Having boys means...

...going out on a date with your husband but having to turn right around and come home because the 4 year old might need stitches.

(We're going the bandaid-and-eventual-scar route instead of stitches, though. He seems fine.)

More decorating!

Casey gave me the idea to do various fabric-covered canvases on the wall over the couch. I loved the idea!--and fabric is pretty much one of my favorite things.

I had several of these fabrics already and then found the butterfly one that has all the living room colors (yellow, grey, teal) and picks up the butterfly theme from one of the pillows I made. I love how it all turned out. I am planning on changing the rectangle on the right-hand side into a bigger canvas. (Right now it's just a covered flimsy gift box top!).

Merry Christmas!

Mispronounced

Nate, reading a Superman book aloud to himself in the back of the car: "Clark then emerged as his alter-eggo, Superman."

New couch

We got a new sofa from homereserve.com, and I love it!

Next up: dressing that extremely blank wall over the couch. :)

Favorite video ever

Colleen and I sang a song with the kids (6 of her 7 grandchildren) for the Christmas program at church on Wednesday. Halfway through, an unexpected visitor came on stage, and Levi wasn't too happy.

More kitchen love

I felt inspired this week and made a couple other small changes in the kitchen. The picture frame (looks like an old ceiling tile) is old, and the Micah 6:8 embroidery hoop is new.

A kitchen update

This little project cost nothing and all came from Mama's house! The burlap is left over from Lucy's wedding, and the lace is vintage from Mama (either from the previous owner of her house or Mama's--not sure which).

Hi from my phone

I think I'll post a bit more now... from my phone! Life has been busy and good. I have felt such a peace and contentment now that the financial stress and moving issues are over. I love where we live. I love our life.

Random update

Jon got me an iPhone for my birthday (I only hinted a tiny, tiny bit. OK maybe a lot). I love it! Here are some pictures I've taken.

This weekend I scrubbed all the grout on the floors through the entire house. Jon helped but did not think all that scrubbing and knee-hurting and sweating were worth it. But look at this before and after!--definitely felt worth it to me.

Things have been busy with school and life and work around the house, but I'll try to update again soon. :)

Surprise trip

On Monday morning, we surprised the children with a special trip to Disneyland. They had no idea. We wrote a note sealed in an envelope for them to find in the morning. It was about 6:00 a.m. when I heard Nate, so I grabbed the camera. Here is the end of that video with the "final reveal":

The full (very long, six-minute, includes-fussy-naked-child) video is here:

http://youtu.be/WKhfUNJmTpU

We had a really great day. We arrived at Disneyland soon after it opened, so we got on a few rides very quickly (the teacups, Small World). The boys and I went on Autopia together while Lucy went on a "scarier" fast ride (Matterhorn) with Jon. The whole day went smoothly, and we all had fun pretty much the whole time. What a great surprise!

Dining chairs

I've been working on updating our dining chairs for the past couple of weeks. We had four original chairs and have always used mismatched chairs for the final two. I painted the original four grey.

I really like how they turned out. I kind of don't want the kids to sit on them--hello! Not the point!

Then I found three of these chairs on craigslist; they are wood with caning and upholstered seats, and they needed some love. (And actually, one needed so much love I ended up not using it--but I needed only two anyway.)

I sanded, painted, sealed, and reupholstered them.

The upholstery isn't perfect--this was my first time doing something like this--but I really love how these turned out. The fabric is going to go very well with the curtains Mama made (they arrived yesterday! Thank you, Mama!).

Next up is painting the dining table. :)

Happy 4th birthday, Levi

Happy birthday to our funny, not-at-all shy, car-loving, all-boy boy!

I love how cute DJ looks in this picture:

Two updated rooms

I painted the walls and ceiling in the master bathroom last week. It looks so fresh now!

I sewed long shower "curtains" in the guest/kids' bathroom and also put some fabric inside that small cabinet. I painted the vanity and added those colorful knobs. We got the round mirror at Ikea. I would like to put a shelf or something on the blank wall between the mirror and the shower, and I'd like to get a new faucet. I love the mint/aqua and coral combination! It's pretty much exactly what I was going for.

Progress & plans

It has been a week and a half since we moved in, and things are coming along here on Lemon Grove. Here is some room-by-room progress.

Kids' room
I was thrilled to come home on moving day to see our friends had put all the beds together and arranged the furniture! Everything fits nicely. I unpacked this room first and was glad to have all the closet space.

Plans for this room:
curtains - I've been looking for white curtain panels (or fabric) with large navy polka dots but might buy some plain white panels and do the dots myself
closet curtains - white Ikea panels

Master bedroom
Everything fits in here too! Yay! There's obviously still some unpacking to do but not much.

Plans for this room:
finish unpacking
change the curtains and closet curtains some day

Master bathroom
It's still the mint-chocolate-chip green I painted it 10 years ago. :)

Plans for this room:

texture the walls

paint the same grey color as the kids' room (Porpoise by Behr)

Guest/kids' bathroom

This room is now painted the same greenish-blueish color (April Mist) as the master bedroom.

Plans for this room:

Paint the vanity - white

Anthropologie knobs on vanity doors

New sink faucet

Mirror

Turn light fixture around? Or get a new one.

Shower curtain - something coral colored, inspired by these pictures:

  

Put fabric inside the door of the small cabinet

Kitchen

Everything's put away!

Plans for this room:

curtains eventually (the old red/green ones are still there)

Annnnnnd, the living room

I saved the worst for last. :) Furniture is generally in the right place, but not much is unpacked. Oh!--but I did paint the coffee table, which used to be Mama and Daddy's years ago and which I'd been using outside at our old house for the kids' art.

Plans for this room:

couch - maybe a medium-toned grey? either a small sectional or a couch and an additional chair

curtains

new media console - something that covers all the stuff up and can store DVDs and games

rug

lighting - I've been eyeing a cute lampshade at Target to go on that grey lamp...

Dining area

I guess the dining area is also tied for last. :) But I wanted to show this because it shows some of the yard too. We did a whole bunch of work back there, and Jon fixed the sprinkler system (!!!) and seeded with grass. Within a couple of weeks, it should be looking much better back there.

Plans for this room:

curtains (thank you, Mama!)

paint the dining table and chairs - I have grey for the chairs and white for the table. I'm doubting my choice of white for the table because--hello--we have three children. We'll see!