...and a happy new year.

to you.

may it be a good one...

I've been a little busy...

I apologize for the lack of posting and pictures lately. To say that I have been busy, would be an understatement... Anyways, I don't have a ton of time to post now, but here are a few pictures of the new house and moving in and Christmas. I'll write more of the highlights from all three experiences at a later time. But until then, enjoy! I am truly truly happy with our new home... it is fabulous.

family room
kitchen
kitchen again
kids frolicking through the living and dining room
the hallway to back to the bedrooms

getting our keys, on Dec. 21, yay!
little helpers

they were just as excited to move in as we were.our new tv is delivered... a slight upgrade from our last. Our new console is on order, luckily I had this little kid activity table which worked perfectly as a tv stand for the time being.
the kids playing in the backyard. Lots of dirt all ready to be landscaped...
me bonding with my new kitchen, which I LOVE!!!! I truly enjoyed making Christmas dinner in this heavenly room.

decorating the tree again on Christmas eve... sort of old fashioned

opening jammies.

Christmas dinner.
Christmas morning... this kid loves his new scooter...

happy wednesday.

"As disciples of the Savior, we are not merely striving to know more; rather, we need to consistently do more of what we know is right and become better."We should remember that saying 'I love you' is only a beginning. We need to say it, we need to mean it, and most importantly we need consistently to show it. We need to both express and demonstrate love." David A. Bednar


This quote is awesome...

just wanted to pass it along.

ps. 5 more days and we'll live in our new house!

done and done.

I finished my final for my literature class tonight. And that completes my first semester back at school. phew. I survived...

And we are closing on our house tomorrow...

life is fabulous.

this is when you know you suck.

So I know I just posted something a few hours ago, but it's 1 am and I'm sitting at my computer and I just had an ah-ha moment. I realized that lately... meaning the last 4 months, I have been pulled so thin and wound so tight, that all there is left to do when anything at all goes wrong is snap. And snap I do. And what happens when you live really far away from anyone who knows you even remotely well enough to be completely yourself with? You snap at the only person who does. And poor Craig has been snapped at a lot lately. That really isn't fair is it? I mean, it's not his fault that I forgot to put in my works cited page when I submitted my research paper, or that blackboard won't let you go in and fix it. He is responsible for giving me the idea to email it to my professor, who was fine about it. Of course, I made a big stink about it in his face, even though he took the time to come over and help me stop hyperventilating, when he had a huge amount of studying to get done for his own class tomorrow. That is AFTER he brought home pizza so I wouldn't have to worry about dinner, then did the dishes, bathed the kids, and cleaned the house. Yeah. I suck. Sorry, I know that's crude, but it's true. The truth is, I want to be an amazing wife, and a wonderful mother, and a really good writer (published preferably), and design little delights that people wear around their neck and in their hair, and I want to be a woman of faith. I want it all. And (naive as it may sound) I think it's possible. Not perfection. I don't believe I can be perfect in everything (or anything for that matter) But I believe holding myself to a higher standard produces a better result. And since I am not perfect there is only one solution. Less getting wound-up about things. If things go wrong... so what. The point is not perfection, the point is to try and be more...

ps. I love you Craig...
you believe in me when no one else does.

bla!

I just submitted a research paper for my literature class that pretty much consumed the last three days for me. One final, and a short story revision, and I am home free this semester... Merry Christmas indeed!

ps.
we close on our house on Monday!!!! I will post some delicious pictures soon. It is quite lovely folks. quite lovely.

pss. check out my etsy shop for some yummy for Christmas!!!

The winners...

Well Random.org has spoken. And here are the winners:

Meghan Floral Bib...

Rachel Barker!

Black and Silver Floral Brooch...

Maran!

Pink Posies Headband

The Tinsley Family!

Okay ladies, here's what you do now,

email me your addresses at sophiesroom6@gmail.com and I'll mail your goodies to ya!

Hurray!

happy birthday,

to him.

29

love you craig.

ps. you have until midnight to enter the giveaway. :-)

Sophie's Room Giveaway

Did you come back for the giveaway? You will not be disappointed. You have 3 chances to win. Would you like to see the prizes?

I bet you would...

1st Prize:

Meghan Floral Bib Necklace

2nd Prize:
Black and Silver Floral Brooch



3rd Prize:
Pink Posies Headband







Here's how to enter:

1. Grab my etsy shop button from the sidebar and post it on your blog and post a link to the giveaway. Then leave me a comment letting me know.

or


2.Put a post with a link to my etsy shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop/sophiesroom/)
on either your blog or facebook and a link to the giveaway. Then leave a comment letting me know.




If you don't blog or facebook, DON'T FEAR, you can still enter.

3.Go to my shop and look around, then let me know what you like best by leaving a comment.



Most important LEAVE ME A COMMENT so I know who you are.



You have until Saturday Dec. 5 to enter.

Winners will receive one of the previous delights, shipping on me!

Good Luck.

Happy Accessorising.

looking for an awesome stocking stuffer?

check out my etsy shop.

click here:

want to personalize?

email me at sophiesroom6@gmail.com

ps. come back on tuesday for a chance to win something fabulous...

greetings.

from san diego.

hope your thanksgiving was thankful.

pontificate.

Please don't think worse of me for admitting that there are a few people in this world who bug the crud out of me. Seriously. Like this girl in my literature class for instance. I'm sure you know the type, we've all met one at some time or another. People who love to pontificate. And excuse me while I pontificate on this subject for a minute.

This girl, seriously loves the sound of her own voice. For some reason she feels the need to comment on EVERY single point the professor makes, whether she's looking for participation or not, and whether this girl has anything interesting to add or not. Seriously, half of her comments are nothing more than what the professor already said, filtered through her (obviously) superior mind and vomited back to the rest of us in different word order. Brilliant girly, pure genius. Thank you for repeating almost exactly what the professor just said for all of us. We none of us lower minded folks got it the first time, but now that you have so graciously repeated it back again, well, shoot, now we get it. Whenever we're on break, she can be heard chatting quietly at the top of her inside voice lungs to anyone around her or within ear-shot (which at her volume means the whole class) about how old she is, how she's been in college for so long, and is so much older than everyone in this class. (Apparently too, because she's SOOO much smarter and more mature) I laugh because while I may look young (see here), I'm pretty sure I'm at least 3 or 4 years older than her. Not only that, but she loves to use this, I have a PHD in every subject under the sun, tone to her voice whenever she does comment. I wish I could describe listening to her when she uses this tone, but there are not words. What I'd like to do is stand up in the middle of her discourse and chuck my copy of Mansfield Park right at her head. Does that sound extreme? Perhaps it does. But before you judge me too harshly, let me illustrate one last thing.

Now this class is a Victorian Literature class. Perfect subject for me, let me tell you, since I LOVE Jane Austen. A phrase commonly used in that time period, and consequently in many of the books we've read this semester is: "What the deuce?" Meaning, basically, "What the Devil?" Interesting phrase, but one not typically used in our language. But alot in the books we've read. Well, yesterday evening I'm sitting in class. Potificator is sitting in the row behind me, and believe me she was in rare form last night. Fabulous since I was sitting in the perfect spot to get the full benefit of her volume whenever she chose to extrapolate, which was every other minute or so. At one point, the teacher went over to the computer to adjust something on the power point. She of course began, bla bla-ing it as soon as the teacher stopped for air. The volume was turned up on the speakers in the classroom and when the teacher started clicking around, it sent a DE-DONG sound across the classroom so loud that the whole class jumped, and the girl behind me yells out, "What the deuce?"

Seriously.

Maybe it was the fact that I had gone to bed at 1 am and was exhausted, maybe it's because it's "that week of the month," maybe it was having to sit 2 feet in front of her and listen to her all evening bugging the crud out of me, but it took all my self control not to turn around and say, "Are you kidding me?"

I have a lot of self-control.

Good thing for her.

grades are in.

My Husband's Report Card

for the first round of Grad School:

Statistics: A+

Organizational Behavior: A-

Business to Business Marketing: A

I told you I married a genius.

ps. that's while working full time and most weeks putting in overtime as well.

1 down 5 to go.

love you craig.

do you want to see my kitchen? I bet you do...

Pardon another post about the house, but there is just SO much progress now. Let me introduce, our cabinets! No counter tops yet...

I may be biased, because after all we picked them out, but I think these babies are gorgeous!

I might be shallow, but you have no idea how happy the sight of this makes me... I'm laughing right now, I'm so excited.

fridge

I sold our fridge last night. It was the fridge we bought when we bought our old house. Just a normal basic white freezer on top fridge. We're going with black appliances in our new house and the old fridge was taking up space in the tiny garage that doubles as a storage unit here in this tiny townhouse. I posted it on Craigslist and some guy drove halfway across Phoenix to buy it. While they were loading it on the truck, he said did I mind him asking what my husband and I did for a living. "I'm a stay at home mom," I said. "And my husband is an Engineer. He works for Boeing." I realized when I said this, how proud I am to be a sahm. And proud that my husband works so hard so that I can be one. It was nice. I didn't feel the need to explain myself. I am a mother, my job is caring for my children. There are other things I love, but I don't need to tell him that. I smiled as I was thinking this. Thinking about how I didn't have to explain myself, or why I've chosen to do what I do. And as I was thinking about this he started telling me about his life. About how he used to have a business, about how he just got divorced, how he lost his house. He told me he kept saying it couldn't get worse and then it would, so now he said it will get better. He told me how awful it was to lose everything at once. His wife, his job, his home, everything. I felt so, I don't know, sad I guess. The kid that was with him, it might have been his son, looked like he was embarrassed that the guy was telling me this. But there's no shame in admitting that life has humbled you. No shame in saying that life is hard and bad stuff happens, and we can look at whatever situation we've been given and say, "it will get better." I hope it will get better, for that guy. I hope the fridge treats him well.

halloween at last.

A smattering of fall pictures for your viewing pleasure...

pumpkin patch adventures

Hannah's get-up. Purple Butterfly

I thought Ethan's face was priceless in this picture.

Hannah was all ready for her school party.

Painting up Carter's face for trick-or-treating.

Carter's Get-up. A Bluejay.

It looked kind of freaky.

BLuejay zombie, maybe.

The little bunch.

Painting on Ethan's Whiskers.

Ethan's get-up: A Puppy.

Just Waiting.

Trick-or-treating.

sand angels. yuck.

Shorts in November.

Welcome to Arizona.

The end.