DETAILS...

I am convinced that creating a house into a home is in the details.

Thanks to Pinterest for the ideas and my own creativity to put a personal touch on things, this is what I have been up to.

 To keep things organized I have assigned every one a color in the family. It helps with little things around the house. Me (purple), Husband (Dark Blue) First Born (Baby Blue), Second Born (Green). I used yellow to express Joy as we are a family. I used these extra canvases that I had laying around and made some refreshing wall decor.

 So these cute little blocks can absolutely kill your feet if you step on them. They had to go. But they were too cute to throw away. So this project was inspired by Pinterest but I put my personal touch on it. I love that this project cost nothing ( had everything at home) and only two of the trees from the table were pulled off by my son.

 Before the legs got screwed back on.

 More decorative uses for the blocks.

 Despite the toys being every where. I love how we have the boys room decorated!

 I get totally annoyed reaching for a diaper for one child and pulling out the wrong size. So I put a label on it!

 Learning to recognize pictures and what sounds certain animals make. Large front hallway is perfect for killing time with the toddler.

Fresh flowers are a must for me. Thank goodness for Farmers Markets. You can get amazing flowers like these for only 10$.

Thank you Ann!

Ann Romney's M&M's Cookies 
(courtesy family circle)

MAKES 3 dozen cookies
PREP 15 minutes
BAKE at 325° for 18 minutes

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups crunchy peanut butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup (such as Karo)
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
6 ounces chocolate chips
2/3 cup M&M's candies

1. Heat oven to 325°. In a large bowl, cream sugars, butter, peanut butter and corn syrup on high speed until well combined.  Beat in eggs 1 at a time.  Beat in vanilla extract.
   
2. In a separate bowl, mix together oats and baking soda. Stir into peanut butter mixture until combined. Mix in chocolate chips and M&M's.
   
3. Using a standard-size ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets (about 9 per sheet). Bake at 325° for 18 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 2 minutes, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

There was a bake off between Michelle Obama and Ann Romney for the best cookie, per tradition between the presidential hopefuls since 1992! I would just like to say 'Thank you Ann' for showing everyone how a cookie should be. The Karo syrup really adds a moist - chewiness to the inside of the cookie! My husband could not get enough of these!He actually preferred these over his previous favorite "Monster Cookies". (Image, courtesy of Bing images)

A blessing...

This past week I was having a particularly hard day with my kids and dealing/understanding our current circumstances in life when I heard a light knock at my front door. At first I thought it was just a package being delivered but to my surprise a neighbor who I have never met came over with her 3 year old son to introduce herself and to give me a piece of carrot cake that she had made.

After a nice conversation and being able to get to know her and think outside of myself for a moment; I realized how God had sent her to show His love. What a tender mercy it was/is to know that I and my little family are being looked after. I have never really liked carrot cake. But this piece was amazing!

Thank you dear neighbor!

Hawkins Family Cookbook 2012

You might be wondering what /where I have been for the past couple of months. Well I have still been creating despite the craziness of life. I assembled a family cookbook for my side of the family. Everyone offered there favorite recipes and it came together quite nicely. What ended up being a small project turned out to be 160 pages of wonderful memories. Above is the cover of the book!

Christmas Gift for Hubby

So I had found this website HERE via Pinterest. I loved this idea! Especially because our kids are so young.I liked how mine and my hubby's fingers are intertwined and how little the kids hands are. My man loved this! It made for a cute gift. Didn't take too long. ( Excuse the poor lighting, you know how apartments can be on an overcast day in Seattle.) hahaha