capturing the sweet life.

Chaos abound

So what do West Michigan moms do for fun on a rainy weekday morning??  Chuck E' Cheese, of course!  Well, in all  honesty, this was my first time taking the kids there.  I gotta say, I wasn't terribly impressed, at least not as a parent of the under 5 crowd.  I can see how it might be fun for school-aged kids, but there was little to do for little ones still improving their hand-eye coordination.  I remember CEC has having lots of ball pits and crawl-around mazes.  This place had one very small crawl-around maze, sans ball pit, and lots, and I do mean LOTS of electronic games and rides.  Not quite what I was expecting.  On the positive side (always has to be one of those, yes?!), a bunch of my mommy friends from Mothers & More were there which made the place pretty chaotic, but fun nonetheless.  And Natalie seemed to enjoy herself which, in the end, matters more than what I think.

Jacob had fun, too...

 

So, $15 in pizza, soda, juice and tokens later, we headed out into what turned into a gorgeous day. C'est la vie, yes?!

Crafty gal

I'm realizing that I used to be a pretty crafty person.  Back when I had the time, before kids.  But I've always enjoyed making things myself, especially to give as gifts.  So after continuous inspiration I've gathered from reading other blogs, websites, etc., I've decided to make an effort again.  To be crafty.  So to speak.

Here are a couple of my To-Make items:

Shelves for the kids rooms - I think I'll do dark primary colors for Jake's room and bold pinks, greens, yellows & purples for Nat's room.

(image from Family Circle)

I've got a bunch of friends with new babies so I'd love to whip up a couple of these for each of them.  If your kid's gonna spew, might as well wipe it up with something cute!

 

(image from Smile and Wave)

And I desperately need some wall decor in the living room now that we've got everything painted.  I also need shelving space.  These look super easy to make (and likely a whole lot cheaper than what Pottery Barn is asking for them!).  I actually saw a picture of four of these ledges on the wall, displaying only simple, plain cover photo albums in varying sizes.  What a fantastic idea.  Everyone always stores photo albums in closets or cabinets and they never get looked at.  But if you simplify all your albums, keep them minimalist and chic, they can easily be displayed and looked at often.  Love it!

 

(image from Pottery Barn)

I already snagged my mom's sewing machine to get started on those burp cloths.  Now, if anyone's got a table saw I can borrow... ;-)

Civic duty

Had an early start to my day today - my first foray into everyone's favorite expression of democracy;  jury duty.  Aside from rising at an un-holy hour (people, getting up before 8am is, to me, cruel and unusual punishment - so you can imagine how I felt when my alarm went off at 6am...), scrambling at the last minute to find childcare for the kids (thanks, mom!!), and risking a parking citation on my mom's car to park in the lot I was instructed to park in (which, turns out, was under construction and not exactly, really, especially OPEN to the public...), really aside from all that it wasn't too bad.  Oh, except that I wasn't actually selected for any kind of jury and therefore consider the whole experiment a gigantic waste of my time.  Now, I'm all for our country's hard fought judicial process -hence the reason I chose not to defer my summons to a later date in the first place.  But really, there must be a better way.  I did get paid a whopping $17.50 for my 5 hour time commitment, though!

So, with all that hard-earned money burning a hole in my pocket, I stopped at an antique shop on my way home and scored 3 of these cute little jars:

So all was not lost, I suppose.  Not sure yet what I'll put in them - likely ribbons and other doo-dads.  I just love the little closing mechanism on them and, at $3 a pop, decided to give them a new home.  Welcome home, little jars!!

Welcome...

Okay, I did it - I took the Weblog plunge!  In an effort to become more disciplined about chronicling the ups and downs of our daily lives, I'm hoping this blog will take the place of a more traditional journal.   Plus I figured it would be a great way for friends and family to keep up-to-date on all the happenings in the Smith household.  So now you can read all about Jacob's crazy antics or Natalie's latest obsession (for the record, it's currently the number 3) at your leisure, all from the comfort of your home/office/location of choice.  Even in your jammies if it so pleases you!!

This blog will also be a temporary home for sharing my biggest passion: photography!!  Until I get an official business started and website up and running, you can check out the latest offerings from Stacy Smith Photography (a more unique name, I'm sure I could not find).

Be forewarned, however - I'm very new to all this newfangled technology and I have no clue what I'm doing!!  Let's hope the learning curve is short...

Submitted for your viewing pleasure (from my latest photo shoot with Natalie)...