I know, I know...I've been a little AWOL in 'blogland' lately but to my defense I do have some good  excuses!

First of all, we are renovating part of our basement so it is usable! 3 cheers for more space! I'm especially excited to be able to create a 'school space' for the kids! To top it off, I got some awesome post-Christmas sales on furniture and storage shelves that are going to be so great! I can't wait to organize all our learning tools and craft things! (Speaking of which, maybe you can help me out! I bought two 9 Cube Organizer shelves and really want trays to go with them like the ones seen here. Problem: to order these ones it'll cost me about $30 in shipping but the only place I can find them locally charges $8 per tray! SO if you know of any place where I could purcahse them for less than that either locally or online PLEASE let me know! I've been searching for a Canadian crafting/school supply site that might offer them but so far, no such luck!)

I am just itching to get that paint on the walls! Hopefully, that will happen this week or next!

This past weekend we had our hands full too with a little princess in white! Our sweet Piper was a flower girl in our friends' wedding and she absolutely knocked our socks off! Not only was she absolutely gorgeous but she did all that was asked of her with a smile on her face! No fights or refusals...one meltdown but that was at 10:30 at night (WAY past her bedtime! What did we expect?!) From going to get her hair done to walking down the aisle to dancing the night away - she did it all and loved it! I am so proud of her!

My time and energy has also been going into the Read the Bible in 90 Days challenge that I started on Jan. 3rd. So far, it is going well! In the past 9 days I've read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and half of Numbers! Phew! I've found that having a goal of how much to read each day very helpful (especially when you're trudging through geneologies and such!) But I've also been surprised at how much I've enjoyed reading so quickly through these books. Generally, I take time to really concentrate on little bits of scripture and understand what it's saying, the background on what was happening, etc. But this way, its similar to reading a novel and so much easier to see the big picture. I think too often we can miss the forest for the trees, so to speak!

So that is where I've been. We also have been attempting to return to our usual routine as well as trying to implement some new scheduling ideas. Tomorrow I'll share with you what Piper and I have been up to as we've gotten into our 'S is for Snow' theme!