{four}

Oh we're a busy bunch of folks right now….. getting things ready for a very excited boy who will fall asleep as a three year old and wake up as a four year old. My how time flies…..

A little sneak peek of birthday goodness to come…. Miss Seven's crown was such a hit last year that I sewed one up for my little man too. He knows it will be his birthday when he wakes up and this crown is hanging on his chair at the table….. I think he's expecting last year's birthday cake for breakfast too!

Oh I love birthdays 🙂

helpers

I'm wondering…..

do you also have helpers like these in your house?

I love these moments…. well, mostly…..

I mean, sometimes when the folded laundry starts falling off the side of the bed because the three year old is jumping in the pile or when he starts changing his clothes 14 times as I fold and I don't remember what he had on to begin with… it can get a little hairy….

I'm not kidding, that boy of mine really can change his clothes that many times while I fold! Really, really.

But mostly, I love these little helpers…. their constant talk as mama folds…. their occasional assistance… all of it is hopefully storing itself somewhere in my brain as a sweet memory.

Oh my, how I do love little people.

Especially my very own.

treefrog

Did you know Louisiana has a state amphibian? The Green Treefrog. I didn't until I looked up info on this little treefrog…. they are all over right now if you take time to look around… hiding on blades of tall swamp grass… on windows and singing a loud summery song on night time walks through the swamps.

What summer creatures are you enjoying in your neck of the woods?

~This Moment ~

Joining Soulemama (and a whole lot of others) with This Moment.

"{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember." ~soulemama

enjoy your weekend

More Remodeling… The Boys Room.

I know I mentioned the beginning of this room forever ago! And it's been mostly done for awhile, but Joe finished up the last of it…. the stuff that makes me very thankful for his years as an electrician. Replacing all the light switches and receptacles in each room and swapping out the fan (all the bedrooms got new fans like the one in ours). I really love the space he created in the closet. Taking the closet doors off really opened up the room…. and the boys now have some great storage and a small desk to use. We just need to get the boys artwork hung up. It's our weekend goal. The girls room is waiting for a similar closet makeover and then it will be done too! Wait until you see the color those girls of mine picked out.

It might seem sort of funny, and certainly a little "attached"…. but when you move a lot, you sort of rely on a few special decorations that make it home. We have a few pieces of "artwork" we've collected at art shops and thrift shops as we've moved….. the kids may have lived in a dozen houses at this point (okay only 7 or so) but the same stuff follows them. That bear on the floor in the boys room was a gift from their Uncle and reminds them of Alaska… where they consider home to be. We've got fish prints and Alaskan art and rugs from Joe's time in the Middle East…. Joe's Grandfather's old krill… an old ship clock from my Uncle… an old wooden airplane propeller that my dad picked up at a yard sale as a kid… and many beat up tables, chairs and trunks bought at junk shops. Things we've tucked away along this journey. I guess now that my big kids are, well, big… I see their need to set up house. Much like mine & Joe's. To make the house a home. And not just with any stuff mind you, but good old stuff that invokes a whole lot of memories and story telling.

Truly I intended this to be just a remodel post, but I guess I got a little sentimental about the value of creating a family home as I typed 🙂 Thanks for reading!

Remodeling (yeah!!)

So, getting settled back in is always a challenge for me. It seems to take me a solid week to unpack and in the process we somehow manage to dismantle the house….. so then I pull the house back together….. and because my sweet dear man of a husband usually does some renovating while we’re away…. I had a room to unpack too……

Everything had been emptied out of our room…. including the very old carpet on the floor (woot!). I wonder if you can sense the excitement in my little typed letters on this screen? The taupe carpet and walls were replaced with a glorious deep soft orange and lovely new bamboo floors….. the whole room feels so clean… I absolutely love it. Joe also painted our closet and hung up new shelving and hanging rods. Which is especially lovely because the last ones were homemade, and while I mean no disrespect to the maker of these…. you couldn’t fit a hanger on the hanging bar. You had to sort of tilt the hanger sideways to get in on there. He replaced the rickety off balance (and hideous) old fan. And while I do wish I had a photo of the room before…. I do not. So you’ll just have to trust that it was drab and dull and in major need of new flooring…. I do however have a photo of my fabric stash “before” storage. Clip together wire shelving which I would cover with an old curtain to keep out the dust……

Above, you can see the many shades of taupe in the before room…..

perhaps that interfered with any good reasoning I may possess in selecting paint colors….

hence the orange….

do see….

Isn’t it lovely? That Joey is a keeper, he really is 🙂 All that is left to do is hang up some items from that cardboard box you see in the corner, our artwork. We haven’t even unpacked it since the move last summer. And you even got a peek at our very much not updated master bathroom….

I spent the days of last week purging and reorganizing fabric and craft supplies, mostly a very enjoyable project. For me and for the receivers of the giveaway pile! All of us fiber lovers love to pet the yarn and fabric in our lives…. and somehow I do think it multiplies when we aren’t looking. The bits of color are so pretty against the orange and though I truly used to grumble about having my “studio” space stuffed into our room…. I am now quite happy with the set up. I mean really, what crafter wouldn’t want to fall asleep looking at that shelf. I see a lot of happy creative dreaming in my future 🙂

~more house updates tomorrow, that Joe was a busy guy while we were away!

Postcards from Alaska ~ One Wet Boot

How to walk down the stairs to Grammy’s front door with one wet boot. Did I mention the puddle was big enough to also soak his pants? Puddles and kids are made of smiles….. really.

*Photo by Grammy*

Postcards from Alaska ~ From the Top

If you look just past the trees you can see some of Cordova nestled below. Hiking up hills like this and getting out are definitely our favorite. There are so many great trails to explore and despite the bugs and rain we still had many great adventures. The little two are usually in lead at a “mama & grammy need to jog to keep up” sort of pace. And our little guy’s namesake, at the age of 78, accompanied us on several of these. I guess that fresh Alaskan keeps you young? There’s just something about it. Talking & walking together. It’s just good stuff.

{The kids and I (and a box of frozen red salmon) made it safely home. We need a few days to readjust so I’ll be sharing a few more postcards this week….. next week I have lots to share about our house. Two words. Wow Joe.}

Postcards from Alaska ~ Seashore

Always one of the things I miss the most when I leave. The salty cool breeze and the colors of kelp on rocks. The sound of the seagulls. Did you know where my parents live there are no waves? We’re tucked back away from open water so the ocean is very quiet…. I like that. On a somber note, I look at the shore and hope and pray with all my might that the ocean at home in Louisiana can heal. That it can recover from the spill. Heavy thoughts for a postcard, I know. But as our vacationing time draws to an end it has been weighing on my mind. Here’s hoping~~~~~

Postcards from Alaska ~ Uncle Hank

It’s funny as the kids grow and wander off on their own adventures here. A lot of our hikes and walks were just Mom and I and these two. They’ve done a lot of adventuring… a boy and his Uncle. We refer to my parents dog as Uncle Hank…. it started as a joke and it just stuck. It’s especially fun when they get talking about the furry Uncle to people who don’t know he’s a dog. What? Your Uncle growls? And the kids will say “well of course, he’s a dog.” Mom and I loved watching these two run down the trail ahead of us and stop to look at things side by side.

Big dog. Little boy.

Lots of fun.