Closet Upgrade

Anyone living in an older home knows what it is like to have small closets. It is hard to fit much in there. Which is a good thing - it makes us get rid of stuff, and often.

We talked about doing this a long time ago but just never got around to it. Well one of our New Years goals is to get more organized. So Greg took down the single clothes rod in our closet and replaced it with two. We also bought a shoe tree from the Container Store so our shoes aren't all over the place. I love the results! Here are the before and after shots with the sliding doors removed.

Birthday Festivities

This past week was a bit adventurous. Greg was in Prague for work for a week. My nephew turned 1 this past week so it worked out well for me to go with my parents to Dallas to celebrate his birthday.

While in Dallas I got to take Cambry to a class at Kidville with my sister and her two boys. It was a lot of fun. I think Cambry was a little young for some of the activities (tried to eat play dough and crayons) but still had fun.

We had fun playing outside, watching videos of Hayes' first year, and eating yummy food and cake. It was a really fun trip...except for the night. It was mass chaos. I can't even really describe all that was going on but basically no one got much sleep. 3 toddlers, 2 dogs, and 5 adults in a 3 bedroom house turned out to be nuts. Poor Kyler was sick with fever too. So we didn't end up staying a second night but drove home after dinner and it was such an easy drive home since it was Cambry's bedtime.

Then this weekend (Greg was back, yay!) we went to a 1 year birthday party. My friend Erin's little boy was born on the same day as my nephew. Roane had a really fun party. The kids had fun on wagon rides.

We also ran some errands this weekend. Camry is so funny she will just pick stuff up and walk around with it. I think she is going to be a girly girl. She loves purses - will carry them all around. Loves baby dolls. Will put on clothes and walk around the house. Will put on things like necklaces or bracelets. I love what a cute little girl she is.

We also finished organizing our closet this weekend so I will have to do a post on that soon. We have so much more storage. And it seems Cambry is doing so many funny things lately but I will have to do a separate post on that too. I have been getting behind on the blog!

Going on 14 months or 14 years?

Is she a teenager?? She is cracking me up laying on her tummy watching a show and playing with her phone. What a cutie. Don't grow up too fast baby!

Costco

I went to Costco today. To find out what the hype is all about. I have been to Sam's before, but it was years and years ago. Never been to Costco. I feel like my friends are always getting these rare and wonderful treasures there. Like yummy organic snacks that they are feeding their kids or healthy easy pre-prepped meals.

I've gotta say, I don't think I will become a member. I mean, I got a few good things, but the large quantity of things just doesn't really work for us. We have a fairly small house. Our pantry is really just a tall cabinet. Our bathroom doesn't have a ton of storage. Our closets are small. I am not complaining, I love our house. But we don't have room to store 3 gallons of mouthwash in the bathroom. Or an 80 oz bottle of ketchup in the pantry. Or a six pack of cooking spray.

And it seems to me the more you have the more you use. If I know I have 3 extra bottles of salad dressing in the pantry, I am going to be pretty liberal. Why risk not putting on enough? Give it an extra pour or 3. Is there a pool of dressing left over in my salad bowl when I'm done? Who cares I have enough to last until next November.

But if I only have one, I will use the precise amount I need and maybe a little less. Don't want to run out.

Maybe I will be a Costco fan in the future if our family expands or we have more space. But for now you'll find me at Kroger.

Weekend Fun

This weekend was full and fun. Friday night we attended Midnight Madness at our church. It is a leadership training event that has lots of good speakers and last until midnight. The training was great and I feel motivated and encouraged to work harder at ministering to the kids in our youth group. I am so glad we went. I dropped Cambry off at my parent's house that evening to spend the night. They had fun babysitting her and she had a blast playing in their fun play room. After the training Greg and I spent the night at my parent's house too. I needed to be there in the morning for her since she still nurses when she wakes up.

Saturday Greg had a fun guys day at a friend's ranch. They did lots of manly things like skeet shooting, hunting, and who knows what else.

While Greg was off with the guys Cambry and I met some friends at Chickfila for lunch. Then we headed over to a nearby park. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here. After the park we came home and she took a nap. We went on a walk when she woke up because it was just too pretty to stay indoors.

Cambry wore her new dress from Gigi to church on Sunday. I thought she looked like such a little doll. I love this dress.

After church I went to a baby shower while Greg and Cambry hung out at home. It was the cutest shower and everything was monkey themed.  I made some stir fry for dinner that night and then we started on season 2 of Downton Abbey. What a nice weekend!

13 Month Photos

Ok I said I was done with the monthly calendar photos. I was going to just post random pictures for each of the monthly updates. But I just love her calendar photos so much and I guess I am just a sucker for some kind of consistent monthly shot. So here is what I am going to do for year 2. These are a little late but here are her 13 month photos.

Yeah it is January and baby girl is wear short sleeves and a skirt. We went to the park that day. I love living in Texas.

I Love Pinterest

Love it. Yes, it can suck you in and cause for lots of wasted time. But it is also contains so many good ideas, inspiration, recipes, etc. I have benefited from Pinterest many times. Here are a few of my recent pins.

Source: flickr.com via Jana on Pinterest

Fill a glove with beans and put it on a baby. Hello, I need to try this on the next baby! I mean, how many times have I tried the slow lift and failed? Good stuff.

Source: sugarfreemom.com via Jana on Pinterest

Made these baked oatmeal cups the other week and thought they were yummy and healthy. I plan on making them again.

Source: theburlapbag.com via Jana on Pinterest

These cookies intrigue me. They could be disgusting, but I want to try them. 2 ingredients - bananas and oatmeal, then you add mixins. I would probably do mini chocolate chips and/or cinnamon.

I got a lot of the ideas for Cambry's party on Pinterest.

1) Ribbon Garland

Pinterest find -

Source: hwtm.com via Jana on Pinterest

My version - 

2) Smash Cake

Pinterest Find - 

Source: inspiringbydesign.com via Jana on Pinterest

My Version - 

3) Bejeweled candle

Pinterest Find - 

Source: dollarstorecrafts.com via Jana on Pinterest

My Version - 

Not everything on Pinterest is the greatest though. I tried using baking soda to get the toilet bowl sparkling white and it did not help that much.

Source: lifehackery.com via Jana on Pinterest

I have seen this recipe all over Pinterest. I tried it and didn't think it was very good at all. Definitely will not be making it again.

Source: mycrossfitpaleojourney.wordpress.com via Alex on Pinterest

So I have been thinking...I have taken a lot from Pinterest, but am I contributing? So I decided that if I make/do something that I like how it turned out, I will pin it. I feel kinda funny pinning my own stuff like - hey, look what I did! But I really appreciate all the ideas that I have gotten that other people have put up, so I decided to just go ahead and add when I can. It can never hurt to have more ideas floating around out there. I often times just use Pinterest as a search engine. So anyway, here are a few of the recent things I have pinned. 

The mobile I made for Cambry's room. Now, I can't take credit for it, I copied it from one I saw on Etsy. And even though it is not as pretty as the one on Etsy, I still really love it. 

Source: matterns.blogspot.com via Jana on Pinterest

Here is the original one I copied from.

Source: etsy.com via Pat on Pinterest

I also pinned the Alphabet board I made in Cambry's room. I definitely got this idea from Pinterest although the ones I saw were directly on a wall not on canvas.

Source: matterns.blogspot.com via Jana on Pinterest

I also pinned a few of my favorite cakes. And I will try to pin more in the future. I need to work on my photography skills though because my pictures are definitely not up to Pinterest standards!

So, just want to encourage all my crafty friends to pin your stuff to keep the inspiration flowing!