I blinked and he is 5.

Dear Sullivan,

Holy smokes!  I blinked and you are 5!  FIVE!  

How is that possible?  Seems impossible but here we are.  Its where we are right now.  Of course it is.  It is not like we have not lived day in and day out that past 5 years.  No, we definitely have.  We have lived through the morning whines, road trips, vacations, holidays and all the mundane events of our daily lives.  Together.

 I have so enjoyed watching you grow and learn.  Your intensity for life and emotion can only be matched by a select few.  I am not going to lie, it makes parenting you a challenge sometimes.  You question EVERYTHING (as you should).  And you remember exactly what we tell you, your experiences and how you felt every step of the way.

But in turn, you have brought so much fun and excitement, adventure and magic to our everyday lives.  You demand that we live in the moment and have all the feelings.

And we get to see life all over again through your eyes.

You are now a whole hand old.  Because of you, we are living right in the heart of life.  The "sweet spot".  Still little but big enough to understand so very much.

Right now, it is all about experiences.  I can't tell you how enjoyable it is to experience life with you.

You do life with such gusto:)

But that is just your way.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I became you mother.  And I am glad I didn't know.  We have figured it out together (still are figuring it out).

Somehow your birthday turned into a 3 day birthday celebration extravaganza.

But thats ok.

You are only 5 once, right?

It feels like such a milestone birthday for me you.

Five is a pretty big deal.

And we run with big deals around here.  We do big deals BIG.  We don't shy away from big deals.

Because we love big.  Like 50 million.  I love you 50 million and that is big.

I love you to the sun and all the planets, because it is farther than the moon.  But you already know that.  Because we talk and talk and talk and talk about everything.  All the time.  Non-stop.

Keep talking, keep questioning and keep loving life.

Love,
Mama

Christmas tour time!!

It is almost Thanksgiving which means it is time to get the Christmas decorations out, right?  I completely agree!  Also, bring on the Christmas crafts!!  I have been crafting and creating all weekend.  I.can't.stop.  Let me show you what has been going on over here.

Here is our dining/sitting room.  

This is the best spot for drinking a pot cup of coffee.

 See that wreath on the window up there?  Coffee filters, foam wreath form and hot glue.  That is all it took.  I LOVE it!  I think I am going to make like 10 more and that is totally doable with my little buddy helper that painstakingly hands me each and every coffee filter while I man the hot glue gun.

I rearranged our gallery wall.  I don't know if you have seen those wooden signs with all the reindeer names on them in those nice barn wood frames but I have and I wanted one SO BAD.  What I had on hand was a giant black canvas and a thrift store gold frame.  The canvas was not a chalkboard but after testing the chalk marker I knew I could make it look like one.

I rubbed the chalk over the canvas, wiped it off, wrote the white names in chalk marker and then used red paint for the Rudolph.  Yeah, my frame was too small for the canvas but that did not stop me putting the two together.

And because I am turning into a grandma, I had to display some doilies on some embroidery hoops and threw those up there too.

 Get to Target's dollar section and get yourself a $3 Noel pillow.  Now.

After moving the fireplace to this wall, it is like a whole new experience decorating this surface because it looks totally different!

 I have big plans for making this fireplace look more permanent and less just bought from the store and placed there, but that is for early 2016.  Dad, what are you doing in early 2016?  Just asking, no reason;)

Now, while you are at Target buying all the $3 pillows they have left, pick up some Phillips Dew Drop string battery lights with self timer.  These are AMAZING!!!  I plan on using them all winter even after the Christmas decor is taken down.

These trees are from the Target dollar bin as well.  I placed them in some tin buckets, strung them with dew drop lights and added "stars" with some little chalk board signs I also got in the Target dollars bins at the start of the school year.

Moving on to the other side of the room...

I tried to keep it pretty simple here and just did some garland I got from Hobby Lobby 2 seasons ago, glass + berries, milk glass, cake stand and chalkboard (of course).

The other side of the buffet I hung some of my vintage bulbs on drop cloth that I pinned over my huge coffee sack art.

I have a few decorations in the kitchen but that room is in such flux still, I am not going to show that room right now.

Lets head to the living room instead...

I FINALLY stopped stringing my lights on my tree like and amateur this year!  I am embarrassed to say I truly did not know that you should string it from "in and out" instead of "side to side".  You have to use a ton more lights but the effect is worth it!  I also added a string of bigger bulb lights.

Yes, we have some strategic placement of items around the tree for some gentle reminders for the blind dog in our house to  STOP and not run into the tree.  She is still getting the hang of this, poor girl.

And for my favorite spot in the house right now, the floating shelf above the TV.  I hung an old metal sled my MIL gave me up on the wall, put up some Craftshop signs, garlands + lights and a few other accessories and this is what I get to stare at when we are watching TV.

All time fav.

This holiday decorating got me taking a close look at some of my walls and I realized I have a lot of patching and re-painting ahead of me this January.  For now, I am just going to ignore the disaster going on behind the decor and enjoy the season by buying my family matching elf pajamas, secretly singing and dancing to Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" and spiking my egg nog, heavily.

"Punkins!"

Holy cow, how is October almost over and this is my first blog post this month?!?  Oops.  Don't worry, I have not been sitting idle!  I am still training for my half marathon on November 7th.  But I sustained a second injury during this training period (weak legs) so I have to take it easy for a week.  Hoping to get a few miles in tomorrow and ease back into it.  Today would have been a perfect day for a run, but instead we headed to a local pumpkin patch.  This year, we went to Eplegaarden in Fitchburg.  

From the moment we arrived until the moment we left, we got to listen to this one saying, "PUNKINS!"

 She was dressed in my most favorite outfit of hers right now.  Thankfully, we got some cute pics before she fell down like 147 times and got all dirty.

 The hubs, so strong.

 Obligatory family photo...

 The lighting was tough today.  Not easy to get good pics with noon sunlight.

 This guy.  I don't know when his smile started looking like he was in pain but that is what it is right now.

Obligatory cousin photo...

They had some horse drawn wagons there and Sully was brave enough to pet the horse with some help from cousin Ava.

Obligatory mother/daughter photo...

She was trying to slither away from me.  Sneaky little snake.

This lady has her "cheeeeeese" down pat:)

Obligatory father/daughter photos...

Auntie enjoying some baby Justine time...

My heart skips a bit when I see my nieces and nephews interact with my kids.  Especially the older nieces and nephew.  The kindness and interest they show in my kids are nothing short of amazing and I am so grateful.  They have no idea.  My kids are so very lucky to have such amazing cousins on both sides of their family.

Picking the perfect pumpkins...

Obligatory brother/sister photo (fail)...

Obligatory mother/son photo...

And lastly, me and my two "punkins"...

Now to finish making their Halloween costumes.  

I am done with the little lady's costume but possibly traumatized her when I put it on her.  It was TIGHT!  I had to cut it off her and add ties to the back so it is easier to get on and off, assuming she lets me put it on her again.  *sigh*  Pics to come!