Painting

Leah and I have been using the cold weather to complete some art projects.  Leah loves to paint, so when I suggested painting one day after naptime, she quickly agreed.  We used q-tips instead of paint brushes and it ended up being so much cleaner.

I've got a few more art and crafts projects in mind, but I think we'll definitely be doing this again. 

Rearranging

I've determined bad things happen around here when it's a cold, rainy weekend, without football on tv, and no plans on our schedule.  This weekend or Sunday rather, we decided to do some rearranging.  With the load of toys Leah has been accumulating, her playroom was becoming quite crowded and her toys were spilling out into the downstairs tv room.  We decided that it'd be better to have Leah's playroom in our office area and to move our office to her playroom.

 Her playroom before.  Visit this post for more of how her playroom looked before. 

 Our office before, yep it's a mess. 

 Her new, not-quite-finished playroom.

I've got some good ideas for her playroom, let's just home it can all come together and be budget friendly. :) I'm thinking we might paint it the same blue as before since we have some left, but that might change, depending on what I find on Pinterest. :) 

 I'm really excited about this becoming her new playroom, not only does it have lots  more space, it's got a window, and a closet.  It will be the perfect space for her to grow into.  

 Our new office.

It's quite cozy for Tim and I, but I think I like it.  We ended up painting it the same grey as the tv room and it gives it a really nice, clean look.  I've already painted this room once, (or twice if you count the color mix up) and I wasn't really sure about painting it again, but I'm so glad we did. 

 Tim's desk

My desk

I've also finally hung my diploma from KSU, I'm still waiting on a frame to hang my master's. 

Not a too bad for a project that we didn't start until 12:30 and included a trip to Home Depot and two coats of paint.  

McClelland Family Christmas 2012

One of the things I enjoy about having our families live so far apart (I'm looking on the bright side), is that we get to spread our Christmas out a little bit.  This year we celebrated Christmas Day with my family in Kansas, came home for a couple of days, then traveled to Tim's parent's house on the 28th to have Christmas with his family.  It's nice when we're at one family's house that we don't have to worry about trying to be several places in one day and can spend the entire day/ weekend without having to rush off.
Anyway, our families were both very good to us this year and we're so thankful we got to spend the time together.

One of the things I received this year was a gift card for a Photoshop Elements class, so I used my new skills and created a collage of my pictures.  I'm pretty excited for this and hopefully there will be more to come!

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013!

I'm a little behind with the 2012 recap...
I tried to pick a picture from each month.  I mainly wanted to see how Leah's grown and changed throughout the year.  In January she as just 14 months and now at 26 months, it's amazing to see how she's changed.

So very thankful I get to spend my days with this sweet 2-year-old!
Goodbye 2012.... Hello 2013!

Insta- December

I haven't done an Instagram post in a while, so why not.  These are all from December.

 Our Christmas Decorations

 So much for that Pinterest project, Leah wanted to color with the crayons instead. 

 Ready for the colder weather

A Pinterest win and a great keepsake. 

This was round 1 of the Christmas cookies, you can read the full post here. 

My helper and cookie baker

Knock-off Chiptole

Tim and I went to see Wicked and I downloaded the soundtrack before we went, it was the perfect music for my drive to work. 

Leah and I met some friends at the Magic House and while we were there Santa made an appearance.  Can't you tell Leah was thrilled to see him?

Round 2 of Christmas cookies, Leah didn't help as much this time, she was more of the taste-tester

Merry Christmas!

A family Christmas picture

This was the best of about 20 attempts, better luck next year. 

Leah is a good traveler as long as there is a movie playing. :) 

December Happenings

December has been full of holiday happenings, but it seems my camera didn't make it out of the bag for  most of them, such is life!  

 The library hosted a morning with Santa activity earlier in the month.  Leah met Santa, but wasn't too interested in him, so I didn't get any pictures.  They also had other activities set up, she made reindeer food to spread on the grass for the reindeer (oatmeal and glitter), ate cookies, make a sticker gingerbread house and read books.

 Leah could listen to someone read stories forever and this lady was happy to read to her. 

 I tried to get a few pictures in front of the Christmas tree like last year, but for some reason I didn't have much luck.  I think I was in too big of a hurry.  I might just try again since our tree is still up.  

 I think this is Leah's favorite ornament on our try, it's of a cat.  Unfortunately it was also our first ornament causality, notice the broken tail.  

 We left out cookies for Santa.  I also forgot to take pictures of what Santa left, but Leah got a train set, stuffed Dumbo, monster bowling, and a few other random things.  She liked leaving the cookies out, but when it came time to "see if Santa came", she didn't want to, I think she thought he was still in our living room, ha!

 We also celebrated Christmas with my family.  We tried for some pictures with the girls in their matching shirts my mom made.  I didn't take the time to set my camera, so unfortunately all my pictures turned out blurry or off color.  

 Three cousins showing off their "Hello Kitty" jewelry. 

We're off to celebrate our 2nd Christmas with Tim's family this weekend.  Maybe I'll do a better job of taking pictures!