Did you know that this April we will have been (back) here for 8 years? (“Back” for me, an 8-year resident for hubs. ) It’s amazing to think about. It sounds like such a long time, in theory. But in reality, eight years goes by so very quick, don’tcha think? In eight years we have grown by leaps & bounds and made amazing strides as a family.

What many don’t know is that it was at this point in our lives eight years ago that we made the decision to move to Alaska so Mr. ‘MachC’ could pursue his Master’s of Education. Four kids (under 5), a few rentals, a townhome, a house, two cats and a lotta crap later & I get to proudly say that his Master’s is almost complete. And I do say that very loud & proud. It’s not easy finishing up your Masters when you start the journey in a completely new state, living under a new roof with no kids and end it years later with four kids and two careers and a lot of stuff that might have ‘encouraged’ others to put it on the back-burner or maybe not even complete it at all. But he did. My husband did. He is finishing his Master’s with determination & dedication. I am so very proud of him. This was a dream, for him – and for me. It’s so amazing to watch him cross the finish line. Even more amazing that we have a five year old who knows & understands what it means & is thrilled to the max that him & daddy “both get to graduate this year!”. Now if that doesn’t make you smile …

In the middle of all this craziness that is life, we can accomplish amazing things. You can do anything you want.

You just have to put your mind to it.

That’s what I tell my kids every day. It’s what I tell my mentees, every day. It’s what we live, every day.

I am so proud of this man that makes my every day.

Thumbs up to that for sure.

PS – she welcomed her second son only a short 11 weeks ago. It’s amazing what a year can bring. We are truly blessed. Merry Christmas, Amii!

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Amii is one of my good friends & fellow comrade (a partner in crime in both the mommy & photographer world), so showing this off to you today provides an extra bit of giddiness for me. From the moment I saw it, I loved it! Thank you so much for sharing, Amii! For the rest of you … enjoy ~ you guys are in for such a treat!

The yellow room is the BEFORE picture of what it looked like before we decided to go modern and sleek.  That room is very typical/traditional for all the other homes in our neighborhood which is completely not our style.  We love the urban/downtown loft feel and while we love to live in the suburbs (down the street from my parents!), we still wanted that trendy modern feel for the inside of our home.

All carpets were pulled up to reveal the concrete slab and we just had it sanded/finished.  The walls were painted a navy color and a white leather couch replaced the basic mustard yellow couches.  Ceiling fan was taken out and replaced with recessed lighting and while the fireplace is still not what we want, it works in the space for now.  We recently replaced the mirror above the mantel with a large flat-screen tv where I can display my favorite photos through Apple TV.  LOVE that!

For Christmas, I wanted to do an Advent calendar for my 6 year old but I knew that I wanted it to be homemade but modern looking at the same time so I found the idea for the simple tree advent calendar on a family site (Advent Calendar instructions can be found here).  I used thick cardstock in various shades of green, used double-sided tape to make the trees and then used a 1″ circle die-cut to make the circles with the numbers.  My son is in love with Legos right now so I bought a Lego Advent calendar set and took out the individual poly-bagged figures to hide inside my trees.

The advent is the FIRST thing my son does in the morning!  He loves getting to open up a treat each day before school and seeing how many days are left until Christmas.  I think we have found our newest tradition!  Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Amii! Thanks for sharing your creative talents – love the final look!

 The open house is Thursday, October 27 from 5pm-8pm.  There will be music, snacks, drinks and tours. 

Enjoy!