Is it March already?

As always, I am amazed at how quickly time passes between blog posts. I cannot believe that it is March!

We have a busy schedule this Spring with some extra activities and big Daddy will be traveling quite a bit. We have birthdays, field trips and Easter celebrations to attend.  We now have two "free" days each week!  Maggie's Tumbling class has been moved to Thursday, so our Monday schedule is completely clear.  I may actually have time to homeschool and go to the grocery store on Monday.  I have been trying to do my shopping on Saturdays so that I can go alone.  It makes it easier to go to multiple stores, get everything on my meal planning list and spend an hour or so alone-all in one shot!

Maggie will be turning seven in April and Ellie will be four in June.  Both girls are happy and content to have small parties at home with just family attending, but I think next year may be the year for Maggie to have a friend party.  To make things a little easier on me, I asked the girls if they could have a party to celebrate both of their birthdays in mid-May.  After assuring Maggie that they could each pick their own theme and decorations, she agreed.  We have a BIG surprise that we will be sharing with them soon and that will be a part of their birthday celebrations.  Of course, on their actual birthday there will be some kind of celebration, just the four of us.  I want to start the tradition of letting them pick a favorite meal or restaurant as a way for us to have a celebration on their actual birthday and with just our little family.

In spite of being under the weather, Maggie started her new school year this past Monday.  She had a fever, sore throat and cough starting on the Thursday. Even though she wasn't back to normal, she was eager to see what my plans were for the new season. So far, she loves it, but we have only had two days if work!  She was a little stressed out over a writing assignment yesterday because she was worried that she would "get it wrong".  She loves to be right and to please, so having a real assignment that asks her to narrate a story, inspired by a classic painting stressed her out a bit.  She is very creative and sites and tells imaginative stories all the time, but the thought of doing this as a part of her school work upset her. She likes for things to be black or white, right or wrong.  We are doing several things this year to help her to tap into her creativity and be able to put some of it down on paper.  We will be doing journal entries, book reports and reading high quality books to assist her with her writing skills.

As always, I continue to struggle with "doing it all" and wonder how in the world some women are able to do so much.  I like to think I do a little less that those women, but I do it all better!!

Learning Space

So...I am finally sharing the room where we do most of our school work.  We learn everywhere, though. I promise.  One of the things that I have learned from hanging out with homeschooling families is that we often over-explain things in an effort to teach our children something.

This is the view when you get to the top of the stairs.  We moved the most comfortable piece of furniture we own love seat up here, shortly after we moved in and bought new living room furniture.  To the left is our desk and to the right is our "preschool center".   Big Daddy's desk is behind the love seat and holds his laptop, any project that he is working on and our printer.  He has the option to work from home at times, so he needs to have a space to keep work stuff that is NOT close to our things.  The bookshelf to the right of the window was my grandmother's.  It is FULL of Big Daddy's books.  My little desk area is on the other side of the easel.

 I had picked out a super economical desk option and then we got to IKEA and Big Daddy decided that this would be better.  This was on my original idea board, but I nixed it in favor of something cheaper.  I like that there is a big work surface with two separate seating areas.  It's actually from the dining collection, is real wood and could be painted in the future.  We picked out the red folding chairs, so that we could easily store them or carry them downstairs for extra seating.  I need one more for my desk and maybe another just because.  Right now, I move Ellie's chair across from Maggie or Maggie's chair beside of Ellie when we are working.  The child that is NOT doing school work can play, read or draw in another area.  We have our calendar board and some magnetic boards that we can display current art on.  The bookshelf holds some of our curriculum and manipulatives are stored in the wooden crate on the floor.

 This is our "preschool center".  We have a kitchen, doll house, bench with books and pillows to create a comfy reading spot.  This area is out of view from Maggie's seat.  Ellie can play quietly and it doesn't distract our learning.  The giant easel to the left, was a Christmas gift from 2011.  It was in the living room for nearly a year because it is much bigger than it was in the store! :) The toys that we moved upstairs are a little more special, since they are sort of out of the way.  Going upstairs just to play is such a reward.

My "desk" is a kidney-shaped vanity table that I bought at my aunt's yard sale at least 15 years ago.  I used it as my nightstand and it has been used as a sofa table upstairs.  It's perfect for using my iPad/laptop, writing out my lesson plans or keeping a few papers that I need to file away or any of our school paperwork that needs to be sent in. I have around 15 binders of different colors and sizes that are used for organizing supplies.  After two weeks, I am still putting things in their place.

I can only imagine how we may change this room as time passes.  Right now, it is a fun place to learn, play and create and we are finding that it serves our homeschool well!!

Ikea and Pinterest Love

I feel like Pinterest is such a blessing to our homeschool.  It is so nice to be able to find people to "follow" that you have things in common with.  Even though I need to (and I am working on) organizing my Pinterest boards so that I know where things are a little better. Of course, it's not just helpful for our homeschool!  We have lots of things around the house that were inspired by Pinterest or that I found out about because of Pinterest.  We also have lots of little Ikea things around!  We have been to Ikea three times and have purchased things two times.  We haven't been disappointed and love the price and quality of all of our purchases.

IKEA-We recently bought this step stool.  We haven't painted it yet, but Ellie uses it when helping me in the kitchen and Rainbow likes to use it to see outside.

IKEA-The lantern on the left was purchased on our most recent trip. I have an obsession with lanterns. (You will see!)
Pinterest-The window above the table was in the house that my dad was raised in.  I have had it hanging somewhere for the past 10 or so years.  I saw Looking Glass spray paint on Pinterest and decided to try it out.  It turns glass into a mirrored surface or you can spray it with water/water and vinegar for an antique or mercury glass look.  (The hymn page wreath was made by my aunt and she probably got the idea from Pinterest.)  The "frames" on the table are cheap wooden plaques from Hob Lob and I painted them and then used Modge Podge to affix and seal the pictures on them.

 Pinterest- I got the idea to make silhouettes from Pinterest.  It started out with the Maggie & Ellie (at 9 months old) and I added the one of Big Daddy holding each of their hands from a photo I had taken on one of our beach trips.  Just last week, I added a silhouette of Rainbow!
IKEA- The lantern on the left is from Ikea, but I painted it on the outside and used Looking Glass spray paint to create a mercury glass look.  I have had this one for about a year.

Pinterest- I saw this idea on Pinterest, but changed it up a bit.  Of course, I used Maggie and Ellie's hand and footprints for this.

Pinterest- I started wanting a kitchen island because of Pinterest.  We have plenty of cabinets and plenty of counter space.  We have a small section of cabinet on each side of the stove and sometimes I have helpers or need a little extra room without going across to the longer section of counter.  We looked at lots of options and Big Daddy decided that we needed it to be somewhat portable.  Most of the things that I wanted in an island were not going to work for our space, so I have filed them away in case we design a house someday.
IKEA- I saw some cute island/cart option on Ikea's sight.  Big Daddy couldn't get on board with my idea until I saw the cart that I had picked out painted a very similar color to what our kitchen table already is.  So...I showed Big Daddy the picture and he finally understood what I had in mind. I stained the top and drawers and painted the rest with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (Duck Egg, dark wax) to match our table and chairs in the breakfast area.  We can also roll this into the dining room if we are having a party to put food or drinks on.

I am also using Pinterest  to help with picking out paint colors, as well.  We have lived here 3.5 years and our walls have taken a beating...thanks to two sweet kids!  We chose a light neutral for the common areas of the house.  It matched one of the rooms in our old house and was a safe option since I picked out paint colors 48 hours after giving birth and while still in the hospital.  We chose Sherwin Williams Stucco.  We like it, but I want something...with a little more pigment. (Suggestions appreciated!!)

Next up, a quick tour of the homeschool room!

Long time, no blog

I feel like it has been forever since I have posted anything and then I realize it has been nearly a month!  As much as I want this to be our virtual scrapbook, I feel like it is hard to keep up.

As soon as Christmas was over, I started planning for our next school year.  Since we choose to school year round and take days off as we need them, our curriculum is running out. Maggie would be in first grade (based oher age) if she were in traditional school.  We are currently finishing up first grade math, but everything else is second grade.  So...most of what we will be doing when we finish our current work will be third grade. It has never been our intention to be ahead.  We are much more interested in following her lead and doing what we need to do.  Which explains why we/I decided that doing another year of first grade math would be best.  Maggie was getting so frustrated with math, so I went with my gut and decided to try another curriculum.  She still gets frustrated, but the different curriculum is a much better fit for us.  I ordered ALL of our curriculum last night, so I feel like I get a little vacation from planning.  Once all of it arrives I have to decide how many days a week we will have each subject, with the core subjects being daily.  I also have a list of different things that I want to implement from journals and book reports, to art studies and manners lessons.

Once we made the decision to be a homeschooling family, we knew that our upstairs bonus room would be our future classroom.  I had thought we would wait a couple of years, but we found that we were outgrowing our kitchen table.  Our kitchen table has an unfinished wooden top (due to the fact that i stripped the finish off) and we feel completely comfortable with getting markers, glue or paint on it.  I thought about moving us into the dining room, but I try to keep that table looking nice.  Big Daddy always tells me that we will do what I need to make things better.  I shopped around online and picked out several different desk options, created a secret board on Pinterest with everything that I wanted, made a ton of lists and then we set off for Ikea.  We LOVE that place!  It's about an hour and a half away and the weather was not in our favor, but we made it there in back in snow and freezing rain and my sweet husband bought everything on my list.  We are extremely happy with our purchases!

I will share pictures of our classroom tomorrow!  Stay tuned!

How Can I Be SO Busy!!??

I'm a stay at home, homeschooling mom of two little girls and I am SO busy!!

I feel like I live from one load of laundry/ dance class/ sign language class/ Awana to the next that's not even counting all of the homeschool lessons that we do on a daily basis.

I could never have imagined that this would be my life.


I'm completely sure that homeschooling Maggie is right for us and we really do love it.

The highlight of my day today: Doing Maggie's lessons at the dining room table with the windows open. We could hear the acorns falling off of the trees outside and Ellie playing with seashells and muffin tins in the living room floor.

Pure bliss.

Finally Fall

Maggie has been patiently waiting for the first day of fall for weeks. When I reminded her that today was the big day she said, "Oh my word, I almost forgot".

We decided to put our fall wreath and scarecrows up last week. Unless something drastic happens, that is the extent of our seasonal decorations for fall. We'll buy a pumpkin in another week or so and I'll be planting pansies as soon as I can, but that's it.

This week has been a busy week! This was the first week of our fall school/activity schedule with Big Daddy home. I guess busy is our new normal.

Ellie has started putting together the most amazing sentences and she is so funny! She loves to ask," Where are we going next?" when we're running errands and getting in and out of the car. Ellie likes her new Sunday School class and going to Mission Friends on Wednesday evenings. She has discovered glue sticks and loves art at church and the library.

Maggie has been something lately! She is still enjoying school and her homeschool elective (sign language) class. She seems to be enjoying her Awana class too. She has been creating lots of fun things this week- from puppets to paper dolls. She has a great imagination and has also started writing songs,

A Little Bit of Ellie's Room

I'm not finished with Ellie's room, but I have finally taken the time to finish a few little projects that have been on my to-do list for quite a while.

Ellie's room has been painted for weeks now, but I tend to take my time when picking out things that I'm going to have to live with. After looking in stores and online, I kept leaning towards a chocolate brown comforter and either chocolate curtains or buying printed fabric with brown and other colors.I read lots of design blogs, and they helped me decide that I wanted to use a shade of orange in her room. I feel like we have plenty of dark brown in our house (living room, kitchen, master bedroom and the girl's bathroom) so I was trying hard to stay away from it. I couldn't find anything with orange in it that I liked. I love the way white looks with the color (Valspar, Blue Whisper) of her walls, so I finally decided to go with a white down comforter and white curtains. I think it looks sweet with her white chest of drawers, toy box and book shelf. And it looks really girl-y! Of course, her room color looks nothing like the way that it photographs.


I always try to let Maggie and Ellie have things that reflect their likes and personalities in their rooms. Maggie's pink and zebra room is sort of sassy just like her. Ellie likes the color blue, so we knew that we wanted a shade of blue for her walls. (I'd share the inspiration for her wall color, but the blog is currently out of order.) She has recently fallen in love with Dorothy, the Tin Man and all things Wizard of Oz. We had an extra print upstairs that we had planned to give to Maggie well over a year ago for her birthday, but sometimes her Mommy buys her presents and then forgets about them. ;-) She was so excited when she saw it on her wall. She also loves her ABC's, which she calls "P's".

I have always thought that scrapbooking seemed like a waste of paper, but I have a great love of scrapbooking paper. I also love the sample sizes of paints that you can have mixed. I had a sample of Olympic's Two To Tango mixed so that I could paint the canvas and the picture frames. Hopefully, I'll get the canvas on the wall tomorrow.

Busy, Busy

I have been a busy bee this week! Of course, Maggie and Ellie keep me busy, but I've been working on accessories for Ellie's room after they go to bed. Without Big Daddy here to distract me I can accomplish quite a bit!

Maggie is registered for the sign language class that she wanted to take and Ellie will be in a preschoolers class. I'll be helping out or going to bible study.

We have a long meeting tomorrow night at church for our new Awana year and a fun field trip on Friday. Thursday is our free day for this week and I'd love to stay in bed until noon. I've never managed to do that, but I really think I could at this point in my life...if only the children would let me!

Hopefully, I'll have a few pictures of Ellie's big girl room to share on Friday.

This Week

This week has been amazing! We have been super busy, but in the best kind of way!

• Monday- For my birthday, Big Daddy took the girls out and they came back with breakfast. We spent a little time together as a family before Big Daddy left for his business trip. Maggie and Ellie watched a 30 minute DVD while I cleaned the hardwood floors and did lots of housework. To end my birthday-day, we went to my parents' house for play time...after a trip to the grocery store. Happy Birthday to me...not really. Both girls had rough days=Mommy had a rough day too. I shared my birthday with my grandmother who passed away in October. This was the first time I'd ever had a birthday all to myself. I only cried once.
  
• Tuesday- We met other preschoolers from our church at a local children's museum. Maggie and Ellie had the best time! I think the regular admission is ridiculous, so I'm not sure we'll be going back. We got a great deal for a group rate, so it was a fair price for 4 hours of air conditioned fun. Their favorite things were the grocery store, the hospital/baby nursery, Nonie's House, the t.v. studio and a pretend train.
• Wednesday- We met two of my best friends from high school and their two kids for lunch. She homeschools and he's a college professor. We had great conversation and even though our kids aren't the same age (their kids are 10 and 8) everybody had a great time. After lunch, they came back to our house for dessert. I LOVED spending time with them.
• Thursday- Today was like my birthday gift!!!!! We went to Sanford to visit our friends! We started out by driving across town (checked out some of the tornado damage and were able to see the new Lowes that is replacing the one that was destroyed in April) to see what had changed. We went to my old office to visit and catch up in all of the local real estate happenings. After that, we met my Mommy friends and their kids at a local church playground and then went to eat lunch. (Of course, I forgot my camera, had to use my phone and the subjects would not be still!!!)The Original Lunch Bunch!! Ellie and Baby T were hanging on the other side of the table.
  

We had to wait a loooong time for our food, but the kids behaved well. When you have a part of eight and five of those are kids you just don't want to wait 50 minutes for your food. It was one of the little boys' birthdays and we celebrated my birthday too. We had a great free dessert and I got some sweet gifts too. We ended our trip "home" by visiting "Gammy Gladys". I feel so fortunate that I met Gladys when we started selling real estate on the same day. My favorite part of selling real estate was going to look at houses with her!! I would never have guessed that she would have become the adopted grandmother to my children!Ms. A had forgotten a gift, so I stopped by her house to pick it up after we had spent two hours of pure JOY with Gammy Gladys!. She wasn't at home and had left it for me with a sweet note about driving safe and how she loved me and missed me already. I only cried once during my hour long car ride home.

• Friday- We plan to catch up on the homeschool work that we haven't finished, clean a little and rest a whole lot! Maggie is also attending Vacation Bible School at the church where my grandparents were members and where my grandmother attended before she passed away. Big Daddy will arrive home late in the evening and then we'll have a busy weekend! More on that later!!
  

I Should Be Folding Laundry

I should be folding the three loads of laundry that are waiting for me in the laundry room, but I decided to make a list of the things that I've done today. Maggie and Ellie are "hunting for trash"with some cardboard boxes. I'm not sure what gave them the idea, but I think they are really trying to look for treasures, more than trash.

• 6:45-I woke up when Big Daddy woke up, but sort of dozed back off until Maggie came and got in bed with me at 7:00. Just as Big Daddy was coming out of the bathroom after his shower, Ellie woke up. He brought her in and we cuddled for 15 seconds before she told me to "gup", a.k.a. get up.
• 7:20- I fixed Ellie oatmeal and Maggie asked for cereal. While they were eating I put the dishes from last night away.
• Fixed the coffee pot and prayed that the coffee grinder wouldn't die because I'm pretty sure that it's on it's last leg.
• Helped the girls get a blanket, coloring books and crayons set up in the living room floor.
• "Worked" on the computer while the girls were coloring and I was waiting on the coffee.
  
• I ate breakfast in the living room so that I could watch Maggie and Ellie play.
• Brushed teeth, washed faces, dressed the girls.
  
• I made up the beds and Maggie fixed the pillows on them.
• Put in a "Signing Time" movie in per Maggie & Ellie's request.
  
• Cleaned all of the mirrors in the house, the front of the stove, front door, french doors and fireplace-basically everywhere that little hands like to leave prints.
• Cleaned the toilets.
• Started a load of laundry only to realize that there was a load still in the laundry basket and another one in the dryer. Uggh.
• Wiped off the counters in both bathrooms.
• Cleaned up Olivia's mess from last night.
• Put the movie up and told Maggie & Ellie to have a little play time.
• Wiped down (dusted) everything in the living room, dining room and all of the bedrooms with a micro fiber cloth. Declared the house as clean as it was going to get for today.
• Fixed homemade trail mix for Maggie & Ellie's snack.
  
• Sat down in the living room with Maggie and Ellie for about 15 minutes until Nana came to get Maggie for a "Nana Day" at 9:30.
• Walked outside to wave goodbye to Nana, Maggie & Callie. Told Ellie that she had free reign of the dollhouse in Maggie's room!
• Went straight to the kitchen and cleaned out the set of cabinets where Maggie puts all of her preschool, church and library art.
• Checked under Maggie's bed for more art and found a few pieces of construction paper.
• I needed to make a phone call so I let Ellie watch a Barney movie.
• Turned movie off and played with Ellie.
• Took Ellie out to the garage and we wiped down all of the surfaces in the van.
• It was SO hot outside, so we came in and played until about 11:20.
• Went to Nana's to have lunch and pick up Maggie.
• Came home around 1:20, put Ellie down for a nap, set Maggie up with a computer game.
• Mowed the little bit of the yard that needed mowing and did a little bit of weed eating.
• Came in and did a math lesson with Maggie and then set her up on another computer game.
• Did more weed eating and told the yard not to grow until after Daddy 's trip next week.
• Taught Maggie another math lesson and gave her beads and made up word problems using subtraction.
• Ellie woke up-2:30.
• Fixed snack, finished math and discussed our new curriculum that arrived today!!
• Ellie requested another "Signing Time" movie. Normally two movies per day is the max, but I let them watch it again.
• While they were occupied, I went over the curriculum and made out our revised lesson plan for the week. I also got all of my materials together so that I can prepare a few things for tomorrows lessons.
• Turned movie off.
  
• Washed collard greens and started cooking them for dinner tonight. Sniffed of cantaloupe and decided that I would cut it while preparing dinner.
• Maggie & Ellie found their cardboard boxes from the delivery and decided to get a blanket and crayons out so that they could decorate them.

And that brings us to right now!!

Today was a high tv day which is rare. We also had much less school time than usual. Since I needed to get the yard taken care of and it's so hot (like 100) today, we'll do a little more school work tonight. Maggie did double some of her work yesterday so that she could have less work and enjoy a "Nana Day". We usually read several books in the morning, but since Maggie was away I tried to let Ellie have a little time to do what she wanted to do: Barney movie and dollhouse play in Maggie's room...without a big sister to bother her.

Of course, I still have lots of stuff to do!

• Finish dinner: chicken in mushroom sauce, steamed broccoli, wild rice and collard greens. Cantaloupe for Maggie, fresh strawberries for Ellie.
• Clean up kitchen and wash dishes (I only use the dishwasher a couple of times a month-max) while girls play with Play Doh at the table.
• Clean up Play Doh, do school work, read and play.
  
• Big Daddy comes home (7-ish) and has dinner then we'll play outside and go for a walk,
• Bring kids in for bath, pajamas and brushing teeth. (7:30-8:00)
  
• Read and play until bedtime.
• 8:30-Put girls to bed, fold laundry, plan for tomorrow, check email and spend time with Big Daddy watching tv or playing on our separate laptops.
• 10-10:30- shower, watch tv with Big Daddy until 11ish and then go to bed.

Pictures From Our Week

I mentioned before that Big Daddy and I were changing cell phone providers and getting new phones. I finally have a smart phone and I'm enjoying it so far. Big Daddy has had lots of different phones through work, so it was easy for him to pick one that he thought would work well for us. We haven't had a land line phone since we moved nearly two years ago, so we use our cell phones quite a bit. Big Daddy loves for me to send him quick texts and random pictures during the day. He has been out of town all of this week, so these are a few pictures that I've sent him.

On Monday, we slept late and had an "at home" morning. After Ellie's nap we went to the library and ran in the grocery store for fresh fruit. We don't buy any canned fruit, so I find myself shopping for fresh fruit at least twice a week. Ellie wanted to wear her favorite shirt that just happens to be long sleeved. We had to run by the bank too, so they both had suckers. The race car shopping cart is my nemesis right now.
After our errands and cooking and eating dinner, we went to my mom and dad's even though my mom and Callie had visited during the day (and played with the kids on the swings and in the pool while I mowed the back yard). I don't mind being home in the evenings without Big Daddy, but Maggie was missing him lots.

I decided to have and "at home" day on Tuesday. I wanted to do the housework and just be at home. I saw an idea on a homeschool blog and decided that it would save us time and money and allow Maggie to work more at her own (very fast) pace if I implemented the idea immediately. We found ourselves at the not so supercenter to buy school supplies. The idea worked exactly like I'd hoped it would and has already made a big difference in our "schedule".

We found ourselves at my parents again that evening after dinner. My mom had something for me (more on that in a minute) and Maggie "needed" to play with Callie. Of course, Ellie really wanted to see her "Papa" too. We hadn't been at their house for long when the skies grew dark, the wind began to blow and the thunder and lightning started. Maggie didn't want to leave, so my mom asked if she'd like to spend the day with her on Wednesday. My mom made plans to pick her up at 9:00 the next morning and Maggie was happy. We came home, had baths and put our jammies on. Both girls are a little scared of thunder (thanks to Cousin Callie) so I built a little fort in the living room and they read library books for 45 minutes before bed.

Thankfully, we had an inch (to add to the half an inch from the night before) of rain in the rain gauge on Wednesday morning. Truly an answered prayer. It has been SO dry here.

My mom and Callie came to pick Maggie up and Ellie wanted her shoes because she wanted to go too. My mom told me to get the car seat and she would take Ellie too.
I found myself childless! I washed my cabinets, swept and mopped the hardwood floors and mowed the front yard. I went to my mom's, had lunch and then brought Ellie home for her nap. When she woke up, we picked Maggie up and fixed that special thing that my mom had for me for our dinner!

Ellie doesn't usually eat corn, but she really enjoyed it this time!

I've had lots of stuff on my mind this week and had planned to write several times, but it hasn't happened. Doing school work with Maggie has been wonderful (more on that later), but it takes up all of my "free" time during Ellie's nap.

Olivia

I mentioned last week that we were getting a family pet and here she is!

This is Olivia Ian Rosie McMillan, but we call her Olivia. She is a hamster (NOT a gerbil) and she is SO loved!

I casually suggested the name Olivia and Maggie loved it. of course, Olivia is after Olivia the pig after our new favorite book character. Olivia the pig has a little brother named Ian, so that's where Ian came from. Rosie is after Cousin Callie's pet fiddler crab that passed away on Father's Day.

We picked her up on Thursday and Maggie and Ellie both cried at bedtime that night because they wanted to sleep with her. We have already enjoyed her so much and she is a wonderful addition to our family.

Laundry. It's what I do.

I'm in full we're-going-to the-beach-and-I-have-to-get-everything-packed mode today. I folded two loads of laundry, packed Maggie and Ellie's bags, took the sheets off of all the beds, washed two loads of laundry, went to two grocery stores and now I need to fold two more loads of laundry.

I'm also starting to get a headache.

Ellie will be turning two on Monday and Big Daddy and I aren't sure how that happened. We find ourselves thrilled to be at a stage where we can go on outings or to a restaurant with ease, having a 5 (!!!) year old and an almost two year old.

We don't like to think of her as our last baby even though she very well could be. It's just too hard to think of it that way. Big Daddy and I prefer to whisper back and forth when we're having a good day in parenting about the possibility of having another baby. Of course, I occasionally spend time (while folding laundry or cleaning) listing the baby names that I like, but only in my head. We liked the names Maggie and Ellie and didn't plan for them to both end in "i-e", but I feel like if we ever had another girl it would be sad if her name didn't end in "i-e" too. Silly? Yes. No announcements are coming up, but it's fun not to completely close that door when it seems that everyone you know is having their third child.

Anyway...

I painted Ellie's room yesterday while my mom kept the girls. I was able to complete it start to finish in three hours. I rock. Ellie loves it and Maggie thinks it's the prettiest room in the house! Maybe I'll post pictures soon, but here's the inspiration for the color. It sort of coordinates with her bedding, but we'll try to really decorate once we decide to move her from toddler bed to big girl bed.

I haven't washed my hair in two weeks. I've been using baking soda and water to "wash" it and apple cider vinegar and water to "condition" it. I LOVE the results. I have also been using apple cider vinegar on my face after I shower and alternating between coconut oil and my normal Aveeno moisturizer. (You can read a little more about it here.) I mentioned a few weeks ago that my skin was breaking out and that problem cleared up a couple of days after I started this.

And that's all for now!!

Happy Friday!!

Spring Break Makes Mommy Tired

I just realized that "Spring Break" is over. We had a nice week, but it went by so fast.

I flipped the calendar to May and did not like what I saw! Maggie has her school birthday party Monday, a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, a field trip on Wednesday and then of course, our usual Thursday and Friday with Library and preschool.

We had a nice break with our zoo trip and visit to Sanford (and delivery of donations for tornado victims). Maggie & Ellie loved seeing Gammy Gladys and having lunch and going to the park with our friends.
On Friday evening, I realized that I had to come up with food for Maggie's party on Monday at preschool. Over an hour of my Saturday was spent making these...
Cake Pops!

I have a hard time making anything that you have to roll into balls or dip into a chocolate or candy coating. Thank goodness, Maggie said they were "the most beautiful things" her eyes had ever seen. The lavender candy coating matches the Disney Pricess plates, napkins and cups that we are using. I'll be stepping on those darn sprinkles for the next week or so even though I have swept and mopped and swept again!

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Yesterday evening, I hit a really low point. I have been checking facebook constantly for updates on the Sanford tornado donation needs. They were asking for baby bottles, formula, diapers and onesies. It really broke my heart to think of mothers that had babies that needed things that they couldn't provide. (I also think of orphans sometimes in the middle of the night because that is what I do.) It bothered me all night and then first thing this morning too.

I decided to go through clothes and ask people that I know for any donations. Big Daddy called and when I told him about it he said he thought we should plan to go to Sanford on Friday. We both feel like we need to do something. So, I have a friend that lives close by that had felt like she should donate some clothes that she needed to get rid of. She was just about to try and find a donation sight when she received my email. Right now, my minivan has a little less room in the back because we went over after dinner and picked up the clothes! I'm going to check with a few local groups on Friday and then Big Daddy are planning to purchase some of the most needed items and deliver them to Sanford asap.

**I just had another facebook friend from high school contact me to let me know that his church will also be collecting items for me to deliver!!**

I spent my morning getting things together and then right before lunch, the children lost their minds. Oh.My.Goodness. I'm not sure what happened, but they have taken turns crying all day. Maggie's excuse when Big Daddy is out of town is always "I just miss my Daddy". Of course, Maggie can't stand for Ellie to be upset so she read books to her (in her bed) for at least thirty peaceful minutes. Then she said, "Well, Ellie whined the whole time I read books and I gave her all of her babies so I think she just misses her Daddy".

Tomorrow has to be better. Maggie has an Easter parade at preschool. Ellie will have a "Nana Day" so that I can walk with Maggie three blocks to an old theater, see a magic show and then hunt for Easter eggs. Sounds fun, right?

Long Story Short

• Maggie & I had SO much fun at the Preschool Pajama Party at our church on Friday night. I love spending alone time with her! Ellie stayed with Nana & Pawpaw and didn't want to come home. The kids didn't go to bed until after 10:00 Friday night!
• Saturday afternoon we went to a special Awana event at church. Maggie raced in a Pinewood Derby at church. She built a car with her Daddy and it was fast! She came in fourth place out of 42 cars in her age group. We were very proud! (pictures to follow when I remember to upload them)
• On Saturday afternoon, a tornado hit out old hometown, Sanford. It really devastated our small town. We were at church from 3:30-7:30 on Saturday, so we didn't even find out about it until my sweet friend A called me Sunday morning before church. Land lines and cell phones had been out of service and she wanted to let me know that she was okay. (She knows that I'm a worrier!) I was hoping that she was exaggerating when she told me about the damage, but she wasn't. As soon as we were home from church, Big Daddy looked up news footage from the storm. We are SO thankful that we've been able to talk to most of our friends. Thankfully, Gammy Gladys lives on the opposite side of town and was safe. Maggie was really worried about her.

And that, is all I have.

This week is going to be big with Maggie's preschool Easter party, parade and egg hunt. we also have an egg hunt with our library friends on Thursday.
Of course, a certain four year old will be celebrating her birthday on Sunday. Maggie will be turning FIVE on Monday.
She's still an amazing miracle!

Finished . . . I think.

I'm very happy with how my little desk/vanity project turned out. I have to get liner for the drawers and then I'll have a place to put my sewing stuff and husby's bill paying stuff and my homeschool stuff. Very exciting!

I sat everyone down last night and explained that it was mine and that no one else could put there stuff on it or in it without my permission. I still have to find a little chair for it and figure out what I'm going to put on it and think about something to hang above it and maybe find more knobs for it.

So, here's our hodge-podge bedroom!

The bed is the first thing that you see from the little "bedroom foyer". (If a master bedroom has an entrance with walls on each side, I refer to it as a bedroom foyer. I have been doing this for years and started using the term when I was real estate broker, so it's completely legitimate.)

This is to the left: walk-in closet (out of picture), armoire, master bathroom and Big Daddy's night table.

To the right-I gave up my kidney-shaped night table (it's now a sofa table in the bonus room) and we slip-covered my VERY expensive chair to coordinate with the room. Then there's my hope chest (now painted) and the desk on the other wall.

I have always wanted real bedroom furniture that matches, but the mix and match stuff is really what I like. My parents gave us the armoire the first Christmas after we were married and my dad made our headboard (I drew out what I wanted) a year or so after we bought our first house. The chair was an expensive purchase after my first big real estate closing. (For my second big closing, I bought perfume, so my celebration purchases went down in price!) We had planned on putting the chair upstairs with the loveseat, but we really love it in the bedroom. We have started spending lots of time in there just hanging out watching the kids do flips on the yoga mat or pretending to sleep in our bed.

No April Fools from me today.

The Longest Project of All Time

I have decided that my desk/vanity project may be the longest. project. ever. I have also decided that it's just part of being a mom. Every single thing seems to take a little longer when you know that you have very limited periods of time to work on something and you are almost guaranteed to be interrupted.

So...I had this idea and somewhere in my mind I knew that it wouldn't work out, but I think I really hoped that it would in my heart. I finally had a few minutes free yesterday (after I had folded three loads of laundry and cleaned the ENTIRE house) while Ellie napped and tried it. Epic fail. I fixed the part I had messed up and decided to distress the desk a little and then I'll apply a coat of something that I'm supposed to use now that it's all painted. I have never been afraid of messing it up or having to start all over. I am afraid of wasting the precious time and then trying to find the time to fix it.

With the way things are going, I'm not setting a completion date.

Big Daddy was away on a business trip and as soon as he parked in the garage I started distressing (and de-stressing) with my sandpaper. I'm going to try and finish that today.

In other news, I am feeling much better, but did wake up with ear/neck/head pain this morning. I took my beloved migraine medicine and feel much better. Ellie and I both have a cough and runny nose. She'll be staying with Daddy tonight while Maggie & I go to Awana.

Today is my mom's birthday. Maggie is determined that there is a surprise party planned at Nana's house today. She really doesn't believe me when I tell her that we're celebrating it on another day. Should be fun when reality comes crashing down on her.

The Projects

So, I have finished the first project. The chest started out oak (no picture) and then I moved it to the bathroom, put a coat of Kilz on it and two coats of V@alspar paint in Chocolate Turtle.

Big Daddy and I agree that it's an improvement, but we both would like it to be a darker brown. More dark chocolate and less milk chocolate. Of course, it looks nothing like it does in this picture and the walls are a completely different shade of green. (Sherwin Williams Svelte Sage)

Project #2 is the desk/vanity thing. I'm not sure why I love it so much, but I do!

I removed the knobs and washed it two times with Murphy's Oil Soap.

After that, I sanded down nearly the whole thing, but put lots of focus on the top which was pretty rough.

After it was sanded, I washed it again and I have the first coat of paint on. If all goes as planned, I'll do another coat after Maggie and Ellie are in bed tonight. We have sort of a busy day tomorrow, so I'm not sure when it will find a home in the master bedroom. Luckily, there's plenty of room for it and two cars in the garage!

Taking Another Risk

I'm taking another risk!!

There's this little shop (the old Jitterburger) in town that sells used furniture and appliances that often catch my eye. I usually call my mom and tell her what I want and she goes by to check it out to see if it's in good condition. So far, I've scored an old dining room chair (that has arms and everything!) that we use in the kitchen. It needed to be cleaned (really bad) and painted, but it was only $15. My mom bought it for me, so it was technically free.

For quite a while I have wanted a small desk/vanity for our bedroom. We have plenty of floor space and I thought it would be a nice place to keep bills that need to be paid (tucked neatly into drawers) and mailing supplies and a nice place for me to sit and use the laptop (or maybe a sewing machine if I ever get one). I saw THE perfect desk at the shop a few weeks ago, but when I stopped to check it out, found that it was in horrible condition and not even solid wood.

I was excited to see that the "junk man" (I say this with a heart full of love for this man) had lots of "new" stuff out. We were on our way to my mom's for lunch after our Storytime and I could barely get a glimpse of a desk/vanity that he had. After lunch, I told my mom about it and she said she wanted to talk to him about a certain kind of old chair that she was looking for so I suggested that we take a little drive over to look around. The desk-thingy I wanted was only $35 and solid wood and in good working condition. It needs to be cleaned and painted, but I had planned to paint it anyway. And he had a gorgeous antique rocker that I REALLY want for $35, but I'm not sure Big Daddy will go for that. We did a major de-clutter when we moved and he really likes to know where anything new will go or what it's going to be used for. I'm not sure that saying "it just makes my heart happy" will work for me since it doesn't work for him when he wants to buy a new gun.

I called to ask Big Daddy about it as they were loading it into the back of the minivan (YAY! for minivans). I also had to borrow money from my mom because I didn't have enough cash.

So, I have one project finished and another one ready to start. The new piece is still in the minivan, so I might post pictures of both pieces tomorrow.