Window Frames

Ok, so we used to have a big ol' empty wall in our living room.  

In my last post, I showed you how we filled up the corner on the right with a large Rustic X Bookshelf.  Now, I'm going to show you what we quickly did to fill up the space on the left.

I had received this cute window pane frame for Christmas and had not hung it up anywhere yet.

I thought the colors of it would work well in our living room but it was too small to hang on that wall by itself.  So, for my birthday, my Mom gave me two more window pane picture frames to go with it.  (They're all from World Market and come in white too.)  Grouped together as a set of three, they covered the blank wall nicely.

My camera didn't like all the glares from the glass so my pictures aren't great.  When we hung them on the wall, I intentionally left some of the panes empty so that I'd have room to add new pictures.  Now I kinda like them being half empty so who knows if they'll ever be completely full of pictures.

Matt took the hanging hardware off of one of these windows and re-positioned it on the other end so that I could hang the two windows with the hinges on the outsides.  So technically, one is hanging upside down.

The storage ottomans got pushed to this wall during a baby shower for extra seating and I ended up liking them there so they haven't moved back to in front of the fireplace yet.

So here is the wall back in it's big, blank days.

And here it is now.  So much cozier with stuff on the walls.  :)

Am I the only person that, after finally hanging pictures on the walls, stands back and says, "Wow, why didn't I do that a long time ago??"  Tell me you do that too.

Rustic X Bookshelf

I considered titling this post "New Bookshelf" but since we completed it last January - as in, January 2015 - it probably can't really be considered new anymore.  That's how far behind I am on this update!  

It all started when we came home from our first Christmas with small children and had SO many new toys with no where to put them.  I was desperate for some kind of toy storage in our living room so we could keep some in there for them to play with.  Luckily, we had plenty of space to add some storage.  If you'll remember from this Living Room post, we pretty much had a big blank wall to play with.

I started thinking maybe a big bookcase of some kind with baskets for toys would A) fill up some empty wall space and B) solve the no-place-for-toys problem.  That fall, before Christmas, Matt had used some plans from Ana White's website to make us a new coffee table.

I have LOVED the Rustic X Coffee Table and was so excited to see that she also had plans for a matching Rustic X Bookshelf.  Perfect solution to our problem!  My sweet husband (and Dad) listened to my idea and graciously built the bookshelf for me in January.  We modified the original plans a bit to better fit our space and to perfectly match the coffee table.  They had the bones of the bookshelf complete in one afternoon.

They finished up the following day with the X's on the ends.  It's never fun trying to figure out those angled cuts!

Just like with the coffee table, my job was to stain it using this driftwood medium.  I love working with that wood finish because it goes on easily and dries quickly.  And no polyurethane is required with this look!  It does kinda stink though...

The veeeery last steps were to add the same L-brackets and hex bolts that we used on the coffee table to give it a little more detail.  I love how they just take the style up a notch.

The dirty truth:  the bookshelf was finished and put in place in our living room in January but it was months later before I put anything cute and decorative on it!  The baskets of toys were there immediately, though, so at least it was serving its purpose.  :)

I'm so glad that it fills up that big empty corner that we had before!  I love that it ties in with the coffee table and that it's light in color to keep that corner bright.  I added the McCarty plates on top of the bookshelf to keep it and the entertainment center from being a straight line at the same height.  I think I will continue to collect things - vases and plates? - to fill up the top of it.

The hubs and my dad did a really good job, didn't they??  One of the best things they did is add a 2X4 across the back right under the top shelf so that we could bolt it to the wall.  No toppling over on little people at our house!

I bought a few knickknacks and shopped my house to fill up the shelves.  Any of it could be changed at anytime.  I like having a space where I can work in new things that I buy or receive as gifts.   Here's the top shelf.

Second shelf...that silver ball is actually a lamp that adds a nice little glow to the corner in the evenings.

Third shelf.

And the bottom shelf with its aforementioned baskets full of toys.  It took forever to find the right size baskets.  I ended up finding them at Hobby Lobby but had to go to four different store locations to get them all.  And you can see one of them has already taken a little bit of a beating but it still holds toys so who cares?!

The baskets work great for the kids!  They both know how to pull them off to dig for toys and are both pretty good about putting the toys back in them when it's time to clean up.  Here are some pictures of them using them from last summer.  They look so little!

Tiny Thomas!  Please stop growing!

Man, am I glad to have finally written about this bookshelf!  Now I can stop thinking that every time I walk through the living room and see it.  I'll be back next with another tiny update on this same wall...

Three.

Three is mastering 25 piece puzzles.

Three is requesting popsicles for breakfast.

Three is blaming all spills or breaks on your brother.

Three is knowing that K is for Katie Wynn, T is for Thomas, and A is for Addi Clare - and being able to point these letters out on anything.

Three is wearing chapstick.

Three is putting your stuffed animals in your brother's crib so he has some babies to sleep with.

Three is wearing big girl panties.

Three is pushing a chair up to the fridge to get out your own snack, with or without permission.

Three is giving air high fives.

Three is counting to ten perfectly and to twenty imperfectly.  

Three is being a picky eater at dinner time.

Three is changing your little brother's diaper.

Three is asking to be read stories and rock to prolong bedtime, but then crashing hard and fast as soon as your head hits the pillow.

Three is being incredibly opinionated about the cup you drink out of.

Three is volunteering your brother to go first...for bath, teeth brushing, getting dressed, etc.

Three is doing it yourself - closing doors, turning on/off lights, scooting chairs, opening packages.

Three is touching every surface of every toilet seat everywhere.

Three is bossy.

Three is knowing the tag goes in the back...and then being confused when your panties have a tag in the side seam.

Three is drinking "gay-gade" (gatorade) like Daddy.

Three is doing forward rolls.

Three is picking your nose.

Three is being a cheerleader like your big sister.

Three is following a toot with "Scuse me, I stepped on a frog."

Three is a complete meltdown in the backseat of the car because Mama won't drive back to daycare so you can buckle yourself.

Three is loving to cut and paste paper.

Three is having an opinion about the clothes you wear.

Three is knowing all your shapes and colors.

Three is sharing with your brother...when you want to.

Three is losing your ever-loving mind when we're out of powdered donuts.

Three is braiding Mama's hair everyday.  

Three is ditching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for Little Einsteins.

Three is getting home from daycare and begging to change into "play clothes," as if that's not what you're already wearing.

Three is "reading" favorite stories to your little brother with 85% accuracy.

Three is pulling back your comforter and sheets to sleep under your throw blanket instead.

Three is being a good helper.

Three is crying through teeth-brushing.

Three is asking if God stopped working when the snow melts away.

Three is pulling out your ponytail and bow everyday.

Three is building a pillow fort on your bed for nap time.  

Three is tracing the letters of your name.

Three is big hugs and big kisses and a big heart.

This is Three.

December Phone Pics

Well, with all the Christmas photos taken out, all that's left for December Phone Pics is mostly pictures of my kids in Christmas clothes or new clothes they received for Christmas.  :)

Like these precious ones of Thomas in his JOY reindeer shirt.  He is so stinkin' cute sometimes!

Just click over on the right of that carousel of pictures for more to slide in.  I love that Lolli's kiss was perfectly time with the click of my camera.  :)

Now you know I took a picture of them pretty much every time they had on Christmas clothes, so here are a handful of my favorite ones.  Most of these were taken in the morning before school.

December was the month Katie Wynn started making pillow "houses" to sleep in for nap time.  As I type this, she's on her bed in another pillow house.  Naps take a little longer these day since we have to set everything up.  This one pictured is not very elaborate, but sometimes they are!

For Thomas, December was the month he started experimenting with makeup.  MY makeup.  Little stinker; it's nearly impossible for me to get ready when he's around because he steals all of my stuff.  Look how proud he is of himself for his eye shadow application!  

When he wasn't in my makeup, he was applying powdered donut "lipstick." 

He cleans up pretty well, though, even when he's drooling.

This year was our first time to attend our town's Christmas parade.  It was a really fun night, although the horn from one of the big trucks scared Thomas to death!

We also went with several friends to Snowy Nights at the Botanic Gardens for the first time ever.  Can you see the snow behind Matt and Katie Wynn?

It was really cold that night so we didn't last very long!

Our friends Sarah and Gus came over that night and Katie Wynn got to have her first friend sleepover!  But first, we had some hot chocolate with whipped topping - a first for Katie Wynn and she wasn't so sure about it.

We were excited to finally use the trundle under Katie Wynn's big girl bed.  As I pulled it out to get it ready for Gus, KW decided she would be sleeping on it too.  Doesn't this picture of them look like it should be on some marriage self help book titled something like Marital Sleep: What The Stuffed Animal You're Hugging Says About Your Relationship??

I had the covers of her bed pulled down too, fully expecting to have to put her up in it if they didn't settle down.  But, they both fell right to sleep!  When I checked on them later she had her arm draped over him.  Too sweet not to snap a picture!

With it being too cold to play outside after school, we had to get creative to keep them entertained until bedtime.  We did everything from running errands, riding around looking at Christmas lights, and trying to watch movies.  One night, we had a picnic in our living room!

I showed you in the October phone pics that one of Thomas's favorite hang out spots is in Lolli's kennel.  In December, Sister joined him in there.  She crawled in ahead of him one morning and asked if I'd close the door.  Then she said, and I quote, "Mama, can we stay in here for a little while?"  Yes ma'am, you can!  Stay as long as you'd like!  They can't call the child welfare office on us if they asked to be caged, right?

So we went about our day while they played in their new house and then let them out when they were ready...and whole minute and a half later...

We got to open presents from Matt's parents on the morning of Christmas Eve since they had brought them to our house earlier in the month.  It was nice to spread all the gifts out some so the kids could really see what they got from them.

Thomas got a new car!

Katie Wynn got a new easel with lots of paint, chalk, and marker supplies!

Thomas also got some new building blocks.  This cool wagon that they came in can pick them up when rolled over them.  I'm all about a toy that picks up after itself!

They both got new coats.  And also rainboots, though I don't have a picture of Thomas in his yet.

I think this picture was taken on Christmas night...Katie Wynn enjoys Thomas's new car too.  I love their teamwork.  

Katie Wynn got a new table top high chair from one of her buddies so Bitty Baby now has a permanent seat at the kids' table in our kitchen.

She also got some new finger paints so we've gotten to get creative several times.  The picture on the right is of the Christmas trees we painted together.  We went step by step...can you tell which one is mine and which one is hers?

We set up Katie Wynn's new washer and dryer set outside our laundry room so she can do laundry while I do.  Somehow most of my clean clothes end up going over to her set and, eventually, scattered all over the floor, so I'm not sure that her set is really helping keep clothes clean yet.

If you've been to our house before, you know we have a large set of stairs in our kitchen.  We've had a baby gate on them since Katie Wynn started crawling and at the time of installation, I was pretty sad about the eye sore but knew it was necessary.  It didn't take long before the gate just became another part of our house and I didn't even notice it anymore.  A few months ago, the kids figured out that they could get around the gate by squeezing through the last set of stair spindles that was just slightly wider than the others.  Took us by surprise the first time we saw them on the other side of the gate but it didn't take long for us to catch them in the action of getting back there.  The problem was that then they couldn't get out.  We'd open the gate to let them out but then they'd crawl right back through and get stuck again!  It was kinda like being at the zoo when they were behind bars...

Below, they were stalling for nap time so they squeezed through the spindles and said they were laying in their "beds" and that they were going to nap there.  And by "they" I mean Katie Wynn because she's the boss and tells Thomas what to do.

So that was a long story to tell you that when we took the gate down to haul the Christmas tree and decorations back up to the attic, we didn't put it back up.  What's the point when they could get past it?

The stairs are now their favorite place to play.  Matt put down some green tape on the fourth step and they know they're not supposed to go past it (though we have to remind them almost daily).  In the picture below, they've got all of the food from their pantry displayed in their "store."  The stairs have also been a dance stage and just today they were a bus that we all had to ride on (Daddy was the bus driver).  

Here are just a few last pictures of each of the kids to wrap things up.  My girl is getting to be way too grown up!

And Thomas...sleeping soundly like my sweet baby, wearing new clothes, and then dressed like he's headed off to college!

And here's the silly boy wearing his rosary beads and "hiding" in the pantry.

December was a fun but incredibly busy month.  I enjoyed celebrating the holidays with the kids and getting to see their faces light up, but if I'm being honest, I was really glad to return to a our regularly scheduled programming!  

Christmas Season

We used the term "Christmas season" this past December probably more than we ever have before.  All because of Katie Wynn.  It's hard to wear Christmas clothes and set out Christmas decorations and go to Christmas parties and understand that it's not really Christmas yet, you know?  So our answer to every "Is it Christmas today?" question was, "No, but it's Christmas season."  

I'm going to wrap all of our Christmas related photos up in this one post.  I did not do a good job of taking many pictures, and I definitely didn't take many good ones.  But even with that, you know I still have a few to get through.  :)

First things first - to kick off the Christmas season on Thanksgiving day (hey, we weren't gathering with family until that night), we put lights up on our house for the first time ever.  Who was more excited, me or Katie Wynn??  Tough call.  I was super pumped about it but so was she.  She referred to our colorful lights as a "rainbow" and absolutely loved getting to see it as we drove up to the house everyday.  This is a really poor quality photo of the rainbow and you can't even really tell the different colors, but it's the only one I took.

This year was also the inaugural year for our full family matching Christmas pajamas!  Y'all, I wish you could have seen Anna's excitement when I passed them out - she nearly flipped!  I was unaware that anyone would be more pumped than me about us all matching.  :)

I bought those last January during the after-season sale and had to guess what everyone's size would be a year later.  I'm so glad they all fit!  Yes, even Lolli got a pair of Christmas jammies.  

Another new this year happening was that we added a train track around the bottom of our tree.  This is a remote controlled train that Granddaddy bought for Anna and Wyatt years ago when they were little (thank you, Granddaddy!).  I am so glad we kept it and got it out this year because Katie Wynn and Thomas loved watching it go round and round!  And don't tell anyone, but Wyatt spent quite a bit of time laying under the tree playing with it too.  :)

It's amazing how still Thomas would be when it was running; he always wanted to sit in my lap to watch it.  One morning we even got to sit and watch it before 6 am!!  Thank goodness for it and powdered donuts to help us survive the early morning wake up call.

I'm sure you've seen this idea on Pinterest but it was new for us this year.  I cut a (wonky shaped) tree out of green felt and my mom used our embroidery machine to make colorful felt ornaments for it.  The kids were able to decorate it over and over! 

Maybe sometimes I played with it too...

We continued our tradition from last year of wrapping up 25 Christmas books to read each night after bath.  The kids got to take turns each night picking the package and opening up. 

Probably my favorite picture from this past Christmas season was taken very early on.  While Matt was putting Thomas in bed, Katie Wynn and I sat in the living room by our big tree.  I snapped this one of her in front of tree and love that you can see her holding her bunny behind her back.

And just for fun comparisons, here's a very similar one of her from two years ago, Christmas 2013.

Santa came to lunch after church one Sunday and poor Katie Wynn was scared out of her mind.  She was sitting across the table from me and when I said "Katie Wynn, look who's coming!" she could not get out of her seat and into my lap fast enough.  Her fear of the big man in red seemed to have rubbed off on Thomas this year.

I guess the crying-with-Santa pics are just another fun Christmas tradition we're keeping alive.  :)

Speaking of traditions, we decorated our reusable gingerbread house again.  Things got a little crazy with four kids doing it together but I think they all had fun - the big kids especially!

And for the second (or third?) year running, we had Friends Christmas with some of our close couple friends.  I didn't get my phone/camera out at all, but Allison sent me this picture she took and it's too cute not to post!

Ok, two last pictures before we get into Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  These are from the same lunch at church that Santa Claus attended but, thankfully for Katie Wynn, he was gone at this point.  These are two of her best buddies, Addi Clare and Levi.  They all three go to school and church together and we all live in the same neighborhood so they play together a lot.  I hope they remain friends for a long time!

We always attend the evening Christmas Eve service at our church before dinner and it always ends with lighting candles while we sing Silent Night.  Thomas usually stays in the nursery during church but since it wasn't open for this special service, our pew was pretty active.  Matt carried him out of the sanctuary for being too vocal before we made it to Silent Night.  I held both his and my lit candles and sang.  As we all stood, I noticed that Katie Wynn was still sitting next to my grandmother and I thought it was too sweet not to take a picture of.  I carefully maneuvered my phone out of my purse while holding both lit candles in one hand.  They were in the pew in front of mine (we had lots of family members there so we were spread out) so I leaned forward to take this sweet picture of her.  

Right as the camera clicked, I heard this wooshing noise and realized my hair was on fire!  When I had leaned forward to take the picture, I dangled my hair right over the two candles I was holding in my left hand and, thanks to the hairspray accelerator in it, it caught the flame super fast!  Thank goodness I was able to bat it with my hand (without dropping the lit candles!) and get it out as quickly as it lit up.  Our sweet friends sitting next to me made sure I was ok before erupting into laughter.  And of course my Dad and brother semi-witnessed it (they turned around as I batted it out) and will probably never let me live it down.  And to top it off, the burnt hair stench was so awful and so strong that everyone in a three pew radius could smell it.  

Needless to say, before eating dinner my mom and I spent a few minutes in the bathroom trimming out my singed ends and trying to blend in my new face-framing layers.

Dinner was awesome.  Matt cooked a beef tenderloin in a salt dough crust again and it was so delicious.  I think Christmas Eve dinner may be my favorite thing ever because not only is the food so good, but Mom sets the tables and we actually all try to sit down and eat at the same time.  That doesn't happen very often anymore with our growing family!

After dinner, I usually attempt to get some Christmas pictures of the kids while the kitchen is getting cleaned up.  I figure it's my contribution by keeping the kids out of Mom's way and preoccupied until time to open presents.

Our attempts at 7 kids in one picture were a bit of a bust!

But props helped a little bit.

We read the Bible and sang some Christmas songs and goofed around until the kids just couldn't take it anymore.  Then we let them open presents!  My camera's battery was dying so I put it away to save what little juice was left for morning pictures after Santa came.  It was nice to just enjoy the chaos of gift opening without trying to capture all the moments with the camera.  Thomas was funny - he watched the big kids pass out gifts and then, wanting to get in the action himself, every gift that was given to him to open, he delivered it to someone else instead.  Silly boy!

This was our first year to get ready for Santa Claus!  We went outside in the 70 degree weather (notice their bare feet) to sprinkle out reindeer food and then we raided Mimi's pantry for some cookies for Santa.  Katie Wynn had it in her head that he wanted carrots too; thank goodness Mimi had some shredded ones in her fridge that we could use.

The scared look on Katie Wynn's face in the above picture on the right is because I was trying to get her to stand next to Santa's plate of food but I'd made the mistake of telling her that was the fireplace (right behind her) that he would come down.  I think she was terrified that he was going to jump out and get her!  The next morning, I had to promise her that he was already gone before she would go downstairs.

Also for the first time ever (I'm noticing from this post that we had lots of firsts this year!), we let Katie Wynn and Thomas sleep together on my Mom's futon.  It just made the best sense with our sleeping arrangements that we thought we'd give it a try.  They did a lot better than we expected!  They are both cuddle bugs so they snuggled up together and snoozed away!  (Matt did end up in there with them midway through the night, but I think he kinda liked it...)

Santa came!  I did not take a picture of everything laid out before the kids came down.  We try not to go overboard in general with gifts, but especially with Santa stuff.  Thomas woke up to find a cool car track and some other small toys.  Both kids received capes like he's wearing in the pic below.

Katie Wynn found herself a stacked washer and dryer and a doctor's kit!

The biggest hit for her, though, was the Winnie the Pooh bear that she asked for last minute!  Thomas was just glad to find yogurt melts in his stocking.  :)

As soon is everyone is awake on Christmas Day and has had a chance to see what Santa brought, we head over to my oldest brother's house for breakfast.  There is a strict rule of no getting fixed up and wearing your pj's is required.  Beth always has a delicious spread of food for us to enjoy!

Seven grandkids on one couch, this time in age order.  I like the two pacified babies just checking each other out.

Me and my monogrammed family!

After breakfast we went home to unpack all of our new toys and goodies.  Our next family gathering wasn't until 2 in the afternoon so we had some time to really check out what all the kids received.  I love this picture of Thomas playing with his new construction trucks and workers.

I only have one picture to show for our gathering with my Dad's side of the family later in the day.  I was too busy playing Dirty Santa to take any more.

That concludes my pictures from Christmas Day, but remember, this post is about the Christmas Season so there's more to cover.  :)

A week later, on New Year's Eve, we arrived in Indiana at Matt's parents' house.  Unfortunately I showed up with the worst cold ever and can't remember much of the first 24 hours we were there.  I know Matt's sister and her family came over for the day and we celebrated Christmas with them.  But, I have no pictures to show for it!  I only have these from later that night of the kids in their new jammies.

On January 2nd, Matt and I loaded up the kids and we went to visit Granddaddy at his retirement community.  We went that morning and ended up joining him for lunch; we all had such a great time seeing him!

The kids thought his walker was pretty cool.  

It was so fun eating lunch with Granddaddy.  Katie Wynn and Thomas were quite the hit with all the ladies there.  

I think the highlight of Katie Wynn's day was when Granddaddy treated her to orange ice cream - and we all know that's her favorite color!  Both kids also enjoyed running up and down the halls of his building.  

We had to drag Katie Wynn to the car when it was time to go.  I think she would be ok moving in there for a little while!

Our trip to Indiana was short and sweet and I hate that I brought a cold with me.  I hate even more that I left it behind with Matt's parents.  We made it home and returned to our regular schedules and said goodbye to the Christmas season.  We did leave our rainbow lights outside for a little longer than our neighbors probably liked, but as of last weekend, they're down and put away and all signs of Christmas decorations are gone.  

Katie Wynn has already told me that TWO elves are coming to her house next year.  We have not done Elf on the Shelf yet but she had one in her classroom at school this year so she learned all about them.  Looks like we have that fun to look forward to!