all but the electric

When we get an idea in our heads we usually get right on it. So, we are almost done with the closet/office. I love it. I feel like it is my spot. We just need a light and outlet put in. Hopefully that will get done soon. Chip needs assitance with that chore. We went with the same wall color are the den and hallway. I think it was a good choice.

IDIOT

I had strong coffee this morning AND 1 1/2 large glasses of Cane's sweet tea tonight. I sometimes can't sleep at night if I have strong coffee in the morning. So, I say all that to say, it is 11:40pm and I am not the least bit sleepy. Maybe I will read a book. Thanks Shana for the encouragement to read. I can't wait to get some of my books back from Chip's office...when I get my little nook finished.

Proud of myself

When we bought our house it had an OLD wall oven. We decided to take it out and just use a range. So, this left a huge hole that we were just using as storage. At some point I had the idea of putting up a chalk board as a door. So, when I was home for those 3 weeks I did it. It turned out even better than I imagined.


We are working on another project too. I had another idea. We are turning a random closet that is between the den and hallway into a little office nook. For the past 7 months Chip has been using it to store tools. Not acceptible. I decided that it would fit my desk quite well and still have two shelves for books and pictures. Today he took out the bottom 3 shelves, puttied and sanded. It should be done in a few days. I am so excited to have it finally be functional and cute. We will have to install a light and an outlet so that our printer will finally have a home. It has been up in a closet and pulled down when we need it...quite annoying. I will post a final.

Question: I have paint that is one shade lighter than the den and paint that is one shade darker. I don't know what to paint the closet. Do I go darker and therefore stand out or lighter or just the same as the den?

To sleep or not to sleep

Since we have been home, we have rested but are tired from battling bed/nap times. At the end of project Ella started climbing out of her pack-n-play. So, she spent a few nights on the air mattress with Streed. The first night home she climbed out of her crib. This was no big surprise. We were scared she would hurt herself so we took her crib mattress out and laid it on the floor. After much spanking and returning her to the room, she eventually fell asleep. We have tried to let them share a bed again. Today both nap and bedtime were an ordeal. Streed and Ella are great friends which means they would rather play and laugh than sleep. It is cute until it is 9:40pm and they are still awake. I ended up taking Ella to her room to sleep. Streed wanted to go too. I think Ella really wants to sleep in her own room. We have a twin frame and are planning on getting a mattress next week.
Nate too has been having sleeping issues. I don't know if it is the beginning of teething, transitioning back to his crib, congestion or hunger... So, in order to rule out as many possibilities as I can, I have put in a humidifier and started feeding him rice cereal. This didn't work last night. Maybe tonight.
I know what you are thinking. So he does look a little chubby in this picture. I can admit when I am wrong...sometimes.

no comparison

People (strangers) are constantly making comments about how chunky Nate is. I simply cannot agree. There is no doubt he is a big baby...and I am sure he is off the charts for his weight. But, you have to know where I am coming from. I mean, did you see my 2nd child?
Ella at almost 4 mts......

Nate at almost 5 mts

Motel Living 101

LAUNDRY: ok i am excited about washing clothes without having to pay $1.50/wash and who knows how much to dry. it all depends on what drier you choose.
funny story...
casey washed clothes the other day at the laundromat by our motel. it was taking the clothes forever to dry. ($0.25/8 minutes). After about an hour and the clothes still being soaking wet, jill asked, "did you put it in the one that said 'good', 'sux' or 'sux/good'?" it does make a difference. we were very thankful for those that chose vandelism to communicate the drier's efficiency. you can probably only laugh at this if you have lived there.



and in case you were wondering...

yes, this too was drawn on the wall.

A/C units: I am not a psycho blogger nor am I soliciting pity. I just hope to the dear Lord that I never have to stay there again! We have some other options for next year so I want to remember the joys of three summers at the Grove. For the past two summers I got to stay in the same room. This has been the scene outside my room...an ice bucket catching the drippings from the wall unit. I had to dump it throughout the day or there would be a river outside our room. And by the way, I did not come up with this idea. That would be the owners idea.


FACILITIES: Oh, and this is the space under my door due to a missing threshold. Amazingly enough nothing came in except some rain water. I did put a towel under the door the first night. After a few days you adjust.


These are just a few of the stories from my room. There are plenty of others. Next door to me they killed a snake in their baby's room. Next door to them the shower holds water so that you bathe with water up to your calves (this was my room the first year...and it was like that then). Next door to them the girls had to move out because they were being bitten by who knows what in their beds at night. I cannot think about it anymore. I am not even going to mention the other guests that stay here. Enough. I have broken my rule about long posts.

heading home

project ended yesterday and we are heading home tomorrow after a brief stop at chip's parents' house. home will be better but not great unless i am careful to guard my time. all being home does is give conveniences and a sense of cleanliness. chip's schedule is not much different at home. we have about a month before school starts. during this time he will have some meetings in baton rouge and have to travel some for support. maybe this month will allow for some good family time. i was sad leaving project yesterday because in my mind that marked the end of summer and i feel like we have had no family time and no down time. may we make use of the free parks in our area! at least my oven will work. is that a good thing? at least chip's grill works and he is excited to use it!

ringlets

just wanted to share a pic of ella's hair. it is curled so tightly that the curls have turned into heavy ringlets. when wet it is halfway down her back.

cuter by the day

babies really do get cuter as they age. sure, they are cute at birth, but as the months go by you really do notice that those photos of the first few days/weeks weren't that cute. took these today of almost 5 MONTH old nate. i love this baby!

the annual

blah blah blah

i just spent probably over an hour looking at blogs. i can't say i read them all. i am happy to say that some of them cracked me up. i needed to laugh. yesterday i spent about 30 minutes reading hope's blog and crying my eyes out at a coffee shop. not that anything i am going through compares to her loss. it has been a rough summer in the refiner's fire. i am learning a lot and the root of most of it selfishness. you would think with three little ones that you don't get a chance to be selfish. you do. it is just that you don't have an outlet or remedy for it besides anger. i realize anger and selfishness are sin. that is why it has been rough. i have meant to write about this for the past few weeks but it is just too much to say. so, i guess i will try and communicate most of it. stop reading now if you want. i will understand. i don't tend to read long posts either :) remember i am selfish!

i wrote in my journal in mid-june that i find comfort from god's word. i wrote that again at the end of june. so there was about a two-week lapse in time alone with god. that is not real uncommon for me. it was just good for me to see that i do receive comfort there. i tend to say on a regular basis that i just need time to myself. through my recent consistent time in the word i am seeing that not only do i need consistent (weekly) time alone but i also need consistent (daily) time in god's word. god has been good to meet me there. he has given me ample opportunities to root this selfishness out. he called me out during a worship time a few weeks ago. basically a song said something about laying your burden's down. i said to him that my kids were my burden. he quickly spoke to my spirit that my burnden was the fact that i can't do what i want when i want. i immedately knew this was so true.

i think there is a lot more i could write but i just don't want to. i need to meet with god. today has been a bad day. that is why i have time online. i basically have to blow up in order to get time away. i am not saying it is chip's fault. i know i just need to have a set time. he doesn't know my every need. maybe that will happen when i get home. i get time to myself when my kids are napping. i mean time outside of the 4-wall house/room i have been living in this summer.

Time in Mobile

On the way back to the beach we stopped in Mobile for the night. I always love my time there and getting to see little Taylor. She is just so pretty and fun! She and Nate are about the same size and he is probably heavier, even though they are exactly 7 months apart.

He has on the shirt Streed wore in his 9 month pictures. Look at him. Does he look 4 mts? He isn't as chubby as Ella was he is just big!

Afternoon showers

Maybe this explains the post about the sunscreen. It has been so cloudy and rainy since we've been back here. We have not even gotten in the pool here once. (not that i mind) Streed has really been into Jadyn's Hello Kitty umbrella. I promished him at the beginning of the summer that I would get him one the next time it rained. So, he now has a Spiderman umbrella and he LOVES it.

Sun Safety

These were taken a few days ago. I literally cannot remember where Streed was or what I was doing but Ella was obviously ready to go lay out. She was making sure even her underarm would be portected.

A night out

A few nights ago Chip and I went to our favorite restaurant, The Boat Yard. We sat on the deck, laughed and enjoyed a great meal. It was good to be together and to get away for a few hours.

The kids stayed with one of their favorite sitters, Clara Mae. I gave Clara some books that they might like to read. One was the Cheerios book. You actually use Cheerios to complete the pictures on the pages. The kids cried and carried when we were leaving. Clara said that when she shut the door Streed turned around, dried his tears and said, "OK, lets play the Cheerios game". He is such a little actor. He can turn his tears on and off like I have never seen.

Loving the Water Park again this year

It is so hard to get them to 1. stand together, 2. look at the camera & 3. smile

Do you see I got all three of these! YAY!

I love this picture of my sweet boy. Chip swears that is Ella in the background.

It isn't but it would be cute if it were.

A different point of view

I was uploading some pics yesterday and once again found some
that I did not take. One actually took me a minute to figure out where and how it was taken. I am glad my children apparently share my love of photography. I actually didn't even know she had the camera. I love that in the last one she figured out how to take one of herself that was right-side up. Normally she has it so close to her face that you only see a blob of color. You can see the joy of accomplishment on her face. The more I look at them they all crack me up. The one with me in it she is apparently holding it down but pointing it up. She is holding her jaw real tight. She knows just what she is doing.

How does HE decide?

I did not think this post would go like this. Last night I was boiling some of Nate's bottles. I then decided to go outside and visit, forgetting the bottles. I stayed outside longer than expected. As I walked back to the room I could tell something was burning. I quickened my pace and opened my door to find a room FULL of smoke. All of the water had long since boiled out and the bottle parts had almost all burned up. ALL THREE of my kids were sleeping in the adjoining room with the door almost all of the way shut. They were fine. Once all of the smoke cleared and the room was somewhat cleaned we laid down to sleep in the room with the kids. It was then that our minds turned to what if...what if Nate had still been sleeping in our room...what if Streed woke up and came into our room and got disoriented...what if I stayed out a few more minutes... Our minds finally settled and we fell asleep. Last night I thought I would post a picture of the smokey room and tell the crazy story in more detail.

Shortly after waking we learned that a former co-worker had lost their 4 year old daughter during the night...cause not yet determined. Due to the night we had it made it all the more real that it could have been us. It begs the question, "How does He decide?" His ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts higher than our thoughts. His plans for us are good and our days are numbered before there is yet one of them. Comfort comes from these words. Please pray for the Atchison family. May they find comfort in Him and His Word.