Mother and Daughter

It's me

I loved our Thanksgiving. Favorite moment: sitting at the table, going around telling what we're thankful for. I was so touched and felt so close to everyone. I don't think I'll ever forget it.

I'm named after my Grandpa (that's pretty random).

My creativity is exploding lately. The goal of having my etsy shop reloaded could actually happen, I'll keep you posted.

I think I gained ten pounds in the last five days.

Eden just learned Mike's middle name, if you knew my daughter, this would shock you.

Mike and I taught three year old Sunday school last week and had a blast.

Micah is really sick with teething, poor baby.

I'm addicted to knee socks.

We've been saying we're going to set up our Christmas tree for the past three weeks, we need to do it already.

I think I'm going to teach myself wool hooking.

I've been avoiding politics lately, just not into it.

I can't wait to make a few projects that are up my sleeve. Hopefully, this week... I can post at least one of them.

Thanksgiving Day

I don't know what I'd do without these three in my life. 

They're my everything.

Happy Thanksgiving

Love the mess

This picture was taken a while ago back when we were still in our condo. It's a mess, but it's typical. Laundry, toys, snack crumbs, spilling sippy, you name it, it's probably on the floor or stuck on the bottom of your foot.

Now bear with me here and keep that mess in your mind. Last night, I tucked the kids in bed. I don't know what it is about a sleeping child, but it's just the most beautiful thing and I love it. For some reason, when I see my kids sleeping, I just have these revelations. My mind goes through their birth, the sound of their laugh, hard moments, proud moments, first words, tiny tears, splashing baths, I think about it all. It happens in only a few minutes, but I just stand there frozen. I can't help myself to kiss them, tell them I love them and kiss them again. I love tender moments if you don't know that already.

Last night as I tucked the kids in, and thought all the thoughts I think when I do this, I had a bit of a turning point. I want to be like my kids in that every day is new, every day is fun. There are no "bad" days to them, only me. Once again they teach me, and I will strive to be like them.

Today I tried to ignore the mess, and I mostly did. I had a tea party with Eden during Micah's nap and I didn't even try to organize play food while I did it. We talked about our kinds of tea, I told her mine was minty and she said hers was "strawberry-banana-sun-sational-lemon-meringue". (Seriously, she said that.) The phone started ringing and I consciously made the effort and succeeded not to answer. We continued with our tea party, and played on.

When I had one-on-one time with Micah, we worked on words. He's so darling, and I love how he "talks". He's such a boy in his actions, and loves kisses. He's so extreme and I love that we just hung out. We didn't work around each other, but I was intentional in my time with him.

Today, I loved the mess. Tomorrow, I'm going to love it too. Despite the rice krispies stuck on the bottom of my foot, or the play food that is in every room of the house, I will love the mess.
And to think, all because of tucking them into bed last night.

That's what it's all about... not the Hokey Pokey

Today I got some much needed alone time. 
I went and picked out some craft supplies, and with everything I picked up I thought, "Eden would love to do this" or "me and Eden would have so much fun making this together". 
I moved on and went to a clothing store, I saw hoards of Hello Kitty merchandise and thought fondly of Eden, saw some darling little boy slippers and pictured them on Micah. My stomach started to grumble a little and I thought of Mike, wondering if he would like the dinner that I had prepared for him. I found it amusing that while I was "alone", my mind could never be. My family is my world and are constantly in my thoughts.

When I got home, I couldn't help but toot the horn when I pulled up in the drive. When I did, Mike started flashing the flood lights, I know, we're mature. It felt like my two hours away had been forever. It sounds crazy, but that's what love is.

Micah ran to me, aching to be held, Mike planted a big juicy kiss, and Eden had her finest dress up clothes layered on. She pranced around, waiting for a compliment. 

After I washed my hands, I sought her out, sitting on the bottom step. Her little princess dress was everywhere and she had on my old kitten heels. Her crown was crooked and her little magic star wand that I made her had a pull of fuzz coming out of it. She was stunning. Seriously.

I started to cry and and as I did Micah tottled over to me. He climbed on my lap and I thought back to conversations that I had with Mike about Eden when she was a baby, or perhaps near the same age as Micah. I remember talking about how I couldn't wait to have conversations with her, hear her thoughts, ask her questions about what's going on in her little mind. So, after I cried a few thankful tears, we had a little conversation. We have hundreds of them a day, but for some reason this one was really special. We connected. 

Those tiny little moments are so incredible to me, and that's really what it's all about.

Room Re-do

Mike and I loved this room from the get-go. The wood siding is real as are the beams. It's cozy, but definitely not our style. I wish I had taken a picture of it with all the curtains up, but honestly, I don't think I wanted to remember the room that way.

 I was getting distracted by these two.

Could they be any cuter?

 It's a gas fireplace, which we are really excited about. Five minute fire or two hours, we can have one and it's no biggie.

 The start of the progression of painting. We actually bought three samples and my favorite was a Behr color called "elephant skin", my least favorite, the one below. Time passed, perhaps a week, and this one became our favorite it's Behr "nimbus cloud."

 It took so long to paint because of all the tiny holes, the grain of the wood, and the cracks of the panelling boards. So once I had my paint slopped on, I really had to work it in. 

 We also painted up by the ceiling right away because we were worried that the color wouldn't match the ceiling. But after doing our little patch, we loved it with the ceiling.

 This is the little knee wall looking into the kitchen. And...

...this is the finished room. I love it, love it, love it. 

 We found the window at an antique store that's almost across the street from our house. Chopped a little off the side, sanded, and voila! 

I do still need to cut the chains, I know.

 I'm sure that the room will still evolve a bit, or maybe even quite a bit, but we know the style that we want for it now.

 Thanks to my dad for the elk antlers on loan,

and an old table made out of barn boards that I found in the trash and made into a sign, the little touches are finally coming together.

We love the room, but the bad news: it's only half done. We tested a small swatch and sanded over the paint. The wood grain popped, and it was so beautiful and shabby. We also are going to be sanding the ceiling beams to lighten those up and have them match the distressed look of the room.

I hope I don't let it sit too long, for fear of never returning to it, but my arms are enjoying the rest for now. In time.

Life is beautiful

Not normal and little oompa loompa

 This was my nap time activity yesterday, I'm thinking that's not too normal, but it's all for my room. On a bright note, I finished painting tonight. Hallelujah! Pictures to come, pictures to come.

Micah looks so tired, he's sick too, but how can you not see an oompa loompa. Orange face, stripes, enough said.

Next week at 3:16

Sorry to disappoint, but my room is not done. My paint brushes are calling me, but my tired legs and mind are winning tonight. My goal was Sunday, and here it is Monday night. Oh well, all things in time. It will happen this week, I do know that.

On a much more important note, Eden and Micah. They are thriving, I tell you. 

Eden keeps telling me that she's getting married next week at 3:16. I pretend to cry and tell her to stay little. She tells me that maybe I'll get my wish for Christmas, but probably not because she's growing up.

So I pretend to cry some more, which both children love (is that weird or am I a good actress?)

And then we'll usually have the conversation pretty close to exactly the same three more times that day. I love it, and when it doesn't happen, I miss it.

I know I'll be going crazy after Christmas and New Year's are done, but right now, I'm looking forward to being holed up in this house with my little family.

I think I'll definitely need to come back in a few months and re-read that last comment, because in Wisconsin, it's a really long winter.

For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of having your own yard

Having a yard is glorious. After living on a third floor condo, we have such a huge appreciation for the blessing of a yard. The kids are in heaven, and Mike and I are so enthralled with it all.

 I'm thankful for the handful of beautiful days we had as snow has been flying for the past few days.

 Again, I'm learning a new normal or settling, house projects, but most importantly enjoying my little offspring.

I'm hoping by next week, I can post a few pictures of before and after of our first room transformation. So far, I'm got a long way to go on it, but I love it and can't wait to show it off.

I'm okay with it

Looking back, there were certain things that intimidated me in parenthood. One being the actual birth of my babies, then some "little" stages here and there, or having certain talks. The birth thing, I'm over it, natural is the way we go here and I love the miracle of it, and now I'm onto my next hurdle: pink and princesses.
I know that is a topic that is mildly shunned in certain circles while widely accepted in others, and for some odd reason, I thought that Eden would never go through it, at least I hoped.
Well, she's into it. She loves pink, and she adores princesses. She asks me all the time if I like princesses to which my reply is usually a thought out conversation and she's gone long before I finish my drawn out thought.
Yesterday she found a princess book in her bookcase. It's been put away for a long time, but change is good, so I brought it out. It was the Disney princess dress up book and she just realized that all these princesses have names. She wanted to learn them all, and I reluctantly taught her. She pointed to Cinderella and said "Who's this? Mozarella?" I enjoyed my belly laugh.
But I've been mulling all this over in my head. The pink, the princesses, the sparkly, shiny things, and I think I'm okay with it. I'm not gonna buy into it, but I want to encourage her girlyness.
When I do Eden's hair how she requests and she walks around like she's on top of this world, the confidence is just out of this world. By no means do I want to teach my daughter that looks are everything, or anything for that matter. But what if she's the only girl I have? Wouldn't I wish I embraced that part of her femininity?
I think I would, so I will. She's darling, pink and princesses, or messy three year old, I think I'll just embrace whatever stage she's in.

Rollin' with my gnomies

My days lately have been work filled. I had on a semi-soft cami top today and I ran my fingers across it and it all started snarling, proof of some hard-worked hands.

The kids are loving our new home, and Mike and I, well, I think "loving" would be an understatement. We haven't gotten to play outside since Tuesday because of the weather, but there's so much room to roam indoors. It's kinda like a children's museum. For reals. I'll have to post some pictures sometime soon, but it may take me a while. 

I promised myself that I couldn't start decorating or taking down old curtains or patching walls until we were unpacked. I've cheated twice, but I think that's pretty good considering.

*

On a Halloweeny note, aren't they cute?

(See those curtains above, now you know why I'm so motivated to unpack!)

We moved!

The last five days have been an absolute whirlwind.
It's been exhausting, but we are so blessed that we get to have this opportunity to move.
There's boxes everywhere, and little by little, we're making our new house a home.

Today, I took a break. Eden, Micah, and I headed to her art class, ran an errand, and spent the entire day out in our new back yard. It was total bliss. I thought for a few seconds about the boxes needing to be unpacked, but instead, I just laid in the grass, and felt the warmth of the sun. It was such a beautiful moment, and it was a moment that lasted. It felt so good to nurture my kids' love of the outdoors, and to enjoy it myself.

There are so many differences with living in a home rather than a condo. I don't think I could ever go back. Even though it's really hard work, I feel so happy that I get to unpack, and I get to settle.

Through all those thoughts though, I keep thinking about Mike. I get to be by his side through this, going through life, living something that we've been dreaming about for a long, long time, and that is the most beautiful thing.