a little sunshine

It's snowy and cold today.

My neighbor took care of our sidewalk! I shall pay him in baked goods! (take that, other neighbor who prefers to watch me shovel during nap time. no treats for you!)

I finished a project, it's making me happy :)

ooh, bunting!

Heather inspired me.

And I was totally going to make little fabric roses, but my goal was to use yarn from my stash, and when I finished wrapping the wreath form, I felt like bunting was more appropriate.

Plus, I can do this:

all decked out for Valentine's Day

Next week we have a birthday at our house - I'm thinking a pic of the birthday boy will be pretty fantastic pinned to the wreath, and a shamrock after that, etc...

Happy Friday! Hope you've found your sunshine!

I'm linking up at Amanda's!

 I'm joining the Wreath Party at The Nesting Place!

the current state of my mantle

Don't laugh.

please excuse the duplos, and umm, everything else

Yep, that is totally my mantle.

The real one. In my living room. The one visitors see.

Surprisingly? I sort of dig it.

I think John Cusack is kind of dreamy

Jenny posted an interesting discussion about being overexposed to design. I have to say I feel it, and I'm not even a real designer. I really want my mom to put up lovely Ikat drapes in her bedroom, but I keep thinking -

"Is Ikat over?" If we do that, then in 2 years will I look at the drapes and say "Wow, that is so 2010."

But if Mom loves it, then does it really matter?

So does it really matter that my mantle is currently decorated with our gag-gift presents from Christmas?

I say nope. These things make me laugh, so they are staying for now. We'll call it Frat Chic - an eclectic assortment of items you might typically find in a frat house (although much cleaner). Who knows, maybe I'll add to the "collection," maybe I'll start thenextbigthing (yeah right), maybe I'll find proper homes for these items (GW box?) before our next party.

I still love that kitty oil painting.

m

he's pretty perfect

even though he still won't even attempt to sleep through the night


he's teething - always...5 teeth and counting

cruising along the furniture

crawling so fast that I lose him multiple times every day

drooling and chewing on everything


obsessed with the oven's warming drawer (just like his big brother)

has an incredible amount of blonde hair

I just trimmed it so he can see,
we aren't calling it a haircut, though;
he's just not old enough for one yet.

expert snuggler

looks just like daddy, but he belongs to mommy

wants to be just like his big brother


we love him

the problem with bowling

J is a bowler.

Like, I think he seriously would really enjoy being a pro bowler (I know - I'm thinking I wouldn't fit in very well with the pro-bowler wives). He's in two leagues (at one point he was in three), and his name shows up pretty regularly in the sports section of our local paper.

Yes, they print high bowling scores in the local paper.

Anyway, the problem is that the 6 or 7 nights a month that he does bowl, I am not happy. He leaves for work and then he comes home after bowling. So I take care of the bebes all day without reprieve (super fun when they decide to tag-team their naps) and handle bedtime by myself. I have to say it's easier now that it was when Max was a few months old - that was really tough.

I go back and forth on how I feel about this. I want him to have time to enjoy something, but I feel like bowling is inferior to a whole bunch of activities.

It's not even aerobic.

Today I decided that one of the main issues I have with bowling is that I am alone all day with our little guys, and once I get them both in bed I have maybe 30 min to myself before he comes home.

And 30 min is nothing. I barely finished folding a basket of laundry before he came home - I had big plans to blog, and vacuum, and dust, and polish my nails and take a super long shower. I'm beginning to think I should tell him to stay out longer, but I think that plan will backfire.

And that is the problem with bowling.