Hello From Silent Land

Hello my friends from our quiet space. I know I haven't posted for awhile...no other reason than I just hadn't uploaded photos - and I know that's what grandparents are REALLY wanting. :) We have been busy busy with projects, family time....and I've been growing in the belly department. Well...maybe not "me" really but Finn is becoming quite large and has chosen to lodge his little butt right under the right side of my rib cage...very uncomfortable.
Zac and I have made an official *to do* list and have started crossing off projects. We are painting all of our window sills and doors...installing a new bathroom sink soon...cleaning out clutter, getting the yard picked up after a long winter - the projects are endless and unfortunately I'm not much help. If I even pick up Tristan and stand up I feel like I'm about to push a baby out of me - pretty crazy. I DID take all three kids out for almost 4 hours yesterday so that Zac could be home alone and paint...I managed but was pretty tired after it all. It was fun though and it was so good feeling productive finally. I found THREE dollar brand new throw pillows for our living room couch at Target. Yah for scoring a deal. :)

Zac and I decided last week to go ahead and invest in a family membership to the Chattanooga Aquarium. We haven't been for over three years just because of the $100.00 dollar price tag - but then when we thought about it we were like "where can you take a family of almost six to somewhere that nice for an entire year for that price?" Yah...when you do the math it comes out EXTREMELY cheap if you average going about twice a month. The kids loved it and it was so nice having somewhere they could just run around and be entertained for a couple of hours.

I took this of myself to show you my growing bump. When I was pregnant with Brayden I was told by an aquaitance that I look like a sausage on a toothpick when I'm preggers...supposedly all belly. Ha ha...I guess I can take that as a compliment. HOWEVER....this time around the *back* of me has grown too...guess you can't win em' all.

My favorite part of the aquarium (and Trini's too) is the butterfly atrium area. It's like stepping into a rainforest...warm and bright with gorgeous butterflys flitting about...sometimes even landing on you. I think if they had a bench in there I would just take a coffee and sit for at least a hour.

Pretty.

Unfortunately this is Brayden's LEAST favorite part. In the picture above Zac is trying to explain that butterflys don't hurt us...anything or situation that is unpredictable freaks Brady out. He got much better towards the end though and he was so sweet the whole time just making his little "oooh oooh" sound instead of freaking out and screaming.

Funny - he's scared to death of a butterfly but find sharks super interesting and entertaining.

And to end my post...look at the loveliness that came in the mail from my mama a couple days ago. She finished Finn's little baby quilt and I couldn't be more pleased. I love the way that she chooses fabrics that she thinks his future wife might like...because really...what guy do you know that absolutely CHERISHES a handmade quilt. Not many. How many wives do you know that would love their husband's baby quilt? Plenty - enough said.

I love all of her handstitching...such a treasure.

And for my last bit of newness...I found this guy at Ross the other day. I'm normally not a fan of reptiles climbing my bathroom wall but this one made his way into my heart and reminds me of my southwestern roots evertime I see him....so much fun.

Well, I have a baked oatmeal in the oven to pull out...meatloaf simmering on the stove with some red potatoes and green beans...and a pot of 9 bean soup needing to be put on for tomorrow. I best fly.

Yardsale and a Lazy Day

I don't think I've been yard saling myself (I've had two in the last year) for quite some time. A couple of reasons for this....the yard sale quality around here has been kind of the pits. And two - usually browsing around yard sales for hours with little kids just isn't really all that pleasurable. I mean...the "no touches" are endless.
Friday, I had a change of heart. I was on my way to the grocery store (7:56 am thank -you- very -much) and a whole slew of tables and goods were being set up all along the side of the road. Good stuff....I could see the treasures from far off. After you've started yard saling...you can spot a good one from a distance - I really think of it as a talent. :) After I got home we loaded the kids up and went browsing and after a couple of stops i came away with :
- a pair of leather kid's boots
- 7 hand embroidered kitchen towels (different little critter for each day of the week - SO CUTE)
- 4 lovely pottery coffee cups ($1.50 for 4!)
- a throw blanket from Mexico

- a single duvet plus the pillowcase (such a lovely green color don't you think?!)

- pair of old navy shorts for the mama

- a wooden safety gate

- this lovely set of wooden candle stick holders......ahhhh...my head is still spinning from the great deals. Total spent....20 bucks....oh yah...also an Abercrombie shirt and a HUGE hunting knife for Zac that was made in Brazil.

Brady's loves his little blanket set. I made Trin a duvet last week and hadn't been able to make something for the boy yet....just none of the fabrics at the ol' Hobby Lobby really suited my fancy. Anyhoo....a dollar for a duvet and pillowcase...you just can't beat that. AND...it's cute. Pictures of the kids room coming in about a week...we still have one last project to complete before the grand unveiling....wait for it....

Brady has been asking me all week if we could buy him a tie. For some reason he thinks it's something that every boy should have, and I guess he's right. I told him that we would go to the thrift store and get him one on Friday....so he waited ALL week and the thrift store didn't disappoint. We got there and sure enough there was a big rack full of striped,Paisley and polka dots with a big sign "50 cents" above them all. "Go ahead Brady....pick which one you want" I said. His eyes were as big as quarters....just trying to grasp why mom was being so very generous. What can i say?

After we got home Brady made up his little dancing outfit and took Trin for a whirl. I think the tie helped his dancing skills....right as I was ready to take this pic he took a bow.

I had to show off my new little wall decal that I am loving....isn't it so cute? I'm in LOVE with wall decals. I like the fact that some of them look like you have painted on your wall for hours...when really it just takes a few minutes to apply. But then, you have a gorgeous piece of art and no nail holes! I've found that etsy is the BEST place to find decals for cheap and they have TONS to choose from. Sometime just go do a search....I'm already knowing that your wish list will grow tenfold....mine did. :)

Last night I was reading CHILDHOOD MAGIC and she shared a wonderful easy craft to do with kids that they will love. Check it out if you have time - there is a template and instructions and it is easy peasy to make you own balancing butterfly.

We went out this morning to check the flower "bloomage" and weren't disappointed with SCADS (that's really not a great word to describe flowers but I ain't got nothin' else yall) of lilies. So very gorgeous.

Brady had to give his butterfly a drink of nectar

And the garden didn't disappoint either! We had our first salad with our fresh greens and it was delicious....loving that folic acid for my sweetling (aka baby #4) and with turkey bacon, boiled egg and black olives...come to mama. Hope everyone had a happy Saturday and has a wonderful Sunday.

Vintage

Thanks to Grammy for the adorable little shirt....totally cute on my little fairy. What's even cuter is that it matches the "theme" I've come up with for Trin's room. Anything antique/vintage ....girly but not frilly...I just love. So feminine and soft but not "busy." Zac found Trin a baby cradle at the antique mall the other day for 5 bucks! I was so happy because I ALMOST bought her one at Target and thought twice about spending the money...but really wanted to. The next week Zac comes home with the treasure and I was ecstatic and thanking God that I just waited when I didn't feel the "go ahead" signal in my brain at the store.

As soon as we have some of the planted and mulched "goodies" in the front yard I'll show everyone Zac's handiwork in our front yard. He's been mowing and trimming constantly and he painted the front steps of our house...so much nicer now then the old red chipped paint that WAS there.

Count Your Blessings

Zac and I had a yard sale this past Friday and Saturday and it went GREAT! Usually our yard sales don't turn out so snazzy, but this time I feel like God just really worked it out for us to sell some stuff so that we could get a few things done around here with the extra cash. I also was able to sell our couch on Craigslist...oh, and our small patio set that we never sat on. I loved the table to the set but the chairs were kind of flimsy and we normally just sit on the porch. Someday I would like one of the sets with an umbrella...or maybe even just a picnic table for nights when we grill.
Our couch was super nice when we bought it and very comfy but over the years the ends would give you kind of a "sinking" feeling when you reclined the couch. Anyways, both of us have been extremely uncomfortable on it for the last year but felt kind of bad about getting rid of it since we did pay more for that couch then any other piece of furniture ever. Well, I was able to sell it to a nice young couple who came and picked it up with a U Haul the day before our yard sale, and then I just stuck the cash in a jar and started looking at thrift stores and on Craigslist...with no luck. So, after several days of sitting on our one chair and worrying about our decision to go couchless...I just prayed and asked God to send along the perfect couch with the perfect price.
I was teaching at VBS and Zac called me and said that he had been down at a used furniture store and there was a couch and loveseat outside in pretty nice condition. So, on my way home I stopped by....checked out the furniture (sat on it and so forth) and then went in a paid the guys for it...oh, and they have FREE delivery. Now, before these pictures you would have seen TONS of dog and cat hair all over them but we went to Wal Mart and bought one of those Pledge animal hair remover things and went to town on these couches. We took all the cushions covers off and sprayed them with Shout and then washed them in color safe bleach. Then we also got some of that Clorox Anywhere for fabric spray and soaked the cushions with it, trying to get rid of any dust mites and allergens. Thankfully the couches didn't have a bad smell.

Anyways, we worked on them for 2 days and they came out beautifully. They are comfy too and I think I even like the colors. If I find that they just kind of stay dirty I might look for slipcovers. The best part about this?! They only charged us $35.00 for the set....so we had enough money leftover to also get our carpet and area rug shampooed. Isn't that the coolest ever?!