Potty Jokes & Tree Decorating

The tree is long gone, and the season is at the end. I still need to remember this quick night of decorating the tree. Decorating for Christmas happened throughout the season. Fern especially enjoyed moving things around-taking ornaments off the tree and moving them to random spots around the house or daily rearranging the manger scenes. We enjoyed adding all the layers for the holiday season.

This is a post about the first wave of decorating. It was a quick, surprising hustle after school and before small group. We popped open the bins and started digging. 

We found a discarded Christmas Mad Libs. The kids finally "got it." They know what nouns and verbs are enough to pick them for third grade hilarity. As we gathered all the potty words that are allowed, Burl was sent into a spiral that kept him laughing all night. 

The laughter and silliness became contagious throughout the family. 

John and I egged it on, emphasizing the potty words, the kids not breathing from laughter. 

That's what I will remember from this year. Burl's amazing third grade laughter as we unpacked those bins...

Master Bedroom: Before & (almost) After

When flight attendants give instructions on the plane about oxygen mask, we learn a life lesson that I always love to bring up to my friends. "If traveling with a child, put on your mask first, then the child's." Why? Because ain't no mama good to their babies if they aren't breathing. Meaning, we are better able to help people if we are doing well ourselves. Before getting into theology about God working through weakness (because that's the truth too), let's talk about the master bedroom.

I put the master bedroom high on the priority list when it comes to decorating my home. It's good for me to have a place that feels quiet and calm. I like it to feel stress-less, because, Mama has to have her oxygen before I can help anyone else. I want my master bedroom to recharge me. It wasn't for a long time until I figured out what I wanted. 

Here is my before:

For about a year, I've wanted something different and thought about something new. 

Here is my after:

I have been making these changes throughout the rest of the house. I'm going from muted, colorful walls and white furniture and white accessories. Now I want white walls, and bold and neutral furniture and small pops of colorful accessories. It's been so fun! I'm having a fun time with it while trying to spend as little money as I can. 

I saved money to buy new lamps. At the store, I decided to use what I got. I spray painted the base gold and added a new shade, then had money leftover for new frames. One of my plants has already died. I'm the most neglectful plant lady every. 

There's a lot of blank space, free of clutter and dustables. Oh how dustables annoy me always sitting there collecting dust, reminding me that I hate to dust! Wide open surfaces are what really make my heart pitter-patter.

We call that rope thing over the bed, our Disciples' Fishing Net. My mom surprised me with it for my birthday and I absolutely love it. It's so cool. It's so big. It's so awesome. 

The after has already changed though! John and I upgraded to a king bed (best decision ever!), so I'm somewhat in the middle of a change now. We loved this room while it lasted, and now we're working on the latest after. Along with 4,000 other projects. We are thankful for this house that we're living in and somewhat taking care of. 

Before & After: Fern's Room

Fern got a room makeover! We sent her away to the grandparents' for a sleepover while we painted and redecorated her room. John and I finally upgraded to a great king size bed, so Fern got our queen bed (which is in good condition). We used the opportunity to repaint her room (from beige-something to WHITE!) and we let her pick out some new bedding. Here's the before: 

The layout is similar. We started by purging her toys. She chose to put the American Girl dolls in the attic and keep the Barbies. We traded out the chair for a more current looking chair that I got from a neighbor for $10.

Originally she wanted a yellow room, but yellow comforters are hard to come by. I found some options for her, but the navy, coral, and aqua quilt caught her eye and we went with those colors. I was hesitant at first, but the dark colors look good in the all white room. 

We removed the open wall shelves and moved her dresser in their place. 

For now, she has a side chair until I can find a good nightstand. 

Jenny's painting is still a hit! 

Since Christmas, Fern has been downstairs in her ow space. That girl loves some private room time. She journals, practices yoga moves, plays, and sits on her bed. The not-typical things that six year old girls do...

To keep the room clear of clutter, we put most of her little toys on a shelf in the closet. The Barbie house is all that's left out. 

It was fun to try to create something for her from her style. I love her jumbled up style and I am happy to give her a place to be her girly self. 

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Valentine's Decor: Printing With A Potato

To my surprise, I tried a random craft over the weekend that turned out well. I pulled my inspiration from every place except from pinterest. It was a combination of high school art and things I've heard in passing over the years. 

The kids enjoy decorating for all the holidays. A.L.L. While I tend towards "less is more," they lean towards "less is sad, more is more is more, can't stop, won't stop." I like to find a happy middle of ways I can decorate for little to no money. 

I made a potato stamp (cut in half, carve out a shape) and used the kids squirt paint. They all got into it. Burl was into the carving part. Fern was into the coloring part. Ridge was into the mess part. 

I stamped them on watercolor paper and taped them above the currently naked mantel. It was way too easy and I love the mismatched uniformity to it. Next up is a big yellow piece for Fern. 

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January Clearing Around The House

"I can't think of anything happier than all these cozy decorations," I declare every year when we put up the Christmas tree and add the layers. Then, as soon as Christmas passes, I'm over it and want calm and clear and bare and quiet. 

Packing away all the Christmas love avalanches me into more clearing. This year, I emptied the mantel and it's currently stark naked. 

I tackled the crammed bookshelves. Anytime I do something book related; whether it's letter writing, journaling, reading, magazine-ing, purging; the kids always join me in their own flavor of it. Fern was my partner in crime. 

I looked through and said goodbye to my beloved Country Home and Cottage Living (bring back CL!) while she made a collage of cute pictures. I'm a recovering book hoarder-ah the days I worked at the book store! Now, I keep good ones to re-read or loan and the others get sold. 

After I organized our books, there were several gaps on the shelves, so I had to style them-something I'm never confident doing. Style them is a fancy way of saying "finding stuff for me to put in the holes."

I've trimmed down a lot of my house accessories, so there wasn't much to choose from: 

A washing bowl and towel, a gift when you join our church

A vase I bought on a trip with John

Some feathers my mom used to wrap a gift

An egg, my very first painting from an art class I took years ago

Burl's first communion cup 

The tinkering was fun and it's already changed since I took these photos.

Now, it's on to more spaces that need some clearing. That's how I'm addressing these cold hard months: by cleaning and calming. I would almost be tempted to use the word quiet-ing, but I have too many children for that.

Christmas Tucks

Whoop. I'm ready to put some Christmas on this blog! I've got Christmas spirit times two, because last year was a bust. I was 8 months pregnant with the biggest baby ever, sick (ended up getting the flu ON Christmas day), and had no energy but for the tree. My memory of last year was pain and exhaustion. 

Not this year! It's my first Christmas with four children, and they are so into it. They're guessing presents, rearranging nativity scenes and pretending to shoot the fake mistletoe that hangs in the doorway. We're also following an advent guide for the first time. 

After Thanksgiving, we got out the tubs, the music, and a new cookie recipe. We were jolly. I have a small handful of breakable ornaments that I put on the tree in unreachable heights, but other than those, I let the kids decide placement. Fern decided that all the white angles need to be together, so dang it they are together! No spacing here-that makes no sense to her!

Last year, I was at a friend's house for a mom-brunch and her house felt so festive and cozy. She was a tucker (like I am) putting yard trimmings here and color there. Nothing over the top. This year, I tucked too:

My free decoration that's not really free-buy some good colored Christmas card stock, punch oversized holes, and sew together for easy garland. Ridge "helped" with this and was amazed by the production. 

Sometimes the kids help tuck too-Fern got a discarded branch and put in in the vase and added it to this vignette. Like mother, like daughter. 

And Christmas cards-filling our dining room window with color. 

This is the dresser in our bedroom. What you might see is plain and boring, but what I see is PEACE AND QUIET. Mama's haven. 

My next door neighbor has given me an open invitation to grab branches from her front yard. It's a goldmine of evergreens. She has three types and I have some scissors. 

I stuff them everywhere-seriously nearly every room. 

It's like playing Where' Waldo? in each room-where did she put some greenery now?

My biannual watering of my houseplants even looks festive in the sink. I love real plants in the house, but John always jokes about my lack of care for them. They get one watering once they arrive then they're on their own. I'm nurturing a bit more now (and finding more resilient plants). 

Eucalyptus is my favorite! I love the smell and here you'll notice that the muted leaves' colors really bring out the ambiance of the sound machine. 

The living room sees a lot more living this time of year. Aren't twinkling Christmas lights romantic? I've had a standing date with the tree at the beginning and end of every day. John is allowed to come too. 

And now I continue to fill the space under the tree with presents. The more I add, the more the kids' excitement builds. Jesus is the reason for the season, but these sweet children add to it as well. 

Merry Christmas!

The Unbuckled Thanksgiving

We unbuckled our seat belt of rules and rode the Thanksgiving roller coaster as wild as we could. 

First off, the kids and I went all out with our place settings, a little tradition that I especially enjoy. In years past, we have come up with some fun ornate excessive little craft for each person's place. The kids are in charge of choosing the seating arrangement, a task that they take seriously. I love overhearing their reasoning of each person's place, even though they are about the same every year. 

But let's admire the little faux campfires for a moment. They even gave out faux heat. In our hearts. Precious.

This year I did something that I never knew I could do-I ran the 8k Turkey Trot with John and my brothers. It put me in the best mood for the rest of the day, because I was bursting with pride and energy. 

After the race, we headed back to our house. I put out a meat and cheese plate, and the kids filled up there. They couldn't imagine that they could walk by the plate, grab whatever they wanted and eat it while they walked around. Not buckling the seat belt can be fun. Ridge never got an official nap, until after the big meal, we found him asleep. That belly says it all. 

The next day we joined John's family for a buffet lunch. It's very unusual for us to go out to eat, but it was a treat for everyone. A break for the cooks in the family and a brush with fancy for the children, we all enjoyed ourselves. 

Our fun time with our extended family set such a good tone. As soon as Saturday hit, we started with the Christmas decorating and music. More of our current holiday explosion later! 

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