Glorious Sunshine

One of the very first things Andrew does when he comes down stairs in the morning is check the weather on my cell phone. This morning he was certain that something was wrong because at 7am it said the temperature was 38 degrees! When I told him it was correct, you would have thought it was the first day of summer the remainder of the day! They didn't want to bring boots and snow pants to school, they didn't fuss at all that they had to walk home from school, they came busting in the door asking if they could play outside, and immediately dropped all their belongings and half on half off winter coats in a heap on the kitchen floor when they got approval. While Nathan was napping, Emily and I had already been out, clearing parts of the driveway that have been covered with ice for weeks that were now slushy from the warmth of the sun. But we were eager to go out again, so we grabbed Nathan this time and headed out. No jackets, no hats or mittens. Only snowboots and sweatshirts. It was chilly, but we were making it clear to winter that we are done with it!! The older two even wanted me to get their bikes down from winter storage! We are SO ready for warmer weather! They pulled out a few of their chairs, the baseball tee, a bat and ball, and a basketball. Nathan went after the baseball gear like he had been waiting all winter to do so. We didn't stay out long....but boy did it feel great!

glorious sunshine.......

I thought he might burst with the excitement of being able to PLAY outside

he didn't stay in one place for more than a few seconds

so we obviously need some instruction on which end of the bat to use...but I thought that for a 19month old, it was pretty impressive that he knew the tee, bat and ball all went together!

takin a seat to rest from all the excitement!

i love how the kids drop what they are doing and go running when daddy comes home

When we had the Blizzard of 2011, Brian's brother in law Rod cleared our driveway with his plow and we had this giant pile of snow at one side of it. Brian had spent several hours one afternoon digging out a path and a "room" in the pile including a tunnel to get into the room. It was shrinking fast today and Andrew decided to start breaking it up...The girls had climbed on top and I asked them to give me their best King of the Mountain poses......

I said...come on...those are sorta whimpy! So I got this!

Andrew made a little window in the pile and everyone wanted a turn peeking thru

It was a good day! I'm going to refer back to this post when I feel like complaining because it's rainy or muddy or too warm. There are parts of every season I love....but winter is for sure my least favorite! My babies were born to play outside, they are at their best when they can...I'm thankful they got to be at their best today!

An exciting opportunity!

I am excited to be a part of Blogging for Books with WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers! They send me a book and in exchange I write a review! So be watching for my first book review to be coming soon!

Need your opinion....

Thanks so much for all your sweet comments here and on facebook about our room! We also painted our dining room between Christmas and New Years and it totally changed the look and feel of the room. At first we didn't like it. No, that's too nice. We couldn't stand it! It is the same color as the kitchen, which we love, but with different light and different flooring it looked NOTHING like the kitchen color. We changed the lightbulbs to "daylight" bulbs and that did help, enough that we decided to live with it for a bit and see if it grows on us. It's slowly growing on us, especially in natural light. Hanging some fabric on the windows has also helped and thus where I need your help. I'm torn on my drapery fabric, so I thought I'd put it up to a vote. I'm not guaranteeing that I will be going with the results, but hoping it will help me in my decision! ;) These are not the greatest quality photos, but I am hoping it gives you a bit of an idea. Oh, and a before and after too!

Before... Not a great before...but it's the only one I have! It was a darker brown color.

Now... (We are going to paint the trim white) This doesn't show the color very accurately, but you can see it's much lighter!

This is pretty close to what the color looks like

Okay and for the fabric choices.... They are all black and white (yeah, my white balance is way off on these!)

Here's what I started with (ignore the fabric that all the samples are attached to...it's one of my photography backdrops)

I think I've narrowed it down to these three (but feel free to chime in on one of the others)

OPTION ONE ~ lets call this swirls

OPTION TWO ~ damask

OPTION THREE ~ lattice

I'd love your opinion! Either leave a comment here or on facebook! Thanks!!

Bedroom Makeover

When Brian and I got married our VERY FAVORITE gift was an amazing log bed made by Brian's high school friend, Kirk. He is an extremely talented craftsman (you can see his work here (he specializes in custom pool tables now). I had always loved "lodge" or woodsy decor, and so a log bed had been a dream of mine! Over the years my tastes have changed a bit, but in our room I felt kinda trapped with the woodsy feel because of the bed. While I wanted to be done with the decor, there was NO WAY I was even considering being done with the bed. When we redid Andrew's room (you can see that here) we had to add some walls in our room and so it has needed to be painted for a year, but I was really torn on what to do. Well we finally bit the bullet, and I got Brian to agree to some major changes, so 2 weeks ago we packed up our room because that bed, well it's HUGE, and our room is small and there was no way to work with the bed together. We moved our mattress in with the girls and our dressers and night tables to the hallway and got to work! I think it was the fastest we have ever completed a project! I am SOOOO please with the results!! There is still work to do...I need to make drapes, and get some photos up, but I couldn't wait to share!

Here's the before's

And now =)

This makes me happy!

For the drapes I am going to do white floor to ceiling flowy fabric on a black rod with pretty finials, and for photos....well I have a gazillion ideas running around in my head...I'll be sure and take another photo when it's really done! And the opening to the left of the bed is a closet...doors being painted white right now!

Making Memories

We've had a long week! We were all discombobulated because Brian and I moved out of our room and in with Emily and Kelli because we had some work to do to our room (before and after photos to come soon!). So we've been up late, not sleeping well and then I unexpectedly became the speaker for our moms group this week because the scheduled speaker had an emergency appendectomy, the kids didn't have school Friday, which was also Andrew's birthday, we promised him we would watch The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe with them (2hr and 15 min long and we started at 815), today was Andrew's first basketball game, Grandparents came for the game and then over for brunch and cake, then Brian left for the evening to go to the Bulls game and I am on the worship team at church tomorrow and teach Sunday School. Yikes! I have to admit, all day, I have been looking forward to 730. I could put the kids to bed, and relax, in the quiet, all by myself. I ordered a pizza for me and the kids tonight. We got really silly at dinner, we were laughing SO hard! I had the blinds open in the dining room and I thought to myself, I would love it if this is what our family looked like all the time if someone happened to be looking in our windows. It's also what I want my kids to remember our home being like. Full of fun and laughter. Full of love and security. I enjoyed that moment, and was happy to participate in the silliness. Andrew and Kelli asked if they could watch a movie after the little ones were in bed. I said they could, but that all the kids needed to get their baths and showers done in a timely manner. I told them I would give the babes a bath and then they could take quick showers. I knew the question was coming, so in light of my dinnertime revelation, I decided to beat them to the punch....."Unless you all want to get in the tub together?", which was met with squeals of delight! I told them the only condition was that I wanted ONE good picture of the four of them in the tub. And I'd say they were very cooperative.....

I was satisfied with my one good picture, so I told them to have fun, but to please not get too crazy, and to try and keep as much of the water IN the tub as possible! And then I just watched, and smiled, and captured it all, for them and for me.....

I love bedtime...love the quietness, love the snuggling, love ending their day with prayers, hugs and kisses (Kelli helped me capture a few of these)....

Only Diapers.....

In my mind anyway. That's all thats left of the "baby" phase of this boys life. He is one week and one day pacifier free. He was our first baby who used a paci more than just the first weeks of newborn life. And I did not like that he was a pacifier baby. All the others were self soothers, thumb, fingers and blanket babies. That was SO much easier! The older three were also AMAZING sleepers, the kind that make your friends jealous! They slept through the night from 12 weeks on. Nathan, different story. He would wake up minimum of once a night, but usually more like 4 or 5. All he wanted was his pacifier and he couldn't find it. He would cry this pathetic, please come help me find my paci cry and I would go in to find it and he would immediately lay down and open his mouth, waiting for me to feel blindly all around his mattress and between his mattress and the bumper and find the missing paci and for me to pop it in his mouth. The straw that broke the camel's (aka mommies) back, was the night I went in for the 3rd or 4th time and searched and searched and couldn't find it, and the little stinker was holding it in his hand! Brian and I talked and decided we would take the plunge and throw out all the pacifiers over Christmas break. It wasn't so much the fear of the tear-filled bedtimes that made it difficult for me, it was the literal throwing away of one of the last things that in my mind keep him as my baby. Thankfully my wonderful, strong hubby took care of night one while I was out of town for an evening. He said he cried for an hour straight. He woke up twice during the night and cried for about 20 minutes each time. The next day at naptime it was about a half an hour, the same at bedtime. But night 2, he didn't wake up at all! Since night one it has whittled it's way all the way down to just a few short minutes of fussing at both naptime and bedtime. He is taking shorter naps, but in turn he is sleeping ALL NIGHT LONG!!!! He is also SO much happier during the day and plays much better by himself, and isn't constantly at my ankles looking for me to pick him up! And one of the biggest blessings....he will still snuggle with me right before naptime and bedtime. Our routine was to get all cozy in the rocker with his blanket and paci, and I would sing him a couple songs and he would burrow right in and rub the corner of his blanket along his eyelashes and yawn big yawns. I was so worried that with the paci being gone, he wouldn't do that anymore...and he does! Thank you boy! So we will chalk it up as another victory in the parenting department, doing something difficult, for the betterment of our babies, and reaping the rewards of better nights sleep and happier days and continued snuggles and another small step toward independence for the baby of the family.

A new year...A clean slate

I CANNOT believe that the book of 2010 is closed! I think this is the fastest a year has ever passed! It has been a full year. There are things I didn't complete that I wanted to. I could list them all, but that would just be depressing! So instead I will look forward to the year that lies ahead. I do have some things I would like to accomplish in 2011. I'll share some of those here and there, but one for now. I really want to do better at keeping up with my blog. I have a couple ideas rolling around in my head regarding my blog and I'll share those in upcoming weeks as well. For now...a few photos! =)

I Love bedtime!! I love it for several reasons. Everyone is warm and cuddly in pj's. Things are quieting down. The day with the kids closes with prayers, hugs and kisses. And, it's means that soon, Brian and I will have our time together!! I read a sweet children's Bible with Emily each night that she loves! Recently Kelli asked if she could read it to Emily. It is very sweet to share in these moments between the girls. Occasionally if Nathan is awake, he will climb up on the bed with us. This night, I was putting laundry away in Nathan's room and they all made their way in there and got cozy in the rocking chair. Sweet moments to end the day!