Our House in the Middle of Our Street

Happy New Year from the Mast family. Lukka and Anikka playing their new instruments (Ani wearing her Christmas sweater ) bringing in the New Year. I have a feeling it will be a loud one! Recap of 2010: January : I loved doing projects from an online art class , we celebrated our first full year of community group (weekly gathering of families who 'do life together'), and we were in full-throttle snow play. Febuary : Celebrated Anikka's first birthday ! and got sick, a lot. Put in dreads , but they only lasted 6 weeks or so. March : I turned 25, and I don't remember much else. April : Made lots of crafts for upcoming babies/birthdays and joined the Mom2Mom leadership team. Started the first year of our CSA box. May : Took a trip with one of my best friends to Kansas City, tried Bubble Tea for the first time, and planned Lukka's birthday party. June : Lukka turns 3! Jazz in June festivals, tons of outdoor activities with the kids, strawberry picking and fruit-leat

I hope you all had a very wonderful and Merry Christmas spending time with family, friends, and loved ones. We had a great weekend and to top it off Stefan still has two more days off before another three-day weekend next week. Here is a picture of Lukka's " Jesse Tree "; learning the story of Jesus starting with Adam and Eve. We did it every day throughout the month of December leading up to the 25th. I also enjoyed sharing a ( mostly ) daily photo with you all, too. I will be back with a post right before the New Year recapping the Mast's 2010, see you then! P.S. No, Lukka and I did not make the craft. The wonderful leadership team of a local Mom's group did and gave them to us 2 years ago.

"There's a baby born in Bethlehem and we can't wait to see..." The little dude's first pagent, can you find him? I sure do love all these kids. The kids of my church family and of my own friends. This was such a fun way to celebrate the weekend before Christmas.

Here are two more rooms in the house--the bathrooms. The kids have a seperate one than we do (SO.NICE.). We don't decorate our bathrooms,especially when theirs is totally white, and ours is cream colored with pink tile. What can you do? Get a cool shower curtain from Target, that's what you can do. Simple, tiny bathroom perfect size for them. With a clawfoot tub and the weirdest water spouts I've ever seen. Cheeky!

With the fourth room in this house not being used for a child, we knew we wanted to keep our office & craft/sewing supplies seperate from the rest of the house. This room is only used by Stefan and I, and we love it that our kids aren't playing with the computer cords... It's a small room, with an inspiration board, cork board, knitting supplies, sewing supplies, our file cabinet, Stefan's guitar and amp, and an oversize chair to watch Hulu(.com) on or just to hang out while the other is working on the computer. For such a tiny room, the three windows make this room SO bright! We love it .

The kitchen! Bigger, more space, and empty cabinets after we've put everything away. It's a far cry from our last kitchen, that we practically fell on top of each other in. Plenty of room for the kids to play, a permanant accessible home to my beauty, and a brand new (used) dishwasher! YAY! Side view of apron, small stool and pots & lids on rack. Through the doorway is the sun room . The only downfall of this room is it's yellow walls. Yellow is the last color I'd wear, color, or paint a room. {sigh} Oh well! It's got excellent counter space, two lights above the sink that reminds me of my grandma's old house, and even two windows for natural light. We're very pleased with it!

Sweets made by my sweets (and Grammy).

House tour to resume Monday. Instead, a photo that says more about our family than our living room ever could.

As I explained yesterday , I'm saving the last of my DPPs (mostly) for a house tour. Killin' two birds with one stone, right? Here's our sunroom . It's officially the most efficient room in the house. By that I mean it's also our dining room, and school room. It's got some great French doors off to the side (taking you to the living room), beautiful wood floors, and built in book cases below the window ledge for easy children's craft/school book storage accompanied by 7 windows! This door takes you upstairs into the kids area, which includes a storage unit, Lukka & Anikka's rooms, and a bathroom. On the right is the doorway to the kitchen. Even more right, which you can't see, is the doorway and back porch that leads to the yard. Ground shot of 'school supplies'. It's such a great room. I knew exactly how I was going to make this room cozy when I first walked in it three weeks ago! Everything fits perfectly.

These next few days I'll just be sharing peeks of our new house! Not only because I'm running out of ideas whilst my camera is running out of batteries, but because I am always in dire need of suggestions when it comes to adding splashes of color to our home. Stefan and I really like where the furniture fits (i.e. doesn't fit any other way) and the walls have great NEW (!) photography prints up. I'm thinking the couches need some color. Seriously, peeps, give it to me straight. Where, what, and how much {would you do} to help this room out?

Not my picture. Yesterday was somewhat of a sick day. Hard parenting. Stuffed up head cold. You know the type. This is my 'get out of jail free' card.

Whose says the holidays aren't gluten-free?

Christmas presents wrapped in the traditional Mast Family reusable bags!

peep!

So a few of these crafts will be donated to my church's {Haiti Artisan Sale} tomorrow morning starting at 9AM. I'd never made a coffee cozy, or a bracelet for that matter. Hope they sell!

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Not the best quality photo. I had to snap it quick before they looked up. Of course, of a 'bad photo'; a very, very good moment.

so.dang.precious.

Off on an adventure... Stay tuned.

Color coordination, y'all . It's finally happened. I've finally, after years ( y-e-a-r-s ), organized all of my craft supplies. Fabric : color coded. Yarn : destashed and nicely placed. Scrapbook : organized. Misc craft items : binned for future use. Paper craft : easily reachable. This is huge, people. Only 2 out of those 5 are even shown. Evidence : enough. (What's DPP? Find out here .)

Told ya . Much better. Part homeschool, part dining room. What's DPP? Read about it here .

It's better than that now folks. Just sayin'. (What's DPP? Find out here .)

Our new backyard opens up many, many possibilities. Read more about the DPP here . (I will only be linking to DPP for the first 5 days.)

A view in the new house... What's DPP? Find out here .