Not my smartest moment

I thought by this time of the year, I'd be out digging in the dirt with the kids.

We'd have a little garden, with little sprouts coming up, that's what I thought.

My, my, how wrong I've been.We had snow yesterday.

But this in the picture, that's not snow.

That, my friend, is down feathers.

See, in all our cooped upness, I decided a project was in order.

A window seat to be exact. 

I took a down blanket that drove me absolutely crazy, 

and I cut it open in my house.

I had no idea, if you want to make a window seat, take your down blankets outside before you cut them up. You'll save yourself so much effort and time.

Eden likes it when I have these 'not so smart moments'. 

I think she think I'm more fun.

Kinda true.

It's laughable when you do silly things.

Besides a house covered in down feathers, which by the way

resembles dust bunnies, the window seat turned out just how I imagined.

It's now become the most treasured sitting spot, and I love that.

Our bunny Eyelash is right out the window too, so the kids

just sit and watch her and talk to her through the window.

So, there you have it, not my smartest moment,

but our coziest little seat.

For moms like me

I read a lot a blogs, at least, I think I do. It seems like most moms have been doing valentine crafts for weeks, decorating their house, and celebrating a little sooner than I have.

So, for moms like me, who haven't done a thing yet, here's a little valentine craft for your littles, and to kill two birds with one stone, a little decor at the same time. I found this on this blog, one of the many that I love.

 While Eden and Micah were playing at the table, I got out three pieces of double sided construction paper. Fancy, right? And I just cut as many hearts as I could.

 Get some wax paper, construction paper and glue, and you're almost done prepping. Told you this was easy.

Cut two big heart outlines out of your paper and glue them onto a sheet of wax paper.

 Give your little people their glue and let them share their little bowl of cut out hearts and craft to their little hearts content.

Cut out your heart from the wax paper, and tah-dah, you have yourself a little valentine decor. Plus your little people will feel accomplished and creative.

*

On a more serious note, it's been quite the week. I had an ultrasound Thursday evening followed by a call from the doctor right after to prepare to have surgery on Friday. My hormone numbers went up last week, which prompted the ultrasound, and found a molar pregnancy. To say I'm devastated would be an understatement. I began the grieving process all over again, my hopes dashed again, and I've been on my knees more in the past four days than I think I have been in my life.

There's a lot of unanswered questions at this point and only time will answer them. I never in a million years thought that this chapter in my life would be so long, let alone written. Yesterday I felt like I had a renewed hope, a few findings in my internet research that could be a little joyful if true. Time will tell.

For now, it's the little things and the three people in my life that I've been blessed with. Smiling when Eden says "wormaid" for mermaid and Micah yells "MEDIC" whenever he gets hurt. And yeah, Mike surprised me with an ipad last week when all this went down. Don't be jealous. I am blessed.

My week and Thanksgiving

This week was fabulous. I love that I can type that.

We had some friends over, I accomplished some little projects, hint, hint:

 and I focused my attention. One thing that's been so helpful to me, lately, and in all of my life is to keep a journal. This week I wrote down some goals that I wanted to accomplish, and what do you know, my etsy site is almost up and running. I feel proud of myself. I'm sure that it'll probably go something like every other time I've set up my etsy store, as in nothing sells. But that's okay, I had fun doing it.
Eden and I had a lot of plans this week. We made a Christmas chain, and we set up our nativity sets.

And I promised to set up some Christmas lights. This was no small task my friends. It was disastrous.

When I pulled out the wad of lights, and finally untangled them, I lost my footing and smashed the working lights with the crunch of my shoe. It was almost humorous. Then I got out our scary, shaky ladder and tried to hang our one working strand of icicle lights from the gutter above the garage.

Yeah, that didn't go so well either. So, we now have the sorriest display of Christmas lights you've probably ever seen out in our front yard.

But that's okay, the kids seem to think it's pretty cool.

And our Thanksgiving was wonderful. Eden kept breaking out in drama, being Mary, the mother of Jesus, and charming us all. It's really very adorable. And my mom made the. best. turkey. ever. It was so delicious.
But my favorite part about Thanksgiving is always when we go around the table and tell what we're thankful for. Tears well up in my eyes every year, and I love the little bond of intimacy it creates with those at the table. I know I have so much. So much, and I feel grateful all the time. I really do. But this year, I feel especially thankful for Mike. He's everything to me, and I love him more than anything.
Happy Post-Thanksgiving!

I'm open for busine$$

My etsy shop is open! I'll be adding a lot of things in the days to come. So proud of myself for finally doing something I've been wanting to do for what seems like so long. Sales don't matter, I've done this years before and I think I had ten sales, but it's not the point. I'm doing something I love, besides being a wifey, a mommy, a blogger, and a creator of beautiful things.

One step forward

...two steps back. Not really. But I did finish my second family room. The reason I say two steps back is because I have ripped apart three things/areas since I've finished. You'd think I'd learn.

Don't mind the zone looking children. I started a new rule with regards to our movie watching. Movies can only be watched when we're sick, or (this is the addendum) when Daddy is on a business trip. Mike was gone for part of the week, so instead of being extremely labor intensive while he was gone, it was pretty relaxing.

Back to my room, I love it. My mom taught me over the phone how to do the wall texture. The plan was do do the whole room, but patience and time wouldn't allow it. 

The before, you ask?

Yeesh! That does not look good. The birth of this project all began when I was playing with the kids, I saw a little corner of wall paper peeling, and my busy little fingers wandered to picking at it. I remember standing there for a few minutes with these pieces of wall paper in my hand thinking "should I just glue them back on? what have I done?". But I'm glad. It was yuck. So thus the retexturing after wallpaper.

Awww, the classic Micah scowl with squinted eyes.

Anyway, below is the sign I made for the room. The wall's a bit busy to hang something busy, so my mom kindly gave me a little portion of her driftwood stash and I just painted on a quote from the hymn   Come Thou Fount.

Typically, I'm not a hymn listening girl, but lately, I have to say I am. The words in that hymn are so incredibly deep, it like you really have to sit there and think about it. Not only that, but Eden sings that song throughout her day. 

I'd be lying if I said that this wasn't a hard week. When I just downloaded my camera, there were ten pictures. That's about ten times less than a normal week. My mind has been busy lately but I know my heart is in the right place. For me as a mom, God is my strength. The fact that I have two beautiful kids who teach me everyday is just beyond any words. It's my goal to show them Christ, but usually it's the other way around.

The tender spirits and the simplicity of joy that they exemplify is so exhilarating. For example, Eden is still just enchanted with the story of the birth of Jesus, enchanted. She talks about it everyday, several times a day, tells Micah about it, and her babies too. It got me thinking: it is amazing. It's not just some Christmas story, but a miracle that does deserve to be gushed over and enamored with. And Micah, that boy has a spirit that cannot be bridled. I know at times it may be to his detriment, but he's wild and relentless and I so admire that. I can already tell that he'll do things with everything he has, and I want to be the same.

Time to get off my soap box. It's not yet 6:30 in the morning but I have slutty brownies in the oven that smell delish. 

Cheers (with my coffee cup) to the things our kids teach us.

Eden's room makeover

I remember back a few months ago when I finished the fireplace room in our house, thinking "that was easy...if I spent a week on every room of this house, I could be done in a month." What a dum-dum. That's all I have to say about that crazy plan. 

A month later I am finished (almost) with Eden's room.

 It's not a dramatic change, but I love it. I took down all the moulding in the middle of the wall which turned out to be a huge project. Sanding, rebuilding the wall, retexturing later, then I could finally paint. The wall color is baker's box white, slightly lavender in the right light.

I ordered the decals from etsy. Love them. Not too kiddish, but still a little magical.

 Eden loves to "read". When playing she'll often steal away to the nearest bookcase to flip through some of her favorite books. For her own little bookcase, I cut up a tapestry and just stapled it in the back. I used just a paper stapler too, who knew that would be so easy.

The pillows used to be couch throw pillows, but we always just threw them on the floor and found them bothersome. I cut out eight triangles and hand stitched them on the pillows. I'm crazy for any hand stitching right now. I think it adds so much in just a little time.

And why pillows? next to her bookcase? Little details friends: Eden's not a fan of hard surfaces. Even in a shopping cart I usually take my coat off for her to sit on. So, her little space is tailored just to her needs.

This little lamp is one of my favorite things in her room. Inspired by this pinterest pin, but I love mine more. The little tree branch came from Mike's grandma's house way back when, and the little wire lights are from Restoration Hardware. Eden loves looking at it in the dark and it has an ambiance like you wouldn't believe. The picture here doesn't do it justice with the flash and all. Just trust me, it's darling.

 Before you start judging my photography skills here, remember I'm still sick. This is the wall that has the entry door on, opposite the window. The mirror used to be in our "great room" of our condo.

 The curtains are old and also used to hang on our patio in our condo, but I still love them. I think I bought them about six years ago at Pier 1. The quilt is a rummage sale find and the bed is on loan from my parents.

 A darker picture to prove how cool my homemade lamp is.

That's a wrap.

Actually, it's not. We still have to put in a new ceiling fan, we bought one, and it's just sitting in her closet. It doesn't take much to make a room cute in my book: a little paint, some decals, and a few little homemade touches. I also found another project to start. I have two old, yucky night stands. They're not much to look at (trust me) but would look darling fabric covered and with new knobs. 

But, it may have to wait:

 as another project has begun!

Mother and Daughter

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.