Family, blah blah blah...

My Mamaw passed away back in February. It was kind of sad, I guess you always grieve the loss of a loved one even if they didn't have a good quality of life. The silver lining is that there was family reconciliation. At least for now...And my brother that lives out of state came up and so we got to see his family, which was great.
I just thought I'd share some pics with y'all. More for me, really...Above is my little family. I love it that Fisher and Violet{the younger two} are like Jackson and Lilly, 27-ish months apart.


Here are my brothers and I. From L-R...Courtney, Ted{the oldest}, Nick{the baby}, and me{the baby of the first batch.} Nick is almost 10 years younger than me and has a different dad than the rest of us. He and Ted are looking more and more alike, lately. Its funny, because the last time we had pictures taken professionally, I was pregnant with Lilly and Nick looked like Courtney and myself, and his dad{God bless him...}

Here is Fisher and his twuncle{twin uncle}, Ted. Fisher looks so much like Ted as a little boy.

See what I mean??? This is my dad and Ted when Ted was about Fisher's age now. Fisher has the same blonde hair and fearless personality. My dad can't get over how similar they are...

And a close-up of Violet...she was about 7 months old.

Thanks for taking the time to come visit here!! I plan on purging{hahaha} and having a yard sale this weekend, so hopefully afterward there will be some super fun, homey posts!!!!!

What about Bob's??

Have y'all tried Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oats?? Oh, they are so yummy!! The texture is different than rolled oats-a little nuttier...Let me tell you how I prepare mine.

Elise's Oatmeal

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil, add 1 cup of Bob's steel cut oats.

Stir, then reduce heat{I like to add cinnamon here}.

Simmer for 20 minutes.

Spoon into a bowl, add a little half-n-half{or whipping cream!!}, brown sugar, and maple syrup.

Enjoy!!

*Some yummy add-in's would be chopped apples, chopped pecans or walnuts, different spices...just play around and see what you like!!

I was not paid for this, I just really love this oatmeal!! Consider it my PSA to y'all!!

Hoop Art Swap...

Heather of Life Made Lovely, formerly Blessed Little Nest, hosted a Hoop Art Swap and I knew I had to join!! It was so much fun!! My partner was Amy of Hershey's Kisses. I made the hoop above. I dyed a doily teal, cut a flying sparrow out of burlap, and made rolled felt roses. I then embroidered a sparrow with teal embroidery floss. It is hanging from vintage lace and I couldn't be more pleased with how it came out!!

This is the hoop Amy made for me. I love the yellow fabric and the branch is such a fun touch!! Also note that she used my word for the year, "Joy"...

Thank you so much for hosting this swap, Heather!!

What do y'all...

think of this chair??

I originally saw this chair here...Its from Ikea and I think it is a nice mix of modern{can't believe I just said that in a positive way!!} and vintage. My table is wooden and soon to be white. I think these chairs would be kind of fun!! What do you think???

Dreamin'...rolling ideas around...

I really miss my view...this sunset was gorgeous one January evening.

Anyway...onto the point of the post.

We have this room in our little house{cottage??} that I call "the back room". The first time we lived here{remember we rented it before, then bought a house, now we are here again...making it home and I LOVE it!!}
This room is going to be the game room, so to speak. As in, I want a tv back here for the wii and gamecube and Jackson got an air hockey table from his grandparents Christmas '09 and its still in its box, so we have to carve out a space for it in this room. Okay, so in the above picture, you can see a set of windows to the left. Those look out onto the back yard. The wall straight ahead, to the right of the windows, will hold a sofa.

The house is older and has fabulous mustard linoleum, which surprisingly I kind of like and its working for me, I think. Let it be said, that we cannot even see this mustard wonder floor right now. Never fear, though, my wonderful, beautiful Mom is coming to stay Wed. thru Sat. and we will unearth it. I'm sure there might be other names describing her after she leaves. ;) Just kidding, she is great!!

What you see now is the door which is on the same wall as the sofa will be. The small window was the original kitchen window that looked onto the backyard, which now looks onto this room. I didn't remember to take a picture from the other side, but it just has an opening connecting it to the rest of the house and its opposite the door leading outside.

I found this lovely room from Pure and Lovely. And it is lovely, indeed. It was sort of the jumping point for my room. I love all the fun, cheery fabrics, the curtains, the rug from Target. The rug from Target...Well, I was originally going to get this rug, but after reading a few reviews, I don't know. I know you can't see a big picture of it, but here is the link. It really is pretty, but just wait til you see the other choice.

I am not loving the current green walls. They are kind of bringing me down, so I am going to paint them Comfort Grey by Benjamin Moore. I painted my master bathroom this color at the other house and loved it!! I love this slipcovered couch from Ikea. I love that I can wash the slipcovers and change them out on a whim. Now, I am cheaper than cheap so I am trying to find this sofa on Craigslist.

I plan to make some fun throw pillows like this bird one from Anthropologie. Yeah, the one I mentioned way back in November.

This fabric is gorgeous and what was used in my inspiration room. It was on backorder from fabric.com, but was finally restocked and I should have it within the week!!! Just a little ditty for you, go to retailmenot.com and look for coupon codes. I not only got free shipping because I spent more than $35, I also got 15% off!!

The rug...be still my beating heart!!! I saw this rug from World Market and fell in love!! I think I may love it more than the other one. Yeah, I do!! Best of all, its half off right now AND I can get free shipping. I'm having trouble pulling the trigger here, but it is such a gorgeous rug and would really make the room.

Let's all picture together now...Walls in Comfort Grey, those gorgeous yellow curtains, white slipcovered sofa filled with bright, fun pillows, that rug{!}, wall art-I'm thinking embroidery hoops filled with fabric intermingled with these bird art cards{that I have somewhere...} and my collection of R's, and framed pics of my sweetie children. Yep, I can see it!!

Still on my list to find...a shorty armoire that I can paint green. Well, I did find one, at Goodwill, but they wanted $150 and it was DONATED to them!! But, that is a different post for a different day, right??

Happy Day, girls!! Hopefully, I'll have a good start on this room this week. Of course, I'll share pics along the way!!



Linking up to Life Made Lovely Monday at Blessed Little Nest...

Ready for LOVE!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

This table greeted the children as they woke up this morning. They were so excited and loved it!! I want them to remember holidays being special around here and so I stayed up last night preparing this for them. I mixed a little crystal with some casual melamine dishes from Target with thrifted dishes. I am quite pleased with how it turned out!!

Why not use pretty things for every day meals?? A plate would have worked just as well for the pancakes, but a cake plate makes it all the more special. I am working on collecting mini maple syrup dispensers like the one at bottom left. So much more charming than a plastic bottle, wouldn't you say?? Striped paper straws from Garnish add a special touch to the children's glasses.

Each place setting{minus my own} had a fun valentine napkin, box of chocolates, gum, and a book. This is Fisher's and he LOVES Toy Story and Thomas the Train, so I got him a Thomas book and TS chocolates. The sherbet glasses are thrifted and held strawberry yogurt.

Food ready to be enjoyed. The kids had to make goofy faces!!

Yum...coffee just tastes better in my Anthro mug!!! Pioneer Woman pancakes are the go-to recipe in this house!!

The living room got a little love, too...I made the wreath whilst watching a sweet Hallmark movie.

I'm sure most of y'all are familiar with the yarn wreaths that are so popular...I just hot glued one end of my yarn to a Dollar Tree wreath form and wrapped and wrapped and wrapped. A little hot glue at the end to hold it and you're done!! Embellish as desired...I hot glued felt hearts on and it turned out just as I had envisioned!!

A jar of hearts...LOVE these old glass lidded mason jars!!!

Lilly wanted to decorate her room for Valentine's Day so we made this garland. She came up with the design on her own and we stapled the doilies together and hung it over her bed. A little red bird brings her sweet dreams at night!!

Just another peek...

Lastly, a smile from Violet...

Wishing you all a day full of LOVE!!!

"We love because He first loved us."

1 John 4:19

Linking up to Blessed Little Nest, Life Made Lovely Monday...

A New{Old} Nest to Fluff

Hey y'all...we've been moving and haven't had internet for a couple weeks. We finally got it turned on today. My husband had to put in a grounding rod before Comcast would give us service. Anyway, I thought I would share our new crib. Actually, old...Old, because it was built a long-ish time ago and old because we've lived here before. This photo is actually from the first time we lived here. Some of you friends that go way back{to 2008-ha!} might remember it a little.

I'm excited to once again get to fluff and do here, as it is much more my style!! Here is a sneak peek at the living room...Join me as I make it my own, pink laundry room and all...Yes, I plan to paint the laundry room here pink, paint the kitchen cabinets, and other fun things, so stay tuned!!

Linking to Blessed Little Nest...