Thursday, April 19, 2012

Home Pics

Hello.  My name is Jill. and I'm a pinterestaholic.  I check it for a few minutes daily.  And for a few hours every time I work a night shift.  I love it.  Years and years ago, back at Utah State University (go aggies!) I wanted to major in interior design.  I did for a couple years until I started to have to actually put in some major effort. Then I got scared I'd end up working  retail at RC Willey (not that there's anything wrong with that) so I switched my major to something even more useless.  But that is another story...  The point is... I love to make things pretty.  Especially since I have been stuck inside these wall all day for 6 years as a mostly stay at home mommy.  What is the point of all of this?  Well... I'm a little obsessed with decorating our home also.  I'm limited by funds.  I'm also severely limited by 3 kids 6 and under. but I try.  I thought I'd put pictures of my efforts.



So... enough talk.  Time to peer into my windows and see what the Shields' home looks like. 

Our Front Room


It's hard to get a good picture of the colors in this room.  The orange looks brighter than it is because of my flash but if I take the flash off, there is too much backlight from the windows.








our eating area 

our kitchen I recently repainted and have not put up any window treatments yet. We also would really love some granite countertops and a tile backsplash.   hmmmm someday.


My new plate wall.  LOVE!



This is Mason's room that I recently repainted. (I learned how to paint flawless stripes on.... you guessed it... Pinterest!) He loves it!




 The kids bath in the basement


 Our room
Please ignore the bent curtain rod.  Thats what you get when you have 3 little terrors! As a matter of fact, I had my own 3 little ones plus 4 of their friends here and I banished them to the basement so I could get some pics without naked barbies and light sabers in the background!





 The master bath
The curtains I made from a tablecloth




 The Nursery


 One of my favorite things ever!  Wall butterflies! Olivia likes them too!

One of my favorite places, our covered deck.

Here is Tess's beautiful room




And our basement family room






Wednesday, March 14, 2012

A short Year and a half later!

Hello. Haven't posted in a year and a half? That's a lot to catch up on. I don't think I can so I'll just start from the present. I went back to work a year and a half ago and have been really busy but I have cut back to one shift per week and I am feeling that I need to catch up on documenting my family.

Olivia turned two on March 2nd. What a cutie she is. And she is SO SMART! She talks in paragraphs and goes potty several times a day. I won't say she's potty trained because frankly, I'm not ready to deal with it. If she comes and tells me she needs to go, I take her and she goes. But then I put her diaper back on. Someday soon I'll get in the potty groove and we'll say bye bye to diapers for good!


FOREVER! Hooray!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Mason turns 5

Mason Turns 5!

Mason had a pretty low-key birthday for his 5th year. We squeezed in a quick family party between thanksgiving celebrations.  He had a blast though. He wanted a cars cake so this is my version of Lightning McQueen.  I LOVE Drew's face in this picture!  It makes me laugh so hard every time I see it! He is READY for cake!
A four and five year old and too much sugar = crazy pics!


The Loot!

No words required

Halloween 2010

Mason made another appearance this year as Buzz Lightyear. Tess was Supergirl. And Livy was a little bumble bee. It was the first year Tess fully appreciated halloween. 
It was great but by the time they had the trunk-or-treat, and their halloween parties at school, the actual trick -or-treating wasn't really that exciting for them.  So they went to about 15 houses and were done. They sure look cute though!


Random comments from Tess

Tess: Mom, you have a big bum bum.
Me: What?
Tess: You have a big bum bum and I have a medium bum bum.
Me Laughing: You have a medium bum bum?
Tess: Yes.  And Livy has a little bum bum.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

update

So it's been a crazy few months and I'm way behind on updating my blog.  I have a new determination to keep this updated and use it so I can remember all the fun things we have been doing.  The biggest change in our lives recently is I went back to work in December.  I am working two nights a week at Primary Children's.  I work on their behavioral unit.  I LOVE it.  The majority of our patients are teenagers and they are required to have lights out at 10:00 pm. Since I work mostly nights, (6 pm to 6 am) Most of my night is spent surfing the internet or reading. This means I have no excuse to not update my blog!! 

So here we go...

The kids are growing so fast!!!

Mason just had his 5th birthday! Wow.  He is such a tall lanky boy! He is getting hard to cuddle because he is all arms and legs.  He still wants to cuddle though, and that makes me happy!  Mason and Tess like to come and climb in bed with us every morning and I always have to be between them or they will fight over who gets to lay by me.  Most mornings it makes me happy. (although I wish it was a few hours later.)

So back to Mason... He is doing great.  He will be starting kindergarten next year and I'm already stressing over it.  I'm going to be a mess on that first day.  He is so smart and is doing really well with his reading and numbers.  But, he is not great at paying attention.  He has a really hard time sitting still.  I'm just a little afraid of what real school will be like. He is still the sweetest boy in the world.  He turned to Burke the other day and said "Dad, you're the best ever!"  Lately he has been going downstairs and putting his PJ's on without even being asked.  He usually will at least try his dinner without any major battles.  And he loves to take care of his little sisters.  He is addicted to his video games.  This is both good and bad.  It is nice to have something you can use to reward and punish with, but bad that if he had his way, he would never stop playing.

Tess -
Holy crap this girl is a diva!  She is VERY demanding and loves to be right next to me every minute. She is the cutest thing you will ever see with her blonde curls and dark eyes.  She speaks extremely well and has an amazing vocabulary for a 3 year old. She is very defiant and when you try to discipline her, she tries to joke her way out. SHE's ONLY 3!!  Mason always cried and was upset when he got in trouble. Not Tess, she'll stick her tongue out at me, or laugh at me when I try to get her to do something.  She was put in time out during dinner the other night. The rest of us were at the table eating and I hear her shout. "mommy, you can't see me sticking my tongue out at you!" I can't wait for the teenage years with this one!!

Olivia -
We are so lucky.  Livy is the cutest rolly-polly, loving, easiest baby on the planet.  She loves to sleep. At night and during the day.  She loves her blanket. She loves to eat anything (the first in our family to ever do this, including me and Burke.)  She has a squinty smile that is completely hilarious.  She is very close to walking and gets into everything!  She can't sit still, especially in church and on airplanes. She has learned to wave hi and bye and says Mama and Dada.  What a freakin' cutie.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

All I want for Christmas...

Me:  Tessa, what do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?
Tess: Presents!!!!
Me:  What kind of presents?
Tess: Purple ones!!!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

My New Business!

I'm starting a little business. Tess and Olivia Designs.  I'm making car seat covers. Check out my shop at http://www.tessandolivia.etsy.com/! Here are some samples of what I have available now.




I think they are pretty cute if I do say so myself.  The minky car seat covers fit right over your original car seat and canopy replaces the existing canopy on your car seat.  Love it!