Boys Room Sneak Peek

I found some bedding from West Elm that I loved.  I didn't want to go with the entire bedding set, but I knew I wanted the sham.  So, I started planning an entire bedroom off of one striped sham.  :)  It came in the mail today.

The bummer of the situation is that it was a little more gold and a little less yellow than I thought it was going to be.  Oh well.  We roll with the punches around here, and head to Hobby Lobby.


I knew I still wanted to do my gold yellow and gray color scheme I started with, but I knew I needed a pop of another color.  I also knew I wanted to use some kind of old car / plane artwork.


And I found these...

I love them.  And Jacob LOVED these...

I'm going to try to figure out a way to work with both.  The only thing is, there is only so much wall space in a room, and these are all pretty big.


And one last thing.  I want to make these in goldish yellow and gray to go above their beds (Jacob's twin and Grant's crib).

And Jacob's twin bed?  I'm loving this headboard (I doubt it will say "love" though!)

Now, back to Hobby Lobby.  :)


I want to make a blanket for both of them.  They will have white bedding (I know, I'm asking for punishment), and I wanted to make them a throw.  It will be in these colors, and I can't wait to get started on them!

So I then walked over to fabric to see if I saw anything I would like to make a bed skirt with.  This is all I came up with.

One last thing to top it off.  I'm in love with this for a laundry basket!

I think it was quite the successful trip!  I didn't want to buy anything today because I tend to buy on impulse.  The metal hanging art is 50% off through Saturday, so I have a feeling I will be back to get them.  Jacob just loved them too much not to get them!  :)

And there you have it.  I really think I'm going to like it all.  Now, if I could just find the time to make all of the stuff I have to make for it!  And just so you know, we've talked to Jacob about him sharing a room with brother and then having all of their toys in one room.  His exact words were, "This is gonna be awesome!"

Living in the Present

Can I be honest with you for a minute?  I'm a dreamer.  A planner.  I am almost always a step ahead of life, thinking about the next thing.  This is probably my least favorite thing about myself.  Now that I have this sweet family, I'm trying really hard to soak it all in.  We only get this chance once.  And it goes by far too quickly.  I've been thinking a lot about the fact that Jacob starts preschool next year.  He will probably only go for one or two half days, but I still can't believe he's there.  Wasn't I just swaddling him?  And my baby.  Sweet Grant.  He's walking everywhere, hardly crawling at all anymore.  I know for a fact I was just swaddling him!


We've been having more planned family time lately, and I am loving it.  We've always been family oriented, but we are really putting forth the extra effort these days.  With Wayne's crazy work schedule, teaching Sunday School, leading the preschool choir on Sunday and Wednesday nights (yes, they were obviously desperate when they let me lead this up a few months ago), tball on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and sometimes Saturdays and Sundays.  If we don't plan out the family time these days, I'm afraid it just won't happen.  I'm not talking about the normal afternoon and dinners at home kind of family time.  I mean really planning something out for the kids to enjoy.  Last Friday we rented a movie from Redbox, and we were going to really make a fun night of it with popcorn, pizza, and lots of fun.  Somehow, we didn't get around to it until last night.  :(  Life just gets the best of us sometimes.


One day I'm going to look back on this precious time and wonder where the time went.  I know that all too well.  Time tends to speed up times a hundred when you're raising children, doesn't it?

On another subject, similar but not identical, I'm working on contentment for the one hundredth time.  We bought our little home 5 years ago.  We bought it at a great price when the market was booming.  We had big plans.  God immediately started laughing at the plans WE were planning out!  We were going to live here for less than two years, and then get our forever home where we would bring our first child home to (and any others that may come along).  Fast forward five years, we are still here and have brought our two precious children home here.  I've spent countless hours with our Realtor thinking of moving, only to peacefully realize in the end that the Lord wants us here.  We prayed and prayed for God's will to be done.  The house we thought we really wanted fell through, and I was amazed at how much at peace I was.  God was protecting us.  From what, I don't know, but I know he was.  So, we are now riding the market out.  For how long, I have no clue.  


One thing I do know is I'm about to start redoing our home, one room at a time.  I find it quite challenging to see if I can make it beautiful for very little money.  Hehe.  I know, that's funny, right?  We shall see how it turns out.  The first step in this process is a switcharoo with the boys' rooms.  Jacob has a huge bedroom, so it's about to be a shared bedroom for the boys.  Grant's room is going to become the playroom.  All of the toys in one room....this gets me very excited!!


Here is a pillow sham I ordered from West Elm.

Sorry for the poor picture.  I'm using yellows, grays, whites and I'm hoping to find some sort of large airplane picture to hang.  I'm also making bed skirts and blankets for them both.  Lots of homemade things going in there!  I can't wait to show pictures of everything, and to have it done!


And that's the beginning of what's going to be a long process of lightening our home up.  I'm sick of looking at all of these dark colors!  :)  It will take a long time to get it all done though because we have to keep a balance.  I want our home to be our haven, but I want to enjoy the people who live here more.


Thanking the Lord tonight for all of his many blessings!

What Is Happening To Me??

You know you have reached a new era in your life when it's a Friday night, your entire family is asleep, and you are sitting up looking at gosh, I really don't want to admit this...... minivans.  My entire life I have said I would never drive a van.  When Wayne and I got pregnant with Jacob, we both made the other promise that we would not be that family that drove a minivan.  I've made fun of my parents' old vans for years.

Now, I keep thinking of all the space we would have, and how much we would save in gas!!!  To be honest, we have a ton of space in our Expedition.  My only problem with it in the space department is you have to let a seat in the middle down to get to the third row.  We now have kiddos on both sides, so nobody ever rides with us because it's not worth the trouble.  As far as gas goes....HOLY MOLY.  It's currently all over $100 to fill that sucker up.  I remember in high school filling my car up for less that $15!  (That is actually a statement that is starting to show my age.)  I just heard on the news that gas is about to go up again.  That means it will be over $100 to fill 'er up.  We will probably be spending lots of time at home.  :)  And did I mention my parents live in Florida, and my sister in Georgia?  Both are several hours away from us.

To be honest, swagger wagons have come a long way.  Wayne's mom and my mom both drove one of these at one point...

Now you have these to choose from...

 Like I said, "What is happening to me?"  For those who are reading this who don't have kiddos, you are probably wondering the same thing.  Do you know what the number one thing I dream of when I think of a mini?  You can push a button and the door will open.  That doesn't happen with my Expedition.  You can push a button all day long, and those doors aren't going anywhere (not to mention the fact that it does nothing for the kids I have on both hips.)


Ahhh.  The things moms dream about.  If I buy a pair of mom jeans, somebody please stop me!  Not to worry though.  As nice as a swagger wagon would be, we have a perfectly good Expedition that is paid for.  I'm sure I will drive it until the wheels fall off.  And then we will get new wheels.  :) 


Happy Weekend!

Grant's Eyes - Another Update

I realized recently that I never caught anyone up on Grant's January eye appointment.  I guess the reason is because it went pretty well!  No glaucoma (I think all of us cataract mommies - you know, all 1 in 10,000 of us - will forever be worried about that one!), no change of prescription, patching is doing some good.  It's not fixed like it did last time, but we didn't have to increase the time he's patched.  It's still 2-4 hours a day.  We normally do 4, but if it's a busy day where we are out and about a lot we will do 2.  


At first, I hated the Miraflex glasses (the blue ones) on him.  Now they have become our best friend.  After going sometimes daily to get his cute little professor glasses adjusted, I learned to love the Miraflex.  Those boogers are indestructible!  If only the lenses were.  Anybody else have a little one that uses their glasses for a teether???  :)


I'm so thankful for all of our Little Four Eyes "friends."  It sure does help knowing you're not alone!  God bless you all on your own journey for healthy vision!  Few people understand what all our little ones have to go through.


I'll update again when we go to the doctor for our check up in two weeks.  Hoping for another great visit!  Although he did warn us this last time to get ready, his prescription is about to start changing constantly!  Oh boy!  :)


I'll leave you with an updated picture.  Gosh.  He's just so darn cute.

Our Little Girl

Hehe.  Nope.  Not a baby girl, but our dog baby.  Fritzie is our family dog, and the boys absolutely LOVE her.  We got her right after we got married.  She was an inside dog until Jacob came along.  I'm a major germaphobe when it comes to my kids, so canine had to go outside.  As Jacob has gotten a little older, it is safe to say that this dog is this boy's best friend.  Hardly a day passes that we don't head out to play with her.

We went for her annual vet visit this week, and we got some bad news.  Baby girl had heart worms.  I take full credit.  She has been on heart worm preventative since we got her, and I have learned from experience that if you are occasionally a day late they are not as effective.  You know, kind of like birth control.  :)

Lesson learned.  It will NEVER happen again.  Did I mention that the treatment is very expensive?  To be honest, our first thought when deciding to treat her was Jacob.  I can't even imagine telling him something happened to her.

We dropped her off yesterday, talked to the vet today, and we get to go and get her tomorrow!  We went to go get her groomed before she went to the vet (she is a spitz, and she is very hairy!  She's coming back in after all of this, and all that hair cannot come into my house. :)), and Jacob cried when we had to leave her there.  Then, when we left her at the vet, he left screaming, "I want my dooooooooooog!!!"  They said it was the most pitiful thing they have ever seen.  I must agree.  I sure am glad we get to get her tomorrow, and I assure you he has not forgot.  He is also very excited that she will be living inside with us now.

As I was telling a friend earlier today, "Hey, why not add an inside dog to all the chaos around here?!"  Wish us luck!  I hope she hasn't forgotten to do her business outside.  I might go into convulsions if she messes all over our house!

Bellingrath Gardens

It's the end of February, and I'm going back to Christmas.  Maybe I'll be totally caught up one day.  :)


We went to Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile to walk through their light display.  It was a blast, even through the freezing cold!


We were doing anything and everything we could with my brother before he had to leave!

We love Uncle Neil!  Especially the fact that he will do anything to make Jacob smile, no matter how stupid he looks!  ;)

This was a very interesting night in the fact that Jacob WANTED to have his picture made constantly!!!

My uncle started this thing where he held Jacob up to the lights, and he then had to with every one we passed!

This little fella had a blast!

Hot chocolate break!

"Mom, I think it's my bed time!"

Sweet brothers :)

Missing this guy like crazy!!

My favorite picture of the night!  Can't wait until Jacob kneels at the feet of Jesus, knowing what he's doing.  Praying for both of my boys to come to know the Lord early on in life!

My Brother, My Hero

At the beginning of January, my brother was deployed with the U.S. Army.  To say that I am proud, is quite the understatement.  He is such a wonderful man (weird to think of my baby brother as a man!), and he is working so hard!  It's already been what feels like forever since we said our "goodbye for now"'s.  We are all missing him like crazy.

Next time you see a soldier, tell them "thank you."  They really do appreciate hearing it!  They give up so much of themselves for us.  I will be forever grateful for the U.S. military that provides us with the freedoms we have.  

Days 4 - 10

Day 4

I was getting my lights ready for Grant's one year pictures, and I had the perfect little helper!

Day 5

We were leaving Gran and Papa's, and Grant took a ride in brother's car seat (they have the same seat) facing forward for the first time!

Day 6

Vegging out in the recliner like a grown man after lunch with a full belly.

Day 7

Mommy, help me put my train back together!

Day 8

A few weeks ago Wayne went on a men's retreat.  They got a goodie bag to bring home, which included a Gideon's Bible.  Jacob saw it and wanted it.  Of course Wayne gave it to him, and wrote this sweet message in it.  This sweet boy has carried this Bible around, and even slept with it.  He brought it to me the other day to show me what Daddy wrote in it, and he wanted me to read it to him.  When I read it, I was brought to tears.  So, so, so thankful for the Godly man that I have by my side.  My boys are extremely blessed with a fantastic daddy!

Day 9

Typical. :)

Day 10

Grant's 12 month check up.  Dr. Walley is phenomenal.  I realized lately that I didn't have a picture with him with either of my boys when they were born, and he graciously smiled for the camera for me to snap a quick pic.  Seriously, if you live in the Birmingham area and need a pediatrician, he's the best.  I've sent several friends to him!

There you have it!  I can't believe I've made it a full 10 days without missing a day!  Go me!!!  ;)