Corners of my home...my favorite pieces

With all of the excitement of the little someone, the nesting instincts are in overdrive once again.  There will definitely be some rearranging and regrouping of our stuff.  Taking inventory is always a good idea (for insurance purposes alone!).  But, these things must stay.  They each have a story and a special memory and I hope to have them forever or pass them down to those I'll love forever.

These are some of my favorite pictures of the boys.  Printed onto leftover paper and placed into mismatched frames, they somehow make that big, honking flatscreen a little softer.

This was my mom's little chair.  I can remember reading books in it.  Now it's part of a little nook for the boys.

The five panel door came out of my uncle's old barn.  Repainted, it made a nice (and cheap!) old headboard.

This pair of little tables serve as our nightstands...geez, never really noticed those ugly cords...must add basket!

love, love, love her.  We found his in a neat little place (actually an old airport hanger) on the way to Florida.  I believe it was called Duncan Ponder antiques.  Just could not leave without her.  Says 'Violets for perfume' on the back.  When you see something that you know you'll regret not leaving with...just get it!  You must!  You'll never regret it.

My husband (geologists that he is) brought this cross back from a salt mine in Columbia.  There is a whole Nativity scene carved out underground there.  There's an idea for a post.  I should share the pics from his (business) trip there.  Really neat.

This pair hung in my husband's grandmother's entryway.  The frames are really intricate.  Sort of revolutionary war era scenes (my interpretation sounds very 'Christie's'auction professional,huh?)

A homestead claim from the family..signed by Grover Cleveland

A really old map we found in Victoria, B.C. of a lake named after us! (you never know!).  Reminds me of our wonderful time spent in B.C.  Sea-to-sky highway-pre-olympic days.  Should share those pics as well.  Beautiful place.  Hubby did his thesis work there.




And sometimes, it would be easier just to throw this out than to clean it!  But I guess we'll keep it after all!

The everyday...and the excitement!

Right now, I'm:
-liking that homemade laundry detergent (we went for the Duggar's powdered version and have since learned that all ingredients can easily be found at Ace Hardware)
-managing baseball practices with Boy Scout campouts and a 'wandering' toddler
-planning a day out at the railroad museum
-planning a garden, a landscaping redo, and a kitchen cabinet painting session (or weekend!)
-adding sunscreen and bugscreen purchases to my errand list
-digging out the flip-flops
-dreaming of my outdoor shower and having to settle for hosing those muddy,fun-loving boys off in the driveway

Certainly, signs of spring and outdoor fun are surrounding us here in the south!  70 degrees all week long!

With the flurry of spring to-do's around here, I've got a little something (well, someone) keeping me a little more grounded these days.  Imagining all of the wonderful growth occurring of that little someone right now has me in daydream mode for sure.  Daydreams of 10 little fingers and 10 little toes and praying for perfection in all that is formed between.  We have already been so blessed.  Sure to share all the excitement that this new someone brings to our home.  Wondering if I'll need to change the name of the blog?!?  We'll see!

Can't believe we'll be back to these days in a few months!  (**this was our version of sunning away the jaundice and yes, measures were taken to keep the wee one warm!)**  And this one will be a big brother, too!

Kicking the TV Habit (for Lent)

So, we (hubby and myself) always give up something for Lent.  We find that the sacrifices of Christ are more motivating than any New Year's Resolution could be.  For the past few years, our sacrifice has been sweets.  This year, we've decided to give up our habit of crashing on the couch after the kids go to bed and drowning in the latest mess on TV.  Yes House, Grey's, Duggars, Breaking Bad, I will miss you.  But, geez, I'm ready to get some of our projects around here tackled, already.  Probably won't hurt in the communication department, either.  These are some of the books that I plan on reading in my downtime in place of TV.  My plans this week to start spring cleaning were derailed by this flare-up of RA that I should've seen coming with recent stresses (kids ALWAYS sick in Jan/February).  So, I was thinking that my reading should at least be progressing toward a goal, even if my house is a pigsty!  I'm working on some fabric letters for the boys new combined room and hope I can manage to get them cut-out tonight.  Here's a link to the pattern.  http://ottobredesign.blogspot.com/2010/07/soft-bunnies-and-letters.html

'checking' on the peeps

I was inspired by http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2011/01/may-be-habit-forming/ to try out polyvore a few weeks ago.   Once I got there, I'm thinking.."what type of outfit to create?"...hmmmm...been thinking a lot about the Easter chicks lately (they've been ordered...no backing out now!)....Maybe I should create a really cool farm chick outfit.  So, here you go!  But rubber boots would probably be a little more practical! Learning lots online about raising these chicks...hoping to have eggs out of our coop vs. carton by this time next year!  Was inspired by  http://homeandharmony.blogspot.com/2010/02/spring-is-coming.html to order handy hubby the plans for this fancy little coop at http://catawbacoops.com/ .  Spring is near!
 'checking' on the peeps by heidimom featuring empire waist tops

homemade laundry detergent

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to try the current trend of making your own laundry detergent.  These are the sources that I've used to investigate this.  Will let you know which method I chose and how it went.  I'm probably going to order my supplies from amazon.  Current gas costs from the humble abode in the country to all of the stores I would have to visit (with my wriggling toddler on hip) to obtain all of these ingredients would probably eat my savings profits up.  Goodbye Gain!...Hello borax!?!  We'll see.

http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2010/08/homemade-laundry-liquid-revisited.html
http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2010/05/on-the-laundry-line.html
http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html

Lord knows there's some mountains of laundry around here!

More Appliqued Shirts

My mom whipped these up in like an hour with the garanimals cheap-o shirts from walmart.  Will I ever be able to just'whip something up'?  Hard to be motivated when I have her spending every waking moment making such cute things as these on the uber-expensive machine!

The gingerbread haunted house was  requested...it would make his stock bakery scooby cake "just perfect, mommy".  Oh, my Halloween boy.  Purple was a delish fondant made for me by a super-talented coworker and black was wiltons gel-icing. Yes, I went extreme last year with the first cake (8 hours allnighter extreme).  Swore I wouldn't do it to myself with the double party hoopla this year.  Identical due dates...but no cupid between the two of them.  Ahh..maybe next time (what?!?what did I say!).

So the party bags were valentine candies in grab bags from dollar tree...I tied their character themes in by using these thank you signs. 

A little shy, but so obviously delighted all of the fuss is about him.

The very topheavy cake that, most importantly, contained all of the elements that were so very important to make that boy feel extra special!

Beloved Emily, how often do I hear your name.

This fiesta was at a little local pizzeria and deli down the street with an arcade/gameroom/kiddy rides that was not quiet as overwhelming as "The Cheese".  We really had a blast...and all of my guilt over not having the homemade cake...the cheap favors...home party...was overridden by the smiles on their faces (and the fact that Daddy had the flu all week before!).  Sometimes we don't realize how much God steers us until we look backward at the direction of the path he led us on!

Staying!!!

After a long hiatus, decided to update and give this blog another go.  Like many others out there, we had home selling fiascos...buyers backing out last minute and such...have made peace with it and truly believe that we were meant to stay on these wonderful six acres and raise our little family.  I plan to keep track of our "renovating to make room" plans and post them here.  Weeks like these past few with sick mommas, daddys, and boys make me so thankful that we're not showing, packing, moving, and planning.  Bunk beds, toddler beds, and a coat-shoe-bag entry plan to come.