Project 365: Week 17

July 11 - Heaven forbid we keep the sand inside the sand table.

July 12 - "Mommy, can I look inside your camera??"

July 13 - Three.

July 14 - First base.

July 15 - Giggles.

July 16 - Raspberries from the backyard.

July 17 - Dreamy.

Project 365: Week 16

July 4 - Swingin'

July 5 - Loves the silly faces

July 6 - Mmmmmm popsicle

July 7 - A little DIY project

July 8 - Grammy snuggles are the best

July 9 - The only photo I took this day ... My kids' interpretation of putting their clean clothes away

July 10 - Boys and trucks.

The one who sleeps through cavity fillings.

I have this boy.  He's wild and crazy.  He's sweet as pie.  I call him my Sour Patch Kid, because first he's sour and then he's oh-so-sweet.  His Daddy calls him the Honey Badger because this kid?  Just.Don't.Care.  He does what he wants, when he wants, and really cannot be bothered with listening to anyone.  Of course, that can be an issue when we're, you know, trying to parent.  

If there's something to climb, he'll climb it.  He has one noise level, and that is loud.  He needs his sleep and will fall asleep within seconds when he needs it.  And apparently, he'll even fall asleep in the dentist's chair.  During a cavity filling.  Twice.  

A few weeks ago, we headed to the pediatric dentist because our dentist found 4 cavities in Kiernan's teeth - one in each back molar.  The pediatric dentist explained that the enamel most likely did not form completely into the very deep grooves of his molars, leaving them very susceptible to cavities.  After I was finished jumping for joy that this was a developmental issue and not a giant parenting fail, the dentist informed me that he would do the 2 left side fillings that day and that we would come back in a couple weeks to do the 2 right side fillings.  

Kiernan was a trooper through the numbing process and only winced and squeezed my hand a bit.  After that, he laid perfectly still in the chair, with his big sunglasses on, while the dentist softly explained what he was doing every step of the way.  When he was all finished with the top tooth, the dentist told Kiernan that he was ready to switch to the bottom ... and Kiernan didn't respond.  The dentist lifted up Kiernan's sunglasses and the kid was sound asleep!  The dentist, dental assistant, and I all chuckled a bit.  He woke up happy and declared that he was excited to come back for the other 2 fillings.  

Fast forward 2 weeks, we happily returned for another round.  My guy was a trooper through the numbing process again ... and fell asleep mid-filling again too.  Of course we headed out for a frozen treat afterward, because everyone should be rewarded with something cold and sweet after dental work.  It's a rule.  

I love any chance I get to spend one-on-one time with my boys.   Listening to stories, chatting about their brothers, or planning weekend fun, it's all priceless memories for me.  I know them better than anyone on this earth, and yet they surprise me all the time.  As I sat there looking at my "baby" laying in the dentist's chair, I couldn't help but stare in amazement at his long, lanky body.  The 4T pants that fit perfectly a few short weeks ago now barely hit his ankles.  My typically fidgety kiddo, was just sitting there, perfectly still while the dentist explained what he was would do next.  It just amazes me how fast these boys are growing and changing, developing their own little personalities and turning into really awesome little people.  I'd be lying if I said that I love every minute of it, but I sure do love days like this.  

Love the Home You Have.

I have a hard time living contently in this Pinterest-driven world.  It's not that I'm trying to keep up with the Joneses -- I really don't care what the Joneses have.  I'm a visual person.  Pretty things make me feel relaxed.  So when I see a beautiful room on the computer screen or in a magazine, I can't help but dream about having "a kitchen like that" or "a bedroom like that" or "a deck like that".

House envy is a dangerous thing, my friends.  You may spend too much dreaming and no time doing.  Or you may spend too much money doing all the doing.  It's so easy to become discontent with the space around you when we are bombarded with photos of beautiful spaces.  I think we all fall into that trap from time to time.

The Inspired Room is one of my very favorite blogs.  The way that Melissa writes is so calming and friendly that you feel like you could walk right into her home and chat over coffee.  She shares beautiful photos of her home and other stunning spaces, but she is never afraid to keep it real.  One of my favorite examples of that is this post about her doggies and their, um, ability to get dirty.  I mean, if there's something that I can relate to, it's dogs and their ability to get dirty!

via The Inspired Room

When Melissa sent me her new book, Love the Home You Have, for review, I was thrilled to be able sit down and pour through it.  And then it took me forever to get through it.  Because my life is not conducive to book-reading.  Eventually I decided that life could wait and finished the book in a couple of days.

It's such a sweet, simple read.  In it, Melissa walks through various ways to embrace your home for what it is, and encourages the reader to stop focusing on what your home is not.  Lamenting over your messy kitchen?  Stop drooling over the perfectly pristine one on Pinterest with perfectly stacked dishes and snacks tucked into wicker baskets.  Instead, find a way to make your kitchen a little more organized.  Maybe wicker baskets aren't in the budget, but the dollar store may have something cute to make your space a little more organized.  Ultimately, we just need to find a way to love what we already have!

The pages of Love the Home You Have are full of ideas in order to achieve that goal.  Melissa tells the story of the transition through her history of homes and helps us learn from her "mistakes".  She walks us through action steps to guide us all through a journey to loving our homes.  At the end of the book, she includes a 31 Day Love Your Home challenge, which includes small, simple things to help you love your home.

Overall, it's just a great read - simple and refreshing.  It would make a wonderful gift for anyone who struggles to walk that line between Pinterest perfect and perfectly attainable!



**Disclosure - I received a copy of this book to review but I was not financially compensated in any way. The opinions expressed are 100% mine.

4th of July Fun

Hey friends, what's shakin'?

We had a busy holiday weekend.  Brian worked on both of our cars, changing oil and flushing a radiator (whatever that means!) and did lots of baseboard installing.  We installed new flooring in the laundry room and continued to put that back together a bit.  I sanded, primed, and painted the baseboards, and am now in the process of filling nail holes, touching up paint, and caulking seams.  And Brian even tackled our crazy weed jungle of a back patio.  So much productivity!!  All of which I will write about at some point.  Promise.

But we managed to squeeze some fun into the weekend too.  On Wednesday night we took the boys to a local fireworks show.  I decided that I was just going to snap a few photos of the boys and then enjoy the show and not try to photograph the fireworks, so I didn't bring my tripod.

Buuuuuut of course I couldn't help myself and decided to try it anyway.  

You can see the movement of my hands in the shakiness of the fireworks, but I thought they turned out pretty cool otherwise!  The shakiness of it actually adds to the interest, in my own humble opinion.  Next year I'll definitely take my tripod to try to capture them a bit more steadily.

On Friday we had a little cookout and did some fireworks of our own.  The highlight for the boys was throwing poppers all over the deck.  The actual fireworks we did were a little too loud for them.  Brian was like a kid in a candy store while lighting them off, so at least someone had fun!

We spent Saturday, the actual 4th at my aunt's house for my Mom's side of the family annual summer gathering.  As usual, there was a giant amount of delicious food and drink.  And the weather could not have been more perfect!  

Grammy brought playdough and my other aunt brought water squirters for the boys.  They had a blast playing with my cousin's little guy and squirting each other with water.

My aunt lives on a canal off of a small lake, so we took the opportunity to take a family canoe ride.  I won't lie, I was not excited about this at all.  I really, really don't like the unsteadiness of small boats.  I mean, this water was barely even waist deep and I still just hate feeling like I might tip.  But I sucked it up for all 4 of my boys ... and my shoulders paid for it dearly the next day.  Felt the burn!  Also?  Getting into and out of a canoe in a dress is not an easy thing.  

In case you were wondering.  

It was such a fun long weekend with my boys that I am shocked how much work we accomplished on top of it.  If only Brian could take 4-day weekends more often!  ;)

Project 365: Week 15

I'm getting lazy and I need to snap out of it.  My camera, when I use it, has been on Auto more than Manual.  Sure it's nice and easy, but then I see them on the computer and ... yuck.  Not sharp, white balance off, just bad.  I'm not against using Auto mode if it's something cute that the kids are doing and I don't want to miss the moment, but other than that, I need to re-commit to Manual.  I'm just always happier with the result!  

June 27 - Afternoon snuggles

June 28 - Silly faces

June 29 - Girls' night selfie

June 30 - Getting a checkup

July 1 - Fireworks

July 2 - Full lap in the morning

July 3 - Throwing poppers

Happy July!!

Happy July!!  We have been busy, busy bees lately!  I was lamenting to Brian the other day about the fact that we've been so busy with fun stuff that we haven't had time to do anything productive.  I guess it's worth it, but I've been itching to tackle some things around here.  Some are things that I just can't do without Brian, others are things that I'm just lacking inspiration for, and others are thing that I can't justify spending the money on just yet.

We finally had a Saturday free of sports, parties, and such, so we buckled down and got to work!  Brian focused on the boys' bathroom.  Things on his list were to finish the light fixture, frame out the mirror, and replace the shower fixtures.  After all of those things are finished, I just have 2 tiny spots of paint to touch up, a towel holder to DIY, and a few art pieces to hang, and we can call that room done.  But it drove me a bit crazy to work on those things without light in the room, so Brian's jobs were first on the list.  I'll write up a post on the light fixture, but for now, I'm loving the fact that I can see when I turn on the light in that room!

While Brian was working in the boys' bathroom, I was working in the laundry room.  This room has made me crazy for awhile now.  It's ugly.  It's dysfunctional.  And it's completely torn up by the dogs.  I spent Friday cleaning everything out of the cabinets and scrubbing all surfaces, and then Saturday I got to work.  I painted almost every surface in the room.  Is it putting lipstick on a pig?  Absolutely.  But that lipstick sure makes the pig easier to live with.  Still on the to-do list in there is a valance, cabinet door refresher, replacing the floor, and figuring out a space to store a laundry basket.  

And then, there's our room.  You may remember that I painted the room (Naval by Sherwin-Williams).  I painted the nightstands too, but then stalled out.  I was just out of ideas for awhile, so it has just sat as is and continued to accumulate Brian's dirty clothes all over the floor.  But ... I finally have a plan!!   We made a promise to ourselves that we will "finish" one room before starting another.  While that doesn't 100% work because, for instance, we can't both work in the boys' bathroom or the laundry room, we agreed that we'll work on 2 rooms at a time.  So once either of those rooms are done, I'm moving on to the master!

While I work on our room, Brian will be busy in the family room.  I've done almost everything that I can do in this room, but he has a ton of things to finish.  The list includes installing baseboards, removing the mirror above the fireplace and replacing it with planks, building a fireplace surround, building/installing a mantle, and mounting the TV above the mantle.  Whew.  I'm tired and depressed over my bank account just talking about it.  Luckily, because this summer will be so busy, the work will be stretched out, so hopefully not so stressful on the budget or our time!

Anyway, that's the latest around here.  I suppose this means that I'll have lots and lots to write about in the coming months, amidst all of the summer fun of course!