i'm too excited to sleep

Tomorrow morning the entire Sprinkel clan is en route to Mexico for 6 days. It will be the first time we have flown with four kids. I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit scared. Maybe the stars will all align and everyone will sit nicely for the duration of the three-hour flight. Maybe no one will cry, no one will scream, no one will poop. Maybe no one will fight over the window seat. Maybe the novelty of the airplane won't wear off before the plane even takes off. Maybe Declan will obey the fasten your seat belt sign. Maybe no one will be sitting next to us and Finlay will get her own seat. I realize the chances of all of these happening are slim to none. But no matter what happens, how bad it goes... I will be here tomorrow afternoon:



Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

mini me

Every so often, I'll walk out of the house after finally getting myself and the kids together and dressed, to realize that one (or more) of the kids and I are dressed alike. I don't really know how it happens or how I don't notice it until the minute we are out in public, but it happens a lot! Like maybe I'll get Emerson dressed in cropped skinny jeans and a navy and white striped tee and then subconsciously, when I go to get dressed, I'll gravitate towards an almost identical outfit in my own closet without realizing that I just put the same exact thing on my daughter not half an hour before.

So, the other day when I was in one of my favorite kid stores, I saw this pair of yellow leather shoes for Finlay. I couldn't put them down, they were so sweet. And even though I was only there to get birthday gifts for my friend's twins, I had to buy them. It was later when I got home that I realized why I loved them so much.



I had bought myself a very similar pair a couple weeks ago.

Colorado bound

A couple months ago I decided I wanted to go visit my two sisters in Colorado and finally get to meet my sweet baby niece (who turned 1 last month!). So, I called my mom and said, "Hey, wanna go to Colorado?" I think she thought I was kidding. Another one of my crazy spontaneous ideas that I never really follow through with.

But fast forward to last weekend and there we were with my little sister, Emily in tow to our girls' weekend in Colorado. I booked our tickets online, found hotel rooms, and rented us a car. The plan was to fly into Denver and then drive to Salida and spend the night. We would get up in the morning and go white water rafting with my sister Corbett, who is working as a raft guide for the summer. Then we'd drive that afternoon to Colorado Springs where we'd stay two nights and get to hang out with my other sister Amanda and her daughter, Aisley. Then we'd drive back to Denver Monday morning and come home. We had it all planned. I had all my confirmations printed out, my mom had the weekend's weather forecast printed out. We brought a GPS so we wouldn't get lost. We were nothing, if not prepared. The drive from Denver to Salida was supposed to take 2 hours. No problem! 2 hours is nothing! Well, once you factor in that we arrived in Denver at 8:05pm (so already 10:05 pm east coast time), then had to get our bags, take a shuttle bus to the rental car place, wait in line for 45 minutes, it is now almost ten o'clock before we have even started our drive.
We opted not to drive through Colorado Springs but to go a more "direct" route. Turns out going through Colorado Springs would have meant being on a multiple-lane highway for the majority of the route. Instead we spent a little over three hours on a pitch black, one-lane highway through the mountains. A route mostly frequented by truckers it turns out, who were not so pleased that our rented Jeep Patriot was not maintaining the 65 mph speed limit on the windy uphill roads. If the bright blaring lights of tractor-trailers on our bumper weren't enough, there were also the uplifting road signs such as:

and:

So while this is all going on, my mom is in the back seat unbeknownst to me starting to get very car sick from all of the twisting and turning. So when she says, "sorry, but I need you to pull over", I'm thinking "ha, right! I am so not stopping the car and getting eaten by a mountain lion or worse, getting kidnapped by some crazy mountain dweller who's going to make jewelry out of my bones to sell at the next local flea market. So, I finally find a spot of the road with a shoulder, instead of a 50ft. drop and pull over. As she's getting back in the car, a car pulls up behind me and a friendly member of the local law enforcement is walking up to my car. I explain that my mom was just a little car sick and we're fine. We continue driving and I cannot even explain how tired my eyes are at this point. It is amazing we made it there in one piece. Note to self, next time I will stay in civilization until daylight.
We finally made it a little after 1am (that's 3am, our time now!). And even though the lobby of the place looked like this:


I've never been happier to be anywhere, ever! Seriously, I really thought I was going to die. The rest of the weekend went much smoother. We went white water rafting Saturday morning and I don't know that I've ever had so much fun! I had a perma-grin the entire time. I probably wasn't the best paddler, but I attribute that to the fact that I was laughing so hard when we went through the rapids that it was hard to breathe, much less do anything remotely coordinated. Here's a picture of us post-adventure:


We had so much fun together. It was one of those trips that before it was even over, we were planning when/how we could all see each other again.

fun (and super cheap) father's day gift

This is what the kids gave Jay for Father's Day today. It was so easy to make and can be tweaked to any occasion and number of kids. I just made the signs on the computer and took pictures of the kids outside holding each one. Finlay did more eating than holding, but it made for a really cute picture! Also, if you didn't want to use the signs, you could have the kids hold those big cardboard letters that they sell at craft stores to spell D-A-D or whatever you wanted. I looked for a frame with four openings side by side, but couldn't find one. I ended up finding this frame at Michaels for $24.99. I love the way it turned out!

@#$& happens

There are certain things no one tells you when you are considering having children. For one, no one tells you what pregnancy is really like. Yes, it's beautiful, creating a life and feeling your baby kick and all that. But it also, well, sucks sometimes. No one tells you that your entire body becomes pregnant. From your hair to your fat, little swollen toes. Every inch of your body changes during pregnancy. Some things grow (your ass, i mean belly), some things shrink (your bladder), and some things go away completely (your memory and general ability to form sentences). This, by the way, is why I've never believed those women who went to the bathroom one day, and BAM, out pops a baby!

Anyway.... none of this is my point. My point is that everyone tells you how much having kids will change your life and how much you will love these little people you create. But no one tells you that after you become a mother, there are days you wake up when NOTHING goes according to plan. I mean, so not according to plan that it doesn't even slightly resemble the day you had envisioned. I intended to spend my morning with a few high school friends and their children. We were going to finally all get together and let our kids meet and run around crazy for a couple hours. Then Jay and I were going to take the kids to the pool in the afternoon, followed by a local strawberry festival. We were going to make a yummy dinner, put the kids to bed early, and watch a movie, just the two of us.

Around 6:30 am, my plans changed. Declan crawled into bed with us, burning up with a fever and covered in puke. After checking his temperature, giving him medicine and stripping his bed, I went downstairs to find that our kitchen had been overtaken with ants. Not one, not two, but several thousand ants. While Jay headed to the Lowe's to buy super-duper ant killer spray, I wiped down every surface I could find trying to get rid of the ants. Our kitchen counters, by the way, are the same color as ants. And these ants aren't just any ants, these are crazy ants who fly and swim. They are resistant to Chlorox wipes, water, and super hot water. Finally I pulled out the Dyson and started sucking them up. I felt like one of the Ghostbusters. This seemed to get rid of them, but for all I know they are just bulking up on the goldfish crumbs that live inside my vacuum and they're going to come back bigger and stronger tomorrow.

After the ant infestation was under control and Declan was content upstairs in our bed watching a Dino Dan marathon, Jay and I took turns running errands. I went to the grocery store, he went to the Sam's Club and the gas station. Tag team parenting. One parent left the house, while one enforced the Declan-upstairs/Girls-downstairs quarantine policy. Not exactly the day of family-togetherness I had planned.

Being a parent forces you to expect the unexpected. Expect that the first time post-baby that you take a shower, get dressed, and put on make-up before 10 am, your baby will projectile vomit on you on the way out the door. Expect that your babysitter will cancel the morning of your first date-night in six months. Expect that your baby will poop up his back and in his hair only if that was your last diaper.

But honestly, it's those hilarious and ridiculous moments that make the best memories. I don't remember the days where everyone woke up happy, made their beds without having to be asked and played nicely all day. But the day I had to make a diaper out of a Shamwow in a parking garage in Northern Virginia, that is a day I look back on and laugh about. It will also make a really great story to tell Declan's first girlfriend.

school's out for summer... kinda

Remember when we were kids and the end of the school year meant no more school work? When we could spend all summer at the pool or rotting our brains in front of the TV, if we wanted? Then teachers spent the entire month of September re-teaching us what we learned in May?

Apparently, not anymore! A packet came home from Ava's school last night. Ava is supposed to spend a minimum of 15 minutes a day reading, either with a parent or alone. Her teachers sent home a list of recommended authors and a chart to keep track of her reading. She is also supposed to set aside a half hour each day to work on reading, writing, and/or math. She is also expected to keep a summer journal to write down her "activities, experiences, thoughts and feelings". These journals will be shared with her class in the fall.

While I think it's great, Ava may have a different opinion. SO...I'm going to make her a little summer reading kit to get her excited.

First, I ordered a bunch of books from Amazon from the recommended authors. Here are a few:

1.Pretzel by Margaret Rey



2. Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia McKissack


3. The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo by Judy Blume



4. A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
5. Lemonade for Sale by Stuart J. Murphy

I also ordered this workbook:

Summer Bridge Activities: 1st to 2nd grade

And this book just for fun:

642 Things to Draw

I also thought I'd get her a cute tote bag for the library like this one:

Little Library Tote by Bushel and a Peck Paper - $20

Or this one:

"For The Love of Books Tote Bag" by The Little Fox - $19

Then maybe a few little extras like this cute pencil case:

Woodland Animals Pencil Case by Pocket Carnival- $14

Maybe, some bookplates:

Little Owlets Bookplates by Marmee Craft - $7.50

And some cute little notebooks:

Sweet as Pie Pocket Notebook Three Pack by The Black Apple - $12

This would also make an adorable birthday gift! Maybe I should make little reading kits and save them for when we get those last minute birthday invites.

summer fun

I've been seeing all sorts of summer to-do lists lately. Like this one:

[source]

and this one:

[source]

and this one too:

[source]

So I decided to use part of our kitchen chalkboard wall and make one for our family. Here's how it turned out:





It is fun for the kids to see all the things they get to do this summer and it will give me some inspiration when everyone starts whining about how bored they are!

a closet mini-makeover

Last week, I read this blog entry from my friend Letia over at Downtown Digs in Diapers about her closet overhaul. Here's her before:



and her after:


Awesome, right? This was just the kick in the pants I needed to finally tackle my own closet. So I looked on Pinterest (totally obsessed, by the way!) and found a couple closets that I love. Here's one of my favorites:


I love the wallpaper, the shelving, the chandelier, everything! So, I decided I was going to completely renovate my closet. It still has the poorly-planned out builder-installed wire rack system that I loathe. Like, seriously detest! I was going to rip that out, repaint or wallpaper the closet, and then install a beautiful yet functional wood shelving system with multiple bars, shelves and a wall of shoes. Everything was going to finally have a home.

Here are some before pictures of my horrendous closet:





So, first step....remove all of my stuff from the closet. After the Semester at Sea t-shirt incident of 2003, I have learned not to touch Jay's stuff. As much as I would like to throw away most of his clothes and start over, I decided to leave that side of the closet for him to deal with.

So I took all my stuff out and laid it on the floor. You know how you don't realize how much stuff you own until you move? Well, I had no idea how many clothes I owned until I started laying it all out on the floor. It's probably a good thing Jay wasn't home for this process. The amount of times that, "ooh...I forgot about this!" came out of my mouth was disturbing. Here's a look:






For, those of you wondering...yes, I keep a level in my closet, along with an entire reusable grocery tote full of assorted tools, nails, screws, etc. And yes, those are snowboard boots and no, I have never snowboarded. In addition are 2 bags full of Finlay's baby clothes that I can't bring myself to part with. Why? Because I am planning to make a quilt out of them! No, I do not know how to make a quilt. But I did buy a sewing machine on Black Friday! It too lives in my closet, and has yet to make it out of the box.

So after emptying the closet, it looked like this:



This is about the point in which I called Jay and said I wanted to re-do our closet. I told him about my big plans to paint, the wood closet systems I had found, my wall of shoes. Imagine how much time we'll save in the morning! To which, he responded, "I just called the patio guy. I'd rather spend the time and money working on the backyard". Hmmmm...well, he did have a point. It's not like the whole family is going to spend a nice day in my closet.

The only problem was that the idea of putting all that stuff back into that closet made me want to cry. So after it sat there for almost a week, I decided to make a few minor adjustments to the closet that didn't cost a lot of money but that would tide me over until we can do a major over-haul.

I bought a hamper, a couple fabric bins and 2 inexpensive shoe shelves. I ripped the lower wire rack off the back wall. This way the clothes on either side could run all the way to the wall. I decided to hang the two shoe racks on the back wall. I hung a hook above the hamper to hang the dry cleaning bag. I also hung a shelf in the closet to keep Febreeze, stain remover spray, and a lint roller.

While it's not the closet I envisioned, I think it looks a lot better and more importantly, is much more organized. And I only spent a little over a hundred bucks!







So, I think it was a good compromise. I got a more organized closet and a wall of shoes. Jay got to spend the weekend working on the backyard, instead of inside hanging a closet system. And the kids will get a pretty landscaped backyard with a patio to play on, with the money I could have spent on a closet. I'm so proud of myself, I might just have to buy myself a new pair of shoes to fill that spot on the top rack!

While the Jay is away....

...I am sure to redecorate or rearrange something. It's a sure thing! In fact, he is no longer surprised in the least to come home from a trip/round of golf/random Tuesday at the office to find that a room is entirely different than when he left the house. Some might say I am a complete lunatic, I think of it as insurance that he will never get bored!

So, in addition to the freakishly clean house and the living room makeover, I also changed some things in our master bedroom. Here's a look at the before picture:


I took down the curtains, stripped the bed, removed the painting, and the lamps. Those end tables aren't there anymore either, because they were moved a couple weeks ago down to the family room. The ones from the living room were moved up in their place. I purchased a set of the organic ikat-stripe sheets, a white frayed-edge quilt, and a pair of feather gray organic matelassé shams from West Elm. I added a DwellStudio for Target pillow that used to be in the living room. I purchased two matching glass lamps and shades from (where else?) Target. Here's a look:



I also moved a desk (the beat-up one from Ava and Emerson's room) and the IKEA expedit bookcase over into my sitting room. To cover up the marker-stained, sticker-covered top, I might sand it down and paint the top with some chalkboard paint (that I have leftover from the kitchen wall). We'll see!

My thought process was that if I had a desk and a large storage area in my dressing room, I could use it for all my craft stuff. I put everything into containers (with labels) and now it's super organized. Everything has a home, so now when I'm done being crafty, it can go back to its home.

The floral slipper chair and black dresser had to then move into the bedroom.


I still have nothing on the walls and no curtains, but I'm getting there. I did buy this mirror from Target for $19.99 that I plan to spray paint white.


I'll post pictures as it comes together!

third time's a charm?

One of my projects while Jay was out of town a couple weeks ago, was my living room (i.e. the room no one uses). When we first moved in, I decorated it to look like this:


Then I decided to paint it (post about it here) and get new lamps and it looked a little something like this:


Then one day, I decided I was over black frames. All of a sudden I thought the black frames looked too harsh against the bright turquoise wall. Yes, black frames were out! I decided that the room would so much fresher and lighter with white ones. So I spent part of my mother's day spray painting all my black frames white. Since I realize it is slightly out of character for me to not run out on impulse and buy twenty new white frames, I figured you guys would need to see proof. Here you go:


In addition to spray painting all the black frames, I also painted a few really inexpensive wood frames and finally got around to spray painting Finlay's owl friend for her wall.


Once, I hung the frames back up (with updated pictures), I added some new curtains from West Elm. The cotton canvas printed tortoise window panels were only $39 a piece for 108" panels! I hung one on each window. Then, I added my silver metallic pouf I scored from Calypso's line for Target. I got two gray & white pillows from etsy and an aqua throw from Target (to cover up the giant rip in the couch from the dogs a couple years ago). I got a little espresso wood side table for $49 and the lamp shade on clearance for $4.99 (both from Target). I used one of the leftover ladder bookshelves from the family room and put some books, frames, candles, etc. On the opposite wall, the dinghy white IKEA chair got a coral and white Calypso for Target pillow. The dark bookcase moved next to the chair and houses more books, candles, decorative objects, etc. I hung a silver mirror that used to be in the family room and bought a new lamp and shade from Target. I ended up adding a couple more white frames to the wall (that I bought). You really can't tell the difference between the ones I bought and the ones I painted! I also put a little square basket next to the chair to hold a couple of Finlay's toys. It's nice to have a couple toys for her in each room, so I can just plop her down on the floor with one if I need to run in another room to break up a fight/clean up a spill/console a certain someone who has launched himself off of the table for the zillionth time!

Anyway....here is the final product. I LOVE it! I think it is still bold with the wall color, but looks so much crisper and lighter. The only thing I need to do at some point is get a new rug. I have a simple jute one in mind.




It has a very tranquil feel to it now. I've been spending more time in there lately, reading, playing on my laptop, etc. I think it's my new favorite room. It's close enough to the family room to keep tabs on the kids but far enough away that I can actually concentrate on a book without getting distracted by whatever the Fresh Beat Band is singing about!