Latest Obsessions

Tags

dwell studio, fabric.com, hymns, Jadon Lavik, premier prints, snow day, spare bedroom closet, the piano guys

It’s a snow day and the husband brought me coffee in bed.  That’s a mighty fine start, I’d say!  Also, the boys spent the night at their grammies last night; should be interesting figuring out a way to get them home today; it’s a wintery world out there!  In the meantime, it’s Erick and the baby and I; it’s hasn’t been the two of us and a baby in a long, long time.

Luke is napping, so I thought I’d share a couple faves I’ve come across.  The first two are musical; I can’t believe I’d never heard of The Piano Guys.  If you haven’t either, you are welcome for the introduction.  ;-)  I can’t get enough of them; Analisa introduced me to this song through her blog.  It’s stunning.

Very, Very close favorites…{or maybe they are just tied}, are this one and this one.  Amazing talent.  I am so going to be the dancing ladies in the Guaraldi cover video.

Also, I just bought this album by Jadon Lavik; thanks Amber!  I’ve been listening to it this morning.  Gorgeous.

…….

In completely unrelated news, I’ve successfully “neutralized” our living room.  Took the bright paintings down; put up black and white photos of the boys.  Tossed the pillows in the back bedroom for now.  (I’ll show some of it in an upcoming post). It’s very restful; now I’m ready to start adding some less energizing colors in.  They are still beautiful, but they fit my mood better at this point.  My computer screen is covered with fabric swatches.  :)

{fyi; all fabric is found at fabric.com; top three are dwell studio and bottom two are premier prints, just in case you are interested! if you like them as much as I do, I can give you direct links so you don’t have to search}

I’m planning on recovering the pillows; lengthening my curtains with a pattern on the bottom, and tying in the colors to our dining room with a table runner.  All ideas that are easily interchangeable for when my next “change of design” mood strikes!

…….

Again with the unrelated news, but this is another idea that I’m currently obsessed with!  I just finished reading The Duggars first book.  I’ve never really watched their show, but the idea of managing such a large family peaked my interest (not that I think I’d have a wit left in my brain if I had such a large family; but if they can do it with so many children, certainly I can do it with 3!)  One idea that I LOVED was the fact that they have a laundry room/family closet.  ALL of the clothes go in the family closet; it’s pretty much a wash, dry and hang-right-there deal.  I was mourning the fact that we have such a tiny laundry room until I realized that we have a perfectly use-able room RIGHT OFF the laundry room.  I had intended on this being a guest room/ craft room, but I always craft in the kitchen anyway, and we plan on purchasing a sleeper sofa for our living room, so that solves the overnight guest issue.  And this room, well, has become a dumping ground.  OH, it had such potential; I was almost finished decorating!  And then it became this.  Are you ready?  Hold on tight…

Oh yes.  It’s terrible, isn’t it?  We’ve wanted to organize it; now we are going to organize AND turn it into the Family Closet.  Remember how Lizzie turned her spare into that adorable walk-in closet?

We’ll go for the same general idea; storing clothes AND the kid’s toys.  We’ll keep the bed in there as well…(can you even tell where the bed is in those pictures?)  Anyway, we’ll start on that, then switch our bedrooms with the boys.  There is a very generously sized closet in the Master bedroom that we are going to turn into a reading nook/hideout for Ry and Jack and Luke.   I can remember making a little space in my closet to sit and read when I was a girl; I would of loved to have an entire nook dedicated to that!  We can do a miniature version of Kevin and Layla’s; it’s literally 2 inches too short to fit a twin mattress, but we could fit a toddler sized one.

I think it would become a favorite hideout of mine, as well!  I’ve loved seeing posts about families turning closets into other use-able spaces, and now that we are going to convert that back bedroom, we can do it!  I’m a happy girl.

Guess what?  Erick just said he plans on moving some of the junk out of the back bedroom today.  So I’m going to sign off and we’ll get to it.

Stay cozy, today…and enjoy your weekend!

Movin’ on up!

Tags

handmade wooden signs

Alright! Big signs, finally.  I don’t have super shots of them.  Irksome.  Didn’t realize that until I sat down to do this post!  But here’s a bit of what we are adding to the ol’ shop, and they range from $60-$85, smaller to larger.  I’m just mailing then invoicing for whatever the shipping price happens to be.  I have so many large scale ideas!  Let’s start to sleep through the night, Luke!  Momma needs more energy!

Custom for a nursery of a sweet friend; it’s approx 22 inches long and 11 high.  Doesn’t match the cuteness of Kam by a long shot, but it sure was fun!

Custom of Mr. Whaler…this one was 24 inches long and about 28 high.  Whitewashed with chalkboard paint for the silhouette.  I truly became a fan of the big signs while I was working on this guy.

And Ms. A…I finally found my camera cord; these are on their way to you today!  The biggin’ is 24 inches long by 21 inches high; here it is in relation to my “normal” large signs.

I’m thinking more hymn signs; years ago I made some hymn printables.  I LOVED doing that.  I have some other ideas up my sleeve as well; when Grammie takes the 2 older boys this week I plan on working fast and furious on them.  As long as Luke allows, that is.

Obligatory baby picture for my NM family.  :)  We love you guys!!

Have a good night!

It’s Friday! And the Sun is Out!

Tags

lost teeth, strong willed kids

Jack.  Time to put the marker away, ok? (dry-erase, people.  we have NO permanent markers in this house). I really don’t want you to accidentally mark things up.  So please find the cap and put it on before you make a mess.  Please.

{I leave the room, come back in, and find him hiding under the ottoman}.

Jack…Jack.  What are you doing under there?  Jack!  Outta there, okay?

I swear, he is so exasperating.  And so stinkin’ hilarious.

…

We had a jammie day yesterday.  Errr….we have jammie days a lot of days.  Saves on laundry, my friends.

The boys all played together quite a bit…Luke is really into playing now.  He wants in on it ALL.  Tried to capture the three of them together and this is the best I could get.

Then he was like…time’s up!

Check out that drool.  I’m trying to capture his two teeth; haven’t yet.  But did you see that Jack is missing his bottom two?  One morning, loose tooth.  That night…gone.  2 days later the other was gone as well.  I posted this particular quote on Facebook…his first tooth came flying out when he was (ahem, sucking on the drawstrings in his shorts and then gave them a tug).  Yes, my children suck on their drawstrings.  Anyway, when I asked him what happened, he said “I yanked my tooth out of my pants!”  That is going down in Murray history.  Cracks me up.

…

It’s a good day, people!  Snowed a few inches this morning (boo) but now it is blue sky and sunshine.  We love us some blue sky and sunshine!

AND

I made another sign last night!  I’m getting my creative mojo back.  This weekend we’ll put it together and then I’m popping up some of my super-sized stuff on the ol’ blog {for sure this time}.  Can’t wait to show you!

TGIF!  Have a great weekend!

Good Things

Tags

amber teething necklace, hazel wood necklace, inspired by finn, oobleck, Strong Willed Child, You Can't Make Me but I can be Persuaded

I’m back in the saddle my friends!  I’ve felt really great since Sunday.  I thought I’d share a quick post about some good finds the last few days…

First off…for that strong willed child of mine?  Mom bought me this book;

and it’s like a MIRACLE.  It’s exactly what I needed.  It’s an incredibly easy read; I finished it in two nights.  Let me just say…I’m really glad I ran across it while my SWC is 5 as opposed to 15.  :)  It actually made me excited about having one of these guys and gives some awesome advice about dealing with them.  Cynthia is a very strong willed person herself, so it’s coming from not only her perspective, but from many SWC’s.  Funnily Enough, I read Dr. Dobson’s Strong Willed Child when I was pregnant with Ryan, and I thought “Well the nice thing is, we won’t ever have to worry about an SWC, because Erick and I aren’t that way.”  HA!  And Double HA!  Turns out Erick is pretty strong willed himself; just in a quieter way.  I would HIGHLY recommend this book! {Click on the picture, it will take you to amazon}.

…

Yep, he’s rockin’ some necklaces!  It’s a bit blurry because he was in the act of falling over.  Sorry about that.  ;-)

After reading about Amber necklaces for teething, I figured we’d give it a shot.  Teething was NOT fun with Ry or Jack.  Full blown colds with every tooth.  Misery. Luke has been drooling like mad for awhile, so I bought this right away.  While he chomps on his fingers during the day, he is rarely fussy since he’s had it on.  No fever, no runny nose.  I just checked; those teeth are officially here!  Miracle necklace!

I also bought the hazel wood one;  Luke was on a strict poop-once-a-week schedule.  Every Monday, to be exact.  He’s been constipated and extremely spitty since he was 2 months old, and hazel wood is supposed to help with that (among other things.)  Miracle necklace number two, my friends.  He poops either every day or every other day, and while he still spits up, it’s not nearly as extreme.  As in, instead of changing entire outfits (for him AND myself) three or four times a day,  we go entire days in the same clothes!  I’m so happy with this stuff.  It’s made my life MUCH easier.  I bought both necklaces from Inspired by Finn.  Their customer service is awesome!

…

Ok, one more for you to keep this post on the shorter side; we finally did the Oobleck thing.  The boys played with it for HOURS.  Messy, but pretty easy clean up.  Awesome time filler+home school science project!  If you’ll notice…at the beginning, Jack hand his hands all in it.  Ryan stuck to the spoon.  :)  By the end, they were both pretty much covered head to toe.  Once Luke went down for a nap I was right in the thick of it too.  So cool!

Cornstarch+water=awesome oobleck.  Youtube has some fun videos.

OH!  Sorry, one more to leave you with; no pictures because they were stripped to their skivvies or completely nakey.  I filled a bowl full of warm soapy water, gave the boys each a towel, and they slipped and slid their way to completely cleaning my kitchen floor this morning.  I don’t think I’ll ever mop again!  They loved it, I don’t have to do it.  WIN.

Alright, see you again soon(er) next time around; thanks for your encouragement the last few weeks!

If you can’t say anything nice…

Tags

whining

Poof! I disappeared from the internets for a while, didn’t I?  In all honesty I’ve just been trying to fight off the whineys lately.  And I don’t want to come online and just whine, whine, whine. I feel like my posts have been a bit too much of that recently.  But bear with me I will write a bit of it down…just so I can come back to this someday and say

“Hey!  I got through that!”  

Or so my boys can someday read and go

“Mother!  I’m so sorry I put you through that!  Here, let me lavish you with praise and adoration and expensive gifts for all you put up with!”

Long story short…

post-Christmas blues.  grandmothers in hospitals.  life changes for family.

clingy baby who takes very short naps.

Five year old who has morphed into a teenager the last few weeks.  He looks at me and tells me “NO!” when something happens that he thinks is not fair {as in “time to turn off the wii, honey}.  Maybe I’ve been lucky, but so far I’ve never had to deal with a child outright telling me “NO!” to my face before.  He is defiant with a capital D lately.  And it’s driving me right up a wall…having to deal with his disrespect on very little sleep while holding a cranky baby on a hip.  In the midst of a messy house.  Un-showered.  Hormonal.  Jeepers.

And my newly-turned 7 year old is actually being fairly decent…but it’s the fade-into-the-background kind of decent.  When you know he needs attention just as much as the rest of them,  but he’s just not as loud.  So he’s kind of easy to overlook, which makes you very sad.  Because ALL of your children need appropriate attention.

SO.  That being said…from myself to MY mom…

“Mother!  I’m so sorry I put you through that!  Here, let me lavish you with praise and adoration and expensive gifts for all you put up with!”

Or at least a spa day and some shopping.  I love you so.

…

I promise the shop is still here.  I promise there are good things around the corner.  I can’t promise that I’ll be creating them.  In all honesty, I had to take a good look at my priorities while mom and dad were in NM after Christmas.  I could NOT make a go of the sign shop without them.  It would be impossible.  And now that they are back in Maine, it still seems a wee bit unmanageable.  Either {create} or {clean the house}.  That’s my life in this particular phase, once the baby takes his little naps.  So I think I’ll pass the sign making off to them for a bit, and just help when I have a moment for the time being.  However, we’ve been knocking around some ideas and trying to perfect the way the signs are assembled.  We’ve also actually gone through the legal stuff of starting an official business!  I’m very thrilled with the direction that things are going, even though it’s all behind-the-scenes right now.   Need a couple more weeks to iron out the details and to produce a few new designs.  If, however, you are interested in a sign between now and the “unveiling”, please let us know.

…

Started this post yesterday morning!  Imagine that.  Last night I had a conversation with Jack and asked him (when he was in a good mood) “why the disrespect, son???” and he says “I have no idea!  I don’t understand!!”  :-)  Of course, first thing this morning I’m like “Jack, it’s going to be a good day today, right?  No attitude, right?” and he’s like “You are RIGHT!”

And then 5 minutes later, attitude.

We’ll get through this thing.

BLAST!  The youngest is UP again!  These 10 minute naps are killin’ me!

ok, one handed typing.  it’s ok to complain {a little}.  :)  but you can’t stay irked with this goober very long can you?

back to more regularly scheduled programming soon!

Revived

Tags

faith, Health, katie daisy

Update!

Thanks y’all, so much for praying.  Blogging and Facebook?  They are awesome.  Put the word out and people come to the rescue!  I absolutely have some prayer warrior friends, and your prayers have lifted us all up.

So…mom and dad arrived in Clovis last night.  Grandma’s obstruction seems to be GONE, on it’s own.  She does have pneumonia; mom emailed me last night and it was auto-corrected to “phenomena” and I thought, well, that’s appropriate because my grandma is phenomenal!

I just talked to my awesome best friend; haven’t talked to my parents yet, but Joy stopped by to visit with grandma and mom and just called to give me the details that she could gather.  Yay for best friends!  She had pretty much reiterated the pneumonia thing and said she looked good for what all she has been through!  Joy is a nurse so she was able to give me some good details.  Get better, grandma, you hear??

Please continue to keep them in your prayers…it’s all so very appreciated.

On to the lesser news, yesterday I received a check that I had forgotten I was going to get, and I said “Honey, I am booking a massage RIGHT now!!” And I did, and I had it this morning.  Glory Be. I need one of those every darn day.  I had so many kinks and knots in my back!  So my massage was half soothing half pummeling, just to work those knots out.  It was AH-mazing.

It was scheduled for 9 am in Brewer, so I took off around 7:45 and stopped by DD (thank you Dan and Cais!) and grabbed breakfast for the road.  It was a glorious morning, y’all.  It reminded me of my “working days”…I used to be a morning person pre-kids!  I had a commute that wound it’s way through the mountains in Virginia…we lived very close to the Blue Ridge Parkway, so I drove through the mountains to get to the city.  It was such a nice drive!  Anyway, while on the road to Brewer this morning, the trees and grass were covered in sparkling frost.  Gorgeous.  And KLove was playing every appropriate song imaginable…including my fave Chris Tomlin song.  Really God?  Yeah.  It felt like a morning that was heaven-sent.  And I loved that it reminded me of a time in my life I really enjoyed.  Brought back some great Virginia memories!

After my soothing pummel at the salon (A Body in Knead…Dawn was amazing), I skipped over to Target and fairly ran through the store; I wish I had taken my time, but when you have a baby whom you haven’t been apart from very often, you just can’t take your time doing these things.    I was highly inspired, though, and bought two living room lamp bases that were on a huge-ola sale.  Can’t wait to integrate them into our room! I feel a crafty project coming on!

So, for now, I am revived.  I’m still tired, but that’s my life right now.  My spirits are good, and that is what matters!  Oh, and I can’t wait for my next kid-free few hours.  Love my littles.  But being out of the house with no spit up to clean or boys to mind for a bit?  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

By the way, great new piece of art out by Katie Daisy; I own this piece…

 but Holly posted one of Katie’s new ones and I’m in love.  Very appropriate for the New Year, I think.

I love my life right now, but I’m excited to see what Fresh Woods God has in store!

If I don’t post until next year, have fun and party hardy!  I will be, as I have been for the last, oh, 10 years, tucked into my bed.  Probably awake with a baby, but hopefully in bed, none-the-less.  I’ll share some custom signs I worked on next post, fun stuff! Have a great one.

Tired

You know what?

{I snapped that picture in Bangor; I knew my boys would love it, because you add poop into the conversation and it instantly makes it funny.  Poop is tossed about daily in conversations in this house.  They love poop in conversations.  Boys are gross.}

Alright!  Guess what?  I’m tired.  Like, bone tired.

Yesterday, I just hit that point…that all-of-the-sudden-woah-I-need-a-BREAK point.  Baby still keeps me hopping at night.  And during the day, he needs entertainment.  In your arms entertainment.  I’m too good for the swing/jumperoo/cool chair thingy so I won’t last 3 minutes in them entertainment.  I love it when you hold me but please don’t put me in your two expensive baby carrier’s because while I want to be cuddled, I don’t want to be confined entertainment.

And my precious older boys are loud.  And have loud toys.

And Erick, while he finished his Master’s and was able to drop a significant part of his job responsibilities, started a new job a couple of weeks ago (transferring from teaching career prep to History) and became the Key Club advisor this year.  So he pretty much just traded busy for busy, when I was hoping he was trading busy for less busy.

So last night I told Erick that I just needed…sleep.  And quiet and clean (our house is…not clean).  And a break.  I needed a bit of a break.  So this morning, I tromped over to mom and dad’s with the babe, and it was beautiful and spring like and the snow was gone.  GONE!  And mom said “take a date today!  Go!  Flee! We’ll watch the boys!” so I ran home to shower…and got the call that you never want to get.  Ugh.  It was mom, saying that Grandma was in very.bad.shape and they needed to fly to New Mexico.  So of COURSE drained mommma worries are nothing…and I mean NOTHING in comparison to that.  But I traded tired for concern…concern for my grandma, for my parents, for my uncle and grandpa…concern all around.  Actually, it wasn’t exactly a trade…it was just concern added to tired.

So yeah, prayers would be ultimate at this point.  Mom and dad can’t fly out until the morning.  The last word I heard on grandma was that her stomach was pumped (she has a bowel obstruction) but they couldn’t track down her doc to schedule surgery…this morning we didn’t think she was going to make it; right now she is a bit more comfortable but not out of the woods.  I know my uncle must be exhausted.  And my grandpa…geesh.  It’s just one of those times of life, friends.  But I have learned in my mere 31 years on earth that God can produce beauty out of chaos.  He’s proved that time and again.

I won’t be tired forever.  And this is NOT all about me; again, comparisons pale.  I’m dealing with what every momma deals with.  And we trudge through it.  It’s like…joyful exhaustion.  Sometimes the joy comes easier than other times…but it’s always there.  It’s just this sin-tinged life.  Sick grandma’s.  Sleepless babies.  But it won’t be this way forever; there is great assurance in that.

But poop on Satan anyway. 

Poop on him good!

In which she practices great self-restraint.

Tags

chocolate, Christmas, Coffee, Cookie Jar, Crate and Barrel, Dunkin' Donuts, French Press, Nutella

I love my family.  Just look at some of the loot I received for Christmas…complements of my brother and sis-in-law, mother in law, mom and dad and hubby.  It makes me LAUGH.

Coffee and Chocolate anyone?

Obviously, Jack gets his crazy love of sugar from his mother.

I Looovvveee the cookie jar…it’s from Crate and Barrel.  They obviously sold right out because it’s not due to get in again until February, but I’m tempted to buy a couple more when they arrive and make them my flour and sugar and cookie jars. It has a great seal and it’s big enough to stick a cup in if you need to scoop out ingredients.

And that jar of Nutella?  It’s a big one.  A BIG ONE.

I have done remarkably well; didn’t taste a bite on Christmas day, and yesterday only finished a 1/4 of a bar and a spoonful of Nutella.  Ok, two spoonfuls of Nutella.  But that’s it.  Promise!  I started on the chilies and cherries bar.  Consensus?  WIN!

I have to buy some whole beans and grind away to use my new French Press.  Excitement!

I’ll share other pictures in a later post; Christmas was a success.  I hope you all had a wonderful day as well!

Merry Christmas!

Tags

Baby Pictures, Christmas Dessert, handmade wooden signs, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas!, traditions

Our tradition!  Those glasses above?  From Arby’s circa 1986. That year we started having parfaits; vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and crushed candy cane.  This year we veered a bit and added brownies to the mix.  The brownies are staying.

Oh, Christmas zoomed right upon us, didn’t it?  I think it’s been slightly difficult for me to get in the groove because of the weather; it finally decided to snow today, so I’m feeling in the spirit; after I post this blog I need to start wrapping!  Have wrapped nary a thing!  Eek!  A couple more signs to make…a few crafty things to do; it’ll be a busy day.  But fun, most definitely.

Every year I want to get more into the decorating spirit.  I’ve done it up fairly well in the past, but this year…again…too busy to do much.  I put up my favorite sparkly sign, though.

Ryan found one of Ms. Marietta’s snowmen up in the attic and put him on the porch; today I noticed that he was pointed towards the nativity at church.  Excuse the dirty window!

Right now I’m sitting in this beautiful living room; it’s very peaceful.  The older boys are with daddy, and I’m here with little man so we can stay away from prying little eyes and get a few things accomplished.  The Christmas music is playing, the fire is blazing…ahhh.  Love Mom and Dad’s house; it’s such a nice respite!  Dad just snapped this one.  So pretty.

Few of the baby; took this one yesterday.  It’s his 4 and a half month photo.  These days he moves, constantly, and chomps on his fingers like there’s no tomorrow.  Sleep has been interesting because he keeps rolling over every 20 minutes and waking himself up.  Wiggly, adorable kid.

Playing with the boys!  He’s gonna be scooting across the room soon; I rue the day. I just think life is non-stop now…yikes.

Had another custom order this week; a quote from It’s a Wonderful Life.  Appropriate for this time of year, no?

Ok, it’s almost lunch time and I’ve got a pile of things to get to!  Wishing you all Happy Holidays (I, for one, LOVE that phrase)  and a Merry Christmas!  Joyeux Noel!  Feliz Navidad!  Be Blessed, you guys.

The Saturday Evening Post

In my last post, I believe I said something about writing the next day…but Ha!  I put that “I Hope” disclaimer in there.  Whew.

I’m working on a large scale project right now, that is incredibly inspiring but has been fraught with failure.  The creative business, man.  Try, fail.  Try, fail.  Try…foiled again!  Sometimes a success, and then another fail.  But the successes are worth it, for sure.  If this project actually pans out I’m really excited about the possibilities…large scale is FUN!  I’ll share the picture next week if things turn out as I hope they shall.

…..

Kid post alert!

Nonnie brought some Christmas donuts home for the boys last week; red, green and white sprinkles.  Here’s a shot from the DD website, because I didn’t think of capturing a donut on camera.

When Ryan sees it, you know what comes out of his mouth?  Not “A Christmas Donut!” It’s “Wow, this donut is the color of the Mexican and Italian Flags!” And then he proceeds to tell us about the Mexican War of Independence.  Yah.  He is his father’s son.  After the war spiel, he gave Nonnie and I some Word Problems and said “these are tricky, I’ll be back for your answers!”  He’s really great at math in his head.  I am not.  Again, his father’s son.

On littlest brother {Jack pronounced himself the “medium” brother this week}, well, I have always heard this myth of the Easy Baby.  Really?  Are there such things?  At the beginning I thought we might have been blessed with one, but this child.  Geeze.  No rest for the weary!  He’s going to be a go-getter.  An insomniac go-getter.  A stubborn insomniac go-getter.  Maybe he’ll accomplish great things!  Surely! And this exhausted momma stage will all be worth it.  I for-see exhausted momma for the next…forever, actually.

Just look at him conversing up there!  I love the little faces; the thoughts running through his head.  I wish I could know those thoughts.  He really is a happy, happy baby.  Not easy.   But happy!  95% of the time.

…

You know what I need?  Selfishly?  An eyebrow wax and a haircut.  And a back massage (Oye, the aching newborn mother back) and a pedicure (Oye, the aching newborn mother feet).  And let’s throw a facial in there too.  Ta-da!  Spa day!  When I think of all the world’s problems, that all seems incredibly self-serving.  But darn it…a spa day would be great.  Truly.  And then maybe a new outfit?  Actually, before Luke was born I was about to throw out my wardrobe, which consists of about 10 stretched out, years-old Gap t-shirts.  Can I say I am SO GLAD I didn’t throw them out!  I go through about 3 a day!  Once we are past the spitting up stage…new outfit(s).  In the meantime I shall shlub along, looking classy in worn out t-shirts, wild eyebrows and crazy hair.

Ok, time to settle in, for my very disrupted night of sleep.  Yay for God and Coffee!