Weekend travels

One thing about being a pastor's family is that we move.  Lately it seems like constantly.  This can be a blessing for our children.  They get to see new places and meet new friends and learn how to get along with lots of different people.  But it can be difficult, too. So even though it is a challenge, Dave and I try our best to help the kids stay connected with their friends (who are now spread from Seattle to Canada to North Carolina and throughout Alabama and Florida).  Road trip here we come.

This weekend we had the joy of celebrating the wedding of our friend Samantha.  I had the privilege of putting together the flowers and we made a weekend of it.  So... Thursday night we picked up flowers in Montgomery and headed for Florida.   Spent an amazing day in Destin Friday arranging flowers and SWIMMING.  Yep, outside.  Did I get pictures?  Nope.  I was SWIMMING in January OUTSIDE.  It.  Was.  Awesome.

Saturday morning, off to Marianna.  We only lived there for one year, but we made friends who I know we'll keep for the rest of our lives.

Rose and Zaly

Zaly and Rose

The entire time we lived in Marianna, Andy tried to climb this rock thing at our park.  He never let me help him because he was determined to do it himself.  Sweet success.

Andy and Zane

He did let Daddy help him down, though.  Couldn't quite get up the nerve to jump (thank goodness).

Oh, and these two.  Zadie and Jojo.  This is what I missed growing up in a military family.  All our moves, I rarely got a chance to reconnect with my girlfriends.  I hope these two will be calling each other to talk about prom dresses, and wedding dresses, and dresses to bring their babies home from the hospital in (when they're 35 of course).  They are such easy friends.

Andy and Abby

 And these two will have some stories to tell.  Oh, the mischief they used to find.  I can't believe how grown up they have become.  Abby is all tall and ladylike.  They hardly even squabbled this visit.  See, miracles do happen.

Meghan and Rosie

And this sweet lady.  I hope my kids will always have her to look up to.  Can you tell that she's been traveling from Ohio with her four!  Yep 15 hours of togetherness and she still has her smile and a snuggle for my Rosie.

I realize more every day that Dave and I can't raise these kids on our own.  I am so grateful for our families and for the 'family' of friends that we are building.  I hope my kids always have that connection with the people who have loved them from the beginning.

Okay, back to flowers.  Did I get pictures.  Nope.  I really meant to this time, but there was swimming and sunshine and a lovely wedding.  So congratulations Sam and Corey.  Thanks for including us in your day and giving us a great excuse for a road trip.  And thanks for all of you who welcome us back each time we roll through town.

Valentine craftiness

Thought I'd share a little project I finished up today.  My hope is that one day, many, many years from now, I will have lots of fun home made decorations to bring out at each holiday.  No time like the present to begin.

I found some old discarded wood this week and gathered it up because it was worn and had great texture.

I took it home and slapped on a few coats of paint that I had left over from other projects.  First a layer of white and then a layer of bright red.

Next, I printed a few Valentine type phrases that I found on the internet and taped the paper to my wood.  You'll notice that nothing about this project was measured or precise and that my words are a little off center and crooked.  No matter; I like it that way.

Okay, now it's a little hard to see in this shot, but I traced over the outline of the letters with a pencil (pressing down firmly) and it left an indentation in the wood that was easy to see in the right light.

 
Now I was ready to pull the paper off and paint in the letters.

I totally cheated with a paint pen on the skinny ones.  It would have made me nuts to try that with a paint brush.

All done, but a little too 'shiny and new' for my taste.

So I dug up some sand paper and went to town.  I distressed the whole board, but went heavier on the edges that the words.

Here are the two little signs I finished up today.  I love how they came out.

Here's one hung on my porch door with a little floral wire.  Hopefully I'll find a better way to hang it when I have time to look through my ribbons and such, but for now, I feel good about the fact that its 'done enough' to go ahead and hang.
Happy Valentine's Day y'all!

{p,h,f,r} mustering up a little contentment

So my contentment was a little harder to find this week than most.  I've just been so tired.  This mama needs some rest!  Lucky for you, though, I still have some really fun pictures to share.

Talk about a pick-me-up!  How {pretty} is my baby girl in her tutu?!

Oh, I'm coming to get you!  I'll be on the move before you know it; you think you're tired now?

Look at that big ol' bow, I love it!

Okay, that was the last one, I couldn't resist.

Now, have I told you that we have the most tolerant bunny in the history of ever?  Well, here's proof.

             {funny}

Did I mention it was silly sock day at Zadie's preschool?

Can you find the bunny in this one?

I don't even know what end of the bunny is pictured here.

Would you like to know the best part?  This bunny actually likes her.  The bunny seeks her out and climbs in her lap and tickles her toes.  It's really something to see.

Alright, let's see.  {Happy}  Well, it always makes me happy to finish a project.  I've been sneaking off to spray paint things whenever the kids aren't looking.  Which makes them crazy because Andy wants to be there to smell the paint (yikes) and Zadie really wants a turn with the spray paint (double yikes).  So here's an old wooden frame that I painted red-

 And here it is with my recent project matted and hanging on the wall.  yep. {happy}

Oh, and {Real}.  This week was full of it!  You know those moments when you're in the waiting area at the automotive shop while they're changing the light bulb in your turn signal (yes mom, I got it fixed) and you realize that the baby has a poopy diaper and you left the diaper bag in the car, and where would you change it anyway?  Don't worry, I didn't take a picture.

How about those lovely afternoons when Andy gets home and there's only a little sunlight left, but instead of playing with his sisters like he really wants to do,

I have to make him sit and do his homework.  Didn't he just spend like 8 hours doing this stuff at school?  Can't a kid have a moment to just play?

 

Boo homework.  Yay Andy.  He can always make me smile.
Is it Saturday yet?

Head over to ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com for some less grumpy {phfr}

Wordless Wednesday

Zadie's latest creations

Zadie's work from last year

 I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that my favorite way to play with my kids is to create with them.  I'm always up for getting out the paints and the play dough.  (Especially if this will lure Andy away from the video games, which, alas, I despise) 

Well, as you might imagine, Andy has been creating vampires and castles and the like for years, but it has only been in recent months that Zadie's creations have gone from non-objective explorations of  the medium, or 'scribble scrabble' as the children call it, to accurate enough representations of real life objects that even her critical older brother is impressed.  So, here are some of Zadie's recent masterpieces.

So, you'll have to tilt your head for this one, I can't figure out how to rotate it.

A pear

Octopus, fish, starfish and jelly fish  (a little help from mama on the starfish)

hand print Christmas tree

a dog running really fast

a dog swimming in the ocean

'a rainbow dog' according to her- a little tough to recognize, but I love the colors

Oil pastel and watercolor resist Roses.... okay, I did this one, but that's the best part of having a budding young artist in the house, Mommy gets to paint too!  Stay tuned for more on this piece.  I have a frame spray painted and ready to add a little color to Rosie's room.

{Pretty, happy, funny, real} Rosie's nursery

Well, it's not exactly done (when is a home decor project ever really done) but I've decided that Rosie's nursery is done enough to share with you.

Let me begin by saying that the room itself is really charming.  We live in a parsonage that was built in the 1920's and has all the beauty of the era: hard wood floors, plaster walls, picture molding, I could go on.  The upstairs was not original, but is part of the attic space converted into 2 little bedrooms and a child-sized bathroom.  Even though it is an addition, it was well done and has real hardwood floors and large windows that fit with the character of the home.

Now for the fun part.    {Pretty}

Of course she needed Roses (hello) but I also wanted to have bright fun colors that would grow with Rosie and transition easily into a 'big girl' room.  I've been down this road before, remember.  I found this great flowered print at Pottery Barn Kids with big graphic flowers.  Now, because the room is so small cozy, I didn't want to overwhelm the space with a bright wall color, so I kept the walls white and painted the ceiling a bright blue that is found in the print on her sheets and bumpers.

Of course most of her furnishings are repurposed, which makes me {Happy}

The dresser was Dave's when he was little and I have been hiding it in a closet because it was in pretty bad shape.  Here it is after a little sand paper and a few coats of Disney's Three Cheers for Pooh which I chose because it's kind of pink and kind of red and totally gorgeous.  My mom found the knobs in a clearance bin at Hobby Lobby; aren't they perfect?!  And do you know how much knobs cost?  These were about a dollar.  Score.

This old mirror was stashed in a closet at Mom's house.  Here it is covered with paper and ready for a face lift.

Isn't spray paint wonderful; this is called berry pink and I've been painting everything in the house with it all week.  Everything is cuter when it's pink.

Now to a little more of Nanny's handy work.  These curtains block a lot of light for napping and I love the red monogram.

Isn't it {funny} how you don't notice how badly something needs to be ironed until you go to take a photograph of it?  This little white pique dust ruffle was Zadie's, but back then it had a green piped accent.  Oh, Nanny.  Could you cover that with the grosgrain ribbon that you used on the curtain... of course you could.  Thanks mama ;)

Now for the {Real}.  We have been spending more time up here now that Rosie is cruising and finding legos and whatnot to put in her mouth in the playroom, but she is not yet sleeping here.  She would probably wake her brother every two hours all night long when she wakes to nurse.  So, alas, she is still in my room, keeping only me up all night.  I'm {Really} tired.

I love little hats.

Check out some more {p,h,f,r} here at Like Mother, Like Daughter ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com