Ups & Downs

Item #1: Today's excitement peeked for me when the mail came. My Seed Savers Exchange catalog came! A plethora of Heirloom seeds. I was sucked in immediately, dreaming of edible landscaping, and spending the majority of my life surrounded in a garden full of everything I never even knew existed. I probably won't take much more action on the catalog than just studying this year. But wherever my garden lay this time next year, it better watch out!

Item #2: I lost it today. I acted younger than my two-year-old. I lost my patience and my temper got the best of me. My two sweet boys were having one of those extra-emotional days, and our Landlord was stopping by... I was a bit stressed. Oh, and I'm pregnant. I do have that. Good excuse. But I humiliated myself in front of my four-year-old. It turned out to be a power struggle between the two of us, but we worked it out. Then we baked oatmeal cookies.

Item #3: Although today had it's hard, hard times, there were definite high points. I love moments. I had some moments with by two boys, and I happened to have a camera handy. They were baby belly moments. Enjoy.

To start off the set, a belly photo, of course!

Kisses!

Comparisons :)

Feeling the love all the way around.

Being silly!

My sweet boys.

Still Thinking Lovely

Just because the day is over, doesn't mean we can't still be thinking about it! In the weeks leading up to Valentine's day, I started the search for a gift for Chad, my Valentine. I came across something that I thought was adorable, and it happened to be something that I thought I could make myself. The originals were made from old barn board, and while I still think that would have been ideal, I did find a nice piece of finished wood at none other than the RE-Store. For a grand total of $.50.

I did sucker Chad into putting in a little work on his own gift. He drilled two holes in the board where I had made chalk marks. After some combination of sanding, painting, wiping paint off, and more sanding, the next step was completed.

Now came time to carve. I mapped out what I wanted to do with chalk. Then, with pocket knife in hand, I went to work. The actual carving was easier than I expected, but definitely more time consuming.

 Oops! The grain of the wood made it hard to carve where I wanted to at times.

Finally, after a few final touches, the finished product!

So now, I leave you with this year's contribution from my momma. Another adorable vintage Valentine's Day card she found.

How cute is that? I hope everyone's Valentine's Day was filled with Love, and lot's of chocolate!

Orange

I'm feeling kind of crazy about the color orange lately. It all started with an orange tapestry Chad and I bought about a year ago. Then came the Chinese Lanterns, wall art made by a friend, and throw pillows. Now I have a million pieces of furniture that I want to repaint, resurface, redo in some way or another, and the first color that pops in my head every time is orange. I can't get it out of my head! Orange can be unexpected, sophisticated, fun, creative, bright. A pop of color. It can go so well with so many colors. An excerpt from a page dedicated to the meaning of the color put it like this:

"Orange is a power color. It is one of the healing colors. It is said to increase the craving for food. It also stimulates enthusiasm and creativity. Orange means vitality with endurance. People who like orange are usually thoughtful and sincere. Lady luck's color is orange. I have been told that if a change of any kind is need in life, just burn an orange candle for 7 nights." (Found here.)

Now I don't know how much of that I really believe, but simply put, with a shout out to a certain childhood friend, Orange Is A Good Color.

 
In preparation for baby #3, I have been in the market for a rocking chair. Preferably a glider, with padded arms (the wood ones really make my bony elbows ache), and an ottoman. Well, I found that chair today. Craigslist saves the day again. Only $20! Every other one I've found has been $60 on up. So excited! And of course, it is a beautiful blank canvas- white wood frame, tan colored fabric. Who wouldn't expect anything so drab, screaming for attention? So, what's my plan? Orange, of course! I'm not thinking of painting the frame orange, maybe a chocolate brown, or white; white and orange always make a fantastic pair. No, I'm thinking the fabric. There are so many ways to go with a fabric. The possibilities are endless. I can't wait to get my hands on this thing. I'm not ruling out that I may someday fall in love with another color- teal, yellow, red (again), or purple- and want to repaint and recover everything... again, but my home is an ever-changing color palette, and always will be. In the meantime though, here are some fun fabric ideas from a favorite website I frequent often. What do you think?

Won't ya?

In honor of our upcoming day of red and pink, I thought I'd kick the weekend off early. This is a photo of an old Valentine's post card my mom found and gave to me last year. I framed it and keep it up all year. :)

Mobile blogging

Trying out mobile blogging: A favorite snap shot from a recent excursion out in the much needed sunshine at Larrabee State Park.

2 of my 3 (almost 4!) favorite guys.

Often, I pray...

Lord,

I need patience when my anger takes over.

Help me be a good example of how to handle my feelings.

Make me the nurturing mother You created me to be.

Help me to be honest.

Make me wise.

Thank You for these boys.

Remind me what it was like to be a child.

Remind me of the innocense.

Remind me of the wonder.

Remind me that they are Yours,

and we are here to raise them for Your glory.

Thank You for their father to teach them how to be men of God.

 Help us to discipline them rightfully,

with the right heart.

Help me to love them unconditionally.

To let them grow, and become who You want them to be,

not for my glory, but for Yours.

Bless them in their lives as You have blessed me with their lives.

Thank You for these boys,

Amen.

Dirt and Grime

So, I'm attempting to jump right back into this blogging thing, full force. This time around will be different. This time around, I have a common theme (Ok, maybe a few in mind) that I'll be basing most of my posts on. It's a theme in my head; it's there, I just can't quite put my finger on it. Anyways, going for the plunge. One, two three...  go!

I'm feeling grimy lately. Feeling the need to fill my lungs with fresh air and cover the walls of my house with fresh paint. Of course, it is February. We are still in the midst of our wet, dark, Washington winter. And of course, being in my 3rd trimester of my 3rd pregnancy doesn't make me feel any less grimy. But spring is just around the corner and I'm feeling excited and inspired!

I'm feeling like this is the spring to learn new things. I know how crazy that sounds. Why would I want to add more to my already overflowing plate? Especially with a new baby on the way? Well, (Ok, I guess you can quote me on this, because I am putting it down in writing, but don't hold me to it just yet) I feel like I can handle it. I want to learn how to compost. We gave it a go last year, but without understanding really anything about this concept, we really just ended up with a big pile of old food scraps. I took the winter off, trying to direct my full attention to other things. But I'm feeling really good about our second go-around.

Our garden last year only produced a batch of- surprise!- volunteer cherry tomatoes (our 3 tomato plants died), and one carrot that we actually just unearthed last week after the whole summer, fall, and half the winter- it was still delicious! We all took a small nibble and I think it was just the thing the boys needed to get on board with my dream idea of "family gardening." All clad head-to-toe in our "backyard clothes" and rubber boots, we took advantage of a dry January day to prepare our first garden plot for planting. The boys were mostly having fun digging up worms and chopping them in half, but it was all about the time spent with each other, right?...and getting dirty, of course.

Ok, back to composting. Jackson is really starting to understand this whole idea of composting, and seems to be pretty interested. Casey seems to be pretty interested too, but I'm not really convinced; it might be just because his big brother is, maybe not! I think Chad thought I was joking when I told him that we need to find some children's gardening and composting books at the the library for the boys and us... it wasn't a joke. (Seriously, when it comes to things like this, use short sentences and small words when you are talking to me.) I want to understand it at it's simplest form. I want to learn how to fully reap the benefits of our own work. How to turn our scraps into something useful. How to be less wasteful. How to live off of the land, like I'm pretty sure God intended.

I feel like such a girly-girl when I talk this way. Honestly though, when you're starting from where I'm at, there's only going up from here. I just have to pace myself, and try not to load my plate too full. Baby steps for the baby gardener.