Snow day: February 2016

It is very rare that my husband stays home from work (well, works from home), that I have a snow day, and that all three kids are home on a weekday. I am counting it as pure bliss. There was a giant snow storm back east last week, and my eyes were green with envy as all my New York friends were posting pictures and hearing announcements of school being closed and kids playing in the snow. Don't get me wrong, I love a good 65 degree day in January, but I love the wondrous, blustery snowy days too. I am sure I will be singing a different tune come May, when we will probably still be getting snow storms. I am told this is especially true because the elk were mating late this year, and that always means late snow (thank, dad, for the info!).

I have to admit that I have been pretty bad about blogging about our house since we had Leila. Three kids is work. Like, a lot of work. I am always busy, which I expected to be, but did not factor in the idea that I would also be working part time in order to finish up my Master's. I do feel like the last eight months has been this whirlwind of having a baby, finishing course work, two out of town weddings, working, holidays, and more working. While I do love having days where I can get away and be an adult, I long for the days of not dropping kids off at school and just lounging in my pajamas all day as I color and cook with the kids. 

We have done some things around the house which include getting a new TV stand (the old, DIY one is in the basement, or as the boys call it, the "play basement"), painting and redecorating Luke's room (it is almost done), finishing our bathroom, organizing the basement and our master closet, organizing our garage, putting up blinds in the family room, putting up a cabinet and open shelves in our laundry room, and adding a photo collage to our upstairs hallway. I really am hoping to be able to photograph some of these in the upcoming month. 

We also have plans to upgrade our fireplace this year with a simple, but beautiful trend that is going on right now, but more about that later. We have been talking for a year now about moving out to the country, kind of, Perry Park or Sedalia, Colorado area. There is a lot of land and we want our kids to grow up with dirt bikes, knowing how to garden, having lots of animals, and having the freedom to run without worrying that some asshole will come whipping down the street at 45 mph and almost kill them. Literally, I have the little orange "slow down" people and a U-haul ran one over, and the other one had the cops called because it was in the road, and apparently, it is only allowed on the sidewalk. Some old hag up the street had her panties in a bunch while she was speeding and called the police on my plastic dude. Chill! 

Building property without a planned community is planning to be a little more difficult. You have to give notice a few years in advance to the county that there is interest and then they put wires and wells near the area in order to prepare the land to be built upon. Crazy! 

We also want to add beadboard to the ceiling of our covered porch to have added protection from the elements and it is cute. Wives tales say that spiders and witches will stay away if the ceiling is light blue! 

Captain American photobombed Batman

I do have to say, we have been doing really good at sticking to our New Year's resolutions and it is making me feel much more productive and true to myself. I haven't done anything I did not want to do 100% and we have been busy reading every single night. I still can't fathom the idea that Aiden is reading. He knows well over 100 site words, reads really boring, weird books sent home from school, and fills in the site words when we read books that are a bit more interesting than "Maria likes cows. Maria likes cats. Maria likes cows and cats." Maria, you lead a boring life. 

I also just accepted an opportunity to be a new brand representative for Posh Pax designs. I am excited for that opportunity and can't wait to share all of the amazing things she has to offer with you! 

February started one of our four yearly, "no spend" months. It is coming at a good time because we just had to spend $2000 to fix our Jeep. It had a bunch of things going wrong, as it is 10 years old, and it just needed to be done. Actually, it died at my husbands job and we had to have it towed to a mechanic. So basically, we spend no money other than our grocery and gas money, and everything else goes into a savings account. You guys, this is HARD for me. I have an addiction that comes with buying things for the kids. I love kid clothes and accessory shopping. I also love buying stuff for our house. In some ways, I do feel addicted to buying these things. My brain tells itself that they are a "need" item, not a "want" item. I just need to avoid the mall like an alcoholic needs to avoid a bar. And maybe stay off of Pinterest as well. And nordstrom.com. And maybe the internet all together. Just kidding, I won't go that far. I still need my daily fix of making fun of Donald Trump. 

Oh, middle child, ha! 

What are you all up to this February?