we do things, we make things, we plant things, we bake things

I'm been reading too much Dr. Suess, obviously.  This post will be a bit scattered, but we've been busy taking care of so many odds and ends around here, that I feel it may be best to just get it all out there at once.  So here are a few of the things we've been working on in the past few days.

First of all, we had gotten pretty used to having a nice sized entry way at the back door in our old house.  But in this bigger house, the entry way from our garage into the house is tiny.  As you can see.

Shoes were getting piled up all over in this tiny entry way.  So I asked Brian to make a shoe shelf, and he whipped one out in about a half an hour.

It fits about 2 pairs of shoes for each of us, so it's the perfect size.  Brian made it out of those white melamine shelves you can get at Home Depot.  So he didn't use a plan, but just kind of made it up himself.  Not too bad!  I may paint it at some point, but for now, white is just fine with me.  Speaking of painting, I finally got around to painting the jewelry cabinet my mom gave me.  I've been meaning to do it forever since the faux-cherry finish didn't really match or blend with our bedroom furniture. 

Now it's a gold-yellow color that matches our bedding.  Perfect!  Oh, and I started a plate wall.  Have you seen these walls where people just pack decorative plates?  I really like that look, and I already had a few plates that we hanging seperately in our old house, so I got started.

Some of these plates have special meaning, and some of them I picked up at thrift stores.  But this is just the beginning.  My parents are visiting, and my mom dug this nice sized stack out of her basement.

And they are pretty much all passed down through both sides of my family, so I'll have a nice little history right on my kitchen wall.  I love. 

I got Brian a new pancake maker and he made fun pancakes over the weekend.  A pig for the girl (her nickname is pigoletta) and a rocket for the boy.

And speaking of food, I made up these banana-pumpkin-chocolate chip muffins over the weekend, along with other recipes I will blog. 

They were pretty tasty.  Would you like the recipe?  I can blog it, I took pictures.  But I did already do a pumpkin muffin recently.  Let me know.

I was working on getting my goddaughter a pretty headband for Thanksgiving.  But the first one I made was way too small.  So I had to start from scratch, and I'm new at these, so I finally finished last night.  It may not get there in time for Thanksgiving, but hopefully she'll still wear it.  Pretend like you didn't see this, Jo.

And Fletcher and I have been checking on the paperwhite bulbs we planted.  They're on their way!  They should be blooming by Christmas. 

It's a busy time now during the holidays.  I sometimes feel like we barely catch our breath in the Fall leading up to Christmas.  I find myself wishing I could get more done, and oh my goodness, you should see my to-do list before Christmas.  Oh my.  But I try to stop and take some time with the littles as much as possible.  And now we're enjoying the company of my parents, too! 

Cheers to a happy start to the holiday season.  Enjoy your projects and enjoy your family.  Blink and it will be January!