Where Do I Start

I'm trying to face the fact that blogging has been put on the back burner a lot lately, and it's become something that when I get to it, I get to it. I've either been busy or too tired to blog. I have to get over trying to get caught up and just start blogging about the now. So after tonight's post, I'm going to just try to write about very recent stuff and quit trying to go back and back and back and see if I can remember what we did three weeks ago. Then maybe I can get this blog current again. We'll see how that goes.

So with that said, over the last two weeks I've been busy having an online garage sale so to speak. The UL gals have a couple of Facebook pages where we buy/sell/swap UL items. Then we also have a Facebook page where we can buy/sell non-UL items called the UL Bargain Page. Many of the girls have been selling items on there for quite some time. I've posted a few things here and there over the last few months. Then I saw on there a couple weeks ago, there was an interest in kids clothes. Of course I've got a ton of kids clothes! I posted on the page what sizes people were interested in, and from there I began to get all the tubs out of the basement. Plus I had some bags of items in Em's closet I had recently bagged up that no longer fit her. When it comes to garage sale set up, I'm a little anal about the way it's organized. So surprise there was no difference when I decided to post items on the UL Bargain page. Most of the stuff was organized in tubs by sizes, but I had to take everything out and take pics of each item. I posted many albums and sorted them by boys and girls, as well as by different sizes. It took some time to lay everything out, photograph it, upload the pics, and post on the FB page, and write a description and price. However it was well worth most of my time because I've sold a lot of stuff. I figured it's to cold to go outside now so I can do it from the warmth and comfort of my home so why not. It's less stuff I have to set up when I have a garage sale in the spring. By then I'll want to be outside with the kids anyway so it'll be a little less time I'll have to spend in the garage come garage sale time! The only little downfall of it is that I have to figure shipping on the items. Since most of us are buying from or selling to girls in other states we charge shipping as well. I package the items up, and then take them to the post office to check shipping rates. I've become good friends with the self serve postage kiosk. So convenient! It's not too bad when I can take a bunch of packages at once and check shipping rates. Sometimes though there's package here and there so I have to make a special trip, but thankfully the post office is on the way to school so I don't have to go out of my way!

Selling the kids clothes brought on a new project. The UL gals were also looking for women's and men's clothes so I decided to clean out my closet. It's been a long overdue project and I'm so glad I did it. There were clothes in there I knew I'd never wear again, and stuff I didn't even know I had. Greg also went through his clothes. We've got heaping piles sitting in the loft. I haven't sold any of the men's clothes, but I have sold some of my stuff. It feels really good to get rid of some of this stuff, and to make some money while I'm doing it. I still have some other things in the closet to go through- shoes, purses, etc., but the big part of it is done. It's nice to have some extra space in the closet, and I'm excited to get a few new things this spring. Next up is cleaning out the kitchen cabinets again because there's a couple cabinets that are a mess!

So that's been a majority of my time spent the last couple weeks. While I'm trying to save some of the money I've made from my online sales, we did have a kid free night a week ago Friday so we went out for a change. We had planned to go to dinner and out for drinks with our neighbors Jim and Kate, but then Jim forgot Kate was going to be gone for dance competition. So we ended up just going to dinner with Jim. We went to Harrison Roadhouse. Hadn't been there in forever and it sounded good. Then the three of us headed to Lou & Harry's and met up with our friend Brenda. It ended up being a fabulously fun night. A little too fun because I ended up drinking a little too much! Jim introduced us to the "Bomb Pop" shot, and it was downhill from there. So so yummy! It's like the red, white, and blue popsicle, you used to get as a kid! Very addicting! I ended up with a hangover the next morning. I don't remember the last time I had a hangover, but it had been a very loooong time! It was slow moving on Saturday for me that's for sure. I can't tell ya how much I laughed though Friday night and enjoyed hanging with friends! Fun times... fun memories! I have a couple more things to share from last week, and then I'm moving onto this week I promise. Stay tuned!

Evan's New Room

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted pics of Evan's new room. I thought for sure I did that last week. Ugh! So it's now been a month since we painted his room, but it's still not done. The framing of the jerseys is taking longer than I thought. I didn't realize jerseys were so expensive to frame. Ugh! Plus I still haven't found the exact couple pics that I want to hang. It'll get done eventually. So with that said, here's some pics of the room almost done.

The room before.... Best I have, since I forgot to take a pic before we tore it apart.

The room after with the the new green and gray walls, and the new Spartan bedding.

Another angle- This is the wall where I want to hang a few pics above the dresser.

These pics are of Kirk Cousins and Greg Jones that Greg took at a game in 2010.

The other empty wall above the bed where I'd like to hang the jerseys. I also found the new sports lamp at Hobby Lobby which I really like!

I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I love the green! It's perfect and Evan really likes it too. He did well picking the gray. We were deciding between two different shades, and we let him choose. I think this room will grow with him well over the years (as I don't plan on changing it for a very long time). It's a Spartan room so there's no way we'll ever get tired of it. :)

Birthday Party #2 For Evan

A week and a half ago (I know I'm slacking again) we had Evan's second birthday party. I'm a fan of Groupon, and I ran across a great deal just before Christmas. The deal was for this place called the Lansing Hit Club. It's an indoor baseball place. I thought it was perfect seeing as Evan was into the Tigers themed birthday party this year! He had wanted to have some friends from school come to his birthday party, and since we already had a lot of people coming for his family/close friends party we decided to have another party. I normally don't do two birthday parties, but the price was good for this, and I didn't have to have 10 kids running through our house.

We had the party on Friday night. I didn't have a lot of options to choose from since I bought the Groupon so close to his birthday. It worked out good though because it didn't waste a whole Saturday. It was from 6:30-8:30pm which gave everyone time to get home from school and relax a little before the party. The Groupon included two hours at the Hit Club with decorations, pizza & pop, and an hour of batting cage or instructional time. We chose the instructional time and the kids got to play some baseball with one of the coaches there. Then they enjoyed the pizza & pop, and I brought in cupcakes which the kids really enjoyed! After we ate, Evan opened his presents and he got a lot of really nice things. We really appreciate everyone coming and thank them for all the goodies Evan got! The kids had a great time, and they all loved the place. I had done goody bags for the kids, and the Hit Club even had goody bags for them! It was so worth the price I paid for the Groupon, and I didn't have a mess at our house to clean up after. Here's a few pics from the evening!

Evan up to bat when the kids were playing a "mini" baseball game.

The baseball cupcakes I made with Detroit Tigers colors.

The birthday bunch! We asked the kids to wear their Tigers gear or come in blue/orange. They all looked great! I love this pic! (One of the girls couldn't make it because she was sick so Em and Evan's "girl"friend Jaidyn were the only girls. Em loved hanging with Jaidyn though.)

We are truly blessed that Evan has some great friends and parents.

Twitter & Spartan Love

I decided a few weeks ago to get on the Twitter bandwagon. I figured I'd check it out and see what it's all about. I actually had a twitter account from a couple years ago, but never used it. Now that I'm back on it seems to be more fun than it was before. I think maybe having a Smart Phone makes it more useful. It's a great way to get up to date news quickly. Click on the app on your Smart Phone and everyone that you follow comes up in your news feed. Sort of like Facebook, but yet different. I follow things like The Today Show, WILX (our local NBC News), NBC Nightly News, Breaking News, Ellen, Katie Couric to name a few. Then of course I follow MSU Football and along with that I started following some of the football players while they were down in Tampa for the week before the bowl game. I have to tell you, those boys are funny! I've gotten quite a bit of laughs from all the tweets. If you don't know, I've got a little innocent crush on former MSU football player B.J. Cunningham. He's got the all time greatest smile among athletes! :) He's even replied to one of my tweets. Let's just say the boy loves Chipotle! LOL. I also tweeted Keith Nichol when they were in Tampa asking for a birthday tweet for Evan on his birthday. Sure enough the boy tweeted me back "Happy Birthday Evan!" I couldn't believe it. Evan was so excited, as was I. Now I've got a little Twitter addiction. I can't believe all I'd be missing if I hadn't gotten on Twitter. If you're on Twitter follow me @Spartanfan4ever!

You all know how much I love my Spartans! There's nothing but green and white in this household. I want to go back for a minute and give a shout out to the Spartan Football team. On January 2nd, MSU played in the Outback Bowl in Tampa. Oh how I would have loved to been there. We weren't though so we watched in from our living room. Our friend Brenda came over to watch the game with us. It was a weird game, not the game I expected. I knew how much MSU wanted to win a bowl game, especially the seniors. It was Dantonio's fifth straight bowl appearance with the Spartans, but he had yet to win a bowl game. The Spartan's were down 16-0 at halftime, but I had this feeling that I knew it wasn't over. I had a good feeling that they would rally back in the second half. That's exactly what they did and took the game right up to the end to tie it up. After three exciting OT's the Spartans won the game with a blocked field goal. FINALLY, MSU won a bowl game with Dantonio. A much deserved win for the team, seniors, and Dantonio.

On Tuesday, Jan. 3rd the football team returned to East Lansing. Well, almost all the team. Some of the seniors that graduated in December went onto their hometowns, but for the most part a majority of the team returned. I was a little bummed because I thought there would be a celebration at Breslin Tuesday night like there was in 2010 after MSU won the Big Ten Championship. However, late that Tuesday morning I heard the team was coming back at 1:30pm and there would be a welcome back at the Skandalaris Football Building. I debated about going because the kids were in school. I didn't really want to take them out of school on their first day back. So after I dropped Em off at school I decided I'd swing by and see what was going on. There were a few people, but not many. I ran a couple errands and came back closer to 1:30pm. There were more people there, maybe 50 so it wasn't too bad. I happened to grab Evan's football and Kirk Cousins jersey right before I walked out the door. I was hoping for a few autographs and with not many people there I figured I had a pretty good chance. So with that said, the team was a little late getting back, it ended up being about 2:15pm when the buses arrived. It was so great to see the team and coaches and the big smiles on their faces still excited about their big win against Georgia. Evan's football already had some player's autographs, but their were a handful of names that I still wanted to get on his special football. Two of them were Keshawn Martin & Edwin Baker which I managed to get. B.J. Cunningham & Jerel Worthy didn't come back on the bus, and I missed LeVeon Bell. I also was able to get Ev's Kirk Cousins jersey signed which I was so excited about. I was so glad I grabbed it at the last minute before I walked out the door. Greg was there taking some pics for work so he also took my pic with Cousins and Coach D. I didn't really want my picture taken, but now I'm glad that I did. I was glad I decided to go to campus and check out the "welcome back" as well. It was definitely worth it.

When I picked Ev up from school I told him about the players coming back and he was so bummed he didn't get to go. So was I because I would have been able to get his pic with lots of the players. He was super excited though when I showed him his football and especially his #8 jersey signed by Cousins! Check him out!
Although MSU lost some great players with the seniors leaving, and a couple turning pro early, I can't wait to see what 2012 brings for the Spartan team. It's only January, and I'm already for college football to start! Go State!

Evan Is Seven!

New Year's Eve is a special day around here. It's not just New Year's Eve with celebrating the end of the year and ringing in the New Year. Since 1999 it's been a day to remember. It's the day that Greg and I got engaged. Crazy to think that was 12 years ago. Who would of thunk that five years later, that special day would become even more special? It's the day that Evan came into this world, and I am truly blessed that he did. I knew I would love my child dearly, but I never knew how much I was capable of loving. It hasn't always been sunshine and roses with Evan (we all remember how colicky he was as a baby), but it doesn't change the amount of love I have for Evan. He'll always be my little boy, but as of December 31, 2011, Evan turned seven, and I just can't believe it. Where have the last seven years gone? He's growing up way too fast! I'm such a proud mom of Evan. He's a good kid, he does well in school, he's kind, generous, friendly, loving, funny, and he's my Spartan buddy. I get to call him my son, and I'm thankful he's mine. I can only hope that as the years go on and life gets tougher he remains that same kid that he's become over the last seven years.

Evan's been wanting to have a Spartan room, so this year for his birthday I told him we'd redo his room. It's been a tough decision because since we built this house and did his room he had a very nice mural painted on his wall. His room was a "surfer doggy" room, and I really loved his mural. However, I've kind of know for awhile that it was time to move on. It seemed as though he kind of outgrew it awhile ago. So as much as I hated to paint over it, I stuck to my word and we painted his room over winter break. I originally thought of doing two walls white and two walls green, but with the white trim in our house I didn't want white walls with white trim. So then we thought about doing it all green. We had a hard time picking the right green, but finally we all decided on one that everyone liked. Evan didn't want his room too dark though with all green walls so we started with painting over the two blue walls and leaving the tan walls. We decided it didn't look Spartan enough so we opted to go with a light gray for the other two walls. I showed Evan a few gray samples and he chose one. We're really pleased with how the whole room turned out. It looks great! After three comforters, we finally found one that looks good with the walls and the bedding all matches. You would think when you buy a bed in a bag set that it would all match, but the one we had the shams didn't match the comforter. Ugh! Then the comforter he got for Christmas didn't match the sheets that went with it. Ugh again! I ordered one from JC Penney, and although it didn't come with sheets, it matches the sheet set he got for Christmas great and looks good with the walls so we're going with it.

The room is done for the most part. We've hung a few pics, and got his bedding on. I also found a new lamp for his table, and hung a new shelf for his autographed balls. I still need to get a couple of his jerseys framed and decide on which other pictures I want to frame. It's been a little longer process than I thought it would be, but it's getting there. I'll post pics soon.

We had his birthday party last weekend with close friends and family. Evan wanted a Detroit Tigers party. It was fun, and we appreciate everyone coming to help him celebrate. We're also having a second birthday party this weekend with his school friends. I don't normally do two birthday parties, but this was a good deal I couldn't pass up. More on that later. Until then... wishing my little guy some belated happy birthday wishes since I didn't blog on New Year's Eve. Here's to a great year of being seven Evan! We love you more than you'll ever know! Here's a few pic from his party!

The birthday boy all set for the party in his Tigers gear!

I discovered that one of the 1st grade teachers, Ms. Charnley, at Ev's school makes cakes. Evan and I looked through some pictures and put some ideas together and came up with this cake that she made. It was a big hit at the party! He loved his Tigers cake!

End Of The Year Recap

Yes, I'm behind AGAIN, but now I'm back. I left off right before Christmas, and while I could go into a lot of details about winter break and Christmas, I'm not going to. It seems like it was so long ago. Since we're into the new year now I'm going to give you the very shortened version. Otherwise I'll never get back up to date. It seems like I've been busy non-stop with this and that since the kids were on Christmas break. So here we go:

The first week of winter break for the kids, I made it a point that the kids and I did something special together each day. I wanted to make some memories and share in some fun activities with them. We weren't going anywhere over break so I had to bring the fun to them! Day one, we made some more pretzel buttons (this was after I had already made three batches to give to teachers) and another batch of party mix (again after I had made three batches the previous week). Day two, we made our first gingerbread house together. The kids had a blast, and we'll definitely be doing it again next year! Day three, we made a Rice Krispie treat Christmas tree! Later that night we made peanut butter pretzel bites. I decided to try these this year instead of my Peanut Butter Pattie cookies I usually make. A recipe I found on Pinterest. They were o.k., but not as good as the cookies. Day four, we made some more Sour Cream Cut-out cookies like the kids had made with Katie a few weeks before. I thought we'd surprise my mom, sister, and Kaite at Christmas with some. Unfortunately though something went wrong and they didn't taste quite the same. Oh well. The kids still had fun making them. Day five, (Friday) Greg was off work with the university being closed Friday before and Monday after Christmas. He and the kids went to see his cousins that were in town, while I pampered myself with a manicure. We had family game night Friday night. Emmaline kicked our butts in Candyland three times! It was a nice way to end our week before we started our four Christmases!

Christmas Eve we celebrated Christmas #1 with Greg's mom during the day. Then she took us all to dinner. The past few years we've gone to Bravo!, but this year we decided to change it up and we went to Mitchell's Fish Market. Crab cakes and filet need I say more? Delish! Christmas morning we had Christmas #2. We've made it a point to have that time just the four of us Christmas morning so the kids can open their Santa stuff. The kids really didn't need anymore toys this year so we kept it low key with less stuff. I told them I'd rather save money on toys and use it towards a vacation this year. It would be nice some year to not have to travel and stay in our pj's on Christmas, but that's not how it works so after our Christmas we were off to my Dad's for Christmas #3. Thankfully the weather was decent this year so no travel problems on the road. My dad and step-mom made Christmas dinner and then we did presents with them. Later that afternoon we headed to my sister's and my mom came down to her house and we celebrated Christmas #4 with her. It was a busy couple days with family, nice dinners, and nice presents. Thanks to all our family for everything!

We came back home on Monday and Greg had the week between Christmas and New Year's off. It was nice to have him home and all of us together not having to run back and forth to school and activities! We spent a couple days doing returns/exchanges from Christmas. Then the rest of the week was spent re-doing Evan's room for his birthday. Stayed tuned... more about that and my little guy turning seven in the next post!

Elf On The Shelf... A.K.A. Sparty

Have you heard of the Elf on the Shelf? I hadn't heard about it until right about Christmas last year. What I knew about it then was very little. Then on Christmas last year, my dad had gotten the Elf on the Shelf "kit" for us which included the little elf and the book that tells the story about it. Basically this elf comes into your home (around Thanksgiving/beginning of December), and as a family you are to name the elf. Once you name the elf he/she gets magical powers. The elf keeps an eye on the kids behavior daily, and then at night he/she flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa. When he returns in the morning before the kids are up the elf will be in a different spot and the kids have to find him/her. The elf cannot be touched because if he is then all the magical powers are lost. And he/she only moves when nobody is around. There were some days where Sparty needed to be moved before nighttime, like when he was in the freezer, or on the kitchen counter. So I would always have to make sure the kids were out in the car, and I was the last one to walk out the door so I could quick move Sparty. When we'd get home they would immediately look for where Sparty's new hiding place was. One weekend we were even gone to Grand Rapids, and the kids were wondering if Sparty would be at Grandma's. Sure enough when we got there, Sparty had arrived! All this elf fun happens up until Christmas Eve when the elf leaves for good to help Santa with Christmas deliveries. He/she doesn't return until the next year.

So now that you have the background info, our elf came to us at the beginning of December. We had to decide on a name for the elf, and well as you know we bleed GREEN in this house and of course the kids came up with naming him Sparty (Note- this was right in the heart of the Big Ten Championship game time so we were in full swing Spartan mode). I did a little research on the elf and some people just move their elf, but some people have their elf get into a little mischief. I saw a few ideas on Pinterest which I thought would be fun, but many of them I didn't care for so I began to brainstorm things I could do with Sparty. Well, after the first couple days the kids really got into it, and I knew I'd have my work cut out for me. Almost every night before bed since Sparty has been around, Emmaline has said, "I wonder what Sparty will do tonight." Then almost every morning when she gets up she says, "We have to go find Sparty!" Some nights have been a little more work than others setting Sparty's antics up, but it's been well worth it! I'd do just about anything for my kids, and the joy they get out of seeing what Sparty has done is all worth it. These are moments I'll cherish forever and they are truly priceless! If you're on Facebook you've seen my album "Sparty Antics." He's done everything from playing UNO to unrolling the toilet paper, to hiding all the Christmas presents. A majority of the things I did come up with on my own, but as I mentioned there were a few on Pinterest that I "borrowed." Many of the antics related to things that we had done the day before. Here's a few pics of Sparty's antics that were my favorite so far...

Sparty made a snow angel... a.k.a "sugar" angel.

Sparty decorated the living room in candy canes!

"Sparty" was busy a few days before preparing a bunch of snowflakes to hang on the windows. I really loved this one because the snowflakes really added to our Christmas decor and beautified the house!
Emmaline had to take her lunch to school one day because she went at a different time. So since both kids had to pack a lunch, Sparty made their lunch with a silly combo of stuff.

Sparty wrapped some of the furniture, and then he wrapped himself in this box for the kids to unwrap. They had been asking if they could open just one present, so Sparty left a note that said, "You can unwrap this one present before Christmas." They were so excited, but then surprised to find Sparty inside! LOLSparty was guilty of getting in the laundry! I had a basket of the kids clothes to fold the night before, but never got to it so it was perfect for me (I mean Sparty) to throw some clothes around the house!

Tonight is the last night of Sparty this year since tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and it's time for Sparty to head back to the North Pole for another year. It's been fun, and while I'm really going to miss the kids reactions in the morning, I'm a little relieved because I'm running out of ideas! I'm going to have my work cut out for me next year! Merry Christmas everyone!