ModCloth Cabin Fever Sale!!

Ready to update your look for the new year? Then it is time to catch the fever, as in the ModCloth Cabin Fever Sale. For a limited time you can get 70% off great styles from ModCloth during their annual Cabin Fever Sale. Supplies are limited so grab your favorites today before they are gone!

Irwin St. Gingerbread Homes

Sorry that this post is late. I've been distracted with a bunch of things lately. Like, which DIY project should I tackle first? Or how long is my husband going to be at sea? Or how long can I tolerate my children in the most loving fashion without losing ?? Things like that lol. I'm not going to lie, it's been a little tough. But really only on the discipline side. The Hubs is in San Diego for a bit until he does out to sea on a submarine. He's debating being gone from either 4 months to 6 months. He wants to be on the fast track to Chief and he's convinced this will do it.

Anyway, on  a better note... We were invited to our neighbors house to decorate gingerbread houses. I snapped a few not-so-hot pics of the process. My children loved it. And I recommend doing this in the future. But you can do it for other holidays. Like, for Easter you can make a tomb, the one that Jesus rose from. Or if you don't believe in that, a little house or rabbit hole for the Easter bunny. 

This was our first year being invited to a gingerbread house making party or making ginger bread houses at home in general. We had a lot of fun. In some of the pictures it doesn't look it though.

The ingredients. Some M&M's, chocolate snocaps, pretzels, coconut shavings, icing, gobbstoppers and so on.

My little Lylibug using her fabulous icing bag to spread icing on her house. 

This is a good tip. Use a Ziploc baggie to frost/ice cookies, houses cakes if you don't have an icing bag. Just cut a very small piece of the tip of the bag off.

Little Miss Kinley. She's absolutely adorable and a new friend to my girls.

Some of the village homes.

Carter icing his roof. His house was one of the coolest ones.

B-Dubb being held by Ms. Niomi. He looks pensive. 

Anna-Claire(left) and her big sis(and our babysitter) Brooke. Brooke is also the girls Sunday School Teacher. 

Miss Chrissy and Kinley's gingerbread house. It's far from finished and came out more elaborately than this. 

Coconut shavings as snow. See I would have never thought of this. I know it's simple but I don't think like this lol.

Tootise Rolls for logs I guess? And Pretzels with M&M's for an enchanted walkway.

Seamus and Anna-Claire were decorating their houses together. Poor Seamus, his house kept falling apart no matter how much "glue" Miss Niomi used.

Seamus's roof I think? It might be Anna-Claire's.

I just had to snap a few pics of B-Dubb being just adorably cute and perfect.

This little visit was so much fun!! Niomi has Christmas lights hung in a zig zag pattern across her ceiling because the wiring in housing stinks so bad. Lights burn out all the time. The lights give a warm glow throughout the kitchen. It feels cozy and like you're outside at one of those street parties in a spanish town somewhere.

Mmm-mmm munching on my first pretzel.

Nom nom nom

I love this little camp fire!!! So inventive Chrissy!!

Peppermint hearts.

The Irwin St. Gingerbread homes. Since we live on a Cul-de-Sac we made the houses on one too.

B-Dubb just can't hang.

Google streets view

Now it's Google Maps lol.

I couldn't get a good enough shot for Apple Maps.

Any of you do any cool Christmas themed activities? Any time spent with friends? Any surprise guests??

Layla Grayce Sale

Hey everyone!! I just wanted to let you know of a Valentine's Day sale going on at Layla Grayce. This site is amazing!! They have so many unique and beautiful items from home decor to clothing. They even sell fabric!

Below are some of my favorite gifts.

I've included links to the items I've shown below(please bear with me. Blogging from my iPad app is not easy).

1. Barefoot Dreams Cardigan in Cozy Pink and Espresso
2. Sienna Pink and Sea Earrings
3. Rosanna Les Petite Sweets Compote Square

You can find something for the little girl in your life or you can hint to the beau of your life that the special gift you want is at this site. Just clicks the link to go check out the sale.

Layla Grayce Valentine's Day Sale.



You can save 15% off on Valentine's Day merchandise. Just type in 15pink when you check out. This sale ends 1/31.

A Delay In Plans

Hey all!! There's going to be a delay in posts. An accident happened with my iMac keyboard. It got destroyed by hot chocolate today and I'm working off of the iPad. The problem? I can't access any of my photos on my computer. And I don't know how to get them from my Nikon d3100 to my iPad sans computer. Please bear with me as I work to get this issue resolved.

Thank you
~Portia

Ballet & Snow

Ever since I was a small child I loved ballet. I loved how graceful and strong and beautiful the ballerinas were. I loved the costumes and the stage. But I never danced. My mother couldn't afford for me to take ballet and my grandparents wouldn't support it for their own reasons. Now that I'm a mommy to two little girls I have the absolute privilege of living vicariously through them hehehe(maniacal laugh). 

Not only do I get to watch do something I love but I love seeing them do that something that I love lol. I'm blessed, so far they like it. They love the slippers and the costumes. And my youngest, Maddy J, calls them "go-llet lippers". It's just too cute. 

Maddy J. I have no idea what kind of face she was making.

Lyli Rose. When I told her that she was going to be taking ballet, she did a happy dance and squealed!!

Ok so ages 14 and 12 anyone? I swear by this age(4 and 3) they come preloaded with all the attitude and sass a teenage girl could ever need.

And for B-Dubb?? Well...Not a single care was given that day :)

Today, there is snow. And it just keeps coming! I love it. Well, the look of it. There are few things more magical and more peaceful than a blanket of  freshly fallen snow.

This is the view from our back porch. 

Right past the playground is water.  People load their canoes and kayaks and just go. It's really interesting having the water right there.

I am ashamed to say that I didn't have my camera out when all my kids were outside.

There would have been some awesomely spectacular shots. Kids were having snowball fights and wrestling matches in the snow!!

 I love the falling snow against the brick. 

The side yard I guess you could call it. I am really not digging the log/cabin style homes lol. I guess back in the 30's this was it huh?

This is B-Dubb's first official snow. All the others he couldn't sit or stand in it. So this is the only one that counts lol.

Lyli Rose and Maddy J clowin' around. Shh don't look but their snow pants are too small. I have to get them new ones lol.

Isn't he just adorable?

Anyone else getting slammed with snow/ice? Any snowboarding, skiing or sledding planned for the afternoon?

Little Gems Family Update

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDALAENA!!!!!!! My baby girl turned 3 years old yesterday!! I can't believe she's 3 already! It was like I gave birth to her yesterday. 

Maddy J 1/13/2010 19.5in 7.06lbs.      Maddy J 1/13/2013 31.5in 28lbs. 

Right now I'm rocking out to Cheryl Lloyd's I Want You Back. For some reason I like this song even though the "UGHH!!" is REALLY cheesy :)

We went to the clinic today because Blake and Maddalaena had their follow up check ups. Blake had his 9 month and Maddy J had her 3 year. We got there and did the standard fill-out-100-or-so-pages of forms before being admitted. That took a minute. Then we had to wait for a good 20-30 minutes to see the doctor. Whom I love, because she takes her time to explain everything to you so that you understand and don't screw up your kids. She's very patient. And kind. 

So the hospitalman(woman) took all the measurements and vitals. My little macho man Blake "B-Dubb" Allen weighed in at 21lbs and stood tall at 31.5in. Not to be confused with the 37.5 I posted earlier(sorry about that :)). And my pin thin little lady stood high at 39.5in and weighed in at a mere 28lbs. Tall and thin. And I'm breeding a tight end with B-Dubb. Patriots keep your eyes peeled for this guy huh huh?? Wink wink.

Now, who likes getting shots? I don't mind them. I just stare them down like when Maddy J steals my chapstick out of my purse. Yes...she did that today. My girls hate LOATHE them. They scream and cry. It takes two people sometimes three to hold them down, one at a time. So I had to beat around the bush when they asked if they were getting shots. I would say "I'm not sure" or "Blake is getting a shot". They would smile at that one. But in the end they each got a flu vaccine. But the crazy news came when I found out that the clinic might have accidentally mixed up their vaccinations. Meaning Maddalaena got Lylian's(in November, they had physicals) and vice versa. I was very questionable and upset. Although I kept my composure. The Hubs would have been proud :) Thank you, thank you *pats self on back. But now, I have no clue who has what and what's needed next. So far no one seems to be struggling or having a reaction to getting vaccinations mixed up. 

On that note, PLEASE make sure that the immunization people know who they're giving what to. 

It's scary not knowing what's going on. The problem is, with my girls being so close in age they're easily confused. Typically people mix up their names. They'll say Lylianna? Which is gorgeous, but it's not my kids name lol.

B-Dubb's adenoids are quite large. The doctor doesn't know if it's due to allergies or if he has a problem that might require surgery. He has very little space between the upper back of this throat and his tongue.  So he's on Singulair for a few weeks to see if that clears anything up. If so, then we know it's allergies. If not then we know that it's something more serious. B-Dubb's issue right now is that he snores very heavily. Even to the point where it wakes him up at night. He also stops breathing sporadically. Which can be very dangerous. So we're hoping to get this issue resolved soon.

Both Maddy J and B-Dubb have small umbilical hernia's. Maddy J has had hers since she was about 6 months old. I've been waiting for it to close and it hasn't. So we're going to wait it out with both of them to see if it closes or if any pain comes from having the hernias. If pain occurs than Maddy J will have to have surgery. She will have to go under with anesthesia and everything. All this will happen probably when Richard is out to sea. Please keep our family in your prayers as we sort all of these things out. 

Me on the other hand? I have been picking up amazing finds to refinish. And I've also picked up the fabric to make floor cloths for the dining room and kitchen, and to reupholster the dining chairs. I found a $5 rocking horse that I'll be repainting and a $13 dining table with a leaf that seats 6 at max that I will be refinishing in Annie Sloan's chalk paint and soft wax in brown in the upcoming month or so. Keep a look out and keep coming back for more projects and updates!!!

Road Block Anyone?

Recently I have been in this design road block. I've told you all in a previous post, that I am redesigning my dining room. The table is finished. It's pretty and I'm pretty proud of my refinishing skills. If you haven't gotten a chance to read about it, you can read more about the processes here, here and here. 

See, I thought I knew what I wanted. I swore( I know naughty, naughty. Finger wagging and head shaking) I knew what I wanted. I had fabrics picked out, a design board made and paint and materials all priced out. But I couldn't figure out which pattern should on the windows and which one on the floor. I was stumped. Completely. I was thinking a geometric print on the windows and then a damask print on the floors. I couldn't picture it at all. I kept going back and forth, wondering if it would be too much have a pattern on every surface.

Remember this beauty? It got the old nix-o. Three strikes. It's O-U-T!!!

Then I was hit with open-mindedness. A bunch of what-ifs popped up and flooded my mind. What if I added a bold color instead of just having grays, whites and browns? What if I didn't paint the chairs? Is twill the best fabric of choice for everyday dining? How would velvet on the chairs look? What if I did a solid fabric on the chairs instead of stripes?  And so on and so forth. 

So out with the old in with the new right?

Oh yeah baby. Boo-Yeeeahh!!! I LOVE this!!! Just which print for the drapes?

I had to take a step back and breathe. I took a week from blogging and from designing(a new found hobby/love). Then a few days ago I started to clean my dining room. It's the first space you walk into when you enter my home and so I'm a little OCD about keeping up elementary appearances lol. I have these red Pier 1 candles in glass hurricanes on my table as well as a white decorative bowl with oranges and a yellow vase with red and cream silk flowers. As I was scrubbin-a-dubb-dubbing away, the color of the oranges stood out to me. Something about the gray of the table and the boldness of the fruit caught my eye. Then I looked up at the cream flowers and I knew I was onto something. But it just wasn't right. I omitted the red candles and the red flowers from the vase, then I added orange Pier 1 candles to the hurricane vases. Voila!! It was perfect! I knew my new color scheme. The orange was just the perfect contrast and pop of color the space needed. Gray and orange; it's soft but bold. Feminine but masculine. It's Perfection. Total cheesiness huh?

As for the chairs? I'm going to leave them unfinished. I love the color of the wood with the rest of the color palette. I decided to change the fabric from twill to linen during all of this enlightenment. I thought the switch would help soften up the room. I'm using the Warsa Linen from Gray Line Linen on the chairs and for the floor cloth. It'll be my first time ordering from the company and using their fabrics. I've heard great things about them from The Little Green Notebook(you should check out her blog). Warsa Linen is a heavier weight linen good for suiting and drapery. So I figured that it would hold up on everyday dining chairs. 

I'll also be using the same linen but in a different color for the floor cloth under the table. It will be lighter than the chairs to add contrast, texture and brightness to the room. 

Tomorrow I'll be releasing my updated design board for this "new" dining room. I'm proud because by stepping away from my blog and Pinterest I was able to come up with this color palette on my own. It's a thinking-outside-the-box for me type thing. I am a creature of color habit. I always have been. But since I've been blogging and experiencing other blogs my tastes have changed. And I like it.

My next projects will include: refinishing my living room end tables, finding commode style( not the bedside potty) bureaus for our master bedroom, reupholstering the chairs and making the floor cloths.

Has anyone heard of floor cloths? They are superbly awesome!! They are the awesomeness of a well decorated rug but with the efficiency of a laminate floor. And what's great is that you can use them anywhere!!! On the back porch, bedroom(with a rug pad underneath), mud room and in other convenient places. In the upcoming weeks I'll be posting more tutorials about floor cloths, dining chair restoration and drapery making.

Anyone else interested in floor cloths? Or making your own custom drapes?

New Things To Come

Happy January 2nd!!! I'm wasting no time getting into the swing of this new year. I did get a late start though. I woke up at 7:15am. That's pretty late for us. My son's bus comes around 7:45-7:50. I had to wake up two little girls and a baby, get hair done, dressed and fed. Oh and my son too. I was so late in fact that I had to shoo my son out the door to catch the bus without me walking him to the bus stop (something I HATE doing). I hurriedly got everyone else geared up and out the door just in time to wave to him as the bus pulled away. Talk about a close call!!

So if you've made new resolutions or game changers, don't feel bad. You can always make them happen no matter how late you are or how far off schedule you are. I did it :)

This year I am not going to say I am turning over a new leaf. But I will be building, decorating, organizing and taking you along with me. Our household, since moving, has lost almost all form of a schedule. When my eldest was little, we had a strict schedule. From food to toy pick up to bedtime routine not minute was to be missed or the apocalypse would ensue( or so I thought). After having a few more children I realized that I could relax and not stick to such a crazy-strict schedule. Well, now the not-so-crazy schedule is long gone and everyone is sorta flying by the seat of their pants.

New chore charts will be made, closets will be cleaned out, a new command center will be erected and the cobwebs are comin' down baby(figure of speech). Although in these homes cobwebs really do exist and it wasn't because of us. We've only been here about two months.

Magnetic Kids Chore Chart from A Spotted Pony    White Command Center from Maven of Savin'

Some of my closest family and friends know that I am a planning freak. I will sit down to plan something out in the morning and next thing I know I'm prying myself away from my computer to get my son from the bus. It's bad. The Hubbs sometimes brags about it and not in a good way. Know what I mean?

DIY Paint Chip Calendar from The Bird With The French Fry

One of my "things" I will be working on is to be more of a doer and less of a planner/dreamer. There are so many times where I let opportunities slip by because I'm too busy planning every facet of the details. 

Another is to be more home organized. My house isn't the most organized space. There are toys, clothing, sometimes food and dirt everywhere. My sewing has over taken the sewing table, papers have over taken the desk, and toys have over taken every other square inch of this house. I'll be labeling and sorting every room in my home. And I can't wait :D 

Burlap Sacks from Pottery Barn

Is it sad that I have been dreaming about this for years?