2011|1|12

Our sweet Scarlett turned 5 today!

We celebrated this occasion with family tonight.

Served her favorite meal: ribs, rice and SALAD (she loves salad)

I loved to see her so happy...a party especially for her, for the spotlight is often taken by her crazy big brother and little baby sister. A day JUST for Scarlett!

She was so excited when I showed her all the different ice cream flavors I picked up at the store: bubble gum, tiger, cotton candy & mint chocolate chip.

Chatting on the phone with Grandparents wishing her a Happy Birthday!

Birthstone earrings from Grandma Rose & Grandpa Phil.

Opening presents...

We ended the night with a dance party since he loves music and she got a chance to use her new Ipod dock for her room.

Making the Rainbow cake...I have always wanted to try to make this cake and thought it was perfect for our Colorful Girl on her birthday.

It is simply two white cake mixes, split and separately colored.

I baked them all in round cake pans.

Made a triple batch of icing...oops, icing sugar everywhere.

But that's OK, our dog helped us clean it up.

After slicing off the tops of each layer, stack them up and ice in between.

Put on a thin layer first and placed in the freezer to help with the little bits of cake coming off in the icing.

The final coat of icing is on and purple sparkles on the top.

Mmmm...tastes as good as it looks!

Photo Cube Class

I had so much fun designing this set of blocks to display in our home.

I will be teaching a class next week at the local Family Centre to make these...looking forward to it

2011|1|11

Made candy kabobs for Scarlett's upcoming birthday celebrations this week.

And a photo of our dog Piper...she is looking so pretty here.

Hope you're having a week!

2011|1|10

Monday nights in the winter are 'pasta nights' for us.

Tonight was Mozza Filled Meatballs with tomato sauce, spaghetti & broccoli.

No recipe, just lean ground beef, spices, an egg, and crushed crackers mixed. Then I simply formed a ball around a cube of mozzarella cheese. It was a hit with our family!

2011 Fitness Challenge

Cory & I have joined the 2011 Fitness Challenge at our local gym. I had the pleasure of meeting all the contestants while photographing them for their before photos...there are 60 eager people entered! Over the next 8 weeks we have committed to Move More, Eat Less (love this concept by Cathy Z). We're going to be making good/concious decisions with what we eat and attending fitness classes together twice a week. We both have our own personal goals in mind, it's nice to be in this together...here we go!!!

2011|1|9

Hockey Hockey Hockey

Ace's first game back after winter break...I missed watching these kiddos play.

I'm so proud of my husband for taking on the coach role with Ace's Initiation Team.

It's been a learning experience...but I'm sure the reward and entertainment of watching the team play is all worth it!

2011|1|8

Yesterday Coco got her first tooth!

We're getting her used to the bottle since I'm still nursing and now that she has teeth, I think it's time to wean.

2011|1|7

Ahhh, that's better. My studio after I took some time to organize, purge and just plain clean-up in there (it really needed it). Over the holidays, this was the room anything and everything was just tossed into, creating a disaster. I am so thrilled by how it turned out.

Before... (edit: I had moved out most of the mess before I realized I should do a before photo, every inch of the floor was covered)

cardstock pile to sort was over flowing

And now, voila...

My absolute favorite part of the room...photo shelf along my desk area inspired by Becky Higgins!!!

The corner where I keep my Cricut, punches, ribbons & layout drawers.

(edit: white shelf hung on the wall is this one)

Our dog's chair by the magazines.

Workstation from Pier 1...hopefully a little more functional with my workflow.

Most commonly used tools have their own spot on this table.

Under the workstation I keep a filing cabinet for 8.5x11 cardstock...it's very handy for whipping together cards. And my trashcan lives here also.

I took a chance to sort all my cardstock into the SU new color families.

Corner for patterned 12x12 paper, printer, stack of printable lables, LOM category drawers.

Added another row of cubes to this storage and placed SU inks & Big Shot on top.

(edit: stocked up on all of these cubes from Michaels very patiently, using a 40% off coupon for each and every one of them)

Corner for the phone, tv/dvd player, box of handmade cards, handy catalogues and a fun handpainted bowl of loose stamps.

Stamp storage...sorted by themes (words, shapes, kids, christmas, etc.)

I have found that I need a bit of extra organization when it comes to stamps, so I'm going to stamp the images from each set and put together a binder for quick reference...that way I can flip through the binder to be inspired and refresh myself with the stamps I have on hand.

Backside of my workstation...here I have clear 12x12 boxes with embellishments sorted by theme (Halloween, love, boy, girl, fall, winter, coffee, etc.). These boxes represent a place I can go for items with popular themes I create with.

Makes me feel so much better to have this room under control...let's hope it stays that way.

I am very lucky to have this space all to myself...it was a wish of mine when my husband & I built our dream home 2 years ago.

Read more about storage solutions in this room here and here.

(edit: wall color is Jalapeno Pepper by Benjamin Moore)

2011|1|6

Ace with his friend Dominic on their first day back at school...Ace was so excited to see his friends that he missed over the break.

The girls and I were back to hangin out together again...getting back into our routine again.

2011|1|5

Fresh haircuts for Ace & Scarlett from Auntie Amber before school starts back up this week.

2011|1|4

Today I received my Project Life kit in the mail...so pumped for this year's version!

2011|1|3

Projects around the house are getting completed...yay! Cory & Justin (our neighbor & employee) are adjusting this cabinet. Cory & I have made up a list of projects to tackle around the house over the full year and plan on working on them as we can to make this house 'shine' like it was meant to. Some items on the list for January are:

• attic access
• adjusting cabinets
• door trim missing
• hrv in garage
• hang photo grid in main living room
• adjust door stops

2011|1|2

Happy 87th Birthday to my Grandfather!

My Mom & I helped him celebrate by taking over a Crave Cupcake for him to enjoy.

2011|1|1

I am so thrilled to be doing Project Life again for another year.

Trying to start off strong and print my photos as I go, since I fell off the bandwagon last year around March. But on the up side, I have kept up my blog, so I can go back and print them some time or another.

We celebrated New Years in Minot with friends. Had fun hangin' around the mall with my munchkins...

Scarlett & I treated ourselves to ice cream at Stone Cold Creamery.

Waiting for Dad on the benches by the big mall clock.

Gumball machines, the perfect backdrop for my crazy kiddos.

Scarlett reading to Coco back at the hotel.

We had a pizza party with our friends, the Heisers & the Irwins.

And everyone had a great time swimming...fun, fun, fun!

2011 One Little Word

Happy New Year!

A fresh start and a fresh new word of the year for me: SHINE!

(check out my words from 2010, 2009 & 2008)

The Mercer's wish you joy & smiles in the coming year!