Day Twenty-what? And then wait what?

Yes, so, the photo challenge was almost completed. I mean, I'm just a few days short, right? Believe it or not, life is, you know, kind of busy and henceforth some things do not finish at their allotted time, but instead finish a little early ... making excuses making excuses ... hey speaking of things that get finished, check out the latest DIY project in our humble abode!

I saw something similar to this on Pinterest (go figure, shocking, right, I know) and thought, "Hmm, that looks doable", and that thought was preceded with this thought that "Hey my parents are coming to visit and I just know my Dad would love another project to work on since I have no idea what I'm doing but he seems to know his way around a hardware store SCORE!"

It worked out quite well.

I decided that the kids' hallway would be the perfect spot for a chalkboard wall. Even after they outgrow the desire to color all over it, I can still use it for birthdays and holidays and as a place to put reminders, like, Remember To Brush Your Teeth. And Be Home By Midnight. YIKES. Anyway.

Because the wall is textured, my Dad spackled the wall with a wallboard joint compound. Just like it says in that picture right there: Wallboard Joint Compound. This smoothed out the wall to prevent bumpy writing.

There is a closet door next to the section of wall we were using, so we made a line with tape that was even with the height of the doorknob. That way the chalkboard wall would only be on the bottom part of the wall and would look proportionate in the hallway. After the compound dried, I applied two coats of the chalkboard paint.

When the paint dried, my hubby and I adhered a pre-meausured piece of trim to complete it and voila! Our chalkboard wall!

The kids love it. And, sometimes I draw pictures after they've gone to bed and they love waking up to see my (attempt at) handiwork! Plus, it was and will be super handy on special days ... :)

There you have it! The chalkboard wall!

Have a lovely day!

Going Through The House: The Kids' Wing.

On my way to decorating the formal dining room, I got a little sidetracked and took a detour through the kids' hallway. Because, what can I say. I just love these guys.

We lovingly (and jokingly) refer to this hallway as the "kids' wing", even though it is, obviously, just a hallway. But, aside from the laundry room and a closet, this corridor is the kids' domain, housing their bedrooms and bathroom, and I wanted to add a few personal touches to emphasize that.

The first project was an idea I saw while I was Pinterest-ing during a middle-of-the-night feeding with le bebe. I came across a contributor who put the outfit her baby wore home from the hospital in a shadow box. Love it! Instead of using the kids' take-home outfits, I used the outfits they wore when they were dedicated. I dug into their hope chest and went to work!

This is the bonnet and shawl that my Memere made for my Mom when she was dedicated as an infant, so it's extra-special that Naomi got to wear it, too.

Loved his little vest!

If you come into our house through the laundry room, these are the first things you see, and I love that we get to look at them every day. And yes, there is a space on the wall for Lydia's, too!

Further down the hall, I took a cue from my genius friend to display the kids' masterpieces. I found a celadon green curtain we were no longer using, and, after stripping its backing, I cut it to size and stapled it to a bulletin board and then pinned some of the kiddos' works of art to it. The kids love it! Their artwork is out there for all to see. Totally fun. And, my refrigerator isn't quite as cluttered ... :)

And, lastly, a photo collage of the inhabitants of this hallway. They grow so quickly. Love them.

There you have it--a peek into the much-adored "kids' wing", ha ha! And now, onto the formal dining room.

Um, after I finish the kids' bathroom first ... :)

Have a lovely day!

Two Easy Lunch Ideas.

Do you ever get stuck in a food rut with your kids? This seems to happen to me periodically. I'll be on a roll with menu planning and then all of the sudden I'll sit down to write out a menu for the week and I totally draw a blank. What do my kids like again? What should I buy?

If this ever happens to you and you need some inspiration, here are two of my favorite lunches to do with the kids. The first one is super easy: Peanut Butter and Honey Roll-Ups. Just spread peanut/almond/whatever butter on a tortilla, then spread some honey on top. Roll it tightly and voila! Easy and yummy (and slightly neater than a sandwich). I slice it for Naomi, since she only has two teeth. Poor little kid.

Another lunch idea is English Muffin Pizzas. My Mom did this for us as kids and I loved it then and I love it now! It's totally easy. Take some whole wheat English muffins (I like Rudi's) and toast them in the toaster, or warm them in an oven heated to 350. Spread a dab of pizza sauce on each half, and then top with whatever you'd like (we prefer slices of fresh mozzarella). Put them back in the oven for ten minutes or so to let the cheese melt and there you have it! Instant personal pizzas. Yum.

Have a lovely day!

The Front Living Room.

After receiving two atrocious (horrific, terrifying, half-of-what-we-pay-for-our-mortgage) electric bills in a row this summer, we decided it was time to cover the windows in the formal living room, which is the room you see first when you walk in our front door past our entryway. I had left the windows uncovered because the light! The beautiful light! was gorgeous and I loved how it streamed through onto the floor.

I did not, however, like how it helped keep our house at oven temps.

So, after tearing open one of the atrocious electric bills, I hopped in the minivan and sped to Hobby Lobby. I purchased lots of fabric, some curtain clips, a curtain rod, and sped home. I did a really terrible job installing the curtain rods (can we say crazy-lady-stripped-screws?) but by the end of the evening, we had curtains (read: strips of fabric).

I liked how tall they were, how they touched the molding and pooled on the floor, accentuating the eight-foot ceilings. However, the color was always a bit ... dark, clashing with the muted green walls, and I quickly discovered that curtains that pool on the floor become instant targets to two toddlers who like to wrap themselves in fabric. One of the brackets pulled loose and dangled precariously for a few days (eh, remember the stripped screws?) before I finally decided that the blazing days of summer were over, the cool days of fall were beginning to make their appearance, and, thusly, it was time to brighten up the room again.

I bought some sheer curtains, a new curtain rod, and with renewed ambition, I took down the old rod and brackets, filled in the gaping holes (eh, remember the stripped screws?) with spackle and touched them up with paint, and installed this new rod with more precision and, now, expertise.

(Note: tapping a nail and then removing it in the place where you intend to put a screw is a handy way to help the screws go in like butter, especially when you are standing on a step ladder, pregnant, while holding a power tool.)

The room instantly lightened.

The curtains touch the bottom of the window sill (the windows are especially low in this room, so I think it looks fine ... and is much, eh, safer with the kiddos) and while they don't reach as high as the others did, I think this looks more proportionate. I like.

As the days grow chilly, I know I'll appreciate the sunny patch on the floor, keeping the house warm. And bright.

Ta-Da!

Have a lovely day.

Itchy.

I really love getting my hair cut. The lady who cuts my hair is amazing. Her name is Connie and I have a hard time referring to her as my "hairdresser" because she is my slightly older and much wiser friend and "hairdresser" just sounds so ... not friend-ish. She does everything out of her house which is wonderfully relaxed and I've been known to sneak over when my friend is getting her hair done, just so I can sit and chat with the two of them.

You get the idea.

So, the other day, I slumped into Connie's chair and whined that I needed a change. As she nodded and "Mmm-hmm"ed, she parted my hair and our jaws both dropped.

It was there.

DANDRUFF.

Three flakes. THREE. I have never had dandruff (dry hair, but not a dry scalp) and I sat there with my jaw dropped, stunned that this pregnancy not only cheated me out of the voluptuous curly hair I had with the other two, but that it also added DANDRUFF.

A fat belly and dandruff. Sweet! High fives all around!

She suggested that before I reach for a default bottle of Head & Shoulders, I should instead try Paul Mitchell's Tea Tree shampoo and conditioner. She said it would work like a charm and then she snipped away, once again reading my mind and cutting my hair exactly the way I wanted without me being able to describe it accurately. She's awesome that way.

I then started my hunt for this stuff.

Target is where I purchase my typical Matrix hair stuff, so I looked there first. I'm not sure if they didn't carry it or if I was looking for the standard black and white Paul Mitchell bottles, but either way, I couldn't find it there. I was bummed. A few days later I took Cub to a kind of hole-in-the-wall salon where he's had his hair cut since he was born and waited patiently while he sat through his trim. I happened to glance up at their (small) product shelves and lo and behold, there was the stuff! On sale, no less! So, I purchased the shampoo and conditioner set and rushed home to wash my hair.

Oh, y'all. Love it. LOVE IT.

Slightly tingly with a great fresh scent. I don't feel like my scalp is burning. And, best of all, the finished product is ridiculously smooth, clean hair. My hair felt light as a feather. Love.

So, if you happen to peer into the mirror and see a few little flakes waving at you from your scalp, may I suggest you try Paul Mitchell Tea Tree formula shampoo and conditioner. You will not regret it, and then you can wave GOODBYE to those pesky flakes.

Have a lovely day!

Puddle Jumper.

(Look! I put a random stock photo of a child that is not mine on my blog!)

Our house came with a circular above-ground pool. It wasn't anything I was necessarily wanting, but my husband, ohhhhh my husband, he saw it and fell in love. As long as he was cool with the maintenance, then I was cool with using it! :)

Having the pool has turned out to be an amazingly wonderful thing. The kids and I can swim during the day and every night after dinner, we all go for a family swim. It's kind of like being on vacation every night. So fun! Now, the random stock photo image above is to give a shameless plug for these amazing floaties known as Puddle Jumpers. These awesome floaties have revolutionized the swimming experience for our little man. Our little Cub has always been a bit of a fish, firstly with a little inflatable boat before he was a year old, then with holding on and swimming around with us last summer, and now these things. When the hot weather arrived, I first bought Cub a pair of arm floaties. He didn't like them one bit and was afraid of going underwater. Some friends of ours had a Puddle Jumper for their daughter, so I went to our local Wally World to get one for Cub (I found it in the life jacket section, but I do not think it technically qualifies as one ... at least we wouldn't use it as one on the boat!).

Oh my.

Within a few minutes, he was swimming by himself around the pool. The floaties are made of the same material as a life jacket (not inflatable, but foam) and the section across the front gives them extra support to stay above the water. Oh my goodness, it has been so amazing to see Cub flourish and swim on his own when he wears his Puddle Jumper. He also feels safer about going underwater and will jump in by himself. How fun!

Sadly, I don't have any really great pictures of him wearing his Puddle Jumper, so the stock photo will have to do. But trust me, the smile is the same!

Have a lovely day, friends!

Brick By Brick.

A lady I know had shared this idea and I knew I wanted to use it when we moved.

The day we unloaded the moving truck, we were crazy busy and it almost slipped my mind, until I saw the appliance delivery guys pull in the driveway. I dug through our "office" box until I found a permanent marker, and then I went to work.

Amidst the swirl of people and the mountain of boxes, I hurriedly dedicated these spaces, where I know my heart and attitude can and will greatly determine the direction of our home.

I knew they would be hidden from view, but they would not be something I would soon forget.

It is easy as a stay-at-home-mom to find our daily tasks to be somewhat mundane. But I realize that happiness is not determined by what we do, but by the attitude we choose in doing it. And I want my attitude to be one of service, to be cheerful in what I do, knowing that whether I am cooking dinner or doing laundry, I am glorifying God by caring for what He has given to me. I am blessed to have children to feed. Blessed to have clothes to wash.

No matter what changes this house will see, these words will remain as long as these walls stand. And in the longest days, when the children are crying and the laundry is piled high and the dishes in the sink form a small mountain, I will know and believe that God has given me this life, that it is truly a gift, and while these moments are fleeting ones, they are important ones as well.

Have a lovely day.

A Tip for Tuesday.

These are the walls in our formal living room, the room you saw in the previous post that housed our kitchen table for our Mother's Day lunch.

Nice touch-ups, eh?

When we did our final walk-through the day before we closed, we saw that the homeowners had graciously gone through the house and "touched up" the paint. This was the result.

Now. I am in no way hating on the previous homeowners. Why?

BECAUSE I DID THE EXACT SAME THING IN OUR OLD HOUSE.

Our poor buyer had to see my feeble attempts at patching the holes in our walls (and they still bought our house!). Sweet buyer. So, when our realtor gestured to this particular wall and asked, "Would you like to have them fix this before we close?", my response was a fervent, "No, no, bless their hearts, they've done so much work, I FEEL THEIR PAIN."

So, this is my tip for the day: If you have a nail hole to patch, only cover the hole. Like, the tiny dot of the hole. Dip a toothpick in your spackling and very carefully fill the hole. Then take another toothpick or a fine-pointed watercolor brush and color only enough to cover the spackling. This advice came to me after I had done a touch-up like the aforementioned picture. I even used the right color of paint and it still looked rough. After I took this advice, the touch-ups were much better, even if I only had spackling and didn't have the right color of paint. A few tiny dots aren't that noticeable and are easy to cover.

Textured walls are tricky, I get it. But fixing this kind of "touch-up" requires that the whole wall be repainted ... nay, the whole room!

(And I personally didn't mind the tan in the first place.)

So, there you have it. Your Tip Tuesday.

Have a lovely day!

Hallelujah Ziploc.

Ripping hair out.

Sipping coffee and smiling.

A Tuesday Tip.

When it comes to the daily maintenance of the cabinetry in my home, I'm a big fan of Method or Swiffer and such. But, when it comes to giving them a good deep polishing shine, I use this:

I bought this stuff years ago and I love it. A few drops goes a long way. It not only gives my cabinets a shimmery shine, it also smells awesome. Nice and nutty. I think I found it in the baking aisle.

Yay for shiny.

Have a lovely day!

Move Over, Snuggle Bear.

Cub has always struggled with itchy, dry skin. In the winter it takes the form of excema, surfacing as red patches behind his knees and on his ankles. A dollop of Aquaphor mixed with a tiny bit of hydrocortisone cream does the trick for the most part, along with using Dove Nutrium body wash during bath time.

About a month ago, I noticed that his red patches were spreading. Rather than staying contained to his legs, they were now on his arms, collar bone, and lower back. I racked my brain, trying to figure out why in the world the spots would be getting worse. The weather wasn't colder or dryer than it had been--in fact, the temps had soared into the seventies at times with a small boost of humidity, which usually helps his skin. I waited a bit to see if it would go away, and it didn't. I thought over the foods that he eats, entertaining the idea that it could be a food allergy, but we hadn't introduced any new food groups that he hadn't already eaten.

Then, one day, as I was doing a load of laundry, I happened to glance up in my laundry room cupboard to see the Snuggle bear smiling down at me from his picture on a bright pink jug of fabric softener. It then dawned on me that I had switched fabric softeners around the time that Cub's excema had increased. I use a dye-free detergent, but hadn't even thought that perhaps fabric softener could be the culprit. I headed to the store to purchase some of this, my favorite natural non-detergent detergent:

For the past week, I've washed Cub's clothes with this and only this, omitting the fabric softener. Sure enough, his excessive excema has begun to clear up. Crazy!

I'm happy for the days of summer when his skin can finally give him a break, but, until then, I'm glad I found the culprit for our February skin scare. Hopefully March will be much more mild!

Have a lovely day.