to go off and work like most responsible groom should be doing. i think i'll just stop chatting about it since my sleeping pill is obviously starting to do it's job. it's job is to primarily make me really loopy and crazy silly before i sleep. i've been warned to never blog after taking one but what the heck, it's the day after Christmas.

party on.

left to right....

amber, sadie, lisa, jodi, traci, heather, lori, misty and deedee

another wedding. another chance to get a girl cousin pic.

sadly, belle and dulce we not able to make it. we think someone needs to photoshop them in SOMEWHERE.

we're a fairly good looking bunch, wouldn't you agree?

these people are one of the BIGGEST (and only) reasons why i would ever consider moving back to michigan. which by the way, will never happen.

this is my #1 baby. ok, so his number is 77 but to me, he'll always be my firstborn, number 1.

tall boy #56 is joshua. he's sam's sidekick.

please note that my very confident child is wearing PINK shoelaces to show his support for Breast Cancer Awerness month. i love it!!

we are teaching our boys to Be BOLD. we were referring more to telling others about Jesus but that's ok, standing up for cancer is Bold so you go!!!

oh sweet happy day to one of the best sister-in-laws anyone could have ever asked for!

we adore you lis.

and those children of yours.

yup, i adore them too!!!

ryes number in high school was #77 . how cool was that for sam to choose #77 just because dad picked it way back when.

ok, back to the quick last min. hurry up and do a photo shoot before the kids realize that it's an 'acutal photo shoot'.

ya, someone ratted us out. it went from bed to worse. then ok to great. then ARE WE DONE YET??? so kath and i just figured we'd take what we can get.

we almost lost them but thankfully, bff jumped in and saved the day.

in theory, having a family of five, jumpin on a trampoline, on a sunny, beautiful day, having a load of fun is sure to create ONE perfect jumping picture.

not always.

in the picture above, you can see me holding up my hand, pleading, no BEGGING to get me off the ride. i was getting dizzy. i was getting panicked. (those of you who have had a child or two knows EXACTLY what i'm talking about. if you don't know, than you need to come on over, jump a few jumps. you'll KNOW what i mean.) i digress.....

mom and dad get off the tramp and all the sudden, the real fun begins.

kinda.

i will not post the pictures of how the this little 'wrestling match' ended.

oh, how i love my little monsters.

post below has finally made it online.....
it sat in my 'edit posts' for a whole week.
didn't want to post until i could upload pics.
now that my 'uploading' is apparently on vacation, i'm posting anywho.
i promise i'll be back soon. (happy sister??)