Sweet Family Time

This week, my daughters and I have had gatherings with friends from church and their kids. We love these play dates and I think it is important for them, as well as myself, to get out and socialize. Yesterday, we went to the park with a friend and her boys and Monday we had a great cook-out with a bunch of friends from church and their little ones.

Today, we have people coming over for a play date and hopefully we can get out and enjoy the weather with them...we want to soak it all up before it gets dreadfully hot outside!

 

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And this one is just for kicks....so funny and CUTE!

 

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How about you? Do you like to get your kiddos out and about for play dates?

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Chalkboard Wall Art

Last night, before my daughter went to bed, her and I had some fun on our chalkboard wall.

My daughter was so sweet last night when we did this together...she ran into the kitchen with her chalk, looked at me and said "Oh!" and then remembered that the chalkboard wall wasn't exactly IN the kitchen, but between the kitchen and the dining room. :)

So after a few minutes playing, we came up with this masterpiece on the wall.
I think I will leave it for a while!

What kind of sweet things do you and your kids do together?

Thanks for stopping by!  

Mantle Update

Our fireplace mantle has been through a few changes over the years. It is always a fun place to decorate but it can be a bit tricky.

I have looked around at other blogs in the past and found some really inspiring photos but have always wanted to put my own touch on our mantle because, after all, it is our home!

 

I have moved a few things around to decorate this space which shouldn't be a surprise, right? ;)

The tall tree branches draw your eyes up towards the ceiling.

I love this little owl candle holder...my mom got it for me last year. He sure is cute!

I took a few books from the bookshelves we built last year

and added them to the fireplace.

 

And the tree branches that use to belong here got moved to the fireplace and replaced with the ones you see in the picture above. :)

Even though the decor is simple, I really like it that way!

Thanks for stopping by!

Memorial Day

Popping in to say Happy Memorial Day to everyone!

I hope you are enjoying this day with family and friends and remembering those who fought for our freedom.

 

We are spending the morning together as a family and then we will be heading to a friend's house for a get-together with other families and some good fellowship.

Happy Monday everyone.

I will be back tomorrow with an update on our mantle.

Thanks for stopping by!  

Inspiring Navy Living/Family Rooms

I love color, which should be no surprise if you know me, and my favorites include green, blue, and neutrals.

I feel it has been a little hard decorating with some of my favorites though, especially the color navy.

I added armchairs to our family room which I painted a while back. They, of course, were painted in a navy color from Home Depot called Wrought Iron. It's a Martha Stewart paint color.

I also painted the back of our bookshelves in navy! So I try to add touches of blue around our home...you can find it in other places too.

But recently I found more inspiring images of navy in family rooms and was just drawn to their boldness and beauty.



Traditional Living Room by Wilmington Interior Designer Amy Tyndall Design

LOVE IT!!! And that rug is gorgeous! I have that same pattern on those pillows on the couch...sweet!

Traditional Living Room by Wilmington Interior Designer Amy Tyndall Design

Same room, just a different angle! My oh my this is so cozy and beautiful! I love everything about this picture.

Image from DecorPad

This room is more traditional, but inviting, isn't it?

Again, that rug just draws me in...maybe I should rethink my rug choice for the family room?!  ;)

Coastal Living

I kind of like that this room has a little pop of blue with some red and green! It's really eclectic but it works!

I love that there are so many images out there for inspiration, don't you?

What about you? Do you like the color navy?

Thanks for stopping by!

How Great Thou Art

I loved this song from Holly Tucker on The Voice...

How Great Thou Art 

Here are the lyrics:

Oh Lord my God
When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works
Thy hands have made
I see the stars
I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout
The universe displayed

Then sings my soul
My Savior, God, to Thee
How great thou art
How great thou art
Then sings my soul
My Savior, God, to Thee
How great Thou art
How great Thou art


And When I think, of God,
His son not sparing,
Sent Him to die,
I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden
gladly bearing He bled and died
to take away my sin

Then sings my soul
My Savior, God, to Thee
How great thou art
How great thou art
Then sings my soul
My Savior, God, to Thee
How great Thou art
How great Thou art

When Christ shall come
With shout of acclamation
And take me home
What joy shall fill my heart
Then I shall bow
With humble adoration
And then proclaim My God
How great Thou art
 

You can find the live performance here! 

Not only does she have an amazing voice, but the song choice was appropriate for the week with all that is happening in Oklahoma right now.

God is great and he will bring healing!!

Thanks for stopping by!   

Musical Chairs

Sometimes the smallest changes can make a big impact.

Recently, I did some musical chairs in our family room just to change things up a bit. I like that the furniture we have can be moved around to different places in our home and still feel cohesive.

 It may be hard to see the change, but I switched up the floral thrift store DIY chair with our navy armchair.

Yep! That's Sesame Street...we love watching that show! :)

A quick before and after so you can see the small "change."

Who knows how long it will stay like this? ;)

But for now, I like it!

Do you like moving furniture around in your home to change things up a bit?

Thanks for stopping by!

Fixing An $8.00 Chair

Yep! You read that right!

I purchased an $8.00 chair...actually, I bought 2 of them from a thrift store a while back.  :)

Overall, they were in good shape and I loved the look of them. However, one of them was "kinda falling apart" because the back came loose.

Take a look.

Yikes!!

Both sides were coming apart so we bought Titebond wood glue to fix it. 

After some wood glue and caulk, the chair was fixed.

Hooray!! 

   

And yep, I switched up these chairs with the darker ones we had before.

Things are always changing around here, big or small. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Jute Rug

I love browsing the internet for fabric and texture to add to our home.

One of the things I have blogged about before is this jute rug from RugUSA.

Their prices are reasonable but I am just waiting for a better sale to happen later this year...usually that doesn't happen until Christmas or New Year's (which is fine because we can wait on getting one anyways).

But I think it would look great in our family room.

Excuse the mess. ;)

Do you have any jute rugs in your home?

If so, how do you like them?

From what I've heard, they seem pretty comfortable...especially on the feet!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabric Choice

Ahh...I am crushing on this fabric from here.

Not sure if I am going to purchase a few yards of it or not but I really like it. It's charcoal in color too so it would look good with the gray accents we have in our house.

If I do purchase a few yards, I may use it to make pillows for our couch because we currently use my Boppy pillow as a pillow right now. ;)

If a purchase is made on this fabric, I will be sure to let you readers know!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

A Little Before and After

I have a few before and after photos to share today on the blog.

As I was looking back at some of the pictures I took of our home when I began to blog, I am amazed at how much our house has changed over the years (and let's face it, over the months as well because I like to change things up all the time!)

Let's start with the dining room, shall we?!

My goodness! Where to begin?

The old wall color was dark and so was the furniture...nothing a little paint can't fix. :)

I also updated our feature wall and added mirrors to brighten up the space and bring in more light. 

There's still more I would like to do and I have added a few things that I haven't shown just yet. But that will come later. ;)   

Now we move on to the kitchen nook...

 Again, I repainted the kitchen and added more statement pieces like the frames and mirror...and the light fixture.

The table itself also got a little makeover. 

And I added some pillows to create a cozy space...which my daugther loves.

It's quite the before and "after."

Our entryway has seen it's fair share of changes as well.

  

Over the past couple of years it got a makeover and since then I have added a few more accessories and changed up the gallery wall...hopefully more on that soon.

We still love our coat rack and use it often as you can see. 

And the space is much brighter thanks to a new coat of paint. Love it all!!

I hope you stick around for more Before and "After" (or I should say Progress) photos coming soon.

Thanks for stopping by!   

 

Family Bible Story Time

Until recently in our household, it has been hard to read the Word together as a family. Mainly this is because of the fact that we have two little girls now and the youngest is not quite 3 months...so it can be tough setting aside that much needed time each night when things get a little hectic.

But reading the Bible with my husband has always been something we have done since we got married and so it is really important to us. Not only do we read through scripture together, but we try and talk about it too. 

Last night and the night before that even, we got to read with both of our girls next to us...kind of a rare occasion. Some people may say that is silly to do because neither one of our daugthers can read yet, but we don't think it is silly at all. After all, is it ever to early to start good things and practices around the home?

 

Now I don't want you to think that our oldest sat there the ENTIRE time we read 5 chapters with each other...in fact, she sat through part of our reading and flipped through her Bible to look at the pictures...it's more interesting to look at picture books at this age then just words on a page anyways. ;) But it's a start and we can't wait until both of our girls are reading scripture with us...it will be a delight!

 How do you read to/with your little ones?

Thanks for stopping by!

Our Little Pillows

One day while I had some "free" time on my hands...doesn't happen too often with little ones, I had an idea! I wanted to make some small pillows for the dining room and the playroom but I didn't want to buy pillows...I wanted to use what I had around the house.

So...I took apart some really old, old pillows that someone gave us a while back and cut the inserts in half. Bam! I had new pillows to recover with some left over fabric and I was super excited.

The chevron pillows go well with the ones we have in the family room.

Aren't they cute?!

They fit nicely in the chairs we have for our girls in the playroom as well. 

 

And someone else approves of them...although in this picture she is trying to color one of the pillows. :) Just before this picture was taken, my daughter was actually hugging the pillow...so she likes them!

Have you ever made small pillows of your own?

Thanks for stopping by!

A "New" Pillow and Ottoman

Okay, so the new pillow and ottoman I am talking about are not really new at all...in fact, I used an older pillow we had around our house and recovered it in the chevron fabric that I had left over from various projects. Same with the ottoman.

 I also restyled the bookshelf a little bit...hopefully I can get some pictures of that up soon too.

I add smaller chevron pillows in the dining room which I hope to show tomorrow. It helps the rooms flow a little bit better together. 

What about you? Do you switch up pillows and fabric a few times out of the year in your home?

Thanks for stopping by!  

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to every momma out there!!

I hope you get a chance to rest and enjoy the day with your family and friends.

We will be attending church together this morning and then my wonderful hubby is going to treat me to a back massage...I made him promise to one because honestly, I don't need a card or candy on Mother's Day...that's just not me. I did get a few cards from family and friends which I always appreciate, but I plan on enjoying the day with my husband and my girls just relaxing. :) Oh and he is making a special breakfast for me as well. Yay!

Have you heard of these quotes before?

I thought they were pretty sweet! 

I hope you all have a great Mother's Day!! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Proverbs 31

Happy Friday, everyone!

Just popping in to say hello and share with you a devotion I read from Emily Clark's blog.

Here is the link if you are interested in a good read:

Proverbs 31 Devotion 

Basically, when things get overwhelming and you are running on empty, turn to the Lord and rest in His love. He is the only one who can give us the rest we need.

I needed to hear that this week and should keep that in my heart at all times- even though I don't always do that, I should. 

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!    

Blog Changes

Hi everyone!

I have made changes to my blogs "Home Tour" page so be sure to check it out!

I updated our littlest girls nursery and have the pictures up for show. 

Here are a couple of pictures for this post but if you want to see more you can read all about it here.

I know plenty of nurseries in blogland are decorated in neutral colors, but I wanted to have fun for in our baby girl's room to keep things from getting too serious. After all, she is a baby and I'm sure she wants a fun room that will grow with her. :)

Aren't these curtains cute? I made them from fabric I bought a few years ago. Until recently, they were in my fabric collection stored away, but they look great in this room!

How do you decorate your little one's bedrooms?

Thanks for stopping by!