Week 12: 21 graces

1. My dad and brother in town
2. Having two extra sets of hands to help me run errands
3. Popeye's fried chicken for dinner
4. Selling our 4Runner to really nice people
5. Fashion advice from my dad (this will make more sense when I post about the dress snafu I had right before the Seabee Ball)
6. Attending the annual Seabee Ball with my handsome husband

7. A church date with just Sydney (Lorelei was feeling under the weather, so Chet stayed home with her)
8. A relaxing Sunday after a hectic week
9. Getting back into the habit of setting goals for and planning the upcoming week
10. Finally blogging and going to the gym again
11. A quick, late afternoon library trip with the girls (and renewing my library book instead of just letting a fine add up, ha!)
12. Seeing precious pictures of Jordy's (the mastermind behind this "21 graces" series) newborn son
13. Good customer service
14. Meeting a lovely new group of ladies
15. Chet mopping the post-dinner floor (he did it twice this week, unsolicited...what a good man!)
16. Lorelei's first haircut (it's hard to tell in the picture, but her little bob makes her look so grown up!)

17. Not having much food in the house (I desperately need to go to the grocery store), but concocting creative dinners rather than getting take-out or going out to eat (we're in a stage where going out to eat is really exhausting with Lorelei...Sydney is pretty good, but Lorelei just wants to get up and run around)
18. Laughing with Chet as we watch our new favorite show
19. Grocery shopping sans children at Walmart at 8 a.m. (Walmart is downright fun at 8 a.m. when you're the only one there!)
20. Warm enough weather to go on an afternoon bike ride
21. Sydney's facial expressions and detailed answers to questions

House Changes: Lorelei's Room

Here's a little update on what Lorelei's room looks like!  (For pictures of what Lorelei's room looked like right before she was born, click here.)

The biggest changes in L's room are that I replaced the wooden rocking chair with the glider, the hat rack is back downstairs near the front door, and I've added a few accessories.  I'll let the pictures tell the rest...

With the hat rack gone, I put the crib in the corner and repositioned the rug.  I used to have the glider and ottoman sitting where the rug is now (and where the wooden rocking chair was originally), but I moved it to the left of the crib, sort of behind the closet door, in order to open the room up more.

 

I'm sure I've talked about this glider on this blog before, but I need to say again how much I love it.  It's a gold and red toile pattern, and it doesn't remotely match the room, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm happy every time I see it.  We acquired this glider/ottoman for free, and Chet's mom recovered it with the fabric I chose.  She should be a professional glider/ottoman coverer, she did such a good job!  I purposely chose a fabric I simply liked, and did not even attempt to match it to anything in Sydney's room (we got it just after Sydney was born).  It's a good thing, because this glider has been in the living room, family room, our bedroom, and now Lorelei's bedroom.  None of those rooms share a color scheme, so I'm glad I went with the fabric I liked best.

 

We got this print (taken at Lorelei's 1st birthday photo session) framed for Lorelei for Christmas (she received many practical, grown-up things for Christmas this year since she still doesn't know the difference...I try to take advantage of kids Not Knowing the Difference for as long as possible...).

Remember the star hanging in front of the curtains in the first picture?  Here is a close-up of that beauty, and here is the story behind it.  When we went to West Palm Beach back in October to visit Chet's family, this star was hanging in Mom's and Dad's living room.  I immediately commented on how much I liked it, and Chet's mom said, "Do you want it?"  Um, yes, please!  Mom's friend Kim gave it to her, and it belonged to and hung in Kim's daughter's room growing up.  Kim wanted another little girl to enjoy it, so she passed it along to Mom, knowing she had three granddaughters.  This star was the perfect accessory to Lorelei's room.  I always keep her curtains closed (I probably don't need to anymore, but I needed to when she was younger because there was no telling when she would need to go down for a nap, and I didn't want to mess with closing blinds and curtains while trying to get her to bed...she was a finicky sleeper back then), and now I can simply light up the star when she's awake and her room no longer feels like a dungeon!  I also love that it's special, and not something I bought brand new at Target (even though Target is wonderful).

 

Just a few changes to the bookcase, and no changes to the changing table or the bow holder pictured in the original post.

P.S. I received the newest Pottery Barn Kids catalogue in the mail this week...dangerous.  I'm mentally planning a shared room for the girls, and I think I've spent about $15,000 redecorating it (not really, $15,000, but yikes).

Have a lovely Thursday!

Crafty

Lately I've done a couple of crafty things (out of the ordinary for me), so I thought I'd show you!

The first project was rearranging the wall between the front door and the stairs (the wall is also sort of behind the front door, once the door is open...does that make sense?).  I have tried many different combinations of things hanging on this wall since we've moved here, and I think I finally got it right.

First, we spray painted the mirror (on the left) this sea foam green color:

 

It used to be this textured bronze color:

Jacksonville House, 2011

I bought this wooden "W" at Hobby Lobby and covered it with scrapbook paper:

We already had this print and this brown frame, but they weren't paired together until I started this little project.  I bought the print at a small art shop in Ocean Springs, and it was painted by a local artist:

And here is the full effect:

 

Isn't that a terrible picture, lighting-wise, etc.?  As you can obviously tell, I still haven't made the time to learn how to use my camera properly.  Even though this picture does it no justice, I really like the final arrangement!  I was also really happy with the way the spray painted mirror ended up matching the scrapbook paper...that was sort of lucky!

 

My other project was making a frame for our neighbor.  Last year I found some frames at one of our Hallmark stores that I just loved.  (This particular Hallmark store stocks a lot of locally-made things like frames, wreaths, kids' clothes, etc.)  Anyway, I really wanted to buy one of these frames, and I showed them to my mom when she was visiting back in November.  She liked them too, but she said, "You and Chet could make one of those!"  So we did!

 

Chet bought the wood from Lowe's, and cut it down to the size I wanted.  He drilled the hole in the back and inserted the dowel so it could stand (and he added the thingy in the back, just in case our neighbor wanted to hang it on the wall).  I "designed" the chevron pattern and taped it off so that Chet could spray paint it (I swear, Chet could be a professional spray painter).  The gray spray paint bled over into the yellow spray paint a little, so I had to add the white lines in between.  Chet cut the Plexiglas down to size and nailed it down.  I hot glued the bow on.  (The frame was for our neighbor, but specifically a first birthday present for her twin girls.  It matches their bedroom.)  It is definitely not perfect (I probably would have made the chevron pattern a little smaller if I could do it over), and I learned a lot in the process, but I was pretty happy with the final product!  (I didn't take pictures throughout the process, so I can't show you each of the steps I mentioned above...oops!)

Putting the finishing touches on the stripes.

 

Finishing the bow.

 

 



Monday, Again

Yikes, last week was busy.  So was the weekend.  I'm looking forward to a little reprieve this week so I can catch up on blogging, chores, etc.

To quickly catch you up (I'll go into detail about some of it later), my dad and brother Grant came for a visit Thursday (they left yesterday, Sunday).  I think we sold our 4Runner this weekend (ha, seems like something I should know for sure, right?), and Chet and I attended the annual Seabee Ball on Saturday evening.  (There was a dress snafu that deserves it's own blog post.)

I just realized I haven't loaded any recent pictures from the camera onto the computer (and I don't have time this morning before Lorelei gets up), but I can show you the rest of the pictures from Mallie Girl Photography!  The camera was loving Lorelei this time around, but Chet and I think we need to work on Syd's smile-on-demand smile...

 

Considering all of these pictures were taken in about 15 minutes, I'm pleased with the result!  Since we just had their pictures taken in October (for Lorelei's 1st birthday), I'm not sure I'll get huge wall prints of any of these (I'm running out of wall space!), but I do think a couple of them are frame-worthy.  Plus, I'm getting better about changing the photos I display as the seasons change, so that helps.

 

Have a lovely Monday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I was a little hard-pressed to find something green for Syd to wear...

Some Pictures

I've been a lazy blogger lately, so here are some pictures to make up for that, and to show what we've been up to lately (not much, really).

The girls have been wearing their snazzy Easter shirts:

Sydney pointing to the chick on her shirt.

Lorelei (sort of) pointing to the bunny on her shirt.  She's too cool to look at the camera these days.

Sydney loves this little chick I pulled out of Holiday Toy Storage:

And Lorelei loves this bunny (and doesn't care a lick that her hair is in her eyes):

Lorelei was ghetto-ed out the other night in her diaper, necklace, and Crocs.  We thought she was hilarious just kicked back drinking her water:

Chet had to get up and she continued to drink:

I'm pretty sure she said "ahhhhh" right after I snapped this picture:

 

Lorelei had some serious post-nap hair one afternoon:

Today the girls played together nicely just long enough for me to take a few pictures:

Lorelei's snazzy outfit is courtesy of Grammy...

...and Syd's is courtesy of Didi.

The nice play soon ended, and Sydney closed Lorelei's fingers in her bedroom door later in the evening (I was at Walmart; Chet was home).  Sydney has appointed herself the Door Police, and she didn't shut her sister's hand in the door on purpose, but sheesh.  Thankfully, Lorelei's hand did not sustain permanent damage.

 

On a more professional (photo) note, Sydney had her dance photos taken in January (her recital is in May).  Brace yourself for this:

 

It was pure luck that they caught her in that pose, ha!  Their dance is to the song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini."  Chet almost had a heart attack when he saw this picture.

 

Julie at Mallie Girl Photography took the girls' pictures for a Spring mini session this past weekend.  I haven't seen all the pictures yet, but here is the sneak peek:

 

I feel like I should say "Happy Weekend!"...but it's only Thursday...



21 graces

I did not post last week, but I realized that, after a couple of months of writing these weekly lists, I am always mentally collecting things to add to my "21 graces", and I seek to find goodness in less-than-ideal circumstances.  Thank you, Jordy!

1. Seeing and spending time with aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. whom I hadn't seen in years
2. Finally meeting the wives and babies of said cousins
3. The overflowing generosity of others
4. Clear, cold, dry(!), beautiful West Texas weather
5. Singing hymns from a hymnal
6. Driving through charming (and tiny) West Texas towns

7. Sleeping in
8. Catching up on laundry
9. Take-out from my favorite Mexican food restaurant
10. Minivans...how on earth did we go this long without owning one?!
11. Louisiana rest stops

12. Coming home to a clean house
13. An unexpected flower delivery

14. Sydney getting a spot in the preschool of our choice
15. Lunch outside
16. Sydney choosing Wendy (from "Peter Pan") to "adopt" from the Disney store, rather than a Princess

17. Carter's
18. Realizing this weekend is Daylight Savings Time (I can't wait for more daylight in the evenings!)
19. A morning to myself to go to the dentist, the coffee shop, and two libraries
20. Spending the post-nap afternoon outside (always with the doll stroller in tow these days)

21. Family