Meet our new TV cabinet

{After}We're in the middle of a lot of furniture shifting around here as part of our plans to make adequate storage in the house. We got a new TV after Thanksgiving and we wanted to put it in something different than our old TV cabinet, which is going to the hallway to serve as a linen closet. My parents took us to furniture liquidations store that specializes in stuff from hotels and resorts and we got this little solid wood cabinet for $10! It was not in fantastic condition, but I wanted to paint it anyway. It took 3 cans of spray paint for a total cost of less than $20. We had extra cabinet knobs and Matt cut out some of the back panel for the cords. Amazingly, all our machines and game and movie cases fit in there.
{Before}

Monday's Educational Activity

On my weekly schedule I decided that on Mondays Cadence and I would do an educational activity. I know that at 2 just about everything we do is an educational activity, but I'm trying to do something more specific. Yesterday, we sorted and counted. We started with her Little People figures and sorted and lined up the animals and then the people. Then, we moved on to her kitchen and found all the utensils (knives, forks, spoons) and counted those. This was great fun for her and we got to think about categories and work on one-to-one counting!

P.S. As I snapped this picture, she said, "No, I don't want to smile." Even though I wasn't asking her to smile or even look at me! I think all the Christmas pictures have made her even more opposed to posing for the camera!

What happens when Cadie doesn't get to interact with another kid for a week

Between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, Cadence spent all her time with adults, and I think she was ready for another playmate.

She found Rainey napping on the guest bed, brought his entire basket of toys, and proceeded to offer him all of them.

He left.


Note: The guest bedroom is actually rather nice and not at all as junky as these pictures make it look while it is housing the Christmas stuff awaiting storage.

Happy New Year!

We returned home from our Christmas travels and I promptly began to fret about the organization and storage issues in our house. We didn't get that much new stuff for Christmas, but it was enough that we really don't have places to put all of it! I've been feeling like my household management has gotten a little out of control.

I'm not much of a person for New Year's Resolutions, but I've decided I really need to stick to my (very loose) weekly schedule and (rather minimal) weekly goals. To help me achieve some of this stuff, I've found a couple free printables that I hope will help me stay on track. Crystal at Money Saving Mom offers a Customizable Daily Docket here, and Buttoned Up has a Goal List form here.

That said, now I must go clean the bathroom.

Merry Christmas!

I finished a project!

I've been on a kick to knit lately. I feel badly about the amount of yarn here, just sitting around...when I could be turning it into useful items. So, I made this little vest for Cadence, using up some green bulky yarn that I think my Aunt Karen gave me a few years ago. It's based on this pattern here, but I changed several things to make it fit Cadence, and to use exactly the amount of yarn I had.


Best action shots I could get.

Deals of the Week (from last week)

This week was strangely busy so these are actually all items I got last Friday shopping in Asheville. Due to coupons I got:
The Tinkerbell sticker set (going into Cadie's stocking) and two of those candy bars (one had already been consumed when this picture was taken) at Hallmark for $1.02. I had a $5 off a purchase of $5 or more coupon.
The lotion was $.49 at Target, because they let you combine a manufacturer's coupon with a store coupon.
The conditioner was $.36.

Wait until you see what I got for free this week!

Snow Day!

We had a good amount of snow this weekend and the temps have stayed frigid so Matt didn't have school yesterday. Yesterday morning, Cadence got to go sledding for the first time. The sled was one of the many things we found left by the previous owners of our previous home (including two christmas trees, a box of toys, and frozen yogurt in the not-turned-on freezer, among other things). Anyway, she loved it! The snow doesn't look great in these pictures but because it was so cold, it had frozen to a nice crust - good for sledding!


Our yard has a lot of little hills, perfect for toddler sledding.


When we were done, we came inside for hot chocolate.

Watching the tractor and red shoes

We've been busy around here, shopping for gifts, decorating our tree, hosting playgroup yesterday and nursing poor Matt who has the stomach flu (he hasn't thrown up today though, as far as I know).

Wanted to share some pics I took of Cadence today. We ran to the laundry room to get the best view of the tractor that delivers some food item that's not hay to the cows every afternoon. I don't know anything about raising cows - Cadie calls it their snack, which is fair enough.
Anyway, I thought it was cute that she brought her farmer girl to the window, so I took a pic and that turned into a photo shoot showing off her red shoes. I picked up these shoes after last Christmas at Target. They were on ridiculous clearance - I know they were less than $3. The same style is back there this year going for $12 or more, I think.
She really likes these shoes! The last two days I went in her room after nap/quiet time and she had gone into her closet, gotten them out, and put them on her feet. They were on the wrong feet, but still!
Speaking of pictures, I'd really like to send out photo Christmas cards this year, but I'm worried we are too late. We don't have a good Christmas-y picture of the 3 of us. I thought I might just try for one of Cadence, but she does not like to stand still for pictures - getting these was pretty amazing, especially since she's sort of smiling here (and, I think, attempting a Rockette-style kickline move. She confirmed it was like the girls we saw on TV on Thanksgiving. We will need to get her in dance classes.)

Thanksgiving Week, in some pictures

Well, since I last posted my aunt and uncle came to visit. Then we went to my parents' for Thanksgiving. And I had a birthday. Sadly, I don't have very many good pictures of any of this fun stuff.

I can show you that there was lots of turkey (including a really cute one on Cadie's jumper which I - again - sadly did not appear to capture) and we ate and were satisfied.