March 12, 2020

Snow Day 2014

Any of you ever wondered what my mom looked like when she was 3? 

Gathering snow to make snow cream

My first born








Roller coaster riding at the neighbors











After a long day of play, we hung up our boots and our mittens by the fire to dry off again for the next day.

We spent hours and hours in the snow, building a village of snowmen, building snowballs and throwing them in the creek, making snowangels, then wrapping up the day with a nap by the fire under our big warm blanket, all tucked in together.  Mostly, we made a lot of really good memories.

When All Else Fails....

These girls DON'T.



My BFF's since we were but tots. Good times, very bad times, the nightmares you only read about, well, quite simply 1. We've either been together or 2. we've gotten back together :>)  The simple fact is there are people in your life that will always, always, be there at the end of EVERY day of your life.  Good or bad.  And Im thankful for these two today and every day.  I love you girls!!!

Life Through The Lens

I think we all see life through our own lenses. I love to capture life happening before me with my camera knowing it is a sense of documentation for the years to come.  

  
The essence of childhood.  


My brother with my daughter.  Two of my favorites standing on the property where he will marry the greatest love of his life moments from the day this photo was taken. 

My firstborn.  One of the most resounding compliments we've always
received about him are about his smile and sweet nature.  To this day, he smiles, I melt. 

Pure joy, play, and love. Shared among a dad and his little girl.


My lastborn.  My fierce and precious thing, full of determination and love. She will do big things in this world. She will change Gods kingdom for His glory. 

My brother and his girl.   

What do you do all day?


A day in the life.

On being a stay at home mama to two three-year-olds (turning 4 in a hot minute)

This is a picture of what a typical day probably looks like for us. At the very least, it's what my written onto paper, daily routine in 30 minute increments, says a day looks like in our home. I am not a saint, I get tired easily and often, and many days vary from routine.  And we roll with it (ish.)

6:30 I wake up and do my 10 minute morning hygiene routine, in my sleep, trying to find my way to the coffee pot, my recliner and massage cushion, and the book I'm using for my bible study time.
Right now I'm working through Mission of Motherhood. It is life changing if you really dig in and deep and let it sink in slowly, over and over, day by day.

7- finish Bible study. Start cooking breakfast

It's true. We have something along the lines of eggs, bacon, grits, toast for breakfast every day.  I believe in a hearty breakfast to start the day off right. Seems to improve the moods of all.  


7:30 Babies are allowed to come out of their rooms (We use the "OK to wake" alarm clock) Most days the girl baby comes out of her room right around then and the boy is usually awake and out of his room by 8.

Morning cuddles, eat breakfast. The idea is that we eat breakfast together around the breakfast table. Some mornings we eat it in the den, by the fire, watching cartoons.  

8: Start working on cleaning up from breakfast, and get the 3 of us dressed, tidy the house. This is a good time to unload the dishwasher. (But I didn't say I actually do that every day...)

9-12 : Preschool.  During this time I either go to hot yoga or run errands or work on home responsibilities.




12-130- eat lunch. clean up from lunch.  cry about taking a nap.  read stories, sing songs, and get ready for...


Quiet Time. 3-4 out of 7 days of the week the kids are required to stay in their own rooms during this time.  The other days I don't have the umph to fight it  decide they're only little once, so I let them curl up on the couch and watch movies quietly.  


130-3: During their quiet time, I usually work on budget/bills, meal plan, plan the week, emails/blog, etc. Oh and sometimes I take a shower.

3-530: Snack, then straight outside.  We stay outside the whole time. Work in the yard, play with outside toys,  paint, sidewalk chalk, . It just has to be outside.

Sometimes we feed the ducks
Sometimes we feed the fish.







Somedays we hang out with 2 of our 3 favorite boys (my nephews)

Somedays we go to our other favorite boy's baseball games. (My nephew)

*Please note that the below photos taken at the park were after school when it was PJ day at school.  I don't always take my kids in public in their 'jams.  Only sometimes.*

Playing seek and hide at the park
Conquering the dinosaur at the park.





530: I start cooking and bathtime

She loves bathtime, NOT when it ends.
Sometimes we paint the
 bathtub during bathtime.
Because you're only 3
once and clean up is
sooooo simple.
















630: Sit down at the dinner table and eat as a family.

We have fancy seafood over pasta with wine every night. OK we don't. This was a special occasion.

7: I clean up from supper/ while Luke starts bedtime routine.

730: Join in the end of bedtime routine, say night night, and kids are in bed.













Folks, this is a raw, rough draft, skeleton version of what our average day looks like.  Somewhere in there, I at least wash and dry the laundry, sometimes I fold and put it away.  And in the middle of the rest of that, I do all the mommy and wifey things that you probably can think of.  I also try to grow and maintain meaningful friendships, and mostly spend a lot of quality time with my kids and my husband.

I am so thankful for all the time I have to be at home, caring for my husband and kids.  Parenting and managing a household is by far the.most.difficult stage of life I've ever had.  However, I would not trade it for all the gold in the world.  My husband and my kids and my parents, siblings, friends, they are worth more than gold. They are my gold.


I LOVE to hear the daily routines of others, whether you're single, married, a parent, working fulltime, or all of the above.  Please share a comment with your daily routine!

Mothers Day Gifts Suggestions

I polled 15 mother's, with children's ages ranging from infant to grown and out of the house (ten of us have children ages infant-preschool) and asked their top 5-10 wishes for Mother's Day. I broke it down between moms working out side of the home and stay at home mother's, and items that moms from both groups asked for.  I also listed the items in order of how many times they were asked for.

With my littles. Their 1st day of school, August 2012. Tear.
Stay At Home Mom-

New pair of her favorite shoes (3)
Sleeping in (2),
Not making a meal (3) (one specified a meal that her husband cooked)
A day off from all housewife/mothering duties and just getting to enjoy playing with the kids and being with the husband (2)  
Home Improvement item of her choice (2)
Flowers the kids picked (2)
Plastic surgery
Cute accessories
Fitbit
Her favorite candle
A photo book
Silhouettes of the kids
A potted plant
Fresh flowers
Charms with the kids names on it



Working Mom-

Her favorite perfume
Roomba vacuum
Mimosas!
Hammock
Picnic table
Canvas of her favorite painting by the kids
Housecleaning Service
New towels since you probably have not gotten any since your wedding!
Edible arrangements
Family photos framed or on a canvas
A tree for the yard
Flowers for the yard
Charms for charm bracelet


Working and Stay at Home Moms

Mani/pedi (8)
A Massage (6)
A fun quality family day or weekend (6) (specifically mentioned were grilling, beach day, lake day)
Gift card to her favorite "me" store (6)
Earrings (5)
Time "off" to do whatever she wants (with childcare arranged) (4)
Getting to go shopping and $ to buy what she wants! (with childcare arranged) (4)
Date night out of her choice  (with childcare arranged) (4)
Love, hugs, kisses, appreciation, listening ears, kindness, helping out (with chores, etc), the kids telling her why they think shes a good mom (4)
Breakfast in bed (3)
A day at the spa (3)
Monogrammed gifts (a beach towel, a bag, etc) (3)
Anything the kids made (2)
Starbucks gift card (2)
A gift card for family or mom and me professional photos (2)
Fancy lotions and soaps (i.e. Bath and Body Works etc) (2)
A Quiet Vacation (2)



Since we are all unique and have our own specific wishes, I always think it's best to ask what she wants, but hopefully this list will help.   I would love feedback on this list, and please leave a comment adding to it if you like!
Wishing a very happy Mother's Day weekend to all the Mom's out there, all those who love them, and hugs to those of you experiencing grief and sadness as you miss your mom, or you long to be a mother, or you are a mother missing her child always, but this weekend especially.

My mama and me.  Love her!


Lucas 4 year old interview.

1. What is your favorite color? All of them.  Just all of the boy colors.
2. What is your favorite toy? Race cars on a race track.

3. What is your favorite fruit? grapes
4. What is your favorite tv show? Bubble Guppies - and my favorite movie is Beauty and the Beast
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? peanut butter + jelly rollup
6. What is your favorite outfit? my rainbow shirt and those (green plaid) shorts you (Mommy) really like :)
7. What is your favorite game? tag
8. What is your favorite snack? fruit snacks + pretzel fishes (goldfish) - not together
9. What is your favorite animal? lion + bear
10. What is your favorite song? One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
11. What is your favorite book? Fancy Nancy and the Too-Loose Tooth
12. Who is your best friend? Parker
13. What is your favorite cereal? marshmallow cereal
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? ride my new scooter
15. What is your favorite drink? milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? noo-noo
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Daddy's waffles
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Pei Wei (she loves their chicken lo mein)
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A fireman.  A space astronaut. 

Come on In


I'd like to share our new home, and all the DIY we've done to make it ours! It's extremely different from any style we've ever done- but our favorite! So I'm going to do one room at a time per post. 

The master bedroom, from one angle. There is a bedroom with closets, a sitting/dressing room area, and private bath. This was taken from the sitting room facing the bedroom. I've loved working on all the projects, and by far my favorite part is seeing it all come together. I'm definitely doing a beach/lake cottage, shabby chic style throughout. It makes sense here because as you'll see later,there are huge windows, vaulted ceilings, and the floor plan is just a wide open one. It's breezy with lots of natural light. So soft blues, bright blue accents, white, grey, and sea green have been perfect. And very happy 😊
About 90% of what we have was given to us. So just assume that what you see, was given out of a sweet souls compassion. I just changed it up a bit! The chest was in awesome shape, a walnut brown. I painted it some shade of blue (I buy SW quarts on sale, and mix shades on my own until I get what is in my mind 😜) For this piece I didn't sand it before. I just put a few light layers on, intentionally leaving the original color in spots for an easy antique look. Love! 

The artwork is my originals. Two of my favorite pieces I've painted. I did both while we were in the apartment, looking for houses. That's around the time that my go to colors started switching from the pink/purple/orange to blue/green/gray/white. 


Before/After. The top photo is from the listing photos. And today's beachy, bright, happy place. With the flowers from my husband and son ❤️ "Mommy I love buying flowers for you" said the precious toe headed boy. Melt. 

I made the valances from curtains I got at Big Lots for 12$. Top is before- they were nice custom curtains, just not our style. 


And finally, let's talk about the bed and tables 😊 The before of the same pieces is shown below, with the after on top. Absolutely love it. To do the bed, I did sand down the first finish pretty heavy. I basically stripped it. The color is, suprise, not mixed 😉: SW Cay. After applying 2-3 layers of paint, I went back in and distressed it, as you can see in the above photo. 
 Let's talk about the bedside table. It is part of a full suit with the bed. I didn't sand this. In the next photo you'll see the color of the other bedside table. I like this one, but I'm thinking it's just too bold for me. I'm thinking of sanding it down and doing SW Fleeting Green or Rainwashed, both very light sea greens. Or Tradewind which is a light blue-grey. What's your opinion? TBD. Softer lighter green? Bluish Gray? Light Greenish Blue? 🤔


This is the other bedside table. I think I want a coordinating but not matching the bed, color. 


Happy Happy Master Suite!!! Still a handful of projects to finalize in this room, but really- if I ran out of my own home projects, I'd go looking for more. Happy Sunday and thanks for looking at my studio! (Aka house...😉) ❤️


Rest Yourself

Introducing our respite, our refreshment, our haven.... Our outdoor living room. This screened porch was in the top 5 for what we loved about the house.

This is when the previous homeowners were showing the house. My 70% left brain is extremely active and alive when it comes to vision to create a tailor made space for our style. Please note the chocolate brown door in the back right, and the lattice on the back screen.

The first 4 weeks we lived here it was May. Ah-MAY-zing weather. *chuckle* We spent 90% of our waking hours on the porch or grilling patio off the porch (while kids and dog ran around the fenced, almost acre yard, that's basically an arboretum. 

There's some serious back porch living that happens in this house. This room isn't 100% done, but what ever is?! To design the space to fit us, we started with all of our furniture. And a heck lot of turquoise/Aqua/teal paint. 2 of the 3 doors were black. The 3rd was richly chocolate brown (for fun, see photo above again)  Funny thing is at our last house, I painted the doors black. Not this time! I need more calm, cheer, airiness now. Less suburban traditional, more coastal breezy. (I'm well aware of our distance from all forms of water, but seriously, never again. I'd rather live in a decor inspired home!) 


Anyways, all 3 doors got painted some beachy blue mix 😂 We love the string lights at night. Adds a soft ambience or a loud party time, your pick!  


The next thing I did was lay a fresh coat of stain.


Up close showing the progress and difference. 


And now the 90% finished project ☺️ The footprints are custom motif. They remind me that people live a full life here, and that this porch is well used and loved! 



We also removed the lattice in the back. (Remember, OPEN). And I had a significant amount of very notable white paint drips all over the brick from the last person to paint trim white, that I had to paint over with the color of brick. Maybe not the most fun painting I've ever done. There were white drops and spots everywhere. But not now! 

 2 things I still want to do are paint all the trim, and hang flowy white curtains with tie backs. 


And I'd be lying if I said the massage cushion on the antigravity chair under the cieling fan didn't get some use. 


And again, for a before and after sake. So y'all come over, we'll grill out, and relax on the porch with some ... Tea? 😀