back to crafting

I'm having a strange time navigating our new normal. And I'm not the only one. Emma just goes with the flow but Tyler is struggling with 6 1/2 hours of school every day. He comes home absolutely exhausted. Tanner's a little sad because his best and most favorite playmates are gone all day.

And then there's me. I rack my brain trying to remember back to when it was just me and Emma all day. What did we do? We read a TON. We sang lots of songs. I played with her all day long. Tanner's attention span isn't quite what Emma's was, and he only lasts for a little bit in doing those activities. But MAN that kid loves books.

Anyway, I decided to update and change some decor in my house and also do some more crafts while Tanner napped. I blame Pinterest for my sudden desire to re-do everything I touch.

Spray paint. Oh my goodness, this stuff! I have lots of dark furniture in my living room and the accent color was red, which was just too dark for me at this point. So I chose a new color scheme and made these pillow covers. (Can you see how indecisive I am? I can't choose a color or two, so I choose FIVE.)

And I went on from there. Most things are blue/turquoise and yellow but I also threw in some green. I like how things are just a little bit brighter and happy. Red is a great color but I was so over it. (That lantern was spray painted from red, as well as the empty vase.) I also spray painted every single thing below. Maybe I went a little overboard. The dishes and plates were plain white, the candlestick holders were absolutely horrendous multi-colored and the star was black. (It's not such a bright yellow...it's a lot lighter than it looks.)

I found this large utensil holder at the thrift store. It was boring and plain wood. I brought it home, spray painted it, attached some Command hooks at the top, and now I have a much more functional jewelry box. Not bad for $1.99 right? My old wooden (cherry) one (which I loved because Spencer bought it for me years ago) is now fully functional in Emma's room. Win-win. However, I do think I need some more jewelry in there...

This part took me the longest. I had 5 different sized canvases and wanted to do some semi-original artwork. And by semi-original, I mean using a stencil. Martha Stewart has some great ones. This took so long because I could typically only complete half of one every day. You know, because of Tanner, whose goal in life is to be physically touching me every waking second. Anyway, I used the same colors again...but couldn't resist throwing in a tiny bit of red. I'm happy with them and once I get Spencer to part with our awfully ugly painting on the wall I can hang them up. I may do another in the Chevron stripes pattern - I am diggin it.

Not a bad way to burn some creativity juice. Especially when it all cost under $40!

Girl date to Nashville

Hi. I'm Emma.

My mom said to me last week, "I'm going to Nashville." I said, "That's so cool, mom." She told me she was going to take my aunt Carly to the Taylor Swift concert and I was jealous but I told her that would be so much fun. My mom started thinking about it and decided to bring me with her. She told me right after school that I got to go, two days later. I couldn't wait, I just wanted to go so bad.

The day finally came. My brothers and dad dropped us off at the airport. I brought all my fancy outfits to impress Carly. I took lots of pictures on the airplane. It was late when we got there so I got to hold baby Matthew for a minute before I went to bed.

In the morning we went to a place for breakfast called The Pancake Pantry. Some people on the airplane told us to go there, and when we got there we saw them! It was exciting. I ordered chocolate chip pancakes. Instead, they brought me a thousand chocolate chips on top of my pancakes. I just ate the chocolate and it tasted like a Hershey bar. Michael got eggs and ham, which was more healthy than what I got. My mom got french toast and I thought it was gross. Carly got some other pancakes. Matthew just slept.

Later that day we walked around downtown. I went to three different gift shops and I got pictures with cool things. I saw leopard print things and took pictures with my camera. On some of the drives Matthew was making funny faces. One time he looked like he was trying to poop.

The next day we went to the Grand Ole Opry and the Opryland Hotel. I was having the time of my life. That night we went to the Taylor Swift concert. My mom let me get a t-shirt. It had Taylor Swift (in an immodest dress) on it.

Taylor Swift sang a lot of good songs. It was her "Speak Now" tour. My favorite songs were "Mean," "Mine," and "You Belong with Me." It was so much fun. There were fireworks on the stage, which scared my mom.

I also taught Uncle Michael how to play Club Penguin. I even made more penguins, and made one for him.  He read my books with me and played with me. On Saturday afternoon before we went to the airport, I asked Michael if we could go to Wendy's. He ordered for me a Hi-C and it was supposed to be small but it was huge. I also got chicken nuggets.

On the flight I had to go to the bathroom 4 times. The ladies on the airplane talked to me every time I went to the bathroom ("This is your 4th time," etc.). We got home that night and I was happy to see the boys.

Tanner looked huge when we got home. I miss Michael, Carly, and Matthew. I didn't cry when I left them but I was sad. I was about to cry. I want to be Matthew's babysitter.

That was my adventure to Nashville with my mom.

brand new

There is something completely satisfying in watching your only little sister with her very first baby. I was happy to see her so relaxed, so calm, so natural. She was made for this. Her baby's cries and tummy aches didn't make her the crazy person my baby's cries and tummy aches made me...and I'm so glad for that. Carly and Michael are the perfect team, and Emma and I fell in love with this utterly perfect little boy for an entire 2 1/2 days.

I sure miss those 3. Thanks guys for the Southern fun!
{Guest travel post, courtesy of Emma, coming soon!}