House Tour- Jordy's *NEW* Room

I'm not really sure if I consider it done or not, because there's one huge blank wall that's bothering me. But here's what I've got until inspiration strikes...


The big girl bed is both depressing AND ineffective

 

no idea what do to on this wall! (ideas are welcome!)

 

 

I do love the colors, though!

 

 

I'm no crazy about these, either. I needed something up high, but I'm not in love with them.

Jordy goes through phases of what is her favorite baby to sleep with. It was Minnie Mouse for a long time, then Dora, then a baby doll and princess. Now it's a giant turtle....

garage sale find!

perfect way to describe my mean baby

little mama

Let me know if you have any ideas!

 -Dana

A Letter To 16 Year Old Me

I recently saw a blog post on pinterest (that I won't link up to, because I didn't like the message of the blog) but it mentioned a trend of writing a letter to your sixteen year old self.  As I thought over what I would say if I were to write one, I was struck by how great my life had turned out and all that I have to be thankful for.  That made me want to share it. So, here's my letter.



how I was hoping my life would turn out

Dear Dana,

    First of all, STOP THINKING ABOUT BOYS SO MUCH.  You will meet one, he will be wonderful.  He will not come from your hometown. You will be grateful for this. Just relax and enjoy your life.  This is right around the time that we really found our true friends, the ones we stick with.  Have fun with them, don't argue about guys or clothes or anything like that.  Just be grateful that we found the ones that will always have our backs, and keep making a lot of memories.  And when you get to college, pay attention. Take it seriously. Please.

enjoy this

   Growing up is hard sometimes, and all those insecurities that we obsess over haven't gone away.   Sometimes I still feel like an invisible girl to 95% of the population. I still worry that I'm not very pretty and that I'm not very important to the people that are important to me.  Thirteen years later, and a lot of the time I feel very much the same as I did then. The good news is that I've learned to see it with perspective and to understand that sometimes, I'm just wrong.  Maybe in another thirteen years we'll have mastered that.  Maybe it will be something that we always struggle with.  But I can understand now that everyone has their issues they struggle with, even if we don't see them.  And the
people who are most important to us, really do love us. Through and through.

   The best part is that there are four
people that our whole world will revolve around, and you haven't even dreamt of their existence yet!  In all our teen-idol worshipping and ex-boyfriend obsessing, we never dreamt up someone who would be as perfect for us as Clayton is.  He is laid-back and easy-going, totally devoted to our family, and (one of the most important things) he makes us laugh. A lot. Staying up late talking and laughing with him is better than you could ever imagine love being.  Just be patient, and go to college. He'll be there pretty quickly after that.  And the other three people? Well, I know that you love kids in the abstract form, but it hasn't prepared you for the love that you'll feel for the three little ones that are currently snuggled into their beds. They are the greatest things we've ever done, and we spend our days trying to be a good mom and our nights worried that we're not one.  But they are fantastic kids and we are so lucky to have the opportunity to raise them.



more of this, please.

  On that note, go hug your mom and dad.  Seriously.  I know you're all angst-y right now, but you don't begin to understand how much they love you.  And how much you love them.  I've seen a lot of parents over the years that have made me realize how much of a brat I am, and how fabulous they are.  Stop making their lives difficult!  Take notes, because this parenting thing is hard, and they nailed it.  And as for our siblings, hug them, too.  I know things are fine with them most of the time, but make it better than fine.  Make their childhood special.  They are our best friends now, and we won't have as much time with one of them as we assumed we would.  Go and hug her and kiss her and tell her how great she is and how we'll always love her.  Then do it again. Do it everyday you can. It's the only thing I'd really change if I could.
. 
-Dana   


how it actually turned out (I'm resigned to that fact...)

P.S. Give up the Lance thing. Trust me on this.  

Because being a parent is hard enough

I've been noticing a trend lately. Maybe it's not a new trend, I've just really noticed lately.  I feel like there's a whole lot of judgment on everything a parent does or everyway a child acts. Everyone has an opinion for how much tv a child should be allowed to watch and what they should eat and everything else that moms have to contend with everyday. 

We have a lot to deal with when we run a home.  Between work, studying for spelling tests, making dinner, cleaning the house, doing laundry, and everything else it takes to just make it through one day, our lives are hard enough.  And we need all the support we can get.  That support should come from each other. 

Want to know the truth? Sometimes my kids watch tv. For hours maybe.  Sometimes it's an few animal shows we watch as a family, sometimes it's cartoons when they wake up at the crack of dawn on Saturday mornings. I think that's ok.  If you don't, then by all means, have different rules in your family. We need to let go of the idea that doing things differently equals thinking everyone else does it wrong. We think the way we do it is best, (which makes sense, that's why we do it that way) and assume anyone who doesn't is judging our parenting skills. So sometimes we lash out. 

I think we need to reverse this! Let's turn it around!! Other moms should be our first defenders, not our first critics.  Let's give each other the benefit of the doubt.  No one knows what it's like in anyone else's home.  That kid that you think shouldn't have a pacifier at her age? You have no idea if the last six months of her life have been unsettled and difficult.  The one who throws himself in the floor of the grocery store may be autistic and having trouble dealing with all the stimuli around him.  The mom sitting on the park bench playing on her phone while her kids run just may be doing it all alone and need a few minutes break to keep her sanity.  We don't know. What we do know is how hard it is.  We all know the feeling of having no idea how to handle a situation.  We know how it feels to yell and then feel awful. We know how it feels to be overwhelmed by something that seems like no big deal to other people.  We know how tired we are at the end of some nights, when we are still folding laundry and checking homework with dishes in the sink long after everyone else is in bed.  We also know what it feels like to love these little humans with our whole heart, and to worry that the world is not being fair or kind to them.

So here's my new motto: I have your back.  All of you.  You won't see any judgmental posts on facebook from me. I will not roll my eyes when I see a child having a meltdown in a restaurant.  I will always assume that other moms are doing their best, just like I want everyone to think about me.  We all make mistakes, including our kids.   Enough of the sweeping judgments about "kids today".  People have been fussing about how "kids today" will function as adults since our grandparents were kids.  They handled it fine.  We are handling it fine (really, I promise!). Our kids will handle it fine.  Let's just do our best and assume that other parents are, too.  That's my new plan.  What do you guys think?

-Dana

House Tour- living room/kitchen

I've been lazy, I know!  I threw myself into Jordy's new room and forgot everything else.  But anyway!

The living room and kitchen are very open, so I included it all together.  And then I threw in the hall since there's not much of it.

 

I'm not sure if I like this chair here. But for future reference, if you ever spray paint a chair, maybe wait and make sure that the paint will not rub off before you put it in the house.  Because if it rubs off on the wall, your husband will glare at you every time he walks by.

 

 

 My Mom helped me make the blue pillows, and I made the roman shades out of burlap. 

 

 

  I also made the silhouettes over the piano and the wreath over the tv.

this is made from the book pride and prejudice, my favorite book

frames, scrapbook paper, and time was all this took.  I took a picture of the kids and traced that,
no time consuming shadow tracing here!

 

it just occurred to me I'm doing half my house in one post, after doing
the small entryway in a post all it's own

 

I love this picture of my family
 

Now the transition to the "dining room"



I finally did the burlap shade for this window, and I think I might hate them.

here's another pinterest project

 

a more self-respecting blogger might have actually put the dishes
away before taking a picture
 

 

it speaks the truth

life-planning area

 

 



 

So until I get around to finishing my projects (or finding more on pinterest), I'm declaring it finished!

 



 

-Dana 

Jordy's Room

 

 

 This is my little princess.  When I planned her room, I wanted it to be a girly as possible.  We've been there, done that with the boy stuff.

The sign above her bed was painted by my awesome sister-in-law, Brenda. 

So all her stuff is very princess-y.  See her glass slipper, magic mirror, and picture of her future castle? (if this is not your castle, you are not her prince.) 

 

 

I made this mobile out of her diaper stacker, because come on. Who really uses those? Seriously, completely useless. Even if you fill them up at first, by the time your baby is two months you've stopped. I cut out the flowers that match the bedding, and used buttons, ribbons and embroidery hoops to do the rest.

 

 

I bought this at duck, duck, goose before I even knew I was having a girl.  It was purely wishful thinking.

 

 

My cousins gave me this shadow box at my shower. Isn't she cute in her crown?

 

 

My mom found this baby bed and we painted it to match her room. I absolutely love the girly stuff.

 

 This is another painting my sister-in-law did for us. Isn't she talented?

 

 

Here's the whole room together.  I tried really hard to take pictures that excluded the large green dinosaur that doesn't match anything else whatsoever.  It was in the boys room, and when I redid it in a superhero theme, I tried to get rid of it (sorry mom).  Unfortunately for me, her royal highness claimed it as hers before it made it past the living room.

                                                           

pay no attention to the dinosaur in the corner

 

Now for the depressing part.  I decided awhile ago that when I moved her out of the crib, I'd redo her room.  After I finished taking pictures of her room today, I laid her down for a nap and she climbed out of her bed.  Which means, I guess, it's time to move to a bigger bed.  Super depressing.  But the good news is that I have a beautiful quilt that I'm planning on using to inspire the rest of her room.  I got it at my shower from a sister at our church who is spectacular at quilting.  I also have a dresser that was an awesome yard-sale find.  So I am excited. Mostly sad, though.  I'll be sure to do another post when I finish her new room.

 

isn't is gorgeous?

-Dana

House Tour

Clayton and I bought our first house last year.  I wasn't sure how exactly I wanted to decorate it, but I knew I wanted to love it, not just like it.  I've been taking my time to decorate it, and picking only what I absolutely love.  I'm still working on it, but I'd consider it almost done. Done-ish, anyway.  So here's a tour! 
 First, the entryway:


dun dun dun DUNNNN!

 This was actually the last place I've decorated. (other than the master bedroom, I haven't touched it yet!) I took our family pictures a few weeks ago and wanted to put them up.



These are $3 frames from walmart

The gallery wall TERRIFIED me.  I think they look so good on pinterest, but to make my own seemed overwhelming.  I started with this frame:

 

 It was actually given to me a long time ago.  At the time it had a painting of a Native American woman whose hair was blowing softly in the wind.  Not exactly my style. I started to politely decline, but my mom suggested I take it and use the frame.  It's been put up in the attic or shed for almost ten years.  When I decided to do the gallery wall, I pulled it down.  I printed from Wal-Mart the poster size, and it ended up costing me around $4.  That, spray paint and a mat, and this cost me around $10. 

 

These picture frames are actually decorative mirrors that I popped out.
They were around $5 a piece.  I like that they have their own individual pictures hanging.  I also think the pattern adds some interest to the wall.

When I moved in, I decided to use black as my basic anchor color. I have no idea if that's what decorators advise or not, but I think it ties the whole house together.  I'm using blue as my accent color for now, but with minimal changes, I can swap it out and change the look.  I'm currently loving mixing black and brown, which I would have hated just a few years ago!





The last thing on the wall is our family rules.  I've been wanting one of these for awhile, but without a silhouette machine, I had no idea how to go about making one.  Enter photoshop.  I typed this up, e-mailed it to Wal-Mart and had it printed on poster paper for another $3 or $4.  Then I modpodged it on a piece of MDF I had left over from another project. (that I haven't started yet... more on that later) It's maybe one of my favorite things.  I love that it's personalized for our family.

Last is my door.  I got this big 'B' from hobby lobby and painted it black.  A few rosettes made from leftover fabric and as slip of burlap and it's done.  I love to decorate with Bs, although I might need to limit how many more I put up.  Ethan asked me why I kept putting Bs on everything. Maybe I got carried away??

So I kind of love it now. I still plan on modpodging a picture of the temple and hanging that on the opposite wall, which is still big and empty.  Or maybe somewhere else.  You never really know.  I'll put up pictures when I finally get it done.  Next post will be the baby's room!

thanks for looking
-Dana

p.s. I love getting comments, if you have anything to say or ask!