...sugar is sweet and so are you.

 

One of these days, you'll be grown, my sweet little one and you'll do whatever you want to do because you can. I hear ya. At two and a half, you know that deep in your soul. I know most two year olds think they know it, but you really do. Believe me, I'm behind you 100%. The day will come, as "they've" (You know if you are the "they" and if you are the they, you should keep the wisdom to a minimum. I say that with all the love.) told me, where "all too quickly" you really can "Do it ME SELF!!!" And you will and it's going to be the most beautiful thing in the world to watch. I can't wait to see what the Lord has for you, precious.

 

 

You're a spit fire and I don't worry about you a bit. You will always be ok. You can take care of yourself and you're confident in that. I pray, as your mother, I never squash that. God rolled so much fun and so much goodness into one tiny little being. I'm still learning how to harness all that spunk. Bear with me, sweet girl.

 

 

I had a defining mommy moment today. I think it was somewhere between fit one and five or that phone call to Daddy...I lost track ;)

 

 

Thank you for being my daughter. My very own daughter. I know you didn't pick me, nor I you, but thanks for sticking by me through the good and the bad. It was truly a match made in heaven.

 

 

 

I love you forever and always no matter what,
Mommy

 

 

Painter's block.

I've hit painter's block. It wasn't intentional, but I haven't painted or refinished something in about a month. There are still those dining chairs and window seat that are begging for a good recover. The fabric's here, so what's stopping me? I need to get on that. But this weather just makes me want to drown my house in pumpkins, sip on cider (hard or hot), slip on a cable knit sweater, and watch my babies play in the leaves. Maybe I should get on that instead. Yes, that sounds much better.

Isn't fall just the best? I love it. The colors make the season feel so magical.

Happy Monday!


via


kid's craft via

sister

The fabric

I am so excited! The fabric for our dining chairs and window seat arrived yesterday. It took me forever to decide on a fabric. There are just too many choices! I was going to do a print on our dining chairs and a solid on our window seat, with some accent pillows in the chair fabric. In our forever house, with our forever furniture, that would have made perfect sense. The honey suggested that I cover the dining chairs in something that could be easily sold :) He knows me.

 

 

So, I settled on a beautiful, heavy linen fabric. It's a light brown/gray and I love it. I think it's really going to freshen up our window seat. Especially when I add some throw pillows. I'm pretty sure I'll use blue...Maybe buffalo checks?...Something easy on the eyes. I may do two bolster pillows. The kids are always up there and they often crush the blinds with the bigger pillows.

 

When we first moved into our house, the window seat was covered in a dog hair-covered, badly faded rose-colored gingham. Under that was this awful, out of date Laura Ashley mistake. We quickly recovered it in a cheapo cotton fabric that we found in the sale section for like $5 or something. The kids, gingerly, call the window seat, "The fabric" and when I think about changing it, it makes me a little sad. A little. But I'm still changing it :)

 

 

"The fabric" is where our middle and youngest children were introduced to their siblings, so it's a special place.

 

 

It's where we took that beloved first family of five photo that we'll forever cherish.

 

 

I don't ever want to keep something just because I have a memory attached to it. Thank goodness for pictures, right? I want to keep it because we, as a family, love it and it works for us. Changing the fabric will be a little sad, but I'm excited to brighten up our dining room/school room with the linen. You can never go wrong with linen.  

 

Now where's that staple gun?...

 

Ages ago

 

This is one of my favorite pictures of my husband. This is the day he became a Dad. My heart swells up when I think about who I get to parent alongside. This man is probably one of the most patient people on earth. Our kids love him to pieces.

 

Do you ever have one of those moments when you realize that how blessed you really are? I had one of those this morning and I'm going to take it in today.

Ugh.

 

I may be smiling in this picture, but my body is saying otherwise.

I don't want to say this, because I.HATE.HIKING.

But...

I need to do more hiking.

 

Now, I'm going to go apply more heat to my aches.

 

 

(Love you, honey.)

Mamahood

Today is a weird feeling for me. As I sat at our dining table this morning, sipping my cup of coffee while two remote control cars jammed at my feet below, I saw all the little ones walking to school. It hit me differently than I thought it would. You see, today would have been my son's first day of kinder. Today I would have sent him off to school and life would have been different around here. Easier? Maybe. Quieter? Have you met my two youngest? But I would have gotten a solid 2-3 hour every day. Crap, is it too late to change my mind? Hold those doors! :)

A little over a year ago, my husband and I felt the Lord calling us to homeschool. I'm pretty sure when I say that to most people, it automatically puts me in the "weird" category. I know this :) I did that and still do that, to a degree. Old habits die hard. The call to homeschool was felt with great resistance, in the beginning. Homeschooling isn't a five day a week thing, it's a lifestyle and it was hard to imagine that being "us". I had to hear it in my soul for a while until I could verbalize it. I think I still need to hear it in my soul. I never pictured myself homeschooling. I didn't feel like I was equipped. I didn't own a denim skirt. Denim cut-offs? Yes. I didn't bun my long hair. But do I rock a top knot? Daily.
 
Last night as my husband and I were going to bed, he said, "Sometimes you're just dealt the cards and you have to make sense of the hand you're dealt." True dat. You don't really get to pick your life. As much as you want to believe that, it just isn't true. Of course we make decisions that effect our lives and do some of the picking, but sometimes things just happen and we have to go with it. Now I know better. Now I am knowing better.

Even though my baby isn't at school today, like yours may be. I still feel like our hearts are intertwined because we're mamas and there is nothing like a mama's love. 5 and a half years have truly been a blink. I'll be out running some errands today. If we see each other, let's hug. Being a mama is tough sometimes.