A new favorite place to play

Lately Michael has climbed into my scrapbook hutch and would ask me to shut the door. He would hang out for about a minute and then want out. This morning he climbed in and started handing me the stuff I have stored underneath so he could have a full play area. Eventually he had toys, books and one of daddy's garage lights in there and was just hanging out. He hung out for probably a good 45 minutes just reading and "talking to Brooksy" on his cell phone. I took the long middle drawer out of the hutch so I could see him and so he would have some more light although it didn't bother him that it was dark. I of course snapped some photos on my phone while I soaked in the fact that he was occupied for longer than 5 minutes.

Toms!!

Just a small short "Love on Toms" post : ) Mykayla got her first pair today at Nordstrom and she was pretty excited about them. I have had mine for about a month and I will be getting another pair sometime soon. They are super comfy and cute! I'm sold!

Recent iPhone faves

Since I have discovered the Blogger app on my phone, hopefully I will be doing some more iPhone photo posts. I take tons of pics on my phone but don't get them all posted to Facebook or Instagram so I like to share them here. Here are some recent favorites of mine...

The one of Adam cracks me up! He was trying to be cool like the kids and do gymnastic tricks over the ottoman. I thought for sure he was going to break something : )

Playing preschool : )

Being a former preschool teacher has its advantages when you are home with a two year old. This week we have been outside enjoying the sun and doing some learning too! I love teaching Michael new things and watching him process it and use his new knowledge.

We practiced fine motor skills with hammer and nails AND close adult supervision, large motor skills with some basketball and math with 1 to 1 correspondence (1 string cheese per plate)

Having fun learning is what it is all about!!

Blogger app!!!

Just got the Blogger app on my phone! So excited to be able to blog on the go!

Easter Weekend

After uploading 245 pictures from Easter weekend alone (meaning just Saturday and Sunday), I would say we had an amazing Easter weekend with family! I say this alot but thank goodness for digital! Pick the ones you love to show off or scrap, delete the not so good ones and the rest will be on your computer if you ever want them.

Our Easter weekend started Thursday evening with The Last Supper play at the Marysville Church of the Nazarene. My dad wrote and directed the play and Celia was the stage manager. This is the second year they have done the play and each year dad adds a new element to it. In one word...AMAZING!! I enjoyed it so much that I went on Friday night with Adam too. The play was actually in The Herald on the front page of the local section on Saturday. If you get the paper and still have it, go check it out. Great article!
Saturday morning, we went to a HUGE egg hunt at MCN. Tons of eggs, bouncy houses, pony rides, face painting, coloring, Legos and snacks! We celebrated Easter with the Pawlak clan at Papa Mike and Grandma Linda's. Auntie Kristin and Uncle Mark hid about 160 eggs for the grand kids in nana and papa's backyard and they all had a blast looking for them. Grandma Linda made an extra special group of eggs for Michael filled with Sixlets and Pirate Booty. It was good to see everyone and the day was made even better with the sun and warmth!!

I will try and pick my most favorite from the 245 but this may still be a little pic heavy : )

Hunting for eggs

Best Buds!

Pony rides all around

Egg hunt at Nana and Papa's

And no Pawlak family gathering would be complete without street hockey and rides in Papa's riding lawn mower trailer.

I also enjoyed a nice ice cold Coca Cola Classic after giving it up for lent 6 weeks ago! I am very proud of myself (and my family) for sticking to our commitment. Kayla wants to give up candy next year : )

#marchphotoaday

Instagram is my favorite!!! Last month I used a photo prompt list from @fatmuslim (an Instagram user I assume) to take a photo a day in March. It was super fun and I got to share them with several thousand other Instagram users and see what all of their ideas for the prompt were. Here is a collage of my favorites from the month..

Day 1: Up. I throw my hands up in the air sometimes.
Day 3: Your neighborhood. The sign across the street from our house.
Day 11: Someone you talked to today. 3 of my most favorite people to talk to.
Day 13: A sign. Found these neat signs in an antique shop that I wandered around.
Day 15:Car. Michael loves his "vroom, vroom car"
Day 16: Sunglasses. As you can tell from the window, she did not need the sunglasses that day.
Typical Washington Spring day.
Day 18: Corner of your home. My favorite corner of our house is where my scrapbook hutch is.
Day 27: Your name. Auntie Mae Mae is what my nieces and nephews call me. This was a letter from my niece Jordan thanking me for letting her sit on my couch which is similar to hers : )
Day 29: Feet. Kayla and I were playing that morning before school.

I've already started #photoadayapril. Come join me on Instagram!!

Happy Blog-iversary to me!!

Today is my one year blogging anniversary!

It's possible that word in my title has already been used or made up but I thought it was pretty clever : ) I can't believe I have been blogging (almost consistently) for 1 year already! I have had a great time sharing joy, sorrow, pictures, highlights, crafts and much more with you. I think my favorites over the last year are definitely the ones featuring my children and/or husband; after-all they are my entire world! I could sit here all night and list all my favorite posts from the year because I have enjoyed it so much. Thank you for following, reading, offering support and just being there! I hope you have enjoyed reading as much as I have enjoyed blogging!!

Another Pinterest DIY

(For the third time now) Adam and I got a new bed a couple weeks back but didn't get a frame, just the rolling one that comes with it. (The mattresses were expensive enough!) I wanted to do some sort of "headboard" though since we have had a picture frame hanging above our bed for about 3 years now with one old (meaning no Michael) family picture in it and the other spots still occupied with people we didn't know. It had to come down!! I found this project on Pinterest and thought it would be cheap, simple and look great!
Here is the steps:

Step 1: Gather supplies. You will need 12x12 canvases, 12x12 patterned paper, paint, paint brushes and some sort of adhesives. You can also choose to use some embellishments. I used some fun ribbon and flowers.

Step 2: Paint the outside edges of your canvases.

Step 3: Arrange and adhere your paper and embellishments.

Step 4: Hang above bed or wherever you would like. I think this would look neat above a fireplace also.

And here is my original pin...