Fabulous February!

In the midst of what feels like a long, cold winter, when the kids have occasional minor illnesses, it still seems to get dark a little too early, and summer still feels so very far away, it's nice to have a little something to look forward to. January can typically be a depressing month, especially with the Christmas excitement over. However, in our house, January was actually very exciting this year. Why, you ask?? Well, NFL playoffs, of course! Playoffs are always something we eagerly anticipate, but this year was definitely an exception, as our favorite team (the Green Bay Packers, for those of you not in the know) were slowly but surely marching towards the Superbowl. They seemed like unlikely heroes, having left themselves several must-win games at the end of the season. But each Sunday, we watched in nervous anticipation as they beat yet another "better" team, in yet another away game.

For those of you who don't know, I have loved football since highschool, and picked the Packers as my team probably in about grade 11. What can I say, I liked the color green! Fast forward to Sunday, February 6, 2011, and my/our team is actually in the Superbowl for the first time in about 13 years! It's hard to describe the joy we felt when they actually won the coveted trophy. I know it's "just football", but their win kept me smiling for days! I'm actually still smiling about it!

But there's more...

For Christmas this year I received, much to my surprise and delight, tickets to see Bon Jovi in concert. Again, for those of you who don't know, Bon Jovi has been my favorite band since highschool. They've been making music for about 27 years (!!!) and I'm still loving it! The concert was February 15, and Stefan and I made a date out of it. We got a babysitter, and I took the train downtown to meet him for dinner before the concert. I don't have a lot of concert experience to compare this one to, but suffice it to say that it was AMAZING! They put on such a great show and I was reminded just how many big hits they've had over the years. I would not hesitate to go see them live again. The icing on the cake was the opening song, where Jon sang from a platform just in front of our seats. Needless to say, I've had a pretty big smile on my face ever since.

Now, if I could just get spring to show up...

AFTER PHOTOS!!

Here, finally, are the AFTER photos of our renovation. I am sorry for the lack of order with these photos. Somehow, I have lost my ability to rearrange uploaded photos as I want them. I have searched all over, and cannot figure out how to do this like I used to. Sadly, it is probably something ridiculously simple, but in the meantime - here are the photos! The one of the office shows the wall before it was painted, but you get the idea. Our wall color of choice for the mudroom was called Celestial Blue. Sounds peaceful and calming, doesn't it? The last 3 photos show the completed lockers. We ordered them online from the States, and after a LOT of researching, and almost settling on something not-quite-right, we found these. The kids got to choose the color they wanted, and I think they look pretty good together. I have my own locker, for my purse, gloves, scarves, etc. These lockers are fantastic - especially in the winter when everyone has so much more gear! We are really loving all the extra space and organization. Money well spent!