A Day Fueled by LOVE

Valentine's Day has now come and gone but we made some great memories and we are already talking about what we are going to do next year!


I have learned that year three for Nora has been the year she has really "gotten" and retained things. Not that she knows all the history, but she has caught on to the excitement and joy that holidays and life has to offer! Valentine's Day not excluded, she had a ton of fun making and distributing her Valentine's cards to her friends, family, classmates and to her Daddy!

Lunch sandwiches were of course heart-shaped!

Baked goods is always a good way to say
"I Love You!"

Love you Daddy!
Daddy was still waking up in this pic!

The Valentine's coat made it's yearly appearance.


This was the first year that Nora really noticed the coat...no matter how emphatic I was that I was the Valentine's Day Fairy she insisted I was Santa!

First stop was to Liam and Aaron's house!

Although not pictured here, the rest of the day was full of merriment, including school fun, work fun and even a date night for mommy and daddy!

Hopefully between now and next Valentine's Day we can remember
that the world is a much happier place when it is run on love!

Finally Finished!

So my big project of summer 2011 was my t-shirt quilt. I finished my portion in August and gave it to the quilter, looking forward to seeing the finished product. I waited and waited and then the holidays came and things got busy and then I waited and waited. But last Friday I got the call that it was done and I could pick it up!

Here is what it looked like when I sent it off.


Here is the final product!


The point of this quilt is to preserve t-shirts that have sentimental value to Paul and me. So in this quilt are t-shirts from high school, college, travels etc. I love how it came out! This is definitely a "use it" quilt. It's not going on a wall, it should be in your lap, keeping you warm as often as possible! I have already curled up with it while reading a good book and it felt great!

Paul's high school basketball jersey.

T-shirts from our travels.

Here is the onesie I gave Paul when I told him he would be a daddy!

A fun project, a proud accomplishment and a great keepsake!

Project Time!

For those of you who don't know, Paul's dad has been living with us during the week while he is working on a house remodel down the street. With Paul Sr. around we have been getting a lot of house projects done! The project I am about to show you is actually done by my dad and I think has some good before and after shots. Paul Sr./Papa/Father Paul has been doing things like snake our bathtub drain, install a new faucet, work on our bunkie (blog to come), things that just don't photograph well. Anyway, the point of me saying all this is to let you know that we have been in project mode for about 4 1/2 months now. It has been fun to see things come together, complete some things around the house, and see things changed that we have wanted to see changed for quite some time! So thank you dads for all the help that you have been. We could not have done it without you!

So this project is shelving for the garage/laundry area. Something that is relatively easy with such great return!

Before...

1 stand alone shelf was just not cutting it.

Fresh coat of paint!

Every time Paul goes into the garage he just shakes his head and says "very primary". Whatever, I love it!

My dad, hard at work!

While my dad and I worked (dad worked, I tried to help as much as I could), Nora and my mom made cookies!

After!

Rows and rows of endless shelves!!!

I don't have enough stuff to fill them up, which is a good thing!

Organized!

Everything has a place, just the way I like it!

Now everytime I go into the garage it puts a smile on my face!

Next project, the wall...