THIS IS OUR STORY

The blog guilt is really getting to me. When I got the bill for my domain name — it really hit me how little I document about our lives these day. And these are the days that are truly most amazing.

I’ll just start with the sub-project to all the other things going on around here. As if I didn’t have enough going on, I decided to FINALLY fix the on-going problem of the wallpaper glue that was appearing in our master bathroom. Little did I know that a few days with oil based primer would start an avalanche of change around this house. The beige is giving way to shades of grey. I’m {trying} to step outside of my {predictable} decorating box to add a little personality to our spaces. So far…we love it. So many projects left to do. It makes me tired just to think about it.

As of today, I’ve painted all of the interior doors and trim a crisp snow white. All of the hardware was removed, sanded, degreased, primed and painted in an Oil Rubbed Bronze finish. The Master bath, Master bedroom, pantry, kitchen, family room, laundry, back hall, and front hall have been painted. The front door, garage door and shutters have been cleaned and painted. I found a bench and recovered it in a white and yellow chevron fabric. I painted the kitchen table and four chairs. I made a faux roman shade for over the sink in the kitchen. I painted my den french doors dark grey. Started on the drop cloth draperies I want to hang in the family room — waiting for the weather to cooperate for this project.

All of this and a million other little projects have been filling the gaps between the kids’ schedules, the work I have been doing on a HUGE project, and just trying to keep up with cleaning, cooking, laundry and being a mom & wife.

it’s the same story — momma won’t spend a gazillion dollars on horriblly lit and posed school photos. the fact that the photo would appear in the yearbook was enough to throw grace into a fashion frenzy.  she dressed herself from head to toe in teal. BRIGHT TEAL. teal skinny jeans, teal shirt, teal hoodie, teal headband, and big teal hoop earrings. EXACTLY what i would have chosen for her. NOT! when she got home from school, she was gushing over the photographer and how positively wonderful he was. he told her that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever photographed. then she re-enacted the whole 40 second photo-shoot for me. she got to do THREE poses. she told us the story so many times that we finally HAD to start making fun of her.

i turned to josh and asked, “that school photographer must have been seriously hot stuff — grace won’t step talking about him.”

josh blurted out, “the guy with the messed up yellow and brown teeth that spit on me while he was yelling at me to SHOW THOSE TEETH?”

grace responded, “yep, that’s the guy!”

nobody will ever convince me that a school photo is a good photo. these are good photos. these are truly grace.

even though it gets much easier to put these kids back onto a bus and back to school — the worry is always there. thankfully everyone likes their new schools and their teachers.

i am stepping way back this year — i did not join the PTO or take on any reponsibilities at either of the schools. my energy is being poured into another project and i am content with that.

here is the first day of pre-school 2003.

in august, we will have lived in this house for six years. we have made lots of changes — the biggest being our addition of 1400 square feet in a big, beautiful finished basement. sadly, i lost my passion for decorating a year into this house and i have finally decided that i need to try a little harder to make this place a home that reflects (me) my family. a few weeks ago i asked perry to whip up these $10 picture ledges that i saw on pinterest. they went together super fast — but there were some hiccups with the stain. then, the garage door came down on one of them and ruined the end. so now we have three – we had to cut one into two pieces. i am happy they are up and i love the way they look. i need to invest some time into what will actually go on them. i want more color and less family photos. more artsy stuff.

the quote that i framed says, “sometimes the right thing and the hardest thing are the same thing.” appropriate for the kids — and adults.

my favorite is the framed map of africa. my parents have had an old atlas since i was little. they happily brought it to me and i am going to love using all the bright maps on future projects.

i am always on the lookout for interesting letters. found this P at a local shop for only $12.

i am dying to paint the fireplace brick…perry would not be happy. i think it would look much better white. maybe i will do it when he is out of town.

last night i dropped grace off at school for the overnight field trip to the zoo. i was comforted knowing both of the moms she would be with, but it was still hard to walk away. in that moment i felt a change. it was the moment i realized that she was okay without me. i looked back to see her surrounded by her fiends and she was laughing. i wanted her to look at me so i could wave one last time. she didn’t. she was still laughing. i don’t know why – but i find it much easier to watch the boys get taller, stronger, and older. letting go bit by bit is proving to be one of the hardest parts of being grace’s mom.

i am the person who can use a computer well past its prime. i don’t mind rebooting 30 times a day. it seems like just yesterday that perry insisted on buying me a new mac…i fought it, but that computer won me over. on saturday, i had to admit that my mac was dying. i had exceeded its space and capabilities. *sigh* perry happily went skipping and whistling to the mac store to pick up a new iMac…a 27 inch beauty that is so ridiculously amazing i can’t believe i am looking at it …right here…in my den.

today i am thankful for a savings account. thankful that we plan for expenditures we don’t see coming. thankful for a husband who is crazy smart and loves me enough to spend all weekend making sure everything from my old mac is on my new mac.

“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.” ~Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

Today I am grateful for friends that are as good as spring itself.

i went back and forth about taking ethan to the midnight showing of The Hunger Games. all the excitement about the movie, combined with the fact that Michelle was taking her kids, made me really want to take him.

as we were pulling out of the driveway at 9pm last night – i joked and told Ethan i was scoring big time in the “cool mom” category. he turned to me and said, “it’s not just about the movie. it’s more about the memory of just going.”

i loved that. and, he is totally right.

a couple weeks ago a friend of mine (jen) was about to embark on a painting project. i told her i would whip up the lettering in photoshop so that she could project it onto the canvas and get it perfect. sure enough – when i went to her completely gorgeous new kitchen, she had her painting up and it looks SO GOOD! i kept the file and played with it and settled on this for mine. now i need a groupon for a great deal on photo to canvas printing. i can’t wait to put it up in the family room. i thought about painting it…but i am so much better at photoshop.

i love these words for so many reasons…

our family vacation to jamaica * my 6 year obsession with the Legend album — still know every word to every song * grace loved this song and sang it constantly when she was 4. she would sing lots of the words wrong and that is what made it so endearing * and i just love the simple message

Friday night was “Friday Night Jive” at church. It’s a 50s theme dance for the high schoolers. I had lunch with Michelle earlier in the week and offered to help out if she needed it. it turned out we made a GREAT team again. We put together the cupcakes with the record on top — half an Oreo with a fondant center. I made bubblegum frosted and cotton candy frosted cupcakes because I saw something very interesting at Wal*Mart the day before. My kids LOVED it. I could only bring myself to smell it. YES! it smelled like bubble gum and cotton candy. I give it a thumbs up.