Welcome Spring... finally!

Signs of Spring are finally starting to trickle in! Here are signs, as well as a few fun things, from around our house. In part, this post is to help cheer me up as we've been home-bound for the entirety of this week, save little walks around the block and a quick Target trip! I'm sick with an upper respiratory infection and Elijah had croup, then a cold, and now he has double pink eye. Not a fun way for us to start Spring. But we've enjoyed the fresh air through the open windows and are praying we are all well very soon!!

From our front window

 

The top of our living room bookshelf

Our entryway cabinet - it has to include a handmade card a friend gave us after Elijah was born! :)

New flags swaying in the breeze

Must not forget the candy dish and table decorations - dining room table

Kitchen table

Main bathroom

Just because it's a very cool-looking and sweet thank you card on my desk

And well... duh. He's just too cute to put this away even if it's from his daycare for Christmas!

So excited! And so glad this weather is warming up too!!

Hello Winter Wonderland

I know it's been a bit quiet around here, but I haven't had a whole lot of meaningful stuff to say. A lot of processing and going through some stuff, but not anything that I'm ready to talk about here yet....

This morning we woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland here in Chicagoland. Despite predictions that it could be bad last night as we drove home, it wasn't, and instead we woke up to a somewhat messy morning. It was heavy, wet snow that piled up to maybe 4 or 5 inches. It wasn't too bad, but it made the trees and poles look gorgeous!!!

Here are just a few glimpses from around our house:

Hope you're finding ways to enjoy the beauty all around you!

Fake or Real Christmas Tree?

Fake.

Must. be. fake.

We both have allergies and I especially have a very unfortunate one to trees. I cannot be anywhere near a freshly watered tree without getting a stuffy nose, watery eyes, and sneezing a lot.

My mom graciously times it so her tree is just right when we get there, and I try not to sit too close to it, especially after she freshly waters it. Thankfully we have places we can hang out besides just being right by the tree.

We had a fake tree most of my growing up years, until late high school/college, and then mom started trying the real thing. I loved it!!

Then I got married & moved to Chicago.

And got allergic to everything.

So now, sadly, every year it's always a fake tree. But the special part is I can leave it up for as long as I want to!

No pine needles, watering, or messy clean-up. Just back in the storage container for next year.

Sure it might be flatter, older, and sadder-looking, but it's sneeze-less!

Which kind of tree do you have?

Christmas Tour of Homes 2011

I'm a bit behind but I wanted to go ahead and post this anyway, even though it's too late to link up with the rest of them. To view all the others, go here to The Nesting Place and be sure to check out my favorite one at Chatting at the Sky.

My house has been extremely chaotic so my pictures are a lot closer up so it's not really a full tour, but you get the gist. I don't have any pictures from the outside this winter, so this one from earlier this year during our big snowstorm will have to do. :)

eek... this one reminds me I need to catch up on my dusting!!
oh well, they said it didn't have to be perfect to share...

I hope you've enjoyed this Christmas tour of our home! :)

Leaves

Leaves are some of my favorite little things. I love the different ways they look, the bright and varied colors, the crunch as they fall to the ground, the slushiness when they're all wet and gooky, and the wide variety of shapes. So cool!

Unfortunately my allergies are not a fan, but I don't care. Last weekend before we went on vacation we decided it was high time to rake up all the leaves going crazy in our driveway and side yard.

Ahhhh. Good times. Happy to have it done too! :)