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!}

firsts and favorites

I've been dreading this day since June 14th...the first day of school. We had such a fun summer and I had such a pit in my stomach as the first day crept up. At least these two were really excited this time...no nerves whatsoever! And the chaos at the school (and with Tanner) kept my tears back. They ran off before I could get good pictures at the school.

If they have to go to school, at least they get to go with lots of friends, and have incredible teachers.

Here's to another fabulous year of learning! And here are their current "favorites." I like taking pictures by the front door each year to see how they've grown in relation to the doorknob. This year I decided to add in their favorites so we can also see how those change.

We're excited to make cookies this afternoon and talk all about the first day. Let the countdown (to June) begin!

new to me

I remember when my parents bought their very first new car. It was a minivan and had automatic sliding doors (!!). I believe I was 15 years old. I took my driver's license test in that car, back when I had cute naturally curly hair and actually had a decent license picture. We took tons of road trips in that van and my siblings and I argued over who got to sit in the middle row (as opposed to the back). That van drove me to college, among countless other places.

Five years ago we were living in Boston. With one (dumpy) car. I drove Spencer to the train every morning and picked him up every night. Sometimes I had to pluck sleeping babies out of their beds to go get him. We couldn't afford another car, and we made do and it wasn't a big deal.

But this van - my parents's van - came along and saved us. We were suddenly a two car family!! My parents drove it out to us, across the entire country. It didn't like Boston weather so much but once we left it did so much better. It has been SUCH a good car for us. Emma "named" it Annie.

Recently it has gotten...tired. It's now 15 years old. It shakes when you drive it. The heating works sometimes. The automatic doors gave out long ago. I get nervous when I need to drive it more than 10 miles. The upholstery has really cool 90s patterns  and designs on it. We've put a lot of money into it, but every time I've been so glad that we continued to hold on to it.

Last night Spencer took me out car shopping. I have been doing research for months, and have spent countless hours on Craigslist to see what's out there. Through all my research I realized I am just not a new car kind of person. My frugal lifestyle doesn't jive with a brand new car, at least not right now. I'm glad I came to that conclusion, as it saved us a lot of time with car salesmen. From of all my research I also knew what model I wanted, what colors I wanted, what options, etc. I guess in the end that is what made it so easy.

I have never been one of those snobby people who swears they'll never buy/drive a minivan (well, maybe I'm snobby in other ways but not about minivans). So that's what we got! A new (to me) shiny pretty car that will hopefully get us the same amount of years as my parents' van did! Happy Birthday to me!

The one taking the news hardest is Emma. This morning when I told her to go look in the driveway she said, "But I'm going to miss Annie!" She started crying and then she asked if we could keep it and just park it in the backyard. (Um, no, we only have room and are only trashy enough for one vehicle out there, thank you very much). I'm having a hard time letting go too. Well, I would be if my dad hadn't given me permission to go send it over a cliff.

RIP trusty old van.

Spencer, good luck topping this present.

teaching me

I often have others tell me how lucky I am to have good kids. I'm sure everyone hears that at some point. Lately I've felt off my game. Frazzled. I'm being re-introduced to what it's like to have a one year old. I'm so bi-polar when it comes to my feelings of the 12-18 month stage. It's exciting and new and SO FUN but at the same time it is difficult and often almost impossible.

Lately we have really been working to do family breakfast time. 15 minutes, all in the kitchen, all talking to each other and interacting. Dinner would be ideal but it has never been a possibility for us. Spencer usually gets home around bedtime or later. But Spencer has done a good job initiating family breakfast. He has also been really good about family prayer before he leaves. I have had to be the one who is "good" at doing Family Home Evening, but I haven't been as good at scripture time. It happens...but not every night. Yet, I see these things really working in our family.

I know the kids read their scriptures together at night. And to be honest, sometimes that's good enough for me.  Emma will read to Tyler, and then she'll read him a few chapters from whatever book she is into at the moment. As long as they're in bed and quiet I don't really care if they read until past their bedtime. Sometimes I will tell them to wrap it up and go to sleep and Emma will say, "But we still have to read scriptures!"

The other night I had finally gotten Tanner to sleep. I was burned out and tired and frustrated and was walking past her room on my way to the living room. I saw Emma and Tyler kneeling by the side of her bed, praying together. I stopped in my tracks. One half of me felt like my heart would burst and the other half wanted to sob. They were doing their own version of family prayer. I know they are good kids. They have a great dad who sets a strong example, even when he is gone so much. He makes the time home count. They also have wonderful primary leaders and teachers. I need to be better in compensating for his absence--if not for their benefit (they don't need it!), for my own. What a comfort to know that, in spite of my shortcomings, they are still learning and growing. I never thought my 6 and 7 year old would teach me such a powerful, quiet and unintended lesson.