A Letter To My Youngest

Dear Webb,

I cannot believe we are celebrating my BABY’S 3^rd birthday! Goodness. It is really bittersweet for me. You are my baby and every stage we go through with you is our last time (unless God- and your daddy-sees fit to add another child to our family) to do it. I feel such an urgency to hold on to every second. To slow down the stages. To hold on to your yesterdays. To cherish every accomplishment, because I might not ever be at this stage again. That is hard for me to wrap my head around. You are so far from a baby. You are a big boy in every single sense of the word. In fact, you are accomplishing things at an amazingly fast pace. Just tonight, I was practicing AWANA with Dane and you were sitting next to us looking through a book. I was singing his verses to him over and over to get him to remember the tune and the words. After a few times through by myself, I would sing a few words and then stop to let him sing what was missing. Instead of him saying it, you did! I just laughed and told you “Good Job!!” but it is like that every day. You pick up on the things Dane is doing and you progress soooo quickly because of him, which means, you are growing up much quicker than you should and quicker than I like! LOL.

Spiderman boots and shades and ready for church!

 It has been a wonderful 3 years and you add so much life and happiness to our little family. I always tell people you are a unique character and that is the best and most accurate description for you. The best word for you would be “joyful” though. You spend all day showing us what joy really is and how to be full of it.

This past year you have really developed into your own person. I have fallen more in love with you every single day. You are hilarious and always silly (you remind me of myself in many ways! – not that I’m hilarious) and make us all laugh all throughout the day. If we laugh at one thing you are doing, you will do it nonstop for the next 10 minutes trying to get that same reaction out of us. You are rarely serious and laugh even through your disciplinary talks and disciplinary actions, which I might add often make it hard for mommy and daddy to keep a straight face. You are straight up crazy 90% of every day!!

Makeup all over your face!

You are super excited to celebrate your actual birthday tomorrow. We celebrated with family at a party a few weekends ago because of Mommy and Daddy’s work schedule. So, you are thinking it is pretty grand to celebrate AGAIN! Thankfully, Daddy is off of work tomorrow. After church, we are taking just you out on your special day. We will take you to lunch and to pick out your present. It will be a day devoted to you and making you feel special and loved. Dane will spend some one on one time with Nana and Papa even though he keeps slyly asking you, “Don’t you want me to come with you, Webb???” I told you we would sing “Happy Birthday” to you in the morning and you said, “I will sing it too!” I am sure you will. You are so full of life and live every moment to the absolute fullest.

Webb, Mommy and Daddy love you so much. More than you could ever imagine. Tonight, I am letting myself go back to the night before your labor. I was a very active mom and I had cleaned 2 houses that morning, taught a water aerobics class at our gym, and run 2 miles that night. I laid in bed wondering if it would be the night. At 3am, I woke up and thought I had wet the bed. To my surprise, my water had broken. I wasn’t having any contractions, but I called the midwife and your grandmothers. My midwife told me to get some rest before the contractions started and that was when reality set in. Contractions would be starting. I would be giving birth to another baby. Maybe a son, maybe a daughter. I was overwhelmed with fear, excitement, anxiety, etc. I bawled my eyes out instead of getting some rest. I could not even imagine what it would be like to have 2 children and to have to share my love between them. How could I ever love another child as deeply and fiercely as I loved their brother??!!! Contractions started about 45minutes later and all that went out of my head. I was focused and determined. We took bets as to what time you would be born around 8:45am (about 6cm) as I labored in the pool in the living room and most bets were for lunch time or after lunch. About 9:45am, she checked me and said I was complete and the excitement hit me! I would be having a baby in my arms in just a moment. You were born at 9:54am and I was sooooo overwhelmed with immediate and unconditional love for you. Daddy was the one who announced, “It looks like another boy!”  Another boy! It was exactly what I had wanted. I so desperately wanted Dane to have a little brother. I couldn’t believe I was the mommy to 2 little boys!!!! I looked at your skinny, long body, your soft downy skin, and your beautiful face and my love didn’t have to be shared between the 2 of you, in that moment, my heart doubled its original size. I loved you just as deeply and as fiercely as I loved Dane and it still amazes me today that God allows our hearts to hold so much love. What a dream come true you were for us! Dane was amazed by you and even now, you 2 are the best of buds. It makes my heart overflow again and again when I see the bond the two of you share.

About 8:30am and 6cm

About 9:15 or so and 6-8cm

9:54am. My first glimpse of you. I was in love with you in that moment.

Webb, you are such a gift from God. We are so thankful for you and not only would our family not be the same without you, I wouldn’t be the same without you. You caused my heart to grow and expand in every direction. You made it possible for me to love better and to love deeper. You teach me about patience and laughter every day and force me to practice and exercise both. You have even given me nerves of steel I didn’t think any mom every truly developed as I watch you try every dare-devilish act you (or Dane) think up. You are absolutely, positively the toughest/most tender child I know (funny combination). Today, you and Dane were rastlin’ and he punched you square in the cheek—hard! I held my breath and you didn’t even bat an eye. You just came back for more. Your daddy and I just had to laugh. At the same time, you will barely fall and pass out and pee all over the place. LOL. You will stand up for Dane to bigger kids calling them a “butt-hole” in exchange for them calling your BIG brother a “BABY!”, but when Mommy or Daddy prays for your sad heart, hurt finger, or missing kitty, you will sob through the entire prayer. I am sooooo glad we had you.

I am honored to be your mom. It is not something I take lightly and I understand my responsibility to you. You turning 3 does things to my heart. I cannot pretend that you are my baby anymore. No, I must face reality. I am the mom to two, very big, independent, amazing BOYS! It makes me want to sit down and mourn the baby days, cry over no more breastfeeding, late night rocking, cheering on the crawling and walking, and first words. I refuse to do that though. Tonight, and tomorrow, I celebrate life. I celebrate that you are alive and healthy and that at 3 weeks old God Almighty healed you. I celebrate that even if I am done having babies, Dane got his brother and you have a big brother to help you and be your best friend. I celebrate all your major accomplishments and even your minor ones. I celebrate that deep down, you’ll always be my baby, and that for right now, that is ok with you. I celebrate every single thing about you and I smile and I laugh… because we all know, that is what you would do!

I love you my sweet, not so little, baby. I look forward to watching you grow and change more and more over this next year. I am your biggest fan!

Love always, Mommy 

Most recent picture with mommy. At Starbucks for my birthday :-)

Most recent picture of you with your daddy (and only one I have on my phone!) You boys played and wrestled in the back of the van for close to 30 minutes. All 3 of you were belly laughing!

The Boys

I have stopped using a baby book for each boy and I have just opted to use the archive of Facebook and my blog to keep up with their accomplishments and cute things. I am definitely more dedicated to FB and I share my life with the world ;-) or so my hubby says.

That's just me.

Transparent.

It is officially time for me to update my blog on the boys.

Dane turned 5 in June and it just doesn't seem real. Webb turns 3 in a few weeks and I find myself saying, "Really, are my baby days really gone?" (For now?)

One of the things Dane has been saying for quite awhile is, "Gollee". It cracks me up and he puts a nice southern draw on it. Makes me laugh every time I hear it and I find myself saying, "Golllllleeeeeee" all the time.

Dane gave up the training wheels the 2nd week of April while he was still FOUR!!! He mastered the big boy bike in 2 days, but was an instant learner. He is now working on "tricks"-- one hand only, one foot on the bar, riding off curbs and riding up curbs. He is quite talented and brave!

He did have his first major bike wreck in June and I caught the whole thing on video. He was racing another boy down a steep hill and lost control. He plummeted head first into the cement in front of me. What a trooper. Although he hit his head hard, scratched his elbows, hands, and knees, and had the handle bars go into his stomach, he cried for about one minute and never really complained of pain of anything. In August, he went down that same hill again for the first time since June.

Dane LOVES to color and draw. He spends hours each day coloring and he is such a perfectionist. Stays right in the lines and is extremely talented. I print things offline for him to color based on what he wants to color. He will say things like, "Mom, can you get on the internet and go to armyman.com and print me off an angry man?" or "Can you go to ninjalego.com and get me a page?" when really I just google, "army man coloring pages" or whatnot and let him pick. His wording cracks me up and his "knowledge" of the world wide web.

He is always sounding out words. "Ccc-Oooo-Sssss-Ttttt-Cccc-Oooo, is that Costco, mom?" It helps that he already knows it is ;-)

Dane picked up the phrase, "What the heck?" awhile back although he doesn't say it near as frequently now.

He loves chores and is always standing at his chart seeing what he has finished and what still needs to be done. Earning tickets and Best Behavior Tickets make Dane super happy and proud!

Dane got "into" Angry Birds right before he turned 5. That just seems soooo grown up to me!

A few months ago, I went into the boys bathroom and there was pee everywhere! I figured it was Webb, but asked who did it anyways. Dane says, "Oh. It was me." He comes in there and says, "I held my goober like a water hose to see what would happen and the pee went everywhere!" I was speechless and trying not to laugh. I told him to not hold his goober like any object other than a goober and to just focus on peeing when he needed to and to clean up his mess when he forgot! In case you are wondering what he did, he put his finger on the end of his goober and held it tight as he peed like you would to a water hose to make water spray in every direction possible!

By the time Dane was 5, he knew 8 Bible verses and today he knows, 14. He loves to recite and practice them. I give a chocolate chip for each memory verse they know and then as we learn a new one, I give 2-3 for new phrases learned. We make up hand motions and songs to go with the verse and it helps us all remember the verses.

Dane's favorite colors in July were-- blue, black, and camo

He is extremely OCD. He has a certain order he gets dressed, does his chores (they are cards lined up and he REFUSES to go out of the order they are listed. He gets all that from his daddy. He will drive Brent nuts and I remind him where it comes from and Brent will start cracking up and appreciate that OCDness a bit more!), and puts his markers in their box (he knows the exact order and I don't. I always get in trouble for putting them in the wrong place. Brent likes to sneak and switch them all around. Dane will pull them out and say, "HEEEEY!!!!!! WHO MESSED UP MY MARKERS???!!!! THEY AREN'T IN ORDER!!!!!!!"). Don't mess with his order or sequence of anything!!!

Dane is a hoarder. I am not and it drives me batty. He, once again, gets that from his daddy. He doesn't want to throw away anything and everything has a special meaning. He has 2 treasure boxes. One is a small wooden one we got from Hobby Lobby and I let him paint it and the other is a Nike shoe box. He keeps all his special things in there or special money (a dollar from the preacher is in there, a dollar from Boppa, and a quarter from Papa.). He has this fireman house that sits next to his bed. All of his special things are on it or in it. It looks like a trash receptacle and drives me bananas. If I even mention him cleaning it up he says, "MOM! No!! This is my SPECIAL stuff!!!"

He loves to play with big boys and if he sees some out, he automatically starts doing "cool" things for them to see or so they will notice him.

Dane learned to swim in July and is great! He must have on googles and I pride myself in that I was his teacher! Whoo hoo! I didn't know I knew how to teach swimming ;-) we saved a lot of money by me doing so.

He has started begging for a dirt bike. He and Brent will sit on YouTube and watch videos of kids racing and search for which dirt bike Dane should get, etc. He is ALL boy!

Dane loves to go to church, Bible study, and AWANA. Almost every day he will ask me if today is a church day.

He is so self sufficient and can do almost everything for himself on his own. I am amazed at what a mature, good boy he is!


Dane has mastered counting to 100 and does almost everyday. Now, he is begging for me to teach him how to count to 1,000 and I refuse to! LOL.

He struggles with his attitude and anger. He crosses those arms and gives looks out that could kill and gets in trouble multiple times a day for it ;-) Definitely something that I am in constant prayer about.

Dane is very interested in Heaven and the things of God. He tells us Jesus is in his heart and I prayerfully wait for the day he is truly ready and understands he hasn't done that yet. I was saved at 5 and I am hopeful and optimistic that this could be Dane's year to be born again!

Dane amazes me everyday at how bright he is and how easily he catches on. I am so thankful God led us to homeschool as each day is an adventure and I love sharing it with him. He is such a good boy and aims to please.

He loves to read and we read chapter books on a regular basis.

I think his love language might be quality time and he sincerely craves that and needs individual time with just mom and dad. Even if it is just 5 minutes here and there.

Dane, I LOVE being your mom. You are a challenge and you force me to better myself constantly. I look at you and see innocence, faith, and happiness. I am constantly praying that God would make me into the mom you deserve. You are truly a gift from God and I want you with all of my being.


Webb is about to turn 3 on Sept 1.

He is still my baby in so many ways though and has even started telling us recently, "I not a big boy. I teal a baaabbby. Hoed me." He will crawl through the house and even outside. Sometimes, he even lays at my breast and pretends to nurse. He will cry out, "Waaaa- Waaaaa". He told us to turn his carseat backwards "betause babies not wide dat way and I a baaabby." We have named Webb as the baby, BamBam.

Webb was potty trained the first week of April and mastered that immediately. The only accidents he has are when he passes out, which have become a daily occurrence again :-/

Webb loves to make us laugh. He will definitely be the laugh of the party and the "class clown". A few months ago, he would turn into a "mad kitty" and would have a mean Meow and would bite the couch or your shirt and pull the fabric back as he had a "mad" face.

Sometimes, life happens and I have to pray for Webb. He might not feel good or have lost his kitty. Whenever I pray for him, I peek out and watch him, he will be struggling with his bottom lip. It comes out and he starts boo-hooing. He is super sensitive.

Webb says, "Hehe. I twick you" all the time. Especially if he lies and he knows he has been found out. He'll look all guilty and smile and say, "Hehe. I twick you." It is so hard not to laugh.

He stacks his food when he eats. Every morning, he eats 2 pieces of bacon (or more, but never less) and I have to stack his eggs on top and feed him. LOL.

A few months back he would say the phrase, "What??? Tell me, momma!" and it was so precious. Anytime I would say I have a surprise, or guess what.

His official Webb Phrase would have to be "I not tare" (said with an attitude). He says it if we tell him he will get hurt or if we tell him his shirt is on backwards or his shoes are on the wrong feet, "I not tare." Sometimes, we tell him things just to aggravate him and hear his response that we already know he will say. His newest phrase is, "I be tough!" Tonight, we were playing down the road and the kids had a swingset. He slide was missing off one side and Webb was about to jump. I said, "Oh no you don't. You'll get hurt and pass out." He said, "nuh-uh. I be tough, mom." I went on the edge to catch him and right when I got there, he acted like he would jump to me and twicked me. He turned to the other side really quick and jumped before I could get there. He laughed at me and said, "I tell you I be tough!" Then, he did it again before I could get to him and passed out cold the minute he hit the ground. He was out for about 25sec and peed all over himself. He has sprained his ankle apparently (swollen and can't put any weight on it) and I said, "I thought you were going to be tough!"

Along with the "mad kitty", Webb also turns into a "mad man". If you have ever seen him wrestle before, this isn't hard to imagine. He squints up his eyes and balls his fits up next to his face. He puts his meanest face on (which is still not very mean looking), but what makes him "mad" to me is how tough he is. He will claw, bite, pull hair, and NEVER give up. You can be dead exhausted from wrestling for 30 minutes and here comes Webb, charging at you again ready to fight once more!

He is tough as nails. Sure he can be whiny, but he is strong and tough and can defend not only himself, but Dane! Dane was being bullied at the pool one day from some much older kids. I was sitting back listening and when Dane tattled to me that one had called him a baby (which I clearly heard), before I could respond, Webb stood up next to Dane, faced those kids, and puffed out his chest. He screamed to that child in particular at the top of his lungs, "WELLLLLL!!! YOU A BUTT-HOE!!!!"

Webb learned to swim in June, before Dane did. That was on purpose. He had NO fear of the pool. He has no fear in general. One day at the pool, before he learned to swim, he had his floaties off because he and Dane went to the kitty pool (Webb has always thought we are saying "Kitty" pool when we say Kiddie pool). He came running back to the big pool which I was in. He had this huge, daredevil smile on his face. As he got closer, he dodged me and ran to another side of the pool, laughing hysterically the entire time and yells at me, "Not tatch me! I tan wim!!!!!". I'm in the water, which makes it hard to run, but I run after him. My sister-in-law, her boys, Dane (none of who can swim so she is watching them while they are in the pool helpless to assist me), and the ENTIRE pool watched this unfold. As I run towards him, he darts back to where I came from, still laughing and yelling, "I tan wim, mom! Not tatch me!!". I run back that way and he darts the other way. I start to get frantic as I realize how big this pool is and how I'm in the middle pretty much helpless while he does this. I start saying ,"No Webb! You can't swim. You will go under!!" He gets more cocky and starts running further distances away from me and yells, "I NOT TARE!!!!!". I end up yelling, "NO, WEBB, NOOOO!" So, if everyone wasn't already watching, they are now. I'm sure they were impressed with how much control I had over my child. He eventually jumps in while I'm no where close and I have to swim to him. When I pull him up, he is smiling from ear to ear and said, "I tell you I tan wim, MOM!!!" I was speechless. I was also exhausted. I told Brent that day, "no more trying to teach Dane to swim. He has a healthy fear. Webb is my number one priority." And he did learn to wim. Very quickly. Now, he flips in the pool instead of jumping. Such a daredevil.

Webb sleeps in his bed every night, but gets up and gets into our bed every single night. A few months ago, every single morning he would call out for me. When I would get in there, he would have his face buried and say, "Baaakk, Baaaakkk" (like a chicken) and he would say, "A ticken in your bed, mom!"

His favorite color is pink :-)

He is still super attached to me and passed out this past week because I told him he couldn't get in the shower with me because we were in too big of a hurry.

He mastered a scooter before the age of 3! I find that highly impressive.

He still nurses in his sleep (not for real). His sucking noises wake me up every night. I tell Brent that means he got taken off the tit too soon ;-) He finds it hard to believe that 30 mnts was too soon to wean.

When Webb spells his name he says, "Double, E, B, B." So it sounds like he is EEBB. He calls "W" a "double".

Webb is like a little echo for Dane. ANYTHING that Dane says, Webb repeats it word for word. I often make Dane let Webb answer first or else, I won't really know Webb's answer.

He idolizes his big brother. I think that is normal. I sure idolized mine growing up!

Webb knows about 8 Bible verses and he took catches on very quickly. I am going to start working with him this year as Dane starts Kindergarten because he wants to do school with Dane and I can see how eager he is to learn as well.

Webb makes more messes than any child I've ever know. He destroys things just to destroy them and spills things just to splash in them. Every morning, it appears more eggs are on the floor than in his stomach. If he is carrying a glass of any liquid, go ahead and count on him spilling it, because he will ;-) He keeps me on my toes and is always finding something get into.

Because of Dane, Webb has been listening to chapter books for about 5 months and understanding them. He loves to read also!

Webb, I LOVE being a mom to you!! You keep me on my toes and force me to work on developing patience. When I look at you, I see joy, lightheartedness, and trust. You make me want to better myself and be all you think I already am. You are truly a gift from God and I want you with all of my being.


I am so grateful that God allows me to raise these boys. It is my prayer that I honor God as a mom and that He receives all the honor and glory for their life. They are such blessings and although they know how to frazzle me and truly make me loose my mind ;-)  I can't imagine my life any other way and I wouldn't choose it any other way!

After Dinner

Howdy Folks!

Long time, no blog ;-)

I love a schedule.

Maybe it is my controlling nature or maybe it is security to me.

I just know I like it and I thrive off a good schedule.

Thankfully, kids do too!

We have a pretty good one going here that is slack to some extent due to summer.

We are up and eating breakfast usually by 8am every morning. Most mornings, by 7:30 (possibly earlier like 6am today).

We have morning chores that need to be done by 9am so we can start school.

School lasts about 45min at this age.

I workout if I didn't before they woke up and they pay to watch 30 minutes of cartoons (that keeps me on schedule to be done with my workout in 30 and cut down on an obsessive habit for me).

Then, we have lunch... do devotions... read books... learn/practice Bible verses... play outside... run errands... just play and have fun all day.

We always eat dinner around 5pm. Sometimes as early as 4:30pm.

We don't like eating and having a full stomach when going to bed and if we ate at 7 or 8, that would be the case for us! Plus, it would totally cramp our early bedtimes for the boys.

We have finished eating around 5:30 and kitchen is completely cleaned up by 6pm.

We recently started a new habit that was adopted into our schedule immediately by the boys and me.

At 6pm, we head out on an hour walk.

This is something we all look forward to all day.

It is not an exercise routine for me and I am not looking to gain an ounce of calorie burn here which allows the walk to be slow and at their pace. We stop and play in the woods, in puddles, look at bunnies, walk through ditches, play with kids we meet as we are walking, go up and down the same street 10x, etc. I get to see my kids enjoying life and experience new things. Even be daring and try things that make my stomach sit in my throat while I smile and act like a 5 year old riding down a hill SHOULD try to put his feet on his handle bars. It's all good though ;-)

I love having this time to be with my boys and having no hidden agenda.

They absolutely LOVE this new habit.

The only thing that I don't like about it is our neighborhood has some freaking MANIACS that think this is a highway. People come flying by and sooooo often are looking down (texting) and scare the living daylights out of me. It is hard to enjoy a peaceful walk when you are saying, "Car" every minute and making the boys get in the grass, far off the road (we learned our lesson quickly!), and standing next to their bike or scooter. By the time we get going good again, I'm yelling, "Car!" and we do it over. Plus I've got two daredevils who like to get ahead of me and do wild stunts on the road (then, I DO get my exercise as I chase after them!) all while I'm yelling, "Car!!!!" and trying to catch up to them to monitor them once we are in the grass.

I know, I probably look like the maniac more than them, but I'm scared for all our lives! No joke.

Brent hasn't gone with us because to be honest, by 7pm, he is tired and we would probably him not go with us ;-) He stays at home in the AC, lounging on the couch.

We all want him to start joining us and I want to start driving someplace close to enjoy our new evening ritual.

There is a school down the road for us and I got smart and tried it the other night.

Brent even came (only because he had to make sure it was safe for us, but still! He enjoyed the physical activity and the boys loved having him with us.)

What a different atmosphere.

First, it is gated which totally confused me! It IS open to the public, RIGHT??? I mean, we pay for these things.

And then, I realized it has FOUR entrances and that is likely to keep traffic out from people trying to take short cuts.

Then, I LOVE the gates because that is safety for the boys!!

We park at the gate and get our gear out and just walk up.

We went tonight and I enjoyed myself soooooo much just playing with the boys nonstop for an hour.

They are both at such fun ages and we had a blast.

Gotta love Webb's self-chosen attire (I always feel the need to explain that!)

We played at this one playground that I think is insanely dangerous and I tend to let my boys do dangerous things. I climbed it and felt sick to my stomach I was so high with no rails. I couldn't believe that teachers allowed students to play on that. We are talking life or death, no joke!

Today, we decided to venture all around the playground and we found a much safer, age appropriate playground. Apparently, the other one is for parents.

Because of the gates, the boys can run and bike anywhere they want without me being nervous and we are alone!!!! I like that a lot ;-)

This game totally rocks! No clue what it is called, but we had a blast playing it (and I got in another workout as I had to hold each boy up to shoot over and over). It really helped Dane practice addition as he thinks 5+4 is 54 or 45. He really got the concept better tonight.

We asked if Mommy would have a girl one day :-)

Huge open field where we play "kick ball" more like soccer if you ask me and where Webb ran for probably 15 minutes straight kicking the ball. They also love the game, "Catch Me" where they run from me and I chase them, ultimately catching them and throwing them to the ground (gently!) and tickling them to death.

While Webb did that, Dane practice dirt bike tricks. Brent told him he has to learn to get his bike up before he can take it down (YES! The stairs!!!)

Oh crap! Does that mean tomorrow he is going DOWN???

Riding through the grass and down hills (this is a mini hill)

This is the big hill with rocks and holes galore! So, I know we will go overboard eventually ;-) It's all good though!

Poor Webb, still out running after I get some water.

Dane riding to meet me at the gate.

I'm smiling because I'm sweating and, for the first time in a long time, that ONLY happens outside and not inside my house. 

I love being a mom and I cherish these evening walks where I get to spend quality time with my boys. (Webb refused a picture!)

We get home around 7 and clothes come off immediately and we shower. 

Then it is snack (pickles, cheese, and pretzels for Dane and me and pickles and cheese for Webb). I dry my hair and then we brush teeth and usually it is about 7:30. We read until 8 and then it is lights out. We pray and I scram out to make lunch, clean up from snack time, wipe turds up from kittens (they crap all over the house!), read, watch Big Brother with my honey, etc.

Not only do I enjoy being with them on our After Dinner walk, the walk itself is so beneficial for them. It keeps them from being bored in that little window between dinner and bedtime routine and it keeps them from wanting a screen of some sort. It also exhausts them and makes them tired when they do hit the sack.

We all get to get outdoors and get some Vitamin D and get that food digesting that we ate earlier. 

I'm grateful I saw a trainer post about making that a habit. It is a perfect one for us. Hoping Daddy starts joining us or at least does for the next 3 weeks (HE IS OFF OF SCHOOL!!!!!! YA-HOO!!!!)

Well, Just saw it is 5 minutes past my bedtime and I'd like to workout before the little angels stir in the morning!

Itching For A Change

I love change.

Not "move across the country and leave all my family behind" change, but things like a new, bold haircut, rearranging furniture, changing styles, etc.

I've always loved dark, elegant colors and decorating. I've been drawn to that. I had been given this gorgeous picture that sits behind my couch a few months ago and it was light and bright colors.

It didn't match my current pillows or my window treatments. 

Best picture I could find of old pillows. (The boys are playing ambulance and Webb is the patient.)

I just knew I had to make my living room match that picture. I LOVED it too much not too. It was no option to get rid of that picture and find one that matched my current style. I was patient though. 

The pillows we had, both Brent and I hated. Last week, I told Brent, "I'm over these pillows. I'm going to buy more." I had a coupon for Kohl's and their pillows were on sale, so off I went. I spent forever trying out pillows, but I left completely satisfied. I brought them home and put them on the couch and OH MY!!!! It totally changed my living room and I LOVED them.

Definitely what my living room needed.

Then, I looked at the curtains. They no longer matched for realz now.

I knew I had to keep looking for something.

I also rearranged the living room and this seemed to fix my need for change for a few days ;-)

I hated that far right corner that had always had an end table there. It also kept the natural light from coming in good.

We dream about adding on all the time. 

I'd say that is a minimum of 3 years down the road, BUT, we still talk about what we want to do all the time. 

Our small house is perfect for us right and now and honestly, my only 3 complaints are: 

1) Our master bathroom is minuscule. I get so frustrated it makes me want to slap my grandmaw (Sorry, Gran!) and almost daily I'm mumbling under my breath (while all 4 of us are in there), "If only this bathroom was a little SMALLER I'd be happy!"

Seriously, so small, this is the best picture you will get.

2) I wish I gym was insulated. It is either blazing hot (which is fine other than not being able to catch your breath) or freezing cold. Only a small fraction of the year is it perfect! I also would love to make higher ceilings and have nice flooring in there.

3) I wish we had a garage. The boys leave their bikes, scooters, helmets, balls, bats, outside shoes, etc. under the carport which is such an eyesore. Then, we have the grill out there, the trash can, etc. (all understandable left outside). There is no attractive way to arrange it all and I am annoyed with it more often than not ;-)

All totally livable things I don't like, but still, we would love to fix the first two. The last one probably would never happen, but we hope to be able to build a new deck and put a concrete pad outback so we could move all that out there.

We dream of adding on a big living room and making the current living room our kitchen eating area. The kitchen eating area now would become a sort of office (with boys, I don't want our computer behind closed doors and this would make homeschooling much easier in my opinion.). We would make a big living room, a small bathroom, a master bedroom with a nice bathroom, and a gym. Oh, and a new deck.

Anyways, I tell you all that to say, my dream for my kitchen eating area is a huge farm table. I could imagine it in my head and see it in there all beautiful and light in color.

I was over our current kitchen table. I love natural light and since it was so dark and tall, it made the room darker and hid lots of the light that would normally come in from the windows behind it.

It hit me last week (after I did some measurements) that we could go ahead and have a farm table in the space we have. It started shopping online. Oh my word. They are all $600+ WITHOUT benches or chairs. I wanted these chairs  in the colors of blue, red, green, beige, and black. That would put me over $500 just for chairs and no bench. GEEZ. Then, I looked at the Website Ana-White and found the exact farm table  I wanted with the plans and everything. Even plans for benches and for chairs and we would come out way under half of the original price for the table alone.

I found the plans and showed Brent and he was completely on board. He researched and read all the details to building it all and said we would go shopping and build the next day (he was off of school for the week so he was actually home. Otherwise, no clue how it would have happened.).

True to his word, the next day, we spent about 3 hours at Lowes. While we were there, my phone was going crazy with people interested in the table I had posted on a yardsale site that morning. We got home just in time for someone to pick it up.

Good thing my hubby was outside and busy!

I only sold 6 of the 8 chairs so we could have 2 chairs on the end of our new table for now.

Here are some pictures of the progress.

Brent worked well into the night the first day (he had just gotten off work). The next day, he worked hard again.

 The table was finally put completely together.

Then, it was time to put wood filler in all the holes (Brent's idea so food wouldn't get stuck down in the cracks. I'm so glad we did. That added a lot to the look of the table.) and sand it.

We then conditioned the wood.

After we conditioned it, we stained it.

Let me stop here. I knew what I wanted. Afterall, I had been envisioning it while we dreamed of adding on. I knew I wanted something completely different than what we currently had. That would mean light. I saw it in my head even though I'd never seen another table or even actual color (that I could pinpoint seeing) like it. While we were at Lowes, Brent wanted Kona color. 

Which was very dark. I was adamant that I wanted lighter to help light up the room instead of darken it. Something we would never normally choose. Brent let me have my way even though he couldn't envision the outcome like me and questioned our decision. His logic was, we could always sand it down and go darker, but we could never sand it down good enough to go lighter.

I was nervous though. Especially since he wasn't technically on board for my color choice.

At Lowes, the only color that was not brown and even remotely close to what I envisioned was Sunbleached.

When we applied it, I LOVED it. It was different, but that is exactly what I was going for. Brent was a little uncertain, but he started loving it too as we painted it on.

After staining it, we had to let it dry good and then put polyurethane on it. Once that dried, we sanded that down a bit.

I knew I wanted the wood to look old and worn down (like a farm table) and not crisp and fresh. Brent talked to a man at Lowes who said to buy Antique Glaze.

I love to glaze (I did my kitchen cabinets). It is soooooo fun because you pick and choose how dark or light and how much to apply. No two boards look the same. I was excited to see what it would look like.

The legs unglazed and the top glazed.

 Never did I imagine it would look so beautiful. AND exactly like I've always envisioned. I almost cried I loved it so much.

Once the glaze dried, we did another heavy coat of poly to give it a shine and to also protect it from sweating cups, crayon, etc.

Table weighs around 300lbs, I'd say. It about killed me moving it it.

 I am in love with it.

Brent will eventually build us chairs (no rush though since school starts back Monday) and I will paint them blue, green, and red (all country colors. Nothing bold.). I will do one to match the table and I knew I wanted a dark one. I knew I wanted one bench at least so he went ahead and made me 2 for now so he won't feel rushed on the chairs. Brent and I decided to do the benches Kona colored like he wanted the table to be since I didn't want it to be all matchy matchy.

Bench probably weighs 50lbs

Brent is cutting down the chair legs so they fit better. I love how this looks. I'm so glad we didn't do the table dark. It would have blended in to our floors too much and been way too dark. See how you can't really tell where the bench ends and the floor begins?!?!?!

We put a coat of poly on it last night. This morning, I sanded it and glazed it. It didn't change the look too much, just enough to make it perfect.

Glazed on the right, not on the left.

Glazed on the top portion, not on the bottom.

Finished glazed bench

I'm really satisfied.

He ran out of wood and had to work today, so only one bench is completed. 

This morning, I was rearranged all the furniture so it fit better.

I took the chest that was in the middle of those two windows and moved it to the living room to make more room for the table.

I circled the love seat and recliner and got rid of one of the end tables.

Notice my new neutral curtains? I got these for on sale at Lowes for $7 a panel! That is a steal! And really really helps lighten up my space. Now, I need new kitchen ones!

I really do like it so much better. We may move the TV down to the chest. You just wouldn't be able to watch it from the recliner and Brent would have to go under the house and we work the satellite wires.

I'm finally feeling satisfied with my house and it really is much lighter and brighter which was my overall goal.

I moved that extra end table to the master bedroom so that I now have a nightstand on my side.

I am sooooooo beyond happy with the turnout of Brent's first time to build furniture. He did an amazing job!!! I can't wait to fill up the table with more kids ;-) or friends and family. This table will always hold a special place in my heart because we built it together, as a family, and lots of love and sweat went into it.

Next up on the list:

A computer desk, a bedroom suit, a desk for the boys, a kitchen island, new living room coffee table and end tables, and outside furniture. YEEEAAAHHH... I'm going to keep him busy!