Graduations...

Senior pictures, graduation invitations, final classes.....

 

 

                          It is going to be a busy spring around here!

Boys' Room

The boys' room.... 

 

We have a bed wetter.  The smell was getting really bad.  We ripped up the carpet and that helped a ton.  Marc laid these beautiful wood floors!  The smell was still faintly there and one day I drug the mattresses out the front door! We bought two new mattresses and two new vinyl protectors!!!  :)

Moving Mac's little bed in here where Matthew used to be.  It is such a huge space now!   We painted the walls lighter colors this time.

I bought new sheets but skipped bedding.  It is hard to make bunk beds and they all have their favorite fleece blanket.  This is simpler for them and easy for me to wash everything each week.

I bought this cute little dresser from a lady that paints furniture.  She hadn't worked on this piece yet and I wanted to paint it myself.  She was going to change out the hardware and I love the hardware on it!  It is probably from the 60's or 70's I'm guessing.

They have their Lego table and their Lego container has to stay on the bottom shelf.  They have a large walk-in closet that has a huge bookshelf with all of their books on it.  There is a basket of wooden blocks, a basket with their Thomas trains and matchbox cars, and a container with their Lincoln Logs.  I have cleaned out a ton!  I love that even when the room is a "mess" it can be cleaned up in about five minutes!

This is an old antique dresser that I used when I was a teenager.  It has Malachi's clothes in it.  It doesn't really go with the rest of the furniture but it works for now! :) 

Onto the next project!!!

Projects

Ok, when I get left home alone.... I tackle projects!  Matthew moved out (into his tiny house... still need to post about that!) and it freed up a lot of room!  I have shifted a bunch of stuff in our house.  One of the things that I wanted to do was move the stuff from the "play room" (dining room) up to the boys' room.  Ever since we took out the kitchen window and put in French doors it made the kitchen table feel "tight", and I really wanted to move our huge wooden table into the dining room. So.... I hauled it and then it got stuck! I ended up taking the legs off, moving it, putting the legs back on and then couldn't figure out how to get the table upright again!  I ended up putting pillows across my feet (in case they got smashed!) and hoisted the table back over!  Where there's a will... there's a way! :)

The small buffet on the left was my grandmother's that I got years ago when I first got married.  It was originally very dark wood.   At some point my grandmother  had painted it olive green.  It has been several shades of brown/tan since I've had it.  I have wanted to paint it a light gray chalk paint for a while.  The larger buffet was my mom's.  Years ago,,, before I had children, my mom and I would run around and do things together.  (I sure miss those years!) I took her out to a man's house that I knew that bought and sold old furniture.  He had this huge antique buffet and just wanted it out of his way. I think she may  have paid $50 for it and we laughed so hard when he brought it to her house.  I want to paint it a charcoal chalk paint. It needs some structural work... maybe one day.  Right now I just want it to at least LOOK pretty!

 

The dining room looks so much better and we are really enjoying the extra space for eating!

 

Ready to get that dark wood painted!

Here is the chocolate brown cabinet before I painted it.

And.... the finished product!  I got my Easter decorations out a little early just because it looked cheerful.  I'm thinking my rooster plate needs to go.  When Easter is over I will redo things. I like the cheerfulness for now.  I bought the cute little lamp at Hobby Lobby and it looks so cozy at night!

I'm searching now for a small round pedestal table.  I want something little in the kitchen to keep the space free, but somewhere the kids can eat breakfast and lunch.  I plan to use four mismatched painted chairs to go around it. I've got one so far! :)

So much better getting in and out of the doors without that huge table in the way!

 

Ok, just for fun... I love Food Network kitchen utensils!  They usually range from $10-$12 at Kohls.  I snagged these five for 80 cents each!  Score!!!  I threw out several of my old ones, so totally justified the new ones!

 

I have been in "clean out" mode lately.  Trying to really simplify our lives and our house. I think I have hauled about ten bags out of our house so far!  We just redid the boys room.  I will post about that next!  Things are looking more bare around here.... and I'm loving it! :)

Happy Birthday Madeline!

Eighteen years flew by just like that!  Another milestone birthday.....

 

Madeline has been a joy to raise.  She has been such a blessing since McKenzie got married. She is a calm and sweet spirit helping out with the little boys!  I am truly thankful! 

She has accomplished so much during her teen years.  She finished high school at sixteen and began taking college classes.  She will officially graduate from high school this spring with her Associates of English degree.  She has kept a high GPA the entire time and will graduate with honors.  She persevered when she wanted to quit and I couldn't be more proud of her!  She also has taught piano lessons out of our home and is a contract journalist for the local newspaper.  She is a busy girl!  All of those accomplishments make me proud, but truly what I am proud of the most is her Godly character.  I have watched her grow up and stand alone.  She has had friends come and go, and even though that has been hard she has never waivered in her faith.  The neatest thing about having grown children is realizing they have a faith of their own..... watching them figure out what and why they believe what they believe.

Madeline.. I am excited to see what the Lord does in and through your life in the years to come. I pray he blesses you abundantly!  I love you sweet girl!

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."  Philippians 4:7

Busy days...

I have been slammed lately!  I am on my third week of having something to do every day!  I hate that!  I don't function well if I don't have some uninterrupted days at home.  I'm learning that I can plan all I want, but life happens.  I'm always reminded of the verse ,,,

"A man’s heart plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps" Proverbs 16:9

This little rice box has provided him with many hours of entertainment.  I got the idea from the home school conference last spring. It was a booth with "special needs" stuff and it was called a "tactile box".  They were selling them for $25.  I bought the little plastic tweezers that they were selling and got a plastic box for $1 and a big bag of rice from Walmart! Voila!  I had my own "tactile box".  I change out the things in it each week.  One week he had little plastic dinosaurs.  One week it was his little plastic pioneer day figurines.  I've done coins and even measuring cups.  His favorite though is to run his Thomas Trains through the rice.  Whatever works.... I just need him occupied while I work with Myles! :)

In math today we learned about fractions.  I am so thankful that teaching Myles has been pretty easy.  He catches on to his math super fast!  Reading is not quite as fast, but after Malachi I can deal with that! :)  Malachi took forever to learn to read and now the kid devours chapter books!

Now can you see why Macheus needs something to occupy him? :)

He wanted to get in on the "fraction cakes" too!

"Mommy, were you here first or the Bible?"  Oh the things they say!

This morning they all had to come show me their combed over hair!  I love these little fellows!

 

Madeline's school is on the quarter system.  She is finishing up right now.  I don't know who is more excited about her break... her or me!  She is such a perfectionist with her school work.  She is an amazing student, and I'm sure her hard work will pay off!  Matthew is on the semester system and he is so ready to be finished. He is always on the Dean's list too.  We are trucking along with our home schooling.  I still have some catching up to do with Malachi.  Because he was a late reader we went back to the basics last fall with grammar.  We are finishing up two years worth of grammar trying to get him back on track with it.  Because he is older and it was just a matter of the reading not clicking earlier, he is catching up quickly.  Makes me SO thankful for home schooling.  He hasn't been labeled and was able to learn at his own speed.  Not only is he doing well now... he is excelling!

Well, I better get busy!  I have been decluttering our house for quite a while now.  We just built a "tiny house" for Matthew to live in and he just moved out.  It freed up a bunch of space so I am shifting things around.  While I'm shifting I'm cleaning out.  I can't believe how many bags I've thrown away and hauled away to donate!  I'm not even a pack rat kind of person!  I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I'll post more about his house later!

~Until next time...