A little inspiration

Browsing the internet today I found some inspirational photos. I am so ready to change the look in my dining room, master bedroom, and den....okay, okay, ANYWHERE in my house. But I would need lots of moolah to do what I REALLY want to do. Patience is a virtue. So, for now, I am going to do some little things.

• I am going to change Livee's bedding and curtains and paint the dresser that goes in her room a sweet pink.
• I am going to order the fabric for Hayden's "cowboy" room and paint his "new to us" desk.
• I am going to order some fabric to recover the chair cushions in my dining room.
• I WILL find a new covering of some sort for my round table in my den.
• I am going to paint the lingerie chest that is in my bathroom.
• And this fall, I am going to paint my bedroom and ceiling and replace the hideous fan that is in there. :)

I feel better just having written that down. Now for the fun to begin!

Summer update...

Batter up!

His pre-K end of the year program. He is so excited to start kindergarten this fall at his "new school".

My beautiful little girl who will be 2 in two weeks!

My 2 favorite guys in an action shot! Dave was the 3rd base coach.

This was earlier this spring, but I love the picture. She spent 2 hrs in the backyard playing t-ball by herself one day!

So far, we have had a busy summer. T-ball and school, along with my birthday cookout with friends, rounded out May. In June, we have had playdates with our friends the Briscoe's and the Decker's and been to 2 birthday parties. We've also been to the pool several times. Livee had her first ear infection and we just finished up VBS yesterday (I spent last week decorating for it and then performed the drama rotation for preschool). Hopefully I can get caught up on housework and laundry in the next few days and then we will have the beginning of next week to visit our friends and family in Muscle Shoals.

All things complicated...

Why does parenthood have to be so hard? To quote one of my good friends, "Parenthood is a losing battle. And then when God knows you are at your breaking point, he lets 1 tiny little thing go right just to give you a bit of encouragement."

I concur.

Hayden has always been my difficult child, but behind that cantankerous attitude is a loving, sweet little boy. He helps his sister and loves her to pieces. He always has a hug and a kiss for us. He is so smart, too. He has been able to open internet explorer and find his websites on the favorites bar for 2 years. He can finish video games that Dave and I can't. He already knows at least 20 sight words. He can think critically and remembers EVERYTHING.

I have not seen very much of my sweet little boy in the last couple of months. It started at church. He couldn't keep his hands to himself. I thought it was one of the teachers (she gets frustrated easily). Then I thought that one of the other little boys who is naughty was rubbing off on him. I wasn't making excuses for his behavior, but I was trying to find the root of the problem. Then, it spread to school-it was as if an alien had taken over his body. I went through the same search, but couldn't figure it out. Then it progressed to t-ball. When we would ask why he couldn't keep his hands to himself, he would just shrug his shoulders. Then, last weekend, I was at a breaking point. I almost lost it...or what little of it I had left. I had to go to his school last Thursday. Friday was bad and Saturday was worse. No type of punishment would work - spanking, in his room all day, no TV, no video games, taking away rewards, I even threatened to clean all of his toys out of his room. While I was rocking Livee Saturday night, I was thinking that I needed to give Hayden his allergy medicine and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I remembered my mom telling me last year that she had read on some consumer sites about the side effects of Zyrtec on children...two of which are aggressiveness and anger. BINGO.

Needless to say, he hasn't had allergy medicine since last Friday. He seems better. Still a cantakerous 5 year old, but the rays of sweetness are shining through. We're also trying to give him extra attention from each of us, especially at bedtime. So far we have had 2 good days at school in a row. We'll see how t-ball goes tonight. 1 more week of school and then he will be home with me all day. Help me, Jesus.

Gift

Some people have artistic gifts that blow me away. My friend Theresa is one of those people. When she moved to Georgia and said that she was starting a photography business, I had no idea how talented she was. There are so many local photographers now that I wasn't sure how her photography would be different, but her style is so unique that I can't even describe it. You just need to check it out from the link on my previous post. When she mentioned teaming together to provide beauty sessions, I was ecstatic! We are going to have so much fun!

Give me a call and book your session for West Georgia!

Check It Out!

If you're looking for a photographer, look no further. My friend Theresa Decker takes some amazing photographs. Check out some snaps she took of my baby girl at the zoo while we were there a couple of months ago. I ♥ them.

Stay tuned for a fabulous Mother's Day gift idea in the next couple of days.

Project Crazy

I've decided that I'm a little ADD. I cannot do one thing all the time. I love to sew for my little girl, but I get on "kicks" of sewing where I sew several things and then I put the machine up. Then I get on "kicks" of re-decorating. I'm in one of those right now. First I rearranged Hayden's room so that it wasn't a disaster area flowed a little better. Then I moved on to redecorating our entryway so that it wasn't a disaster area was more like a mudroom. Enter http://tiffanyruda.com/. SHE. IS. AWESOME. I am totally convinced that we would be bffs if we knew each other at all. Just kidding...maybe.

Here is our entry now.

Still needs a new rug and a boot tray, but looking good for an afternoon's work.

I've already picked out new fabric for Hayden's bedroom (we plan on moving his "big bed" into there next spring) to convert it to a cowboy-themed room.

We have our neighborhood yard sale this weekend where we will try to get rid of our loveseat (I've decided I will never have another one again) and other various items. We need a new couch, but that will also be waiting until next year. For now, we will buy two Poang chairs from Ikea and look for a dresser to convert into a unique and awesome TV stand.

I want to find some fabric for our dining room. I have had an inspirational picture saved for a while on that one.

And I would like to re-stain my end tables and find new pulls for the drawer fronts. Let's just add to that list and also say that I've been thinking about painting our bedroom gray. I lurve this quilt from Anthropologie. It would be fab-uuu when we get a king sized bed next spring.

Can't you just see it with a neutral upholstered headboard?

I think I need more coffee.

Now if I could only get on a "kick" of making my house spotlessly clean or running my business more efficiently.