Baby Adalynn's Room

Doing Adalynn's room was way more fun than I expected! I was feeling absolutely no inspiration on a theme or whatnot, but once I got rolling it came together rather quickly. It ended up being an "enchanted forest, princess-y" sorta theme. I will probably add more greenery on the ceiling eventually. But it's finished for now, and very pretty!

Her "grand" entrance...

My favorite corner of the room.

I made these curtains from 2 solid creme panels (which I bought at Ross for pretty cheap.) I hung a scrap 1x4 board with small L-brackets, after hot gluing the 2 panels to the top & sides. (I used both panels back to back to give it plenty of bulk at the bottom.) From there, I hot glued my ribbons to the top, and pinned the other part of ribbon to the back so I could bring it under and tie it.

Easy-peasy, and no sewing!

Not hanging anything over a crib that could possibly fall and injure the baby was a real challenge to me. I mean, who wants a bare wall?? So we ended up angling the crib a little and using my veil & tiara (from my wedding) as a soft canopy.

My mom *the miracle worker* secured the veil to the ceiling using wide silk ribbon and large [ribbed] nails.

I put up the greenery using small nails & hot glue.

These frames were originally mirrors. Nick said there were too many mirrors in the room... (he was right,) so I tried out this idea I saw in a book & hot glued silk flower heads on them to make my own wall art.

My mom had the idea for hanging this mirror (which came from my grandmother) low to create a little "dress up" area. The pretty hooks hanging beside it & the stuff to make this garland was actually the only thing I had to go out and buy for this room. (Hobby Lobby :)

This is the *gorgeous* dress her Mimi Mofley bought her for her dedication... I don't think I could love this dress any more- I HAD to display it!

These tap & ballet shoes were mine when I was little. SO glad my mom kept them all these years!

A little tulle... and a little ribbon to soften up this lamp.

The changing table on the opposite wall...

(btw- thanks so much to mom & Courtney for painting this room for me!!! It's hard to see in the pictures, but they did a ragging method with a light creme color. It's subtle and beautiful- just what I wanted!)

These Cinderella plates were mine when I was young. They've been in my hope chest for so many years... I can't believe I finally have a use for them!

Addy's closet:

The renter who lived here was a carpenter. He removed the original hanging bar that went across and replaced it with 2 shorter ones on each side which works great for a kid's closet. There's SO much more hanging space. The one thing we added were these 1x6 boards across the back and sides for a shoe shelf:

Her tiny shoes don't take up the entire thing so I also have small stackable baskets on this shelf holding her socks, headbands, pantyhose... etc.

Wonderful space saver!

*We did the same thing in Ben's closet. He's in a size 7 now and his shoes still don't hang off yet, but if you have a bigger child, you may want to go with 1x8 boards instead. Just make sure your L-brackets fit whatever size board you're using.*

Thanks for looking!

Homeade Granola

Well, Becky's post about her homemade granola bars inspired me to make some as well :) I haven't made homemade granola in YEARS and I don't know why.

It's so much cheaper,
so much healthier
and so much yummier!!

Now that Benjamin eats snacks every day our grocery bill has gone up a little so this is really gonna help out with that!

I make substitutions EVERY time I make this recipe- just depending on what I have in the pantry or what I'm in the mood for- but, here's the original recipe:


6 c. rolled oats
1 c. sunflower seeds
1 c. sliced almonds
1 c. coconut
3/4 c. sesame seeds

1 c. honey
1/2 c. water
3/4 c. canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla

Here's what I made today...   (Craisins in the place of the coconut, and chocolate chips in the place of the sesame seeds... oh, and I halved the recipe.)

Mix the dry ingredients together.

Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl...

...and pour into the oats mixture.

Toast on a greased baking sheet @ 325F.

I always cut half into bars, and I break up the other half to eat over yogurt.

YUMMO!

Easy right?

Ben's Room

For the very first time, Benjamin now has his own room!!

He loves it. Mommy and Daddy love it. Everyone is REALLY happy. ;)

It's really the only room in our house that is totally finished. The rest of the house is really close... just a few minor things here and there before I post pictures. I'm working on drapes for all the other rooms right now.

I wanted Ben's room to be fun and colorful, but at the same time, very functional. I think I managed to achieve both with this room and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Here's what you see when you walk in the door:

(sorry this pic is so dark)

I found some long purple & white panels on a clearance rack and re-worked them to make Ben's curtains.

I cut off the purple part... (they didn't need to be floor-length for a kid's room anyhow,) then I sewed on some red bias tape to the bottom.

I made his top valance with a large piece of cardboard, quilt batting & some

extra red fabric I had.

*tip: I've learned from HGTV to always make a window look bigger if you can- so I hung the curtain rod far above the actual top of the window; making it appear taller. This "valance" covered that little trick.*

I added some red pom-pom trim.

*Don't use pom-pom trim in an area that can be reached by smaller babies as it can be a choking hazard.*

Then I made a euro-sham pillow case (w/ some red trim) using another identical panel.

Okay, so here's to the left of the bed:

The first main thing I wanted was toy organization...

Shelves - Home Depot

Baskets-Dollar Tree.

Ben is allowed to have 2 baskets down at a time. If he wants something different, we clean up1 basket before taking another down. This saves me SO much clean up time. Our "dump everything into enormous toy boxes" system we had going kept everything a mess. Now, toy sets stay together, puzzle don't lose their pieces, and I can decide whether or not I want Ben playing with noisy toys.

(Those aren't the ones in his reach.)

2nd thing I wanted in Ben's room: a comfy movie area.

*the 2 wooden airplanes hanging from the ceiling were on top of Nick's grooms cake at our wedding- (Since he's an A&P)

This old toy box and rocking horse belonged to Nick when he was little...

Nick and I found this old-fashioned writing desk at a resale shop & loved it!

The Dr. Seuss quote "Oh the Places We Will Go" titles this wall filled with maps of far-off places, Great-Grandpa Mofley's binoculars and the mileage distance to destinations we plan to visit.

I bought these letters at Hobby Lobby for $1.77 each, spray painted them red, and hot glued twine on for some cheap, extra decor.

Well, that concludes your tour of Ben's room : D

Hope you enjoyed it!

Love believes the best

"Love believes all things, hopes all things." -1 Corinthians 13:7

In the deep and private corridors of your heart, there is a room. It's called the Appreciation Room. It's where your thoughts go when you encounter positive and encouraging things about your spouse. And every so often, you enjoy visiting this special place.


On the walls are written kind words and phrases describing the good attributes of your mate. These may include characteristics like "honest" and "intelligent," or phrases like "diligent worker," "wonderful cook," or "beautiful eyes." They are things you've discovered about your husband or wife that have embedded themselves in your memory. Then you think about these things, your appreciation for you spouse begins to increase. In fact, the more time you spend meditating on these positive attributes, the more grateful you are for your mate.


Most things in the Appreciation Room were likely written in the initial stages of your relationship. You could summarize them as things you liked and respected about your loved one. They were true, honorable, and good. And you spent a great deal of time dwelling on them in this room... before you were married. But you may have found that you don't visit this special room as often as you once did. That's because there is another competing room nearby.


Down another dark corridor of your heart lies the Depreciation Room, and unfortunately you visit there as well. On its walls are written the things that bother and irritate you about your spouse. These things were placed there out of frustration, hurt feelings, and the disappointment of unmet expectations.


This room is lined with the weaknesses and failures of your husband or wife. Their bad habits, hurtful words, and poor decisions are written in large letters that cover the walls from one end to the other. If you stay in this room long enough, you get depressed and start expressing things like, "My wife is so selfish," or "My husband can be such a jerk." Or maybe, "I think I married the wrong person."


Some people write very hateful things in this room, where tell-off statements are rehearsed for the next argument. Emotional injuries fester here, adding more scathing remarks to the walls. It's where ammunition is kept for the next big fight and bitterness is allowed to spread like a disease. People fall out of love here.


But know this. Spending time in the Depreciation Room kills marriages. Divorces are plotted in this room and violent plans are schemed. The more time you spend in this place, the more your heart devalues your spouse. It begins the moment you walk in the door, and your care for them lessens with every second that ticks by.


You may say, "But these things are true!" Yes, but so are the things in the Appreciation Room. Everyone fails and has areas that need growth. Everyone has unresolved issues, hurts, and personal baggage. This is a sad aspect of being human. We have all sinned. But we have this unfortunate tendency to downplay our own negative attributes while putting others failures under a magnifying glass.


Let's get down to the real issue here. Love knows about the Depreciation Room and does not live in denial that is exists.


But love chooses not to live there.


You must decide to stop running to this room and lingering there after every frustrating event in your relationship. It does you no good and drains the joy out of your marriage. Love chooses to believe the best about people. It gives them the benefit of the doubt. It refuses to fill in the unknowns with negative assumptions. And when our worst hopes are proven to be true, love makes every effort to deal with them and move forward. As much as possible, love focuses on the positive.


It's time to start thinking differently. It's time to let love lead your thoughts and your focus. The only reason you should glance in the door of the Depreciation Room is to know how to to pray for your spouse. And the only reason you should ever go in this room is to write "COVERED IN LOVE" in huge letters across the walls.




The above is an excerpt from Day 7 in the "The Love Dare." Reading this brought conviction to my heart, not only regarding my thoughts towards my husband, but also towards my brothers and sisters in Christ. Do I assume the best about people? Do I focus on the great things about their personality? Or do I relish hearing a negative tidbit of gossip about a friend? I do not have the ability, nor the responsibility to change others. I am responsible for me. What I am called to do, is to love others with a Christ-like love. If I truly have that agape love, I will believe the best about others. If someone offends me, I will assume that was the absolute last thing they intended. I will give them the benefit of the doubt, just as I'd hope they would do for me.

What a revolutionary way of thinking, huh?

WE MOVED!!!!

Which is why I haven't been on to blog in awhile.

God is awesome. Throughout the last 4 months- well, the last 2 1/2 years actually... my faith wavered quite a few times. Initially I was very confident that He had a master plan and would work everything for good. But lately, I had really began to question if God cared where we were... if He was paying attention to the fact that Nick needed another job... if we would EVER find a place of our own to live...

Of course He knew exactly where we were all the time. My patience is so short sometimes and I so easily forget God's faithfulness. I would not blame God one bit for being exasperated with me. A few months ago, Nick looked at me and said, "You know, if I were God, I'd probably hit me over the head and say "What in the world is wrong with you?!?! Don't you get it?? I keep telling you the same things over and over!!!"" I smiled and responded, "Well, do you feel that way towards Benjamin?" Nick smiled back and answered, "You're right! I never feel like smacking him and giving up on him! I still just want to love on him and encourage him that he'll eventually 'get it'."

We're just human- and yet we have so much love and compassion for OUR children... can you imagine how much more God feels that way towards us? His patience is incredible.

Basically what's happened is: God has restored our house and Nick's job.

Nick transferred to a different location in GE (to be closer to home and have 1st shift hours.) The new location turned out to be a horrible work environment. He was so miserable while there and he ended up leaving. We were living on savings for a few months and wondering when Nick would find something else. He had a few offers out of town and we were praying about that.... we put out fleece after fleece about numerous jobs and God always let us know it wasn't meant to be. It's great when God answers you, but the answer "no" can get frustrating after awhile. Soon, I was wondering if anything was ever going to work out. Of course, timing is EVERYTHING, right? :)

God's timing was perfect. January came, and Nick's old job wanted him back. Since we have a baby due in 8 wks. I told Nick we HAD to get our own place. (We'd been living with my parents for about 9 months.) We were making arrangements to move into a rental within a couple of days when we got a phone call. The investment company we sold our house to wanted to sign it back over to us- for NOTHING. Nope, not kidding. Apparently, after buying our house 2 1/2 years ago, the economy had gotten worse and they'd had no luck getting a tenant's loan approved to purchase the property. Since the title was in their name a little too long for the bank's comfort, the bank declared fraud on them with our loan and they were forced to hand it back over to us.

Soooo... if they had called a few days later, we would have already signed another contract and been in a bind. But, God KNEW that, didn't He? He DID have a master plan- a WAY better one than I could ever think up. Now, we are in our house again that we OWN, it's exactly the size and location that we need, there's a great park for Benjamin, we have our own yard.... I am just so overwhelmed at God's blessings on us! He knew what we needed, and He knew what we needed to go through in order to appreciate it. There is a gratefulness in my heart now for my house and Nick's job that wasn't there before. The experience was difficult, but so worth it.


These days I'm just busy, busy, busy preparing the house for the baby's arrival. The cleaning, unpacking, painting, decorating... etc. pretty much takes up my days. I'm NESTING big time! *btw- if you have a Gospel Assembly church phone book from a few years ago, that's our address (again) :)*

Everything is GREAT with the pregnancy! And- gotta slip 1 more praise report in here: Would you believe this house is in the SAME condition as when we left it?? Better, actually. The guy who lived here built shelving in the closets and garage. The paint on the walls is even the same. I just can't get over how amazing God is. He really gave me the desire of my heart- and I honestly didn't even know what it was.

Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

God really knows how to "press down" and "shake together" a blessing, doesn't He?

He is SO good.

Smocked Bonnet

I get my craftiness in "spurts". I sometimes stick my sewing machine in the closet for 6 months at a time without even looking at it- then suddenly, I'll have a burst of creative energy & do several projects in a weeks time.

Having a baby girl on the way has really gotten my creative juices flowing again! So much so, that I've pulled out some "old" projects to share with you. Lately I'm realizing how many skills I've learned over the years that I never use anymore. Perhaps I just like to learn... & once the initial exhilaration is over... well, you get the picture.

I made and smocked this bonnet when I was 16. I saved it in case I ever had a little girl...

I can't say that bonnets like this are exactly my style...

(this was a required project in my smocking class during EXCEL)

Although it IS very pretty and dainty...

After getting some pictures of her in it, I will probably re-fashion this piece of

smocking into a dress.

Before the smocking begins, your fabric must be pleated either by machine, or the old fashioned hand/dots method. Some crafts/sewing stores have their own pleating machine which you can pay a small fee to use.

The rest is needlework. Hours of needlework.

I've always loved smocked dresses, but after completing this project I had a deeper appreciation for work that goes into them- and I finally understood why they cost so much!

I may never smock again...

but I do have a feeling of accomplishment when I look at this little bonnet :)

For more information on smocking visit this website.

Note: (this website uses the old-fashioned method of self pleating/smocking dots)

Creations for Baby Adalynn

I bought these little Keds at a resale shop & they had a couple of stains on them...

so I bleached them- which ended up turning them kind of YELLOW :(

Just wasn't in the mood to scrub w/ oxi-clean or whatever is supposed to work...so....

First I sponged them with white "puff" fabric paint...

+-

Then I sponged them with silver glitter glue over that.

Hey, they were only $3... but I'm really cheap, and I am SO relieved that I salvaged them!

They actually turned out super cute- AND they will still match just about anything.

(Why is it that all the cheaper brands of baby tennis shoes have weird designs or really specific color schemes? Don't they know we can't afford to buy a pair of shoes for each outfit?!)

And HERE is the first wipe case I've made for Addy.

Guess this decides it. We can't change her name again- unless it's something else with an "A". :)

Ha... every time I look at this pic I OBSESS over how that pink ribbon isn't perfectly straight. Oh well, it looks pretty good in person y'all! :)

LOTS more to come!! :) :) :)

happy new year!