October

I can't believe it's October.

Seems like our beach days have been sooo long ago, and yet seems like they were only yesterday.

Eden's birthday is a week from today, I need to get busy.

People who know her can't believe she's only 3 still, and I feel the same.

I have a couple of exciting things coming up, but you'll have to keep checking back to see.

I think I'm going to host a giveaway! Yay!

Since about three people read this blog, you'll all be winners.

And after I do that, I'll have an announcement.

But until then, we've been reading lots of books and playing in the leaves.

Endless fun.

Quiet days at home

The kids and I have been home a lot. A lot. You'd think saying that, my house would be clean and laundry would be kept up. It's not. It's quite the opposite. I find that the more we're home, the more the house is a disaster, but the less I care. They have fun though, and I'm happy. We're home.
We had a big wind storm last week and a huge limb fell off the tree. Made me so sad, so we brought it inside. It's bee like a new little play station, so now I'm kinda happy it fell.

I started reading a book by Priscilla Shyer (?) and she talks so much about living in the present. I love that. It's been my prayer lately. Not to be wanting to fast forward Eden's late night sleep routines or wanting to move past Micah's naughtiness lately, just being. Just living right here, right now and enjoying it. I think that's why we've been home so much lately too. Just being.

Eden's itch to paint is back, this time she has a new muse. See it? It's her little beetle that she found outside. I so admire her.

I just love this picture. It's like Mike's little fan club. Those are our quiet days at home. Made up of little memories that are so precious. Now if only Micah would stop asking to go to Target.

No bon bon eating here

My blogging absence last month was uncalled for. It was. I love knowing that I'm keeping track of the little things my kids do and say as well as what I'm learning as a mom. It never stops, them or me. Like last week, Eden, who is mildly obsessed with the christmas story, asked if she could eat at "We Three Kings", which is really "Burger King". Cute. I love those little tidbits.

Anyway, back to the last month:

We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. It was wonderful. My mom drove in from out of town, we went out, she put the kids to bed. We enjoyed each other, and I can't believe we've been married seven years. So blessed, sometime I'll have to share our love story, it's pretty incredible.

I think every day it was over seventy degrees, the kids played with their little kiddy pool. It occupied them for hours. Usually by the end of the day it was full of sand, dirt, grass clippings, and rocks, but they still had fun.

Cuddling. Eden. and anyone willing. Eden's sleep issues still seem unresolved to me, but I've been letting her fall asleep next to me nearly every night. You should see her face when I tell her she can. It lights up. Despite the lack of sleep, her attitude is outstanding. Last night, she read and cuddled Micah and read him a book. Made up the words and everything. So cute.

I love projects, they're kinda my livelihood. I bought this little piece at a rummage sale at the beginning of summer. It was half primed white, and just dingy. I spray painted it green, sanded it, and then stained it. I think it turned out so cute. And, my first shopping trip to Hobby Lobby landed me all the knobs at fifty percent off. The best part, I did it while watching the kids play in the pool, couple hours tops.

Put Eden in dance class. It's just through the park & rec. dept., but she loves it. We had to get special permission too because she's not yet four and it's a four year old class. Thankfully, she loves it and follows directions better than some of the other four year olds.

Admiring little things. I love taking a step back or usually taking a seat to just admire. It's the moments when I put down what I'm doing, and just be that I learn the most and count my blessings. I wish I did it more.

Stenciled one wall of the kitchen and repainted the entire kitchen. We painted the kitchen "swiss coffee", a shade of white. I tell everyone that the color was "mental institution" before. It was crusty, buttery, yellowy, but not quite. It looks so fresh now.
And my stencil, I love that too, I planned on doing more, but Mike thought it could be too much going on. Another thing that we did in the kitchen was switch out all the outlets and switches to white from ivory, that made a huge difference. Also, the little light above the sink was a florescent garage style light, so I did a little rewiring and put in a little pendant light. Much better.

That's what I was doing when I wasn't blogging. See, no bon bon eating here.

More behind than ever

 I feel like I usually do a decent job of keeping up. Never with it, not organized, but I manage.
Lately, I don't even manage. I blame a broken camera and a slow computer, but I could also add my short attention span and the random house projects that I've been creating.

 These pics are from our first fourth of July parade. In the little town we used to live in, it's just a few miles away, we nestled in among strangers and dashed in the road for the good candy like starburst.
Mike and Eden walked down to the little gas station on the corner before it started for a popsicle. We were shocked that they're only a dollar. One can't buy much these days for a buck, not even an ice cream.

 I love these memories. I wish even now I could relive them just for a moment. Life goes so fast.

 I love how Micah smells after he eats yogurt, and how Eden still can't resist a cuddle. I love how gentle Micah is towards Eden and how he says her name. And I love how Eden adores anything glitsy and gaudy. These are the summer days... wish I could hold onto these memories, just always have them in the front of my mind.

 It's funny too, life seems easier. Eden does what I tell her in a restaurant or a parking lot, and Micah will do anything for his "baby". We sit outside at night and there's no bugs because we've had no rain. There's no lawn to mow on the weekend, just time for each other. And I think we've grown so close.

Which also makes me more behind than ever.
The house is rarely clean, and the laundry is always in piles. As you can tell, this blog has been neglected. But we have dirty beach towels, sand on our floor, and library books in piles. There's also the random craft days that Eden and I have where she ends up cutting up anything with a scissors.
So, I need to do better because I don't want to ever forget these memories. They're too dear to slip away unnoticed.

Saturday!

what a week!

i woke up around 5:20 this morning to birds chirping and sunshine hitting the dust in the air in our bedroom. it was the perfect way to wake up.

i laid there for a few minutes, thinking about the agenda of my day.

then i remembered, today is saturday!

i pretty much lept out of bed, started the coffee, threw in some laundry, and began my day.

i love saturdays.

is she not the cutest thing ever? 

i told mike the things i want to get done around the yard, i think my list will take me until i'm 40.

that's all right, i get to be outside when i do it.

happy saturday to you.

it will be happy to me.

Happy happy, joy joy

So.

I was looking through my pictures a few nights ago and I kept seeing a theme.

Simple things, huge smiles.

I'm so thankful for happy (most of the time) kids.

Lately, they love playing together.

I love that too.

Even when they fight and I make them play in separate rooms, they don't last two minutes.

The little slapping matches are annoying at times, but it always works out.

Today I even heard Eden trying to teach Micah a Bible verse after he took something from her.

I was upstairs getting ready, and they both were down.

It was a minute that I smiled, from the inside out.

I've been a lot happier lately too.

I've been spending a lot of time reading the Bible.

Acts.

It talks about how Christians are supposed to act, maybe that's why it's called Acts.

I've also been reading a marriage book.

Simple things, basic things, things that bring me joy.

I am so cynical sometimes when it comes to Christian books, but this one is great. Cheesy at times, but addressing some things that I've never even realized that I do. For example, not telling Mike things first. Even little silly things, I usually tell someone on the phone and this writer talks about how it takes some of the pizazz out of it. No story is ever as good the second time around.

And view your spouse as perfect. This one is hard, duh, because it means you overlook the negative. 

Marriage is such a gift, and if we let it, such a blessing, and a million other nouns and adjectives too.

*

Often at the end of the day I think of my favorite moment.

This may be sappy, but it's the extra long kisses from Mike that are often my favorite.

Even more than this:

Could she be any cuter?

She quit napping.

I knew it was coming.

She still has a quiet time where she reads books or does whatever in her room.

Today, that expanded to the bathroom.

Yeah.

She came downstairs, saw me around the corner and tried to run back up the stairs.

I caught her with my words "Eden, come snuggle", because she can never resist.

She came to me and laid in my lap.

I looked at her glistening face, yeah, glistening with my makeup. 

*

After Eden's fun quiet time, we painted our toes and let them dry in the sun.

Beautiful day, beautiful day.

It's been a week?

I can't believe it's been a week since I've posted. 

 We've been homebodies.

Big time.

I've gotten more projects done in the last two weeks than I think I thought I'd accomplish in the next six months. Two bedrooms painted, kitchen cupboards recovered, linen closet shelves recovered, growth chart up, and ceiling paint touched up (mostly).
Now that I write it out, it doesn't sound like much. I've been busy though. I promise.
And not just with projects.
This little one keeps me very busy.

It shouldn't surprise me that he has a mind of his own, we all do. He just seems like such a baby to me still, and a strong-willed baby at that.

*

This is why I love winter, well, love is a strong word.

This is why I tolerate Wisconsin winter: 

hunkering down with my babies day in and day out,

 reading stacks of books a day, 

snuggling under blankets on the floor, 

leg warmers every day,

leaving the house is a special treat,

and living life with big and little people that mean the world to me.

A portrait wall and random hapennings

I've not been in a blogging mood lately. Perhaps it's because of major lack of sleep, or trying to get house projects done with guns blazing. I've been using every spare minute to try to finish our family room (the one without a fireplace). Then, of course, our dishwasher broke yesterday.

I called it quits on trying to fix it at 9 p.m. It's a disaster. 

I threw all the parts inside and just shut the door on it.

*

Anyway, a little project that I've always liked is a gallery wall. I have a love of cute frames, but none of them match. Pinterest didn't help this time, they only showed matchy-match frames. 

I have matching frames, but I've never liked them hanging, so I just took all my favorite frames and hung them. I love it. While matching and order looks nice, I love color and disorder. I am crazy about things when I have to look over them instead of just taking it in at a glance. All that to say, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

 *

Eden and Micah have been playing together really well. We had a few hard days this week, although I think to myself "I had some really selfish days this week". When they play together, it's sweet. Eden takes on this little motherly, smothering role and Micah just goes along with it thrilled at any type of attention from her. When he cries, she'll make him sit in her lap, and if he cries harder, she'll literally smother him and say "he just wants me". 

 *

Last weekend we went to the zoo. Usually on Saturday morning, I wake up super duper early and can't sleep because I'm so excited that Mike is home with us. We're close, I've said that before. It's like an excitement that my body can't contain. Unfortunately, he has to work today, boooo. It's like the day that I look forward to since Sunday night. Sigh.

Eden got tired of walking at the zoo, and resorted to sitting on top of the stroller. I've mentioned that she loves a padded seat. Her hat got her bottom half and I quickly gave her mine. She always looks way cuter in my stuff anyway.

Micah, Micah, Micah. He's a doll, a pouty doll, but a doll. His personality is just huge. I can already tell he's a ham. Loves to get people to laugh at him, and will do things at any cost. He had Eden belly laughing last night for the longest time. I don't think her little stomach muscles could take any more.

 *

Lastly, does this make you laugh?

No, I did not put that sticker on him nor did I help in any way.

Eden got some stickers in the mail the other day and she wanted to dispose of this one right away. She loved the other stickers and carried them around the rest of the day, but I'm guessing she didn't like this one because it was brown. 

She thought Micah would like it.

As she put it on him she said "Micah just wants a sticker".

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.