the room is finished

finally! remember WAY back when i said we were ahead of schedule on the baby’s room? and that i wanted to be finished by halloween?

yeah right!

well, the room was mostly finished before halloween. i’ve been taking it slowly and doing bits here and there. today was the day.

here is chloe’s happy room….


the beloved ikea fabler canopy – my inspiration

as you walk in the room

another piece of inspiration – a great estate sale find

this picture if full of DIY projects – the bunting, the lampshade, the pillow, the ottoman

a close-up of the button lampshade – happy

we set our budget of $200 very early on. i need to gather all of the receipts and find out exactly what i spent.

of course, all of the furniture was free. the crib and rocker came from my sister. the dresser has been mine since i was about 14. i simply changed out the knobs when i spotted them on sale at Hobby Lobby - $15 total. that budget also didn’t include bedding set– that was a gift from chloe’s fairy grandmother.

so, basically i had a budget for crafting and projects. ha! most of that money was spent on fabric and supplies for those DIY projects. we pulled things from around the house and repurposed other stuff. it was great fun to piece together and see it all fall into place.

i cannot wait to get this little girl home to dream in such a bright and happy place.  

don’t judge a cook….

today was our teacher’s thanksgiving celebration. we feasted potluck style. there was A LOT of good food. my contributions included squash casserole and a red velvet cake with peppermint cream cheese icing.

i was happy to see dressing prepared like my mom’s. it was delicious. i even had to correct one teacher who said, “oh, there’s stuffing.” we don’t eat stuffing here in the south, we eat dressing. there is a difference.

after that, one of the teacher’s assistants made the remark that i “don’t look like the type that can cook.” what is THAT supposed to mean? i don’t look like i can cook? i found her comment highly amusing and so asked her to explain. apparently, to her, i look like a prissy princess that has no skills in the kitchen. (my words, not hers) really? that’s even funnier.

i told her you can’t judge a cook by it’s cover.



and just to prove my point….here’s a picture jacob snapped yesterday when i was making the icing – big belly, double chin, cute apron and all. 

busy

that pretty much sums up life as of lately. it’s been all good but busy! too busy to post about anyway or maybe i am just so braindead at the end of the busy day that i cannot muster the energy required to complete a thought.

yep, that sounds more like it.

maybe someday i will post on worthwhile, thought-provoking, or even slightly entertaining topics. here are a few that have been rolling around in my head….just cannot make a complete thought to get them out of that knot on my shoulders correctly.

- evangelism and service, not confusing one for the other and not neglecting either
- throwing together a nursery on a budget and craft tutorials
- curry pumpkin soup
- how i have been up to my eyeballs in pumpkins at school
- how blessed we are by our family and church family
- nesting could quite possibly be the best thing ever
- free/low cost classroom Christmas presents

just to name a few. maybe i will actually post about one of those soon. ha!

but in the mean time i will just leave you with this picture because i don’t like not having a picture.


more about me and baby. sorry.

camping

i’m a bit behind on blogging actual life events. a few weeks ago, we went camping with jacob’s family and several people from their church. jacob and i slept in a tent right next to the river. the first night was freezing. we woke up saturday morning to a thickly frosted windshield. we had an air mattress – which we replaced the second night with the mattress from the sleeper sofa in jacob’s parents cabin. much better for a 8 months preggers back!

 
we were so close to the river you could hear the ripples and flow of the soothing water all night long. and in the morning, the fog dancing on the river was a beautiful reminder of God’s creation. it is always refreshing to be so surrounded by nature.  

in the day, the boys spent most of their time fishing. jacob, of all people, had the most luck. his first catch got away when he was trying to get back to shore with it.

we girls hung out with the kiddos while they played in the river, threw big rocks and other kid type things. we went on a little walking trail along the river to get to this sweet spot. this little guy was a great leader and guide. the rest of them went on a raft down the river while i took a nap and chickened out for the sake of my baby girl.

our nights were filled with fires and the usual fire-related events. dinner consisted of amazing “baked” potatoes, roasted corn and steaks. yum! later, dessert was smores with a few lessons on roasting marshmallows.
 
one of the other families hosted a pumpkin carving before the big potluck. yes, we had a potluck at a campground. we southern Christians love our food and fellowship. it was wonderful!

what a fun weekend. it only took me a few days to recuperate and we added a another thing to the list of what Chloe has done in utero. and speaking of Chloe, here is the obligatory belly shot from 32 weeks and camping.

happy halloween

Chloe’s first costume – a bun. We’ve already figured out we can wear the same thing next year and she can go as a “cutie pie.”

We loved passing out three Sam’s size bags of candy at Trick-or-Treat-a-Trunk. There were so many cute kids. But of course, we think ours was the cutest even though she can’t really be seen yet.

Here’s to hoping the fun and innocence of the night were yours to enjoy as well!

pumpkin cake

i haven’t vanished……i’ve just been busy. really, really busy.

what better way to make a comeback to blogging than to share an amazing recipe? you’ll be glad i’m back. promise!



Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze
1 box yellow cake mix
1 (3.5oz) package cheesecake pudding
4 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry cake mix and pudding together. Then, add eggs, water, oil, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice. Pour into greased bundt pan. Bake for 45 – 55 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes then turn out onto cake plate.

Cream Cheese Glaze
4 ounces cream cheese
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Soften cream cheese and butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir in 1 cup of sugar and 1 Tablespoon of milk until well blended. Stir in second cup of sugar and tablespoon of milk along with vanilla. Add a little more milk if mixture is too thick to pour. Drizzle over warm cake.

* I did not have any Pumpkin Pie Spice but had all the ingredients to make my own. To make your own use 1.5 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ginger scant. Then, measure out the 2 teaspoons for the cake recipe.

 

Jacob’s comments, “It was good. I ate two pieces in one day and I could go eat some more.” 

fun at the fair

we went with our family over the holiday weekend.  it was nothing fancy…..just good ole-fashioned fun.


fabulous sunset
  

funny farm animals and fearless florez
  

food and fifties trucks

and of course, the ferris wheel

my parents

this is my favorite picture of my parents.

we think it is when they had just found out they were expecting their third child. it’s just so cute to me.

I’ve been thinking about them a lot lately. just last Sunday, I bawled my eyes out when I looked at the date on the church bulletin and realized it had been 12 years since my mom had passed away. I blame a large part of that on hormones – the other part on an extremely tender heart. (and just for those who know me, i’ve barely cried at all during this pregnancy. weird.)

today I cried again. my doctor’s appointment had been moved to a new office – at the hospital where we will be having Chloe. i wasn’t prepared to be going to that hospital yet. in fact, i showed up to my appointment at the wrong office not knowing that when they had rescheduled my appointment the location had also been changed. so, i had no time to mentally brace myself for going to that hospital.

i refer to it as that hospital because it is the facility where those two bright and happy people in the picture lost their battles in this life. (mom in 98, dad in 08) 

i cried as i waited to see the doctor thinking about the countless hours i had spent in that facility under such different circumstances. i cried because i have been thinking about my parents and how absolutely mind-blowingly different life would be right now if they were still living. i cried thinking that Chloe would be ushered into our lives in the same place that my parents were ushered out of our lives. these weren’t big, bellowy tears. just simple thoughts trickling from my mind as i allowed myself to relinquish them. 

part of me loves the thought of having her there. like they are somehow connected. and part of me dreads it with my every fiber. i know it is just me being silly and hormonal – because really it is just a building. i know that everything will be perfectly happy and wonderful when she arrives, come what may. however, these days, i just can’t get them off my mind.

i think that may be perfectly natural. to want to tune in to your own parents when you are on the brink of becoming one yourself. not that we do not have amazing resources in other family and friends – it’s just that i feel this urge to want to know from my own parents. again, i think that is a natural thought and quite possibly another step in that ever-so-lovely grieving process.

it gets easier, but it never seems to go away. grieving is such a strange process. it can be so painful yet create so much joy too.

funny how life’s little incidences scream God. i love watching that work.

watching Him work.

chloe’s room – in progress

it has taken us a few weeks to get this far, but i would say we are running way ahead with our schedule. my goal was to have the room finished by Halloween since school stays crazy from around that time until Christmas. at this rate, we will be finished by Labor Day. here’s a peek at what we have done so far.

first, the room was known as the “black hole” or jacob’s mancave, aka the star wars room. painting over the black was a little intimidating but that new paint and primer in one did the trick. two normal coats and the black was gone!

well, at least on the bottom. so, we halted things to order the bedskirt and choose a color for the top half of the room.

isn’t it bright and happy? but we weren’t finished yet. we added the board and batten Sunday afternoon.
 
i couldn’t resist getting the furniture into place to get a feel for how the room will be arranged.

it will be another couple of weeks before we do any more. it may take that long for jacob to recover before putting the bed together.
 
chloe’s fairy-grandmother is ordering the rest of the bedding. it should be here next week when she comes to visit.

accessories have been nabbed from around the house and other things have been repurposed. i have plenty of little projects that i will be posting later. those probably will not get done until fall break though. ah, it does feel nice to have the bulk of the work done though.

*please excuse the horrid variation in picture color/lighting. i didn’t feel like editing them to look a little more the same with the differences in sunlight and boring indoor light. :)

nursery inspiration

Well, we did actually start on the nursery a couple of weeks ago, but things have been put on hold with the beginning of the school year. Setting up my classroom and getting ready for those kiddos has taken precedence over our little bit’s space.  

In the meantime, here are a few pictures to show what direction we are headed with our baby girl’s room. Originally, I had planned to have the bedding made by a relative, but it proved to difficult a task to even choose the fabric! Then, I found this bedding that incorporated the colors I wanted. I wasn’t exactly crazy about this bedding choice at first but it has most definitely grown on me the more I look at it. Now, I love it more and more each time I see it. I will probably only let the big dots show on the bumper and crib skirt and keep the comforter turned over to show the little dots.

The room definitely needed a new coat of paint – or a few coats of paint. The walls were black and the trim grey. Valspar paint with the primer in it is amazing – it covered the black in two coats! This is the look we are going for but the top color will be a different, probably blue.


And the one thing that inspired the whole look for the room is the Ikea fabler canopy. I’ve just absolutely fallen in lust with it. Isn’t so cute?

To get a better view of it, check out this picture on flickr. Ric-rac, polka dots, and bright….who wouldn’t love it?

I have several other ideas rolling around in my head but I have to get these big things out of the way before I proceed with them. We are SO blessed to have gotten both the crib and older PB rocker from my sister. For the changing table, we are using a dresser that was mine growing up. And of course, I have enjoyed being frugal with the baby decor and renovations. Cutting corners on cost is always a big challenge that I enjoy for some reason.  It sure helps to be so blessed by generous friends and family. Our baby girl will still have an amazing life and surroundings. We are excited to be setting up both of those for her. Christmas come early, please! 

*images: dwellstudio for target dot fun, board and batten flickr, ikea children’s department

road trip side effects and more pics

so, i mentioned in my last post (forever ago) that jacob and i played a little license plate game while on the road for 17 hours. it was fun. maybe a little weird how fun it was.  

we got all but three – Rhode island, Delaware, and Connecticut. we have both been plagued with a thrill of the hunt and cannot stop looking at license plates even now that we are back in town. crazy! take today for instance, my 2nd Alaska for the week, California, South Carolina, North Carolina, but, alas, those three New England states evade us. boo!

okay, now for some more pictures of our trip to my sister’s house.

 
star wars trivial pursuit - blurry

pikes peak in the background
 
cassie’s shot – i love it

boys and all grown-up
 
tough choices

purple mountain’s majesty

two of nature’s beauties – one a little more sunshiny than the other
 
downtown denver
 
garden of the gods – colorado springs

dinner made by the girls and “whoa this is dangerous”
 
dinner of buffalo, elk, ostrich, and rattlesnake
 
they get their blue eyes from their mama
 
aspiring baker and wii dance
 
baby bed, nursery rocker, yard sale finds, and our basic luggage – packed.

a good trip. a very good trip.