Nesting Ninja Powers

By the end of spring, I was ready to set fire to my house. I really love old homes, but I was so tired of our endless list of pending projects. And the musty smell. And my textured walls, etc.

I decided it was probably time to get to work since I was starting to burst into tears every time I walked into the kitchen. And luckily for me, I was entering the NINJA phase of my pregnancy when nesting instincts come alive! Here's what we managed to accomplish in the past few months:

After years of having a huge patch of drywall mud on our living room wall that I had hidden with frames (it had covered water damage, we didn't have the matching paint, excuse, excuse, excuse), we hired a cheap crew to come in and smooth out our walls and repaint the front room. It isn't perfect because that texture was tough to smooth out, but it is SO much better.

 Long story behind this picture, but I'll cut to the chase: I can be a pill. The date for our crew to come in and smooth out our walls had been delayed twice. TWICE. I was going insane. I finally let the kids paint wherever they wanted in that room to give my husband a subtle kick in the behind to get this project moving. He responded with a kind but brutally honest email that I should be patient and chill out. He sent this email right before leaving for an evening church meeting, leaving me alone at bedtime with all the kids. That's when I broke out the non-washable paint, and added some quotes from his email to our walls. Just to let him know that his words had really sunk in.

I know, I know.

 There's the drywall patch. Outlined with sarcasm. When David came home that night, I thought he'd be mad. Instead, he thought it was funny. He thought it was even funnier that I had almost cut off my thumb as I angrily pried open the black acrylic paint with a butter knife. But he did say that if I had done this earlier, he would have invited all of our friends over for dinner.

Luckily the crew did show up just a few days later and in between their work, we decided to chip away at the fireplace. We are so happy we took the risk! The brick underneath is beautiful.

 Before...

 With walls smoothed and painted in BM's Linen White.
 

And after!

It's not quite finished yet, but to me it feels like a new room. I'm so grateful for those smooth walls.

We also traded in our fabric sofa and loveseat for a leather couch. 

We'll see how well it wears with our little ones. I'm thrilled that it's wipe-able!

Next I attacked my office space, which is just off the kitchen. It had become a catch-all for our mail and papers and junk, and I knew if I fixed it up, I would WANT to be more organized and pay our bills on time (right?).

 I forgot to take a before picture of this space. The chair was all white with silver legs and the fabric in the desk was a rusty red fabric with flowers. And there was nothing on the walls.

 I hung pictures of my kids' art and family pics and spray painted a magnet board and clip board I've had forever. I spray painted black and white stripes on my office chair and gutted my desk. Yes, yes, and yes.

 I love my DIY Les Touches peg board. Inspiration from Little Green Notebook HERE.

 

I love how much this chair stands out now! Taping it was a BEAST of a project, but after that it was easy. Inspiration from LGN of course.  Check out here tutorial HERE.

 

I fell in love with this fabric from L&S Fabrics. It almost has a marbled look with those bright colors.

And it doesn't end there folks. I talked my mother into coming to help, and she is equal to at least three of me. She gets things done. During the 2 1/2 days she was here, we painted my side entry hallway and three walls in my dining room. And then we wall-papered the fourth wall.
This was a first for both of us.

This time I did get a before shot! Belly and all.

 Halfway done, sometime around midnight, with my beautiful mother.
I bought the removable wall paper from Anthropologie that is literally like one giant sticker. It went on beautifully, but you have to be careful because it stretches easily and then the pattern is off. We had to peel it off and restart quite a few times. It took a lot of pep talks and chocolate to get us through the entire experience.

 I painted an old console that we've been using as our art cabinet in the dining room a bright cherry red. The color is actually called Safety Red from Home Depot, a favorite of Jenny's over at LGN.

 Before I painted it, I added some trim pieces on the front and sides to dress it up a bit.

(My first time using a miter box.)

 I added some brass pulls and voila!

 

 I had this lovely mirror that came with the girls' antique bedroom furniture, but we weren't using it. I spray painted it gold and hung it above the art cabinet.

 

 I still need to hunt down some curtains and decor (I'm thinking peacock blue Chinese vases?).  

I really want to recover my dining room chairs with a turquoise leather, but it's PRICEY.

And then the guest bathroom! I just decided last week to go ahead and use all of my leftover wall paper in this room and paint the linoleum floors.  Did I mention my pregnant ninja powers? They get stronger as I get further along...

 Here's the before. The wainescoting needed a good scrubbing and new paint. The walls were an olive green as was the antique mirror I hung in here long ago...Bleh.

 The mirror got a coat of Benjamin Moore's Galapagos Turquoise, which is a deep greenish blue (peacock blue) that I really love.

I literally used every last inch of my wall paper, so there are lots of imperfections and one tiny corner above that door that needs some improvisation (off-white paint and a gold paint pen is my plan), but it looks so much brighter in this little bathroom! There's something about those gold peonies that feels so fancy when you walk in.

 I was curious to see how painting over linoleum worked out, and so far it's holding up well. I found some tutorials on Pinterest if you're wanting more details, but the most important part was the sanding and de-glossing, both of which my stud of a husband did for me. Then I rolled on two coats of primer and two coats of Glidden's porch and floor paint in another Benjamin Moore color that is a beautiful dark moody gray.

    I should seal the floors, but I believe this is officially my last project and I'm DONE. We're planning on painting the linoleum in the kitchen as well, so I figure I can seal both floors when that time comes.

I've been wanting to sew a sink skirt for this old sink for so so long, but I tend to avoid anything that involves my sewing machine. I finally grit my teeth and went for it, using this burlap which is a breeze to work with. I think it turned out okay and I'm way too proud of that ruffle at the bottom. I simply hot-glued this baby right onto the sink! We'll see how well it holds.

We still need some more decor in here, but all in good time.

I'm grateful for our home, even if it still gets a musty old-house smell and the oven timer goes off randomly in the middle of the night. It's feeling a little too small for our growing family, but I love that my kids share their rooms and I can hear everything on both floors. Our old stairs creak loudly, but those creaks would easily wake me up if we ever had an intruder in the middle of the night and there's certain spots I can step on that are silent when babies are sleeping. I love how my kitchen window looks out on our back yard so I can watch the kids play in the yard. You have to body slam our front door to lock it, which means that our kids can't open it and go near the street on their own. Every now and then, a breeze comes in through our fireplace, bringing in the scent of firewood and wintery goodness. I have painted nearly every room in the house myself (pregnant every time), which means it's more mine than any other house I've lived in.

I know now that whenever I want to set fire to something, it is simply time to roll up my sleeves and pull out the paint. (No butter knives next time). I am sad to know that this is the last time I will be able to tap into my nesting ninja powers, but I'd say it was a great last hurrah.

Come any time now baby #5!

Top Ten Halloween Books

I really love children's literature. I'm slowly compiling a little library of my favorites thanks to the Weber County Library sale every August, but I thought I'd share my top choices for this time of year:

 I love this book. And if you search, you can find so many fun crafts and activities that go along with it. My kids love reciting it with me and we've read it over and over again. 

This is a cute book about finding your place. 

I just love that last line, "Oh my Gosh, I'm a Squash!"

This is probably my number one. Maybe it's because I have two daughters who are a bit like this. Angela copies her sister's costume every year, until finally one year she gets creative and comes up with something all on her own. The ending is awesome, with an act of sisterly love. 

Read it, you'll love it. (Name that movie.)

This book builds a monster face page by page and then it all goes away slowly as you tell it to "go away" piece by piece. This is another one my daughter wanted to read over and over again.

 

 

This one is entertaining. Some pages have things that are hard enough to keep my six year old searching, but most are easy enough for my four year old as well.

I love a good book about witches and this one has a nice moral. This little witch has two older sisters who know everything and tell her that she has no powers. So she goes out and figures out what makes her a unique and powerful witch. It's a good one.

These books are adorable. I love the illustrations and the names of each bug they come up with. Always a fun read. This is one that you'll want to read with your kids and not leave alone with them.  Those bugs are fragile.

 Haven't we all learned life's most important lessons from the Berenstein Bears?

This one is no exception. Remember it from my childhood.

  

Here's one that's new to me and I've never read the ending. It kept popping up when I was searching out my favorite books on Amazon and has great reviews. Anyone read it?

I'm going to find it at our library and try it out. Love those witches.

And your Halloween favorites? Please do share.

Spooky Lanterns and our Favorite Halloween Traditions

Halloween is just around the corner! We've been getting into the spirit of things with some of our favorite Halloween traditions...

The Spooky House 

For some reason, gingerbread houses intimidate me and I've never tried making one with my kids. But a spooky house made out of graham crackers and black frosting with candy corns and marshmallow ghosts? Bring it on.

 My husband is in charge of construction. The rest of us decorate and sneak candy.

Pumpkin Faces

I originally posted this activity a few years back here with a few other toddler games for Halloween. I pulled out our felt pumpkin with the various shapes for facial features this year and it kept my two year old busy for a little while. It's a great way to review shapes.

Pom-pom Drop

 This was a big hit last year.  I put pom-poms inside of a mini plastic pumpkin and showed my toddler how to place them inside the paper towel holder that I taped to the edge of a small table.

 

Then the pom-poms fall inside of the bigger plastic pumpkin and they get can start all over once the mini pumpkin is empty! I thought it was fool-proof...

 

 

But boys are different. Edison did enjoy this activity for a few minutes until he noticed me watching and decided to throw all of the pom-poms onto the floor. THEN, he ran over to our art cabinet, found the big box of pom-poms and started to empty it as fast as he could before I could run over with my big 8 month pregnant belly and stop him. Fail.

But try it. Maybe just with girls.

Spooky Lanterns

This was a new activity for us this year and it's a keeper. We're studying the letter L this week, so I wanted to make some spooky Lanterns.  

 We started by decorating our paper with some spooky designs.

 

Then we folded it in half lengthwise and I marked where I wanted my four year old to cut lines, from the fold to about an inch from the edge of the paper.

 

 

 Pull the ends of your paper together and secure with tape.

 We added a handle at the top by cutting a strip of paper and taping it to the inside of the lantern. Then we added Halloween stickers to the outside just to make them spookier.

 We plan to light them at night with our battery-powered tea lights.

 You can make the lanterns tall and skinny or short and "plump" by trimming off some of the paper along the long or short side of the sheet.

Once my oldest daughter came home from school, we got really creative and made a ghost, a vampire bat, and a witch (not pictured because she was immediately hung from my daughter's ceiling).

 I came across a book about Chinese lanterns at the library called Lin Yi's Lantern.

 

I think the book has a good moral and is a good one if you want to learn a bit more about the Chinese Moon Festival. But just FYI, it has nothing to do with Halloween and does not hold the attention of 4 and under. 

I will, however, be posting about my top ten Halloween books over the weekend. 

Have fun getting ready for Halloween!

P.S. Aren't my kids cute??

What is the bravest thing you've ever done?

Every year I challenge myself to enter Real Simple Magazine's Life Lessons Essay contest. I think the past winners have produced great writing and it's a contest worth entering. Plus, I love the topics. This years was, "What is the bravest thing you've ever done?"

 

source 

It was 1994 and I was twelve years old. I was standing in a long line of adults whose shoulders were shining with chlorine water, heads tilted up toward the top of a water slide whose height I did not yet understand. It cast a giant shadow onto the warm concrete where I had been standing for at least thirty minutes.  I squinted into the sun, watching one person after another step to the edge, sit down shakily on the slick blue seat, cross their arms over their chest and lean back slowly, as if lowering themselves into a grave. They disappeared so fast it was only seconds later that they emerged out of the shallow pool at the bottom, adjusting their bathing suits and offering a tenuous thumbs-up to their tiny compadres, seventy feet above.

Soon I was on the stairs, with only a few people ahead of me. I kept my eyes focused on the water pouring over the edge of the slide, knowing that within minutes this would all be over. At last it was my turn. I sat down, ignoring the enervated lifeguard who recited the instructions insipidly. I knew exactly what to do. Cross your arms across your chest, cross your feet, and slowly lean back allowing the water to rush over you until it steadily carries you over that shocking edge…

Halfway down, as my body shook with speed and my striped suit barely touched the back of the slide, I thought to myself, “What have I done?” It was worse than I thought; deafening, forceful, and relentlessly fast. Then it ended with a liberating splash and a wedgie worth writing home about.

Up to that point in my life, lowering myself over the edge of that slide was by far the gutsiest thing I’d ever done. I was quiet, studious, and still slept with a Care Bear in my bed. But I was certain of one thing: I was destined for great things.

Late one school night when I was thirteen, I sat on the lid of my toilet seat with a flashlight, hunched over my beloved journal. I wrote down three things I promised to never forget:

1.     I will make good choices.

2.     If I make a mistake, I’ll fix it.

3.     If an extraordinary opportunity presents itself, I’ll take it. No regrets.

I closed my journal and tiptoed quietly back to bed.

I didn’t forget my three promises, even a decade later when I was a full-time mother of four small children. I sought out those “extraordinary opportunities” in between pregnancies, nursing newborns, nap schedules, and the day-to-day tasks that kept us all afloat. After my second daughter was born, I ran my first marathon, training through the winter in Utah, hiring babysitters and running late at night on the high school track, clutching a bottle of mace in my half-numb fingers. When I was expecting my third daughter, I studied HypnoBirthing and decided to have her naturally.  I’m certain I earned a badge of some kind on that long, life-changing night.

If there was one thing that I wanted to excel in at this point in my life, it was motherhood. But despite my priorities, I started to feel that I was less than I had planned to be. Loneliness had crept into my daily routine, even though I never really was in fact, alone. I had a degree from a reputable college, skills in editing and writing, and I looked fantastic in a pencil skirt and heels. Yet most days I was alone with four little ones in stretch pants with sucker stains and bangs that I learned to trim myself. Most of my conversations revolved around my children’s sleep habits, potty mishaps, and our Letter of the Week. By five o’clock, I couldn’t stand another person touching me, poking me, or needing my attention in any way. I craved a purpose outside of motherhood, certain that there was something else waiting for me.

Several times, I grabbed the keys and told my husband that I had to leave. I’d eat dinner by myself at a restaurant, spend money on inessential things that made me feel happy for a second, or simply park the car and cry. I was becoming lost inside the walls of my own home.  I took baths after bedtime, staring at my unpainted toenails, feeling invisible.

I remembered a conversation between my husband and I six years prior, before we had children. We were eating dinner in our basement apartment, whose seven foot ceilings made you stoop unconsciously, when he looked up at me and said, “You know you never have to work again, if you don’t want to.” I was wrapping up my last semester of my undergrad, preparing a few articles for publication and my husband was starting a small business. Life had momentum. I stood up with my plate and kissed his cheek on the way to the kitchen, smiling.

A few months later, I was enrolling for an internship with a publishing company. During our meeting, I told my interviewer, a woman just a few years older than me, about my education, my qualifications, and the fact that I’d be having a baby just a few months after the internship started.  I didn’t get the job.

Now, as the rock bottom days roll in like an inescapable tide, I feel much the same as I did falling down that slide years ago. It wasn’t until halfway down that I realized I might have just made the hardest decision of my life.

The other night I found a note on my pillow from my six-year old daughter. It was written on light blue paper that had been folded several times. The front said, “Love Mom” underlined in hearts and stars. On the inside was a picture of one hand offering a heart to another hand. Her note reminded me of my place in this world. I recall holding onto my daughter’s hand when she was a newborn, her fragile fingers wrapped around just one of mine as she slept. Then a few years later those same fingers clutched a pencil, tracing over my letters, my hand guiding hers slowly until she could do it on her own. Those hands now slip into mine when we cross the street, offering three squeezes for an “I love you.” They spread proudly with my wedding ring on just the right finger, assuring me that it looks better on her hand than mine. They reach gracefully over the strings of her tiny violin and rest so peacefully next to her face as she sleeps.

When I feel that I’m standing in that endless line again, dripping with uncertainty and the expectation that in just a few minutes, this will all be over, I try to remember my daughter’s advice to “love Mom.” I see more meaning in my meals, my hugs, the activities I plan and the stories I read. I soak in the amusement in my son’s eyes as he drives his car over my head and face and makes boyish car noises. I count each diaper in the pile next to the door as an act of service rendered by me. Every suppressed swear word is an offering, a calm voice in place of yelling something to be celebrated. I aim to be loveable, not perfect.

When I chose to become a mother, and to stay at home with my children, I had no idea what that would actually require of me. I knew that there would be long nights, but I didn’t comprehend the agony of having an early riser who demands Cheerios at 6 am. I knew there would be potty training, but I didn’t think that so many pairs of underwear would simply be thrown away because they were just so bad. I knew it would get messy, but I never imagined that a diaper could become an artist’s palette or that oatmeal would be considered a hair conditioner. I knew I would make mistakes, but I had no idea that guilt would be a near constant companion and that children are the quickest to forgive, and forget. I knew that I would share my body for a time with my babies, but I didn’t expect that I would also hand over a part of myself, that motherhood would be an exchange of hearts where you get more than you give, in the end. These are things I didn’t understand until I was here, halfway down the slide, feeling both terrified and grateful that I was brave enough to step up to the edge and let myself fall.

Hello Fall

Well, hello blog.

I am still alive and well and pregnant.  I took the summer off from blogging as we became busier and busier with camping trips, a visit to Lake Powell, and a road trip to the incredible Yellowstone National Park. We had a great summer.

 

These two pictures make me laugh. 1) Charlotte is eating in both pictures. 2) We thought having all three girls in the back would be awesome until we realized that Eloise (age 2) likes to put her foot on Charlotte's lap and leave it there until both of them are screaming. 

We had to make some adjustments.

I never could have imagined the situations we have found ourselves in as parents on road trips and the things we have found ourselves saying over and over again:

"If you quit sucking on the twistable crayons, your cheek won't get stuck inside of them!" (As my husband carefully pries the plastic crayon off of the inside of our six year old's cheek, while she screams in pain. Has this happened repeatedly to anyone else??)

"Watch the movie. Stop talking to mom and dad and just watch the movie!"

"Mom, I just threw up, but I caught it in my hands. Now what do I do?" (True story.)

"Keep your hands in your own carseat."

"Stop smiling at your sister."

"Where is the d#%* binky? Do you have it? I thought I just gave it to him. He threw it. Pull over."

Here's some pics of Lake Powell.

 

I spy a baby bump.

 I love this picture of my brother jumping off the house boat.

And Yellowstone!
Lots of driving, lots of walking...

 "Look mom! I have a baby in my belly like you!"

 Yes, I did all 328 steps there and back with my heavy belly. But it didn't seem as bad when I saw my husband in front of me, carrying our 18 month old AND our two year old.

 In between our travels, we signed up for swim lessons, started a pretend summer school where my name was Mrs. Clover, and I tried really hard to convince my husband that our house is too small and too old and it's time to move.

But moving wasn't in the stars for us, so instead of continuing to burst into tears every time I walked into my kitchen and reach for the chocolate chips in the fridge, I decided to get to work. (Three cheers for the nesting phase!) I have since re-vamped my office space, painted and wall-papered our dining room, and completely re-decorated our living room. Change is good! And possible on a limited budget. Check back soon for LOTS of before and afters!

We have resumed our letter of the week activities, so I have a lot to share. So good to be back. Hope your fall is going smoothly and that you're enjoying the good weather before it gets COLD. I am now 34 weeks pregnant, so we are just weeks away from baby #5...