{last week}

 

Okay, so I know it's now this week and not last week anymore but this is what I've got.

I kept meaning to blog last week but I just wasn't feeling it, you know?

I've been buying ferns lately. After a few years of no houseplants I'm back into houseplants. I started with two little ferns and then bought this big one. I'm loving that they last longer than fresh flowers and that I get a bit of the outdoors indoors. Quite the concept I know. 

I've also finally accepted the fact that I will never learn to crochet and bought a vintage totally granny but totally awesome afghan for my living room.

We had one unexpectedly sick boy last week. While I know that most sickness is not expected, this one really came out of the blue. I sent him to Awana and he was just fine. He got delivered back to me having thrown up twice. At Awana. In front of everyone. Then he had a fever all night. Poor boy. I keep running into people that say, "Oh, I heard about that." Meaning the kids are talking. 

We've been doing a lot of this. It always makes me giggle when I see dogs sitting in seats. They look so human don't they?

We've been doing some embroidery again. Although, both of us have a bad habit of starting a project and not finishing it. Mine is intended for my etsy shop if it ever sees the light of day again.

I bought a Smash journal. In Safeway of all places. These things are everywhere these days. I'm using it to record my thoughts and Scripture verses or quotes all on the subject of trust. It's my word of the year and I'm trying not to forget that it is a big issue God wants to deal with in me. Maybe it will always be my issue but nevertheless I want to be changed by God in this area. Plus, it's a really fun way to get some creative energy out in a simple and fast way. 

I got way too sidetracked by watching documentaries about Mt. Everest and rereading Into Thin Air. I think I've worked it out of me though.....until next year when I get the random urge to obsess over it again. 

Oh my, how could I leave this until almost last! For more than a week now I've been a Mom that is ALL DONE WITH DIAPERS! Do you like how I shouted that at you? It was totally unplanned. Because that is how we do things around here. We were talking with friends who have a son a few days older than ours and found out he is totally potty trained. Well, the next day we ran out of diapers. It was either run to Costco or go for it. He is doing so great and is hilarious. The first night he told me he wanted wine because he was big you see. We don't even drink that much wine around here but in his little mind he knows you have to be big to drink it. Well, we've been singing the your so big praises around here like crazy. He now wants coffee because he is big. Oh, and he can use scissors and drink soda too. You know, because he is big now. It never ends. But, oh happy day...we are out of diapers!

So that's about a wrap of our last week, just in case you missed all the random little ins and outs of my life. All courtesy of my phone because my big girl camera hadn't been wanting to snap a photo since Seabrook. I still need to look into that one. 

Have a happy Monday friends...I hope yours is warmer than mine...it's snowing here!

{Seabrook, Year Three}

 Last weekend I took off for a little getaway. A girls weekend at the most magical and idyllic place I know. It's funny and purely coincidental but I have been to the same place the same weekend in March for the last three years! 

My friend Laura headed over to the coast with me as well as my entire family, dog included. They were going to get a visit in with cousins and grandparents while us girls got a break.

We stopped at the most scenic overlook that we usually just speed past. It was time for a driver change. Right as we were pulling in two fighter jets zoomed right over us. It was so cool. And loud. 

 

 The view from the other direction.

This photo makes me laugh. It was windy. My son totally has the same hair style as my sixth grade boyfriend. You do remember that style don't you?

Don't you love this photo? I do. I think I need to print it and I think my Dad needs to paint this. Yep.

This little coastal community is filled with cute houses. We laughed as we were driving in, that's cute, oh, that's really cute! We realized that EVERYTHING is dreamy and cute and it's a little redundant to keep saying it. Oh well, it WAS cute!

There is inspiration everywhere her. The colors on the houses, the Adirondack chairs, the birdhouses, the globe lights strung everywhere. Really, every time I come here I wish I never had to leave. 

All of the houses here are privately owned with about half being rentals. Most are decorated beautifully. You can visit the website and check out the interiors. 

 We never did sit out here. The weather was pretty cold and windy, typical March in these parts. Plus, the weekend went so fast. You have to spend at least three nights to feel like you are able to do everything.

The beach here is majestic. I don't live near the ocean so every time I visit I am newly awed by the vastness and power of it. This site does not disappoint.

Saturday and Sunday were clamming days. The beach was just filled with tiny specks, all people looking to get lucky and have razor clams for dinner. 

I packed all sorts of crafty projects to get done while I was away. I barely touched them. Why does that always happen? It's like when I fly. I usually prepare a big bag full of distractions only to never open it. We ate the best meals while we were there. A couple of girls were assigned to each meal and had full responsibility for the making and cleaning up of it. Such a great idea, once your meal was done you were free with no guilt at watching someone else serve you! Most of the girls had food allergies as well so all our meals were gluten free and had dairy free options. Everything was just fantastic. A good lesson for a girl who eats anything and everything. 

Our drive home was not so great. The mountain pass we have to cross shut down as we were on it. Every big rig in the state seemed to be right there putting on their chains. My poor dog. He was so scared. He sat on my friend Laura's lap for a couple of hours. And as you can see, a lap dog he is not. This provided for lots of giggling.

It took us almost twice as long to get home as it normally does. We made it though. 

So I'll continue along with the paid advertisement for Seabrook here. No, just kidding. I should be though. 

So if you are ever in the Pacific Northwest and want some stellar lodging you now know where to go!

{Mini Wooden Spool Photo Holders}

 

{Inspired by Ashley at Under the Sycamore}

I am going away this weekend for a little girl's retreat. There is no agenda. No responsibilities and nowhere to be at a certain time. Did I say there are no kids? There are no kids.

I am looking forward to good girl chill out time, walks on the beach, swimming, riding bicycles. All of this weather permitting...this is the Washington Coast in March after all.

My sister is the planner extraordinaire behind this weekend. One of her fun ideas was for all of us to bring a small gift representing a bit of who we are. 

Well of course I am only now getting around to this a few days before we leave. Not wanting to go out and spend a bundle, I thought about what I had around the house. 

Last year I ordered this big lot of wooden spools off of ebay I think. I was busy with my etsy shop and one of the popular items were my mini buntings on wooden spools. 

 

I was running low on spools and so pleased with this great deal I had gotten. Well, when they arrived they were teeny tiny. Not suitable for my purposes. So they sat. I sold a few at Farm Chicks but had plenty of leftover just waiting around to fulfill their purpose in some grand craftiness.

 So I was inspired by something the incredibly creative Ashley over at Under the Sycamore had once done. She created photo holders with spools but cut into the side of the spools so the photo would be sitting on the table. My thought was to cut into the top of the spool and wrap something cute around it. First I thought my mini buntings would be cute. Then I thought embroidery thread in rainbow colors. A friend suggested scrapbook paper. The possibilities are really endless. I wanted to stamp quotes onto them as well but they are just so tiny. So a word it was. I am missing some of my alphabet stamps so I was a bit limited as to what I could stamp.

They are teeny tiny. The photos I tried in them are wallet sized which I just like for the cuteness factor.

I'm going to package up three little spools for each girl and include some pretty photos from the Coast that I took while visiting last year. 

I think they would hold a larger photo or card on their own but two is always better than one now isn't it?

{happenings}

 

Yes, sometimes I have to remind myself of that. 

Don't we all? This might not be your version of being a good Mom and other days it wouldn't be mine either. But I never say yes to the car cart. And the car cart AND donuts on the same day? 

I think I made my kid's week.

It's been a bit quite around here. Last week being a bit lazy. I hustled my little bustle getting my house spiffed up to be part of Heather's Home Made Lovely tour last week. I was so thrilled to get to be a part of it and all of your nice comments left me feeling pretty darn good. So thank you for making my day many times over! All that said, I needed a little rest after all the flurry that stirred up. My house was happy to be so clean and pretty but now it is pretty much back to normal. You know how it is, three kids, a dog. A small house. Impossible to keep clean for more than an hour at a time. 

 

We have been doing some other fun stuff around here though. Non house related stuff. Stuff waaay more important than decorating and fluffing. This pretty girl had her birthday! I've had a post I've been working on with lots of photos of her from the last five years. I got so nostalgic looking through all the old photos on our computer that I wanted to put something fun together for her. Still working on that though and maybe it will just pop up here randomly some day. 

She is pretty special though. The one girl smack between the boys. She is the strawberry jam to their bread. The part that makes the sandwich really good. She just got a haircut too. I had been growing out her bangs for so long but we got them cut and she looks so cute. 

This little guy will be three in two short months. I have to say he is caught somewhere between being a baby and wanting really bad to grow up. So much of his chatter these days is about when he gets older or bigger. But on the other hand he loves to pretend he is my baby, sit in his baby chair, snuggle his newly rediscovered baby blanket and use baby spoons. 

Today as we were riding in the car he told me that he wanted to be a doggie when he grew up. His brother was going to be a Daddy but he was going to be a doggie. I explained to him that he was a boy and boys grew up to be Daddies that had doggies. 

Later on in the car ride he told me he was going to grow up and fly around with his wings. Hmm....

My favorite though have been his obsession with coffee. When I grow up I'm going to drink coffee and ride the horsie and spill my coffee! Or when I get bigger I'm going to drink coffee and ride in the booster seat and go to school. Bigger is relative. 

He ends so many of his sentences with do I? and is it? As in, that is scary, is it Mommy. Or I love candy, do I. All of these things that melt your heart right where you're standing but that you forget a half an hour later. 

He melts me hard. Every day.

The kids have been having so much fun with painting lately. Normally, it's just crayons and markers if they are lucky enough to find any of those that aren't dried out. I had an idea recently that they could paint some canvases that I wasn't using to hang in their bedrooms. It took me a long time to make good on this promise! They have been painting everyday since. The canvases are long gone. They don't care. They will paint on anything. We have just kept the paint out and they keep at it. I'll be able to hang an entire gallery wall of bright and cheery modern art soon!

This is by far the best thing that has happened around the house lately. While my parents were here a few weeks ago my Dad replaced our old solid door with this window filled door. This is something I'd been wanting to do for years but was just always on the back burner. With my parents coming we tried to think of a project my Dad could help with...as he likes to stay busy. I'm so happy with how it turned out. It is right off of our living room and leads up to our master bedroom. It makes that teeny tiny space feel so much bigger. You realize, why there is more to this house! The paint color ended up being free...a mix of my current kitchen blue and a turquoise I once painted the kitchen that was all wrong. And it was the exact shade I wanted. I love it when that happens. 

After we hung the door I realized I actually could hang artwork in the stairwell. Before it was a forgotten little spot that nobody ever saw. It was the place I would stash stuff before company came. My stairs were always booby trapped with piles of stuff. All of the artwork was stuff I already had, mostly of the vintage variety found at estate sales and thrift shops. It makes me so happy now and it is so pretty at night with the light shining through it. 

Next project: master bedroom. Really. I am motivated now that the stairs to them are cute. 

I always need some kind of project. Especially this Spring since I'm not focusing on Farm Chicks. 

So that's a little bit of what has been going on here. I'm gearing up to get away for a girl's weekend in a few days. I'm so excited and starting to think of what kind of projects I want to tuck away to work on while I have so much free time!