Long time, no post

It has been so long since I last posted. Life got busy, and the blog was put on hold. I hope to be able to keep up with a blog, because I think it would serve as a lovely scrapbook of our lives (if I can keep up with it!). So, although I think New Year's Resolutions are easily broken and short-lived, I am going to attempt to keep up with this blog as my resolution. I'm sure I'm the only one reading this anyway, so I'll at least try to keep up with it for myself!

I have so many home projects that are floating around in my little mind, so I hope to be able to document them on this blog. I also hope to chronicle some of our daily lives for family who are far from us. I also want to tell you about a new blog I have found: Beneath My Heart (beneathmyheart.blogspot.com). It is full of fun home decor projects (on the cheap!), and I love it. Traci, the author of the blog, lost her mom to cancer last year and uses her blog to honor her mother through it. Isn't that awesome? Her faith in God is another reason I love her blog so much. I hope all ONE of you will go and check it out. Right now, she has a fantastic giveaway going on for a beautiful piece of jewelry. (http://beneathmyheart.blogspot.com/2010/01/75-giveaway-from-lisa-leonard-designs.html) Fun, fun!

Well, I'm off to start my morning. Lily is still sleeping and the other two are at my mom's finishing a sleepover. School starts back tomorrow, and I'm sad to see them go. I love having them home. I'm truly blessed.

Hope to be back soon!
Blessings,
Kim

10 Quirky Things...

Ok, part of the joy in blogging for me is borrowing other people's ideas for blog posts. I would hope that if anyone saw something on my blog that they thought was fun, they would feel free to borrow it from me. With that being said, I saw this cool blog entry on a blog called Mindless Junque (find this at mindlessjunque.blogspot.com). So, here it is...

Ten Quirky Things About Me!

1. I am only 8 months older than my brother. How does that work, you ask? I was adopted! When I was born (in January 1976), my mom was a month pregnant with my brother, who was born the following September!

2. I have my left ear pierced 3 times and my right ear pierced twice. Ah, college. The double (and triple) piercings have almost fully grown back. I also had the cartledge of my ear pierced (also in college).

3. I have a freckle on my right pinky finger, and my son has a freckle in the same exact spot. Weird, huh?

4. I located my birth family a few years ago and discovered that my birth mother went to the same middle and high school that I did. She also attended elementary school at the same school my daughter currently attends. Small world!

5. I have a major fear of cotton! The feel of it is like nails across a chalkboard for me. My freshman year of college, 2 of my friends opened up a pill bottle, took out the cotton in the top, and chased me around their dorm room with it. I absolutely cannot stand the feel of it!

6. I only got one wisdom tooth. The rest never came in. I must not be very wise, huh?

7. I sleep with my ceiling fan on high most of the year. During the super cold winter months, I usually keep it on low or medium. NEVER OFF! Ask my dear Jon how much he loves this trait about me!

8. I hate being tickled under my chin or in my neck area. My dad does this thing where he tickles me there and says "Chuck-a-chin! Chuck-a-chin!". I have no idea where that comes from!

9. I can't stand the sound or sight of someone chewing with their mouth wide open. It absolutely makes me sick!

10. I hate crooked pictures! I simply must straighten them.

Ok, now to further borrow a blog idea, I'd love for you to leave a comment letting me know your most quirky trait! It'll be one big quirky par-tay!

Thanks!
Kim

P.S. Thanks for the great ideas about how to do my frame! I'm going to head to Hobby Lobby this week for some scrapbook paper! :) Fun fun!

P.O.O.P.I.E. Part 2 (and some other stuff!)

I'm baaaaacccckkk!


Ok, I've got one more poopie to mention. I don't even know why I'm posting pics of it...it's not so great. But, nonetheless, here it is anyway.

The above and below pics are of the corner of our tub in our master bath. What a boring sight, huh? Those off-whitish roses have been around for about 9 years, and I think that's probably about 8 1/2 too many. What to do? I'm probably going to flip that vase upside down and use it as a pillar candle holder. Now, to find that perfect soft blue candle...

Here are some random pics I took of things that I've mentioned in a couple of previous blogs. The pics were all taken before I began blogging, so there aren't any good step-by-step pictures of these projects. But, at least you can see the finished product!

This is M's ballet barre I told you about. I just love it! Oh, and be sure to ignore all of those fingerprint smudgies that are covering the mirrors. With 3 children in the house, as well as all of their playmates, it is virtually impossible to keep that sucker clean! I guess I could have whipped out the Windex for all of you before snapping away, but why create false impressions?!

I just love it, and so does she! She just started her 6th year of dance this year, and she's only 7! She started at age 2, and for the last couple of years, Jon and I ask her if she wants to continue or do something else. She always wants to keep going, and I'm secretly happy. She is learning so much about gracefulness and discipline. And, her teacher is the greatest.

This is a little wooden butterfly peg that I bought for her when she was 18 months old. Jon and I went away for a weekend with friends, and we got this for her at a craft fair. It used to be cotton candy pink, which matched her room in our old house. Well, we changed that! Just look at her now! M loves it!

And, lastly, here is our little "L" at her second ballet class. I didn't get any shots of her at the first one, since she was attached to my leg the entire time. This week, we got there 15 minutes early, and that gave her some time to warm up. It helped SO much, because she danced and did everything her teacher asked her to do! Praise God! She was so fun to watch. I couldn't have been more proud of my little girl!

Now, I'm off to eat Qdoba with my family! YUM!

Have a terrific weekend!

Love, Kim

P.O.O.P.I.E.

Say what?

Yep, you read it right. I said P.O.O.P.I.E. It's an acronym created by the awesomely talented Nester that stands for People Opposing Objectionable Pretend plants In the Environment. Whew...what a mouthful! And, since I don't know how to do a linky thing yet (Lori Anne...we're gonna have to work on that!), you can see her blog at nestingplacenc.blogspot.com. You are supposed to post pics of fake plants/flowers that you have around the house and see if people think they are worthy of sticking around or not. I'm arriving fashionably late, because this thing started yesterday. But, better late than never, right? Here are my lovelies, scattered throughout the house.

Here is the one that is in my entryway. I found it at a garage sale, vase and all, for a whopping 25 cents. Truth be told, I bought it for the vase, but I never did anything with it. I think my mom thinks it looks like it belongs to an 80 year old and not a 32 year old, but whatev. I did buy it from an 80 year old-ish woman, though. :) What do you think? Should I spray paint that vase black or leave it green to match the dining room?

Ok, here's another that is on my baker's rack in the kitchen. It's a fruit and flower topiary that I got at a home consignment shop here in town. I only paid $4.00 for it. It's one of those things that looks better from a distance than up close...so don't be gettin' too close, ya hear? :) I like it. I'm keeping it!

Welp, an angry almost 2 year old has now risen early from her nap, and M's school bus will be here any minute. Consider this post to be continued...

Love, K

I'm Stepping Up!

Hi there! (I may actually be talking to four people now...my blog friends are growing!). As all weeks, this one has been busy with soccer and dance practices, work, school and preschool, and life in general! Our little L had her second dance class this week (mommy and me...so cute), and she was great! Quite a change from the week before, where she enjoyed crawling up my leg and saying "no!" the entire time. :) This week, she was arabesquing and plieing (probably not a word) all over the place. N had his first soccer game, and he actually kicked the ball a couple of times! Yay! And, M had her first choir practice at church last night. She loved every minute of it, and it makes her little singing momma so proud!

So, while M was at choir, I went to a Bible study. I just KNOW it's going to be incredible. First off, it's Beth Moore...no explanation necessary, for those of you familiar with Beth's work. Second, it truly spoke to my heart last night. I had a few times where I was choking back tears. If given the opportunity, give it a chance. It's called "Stepping Up", and I can't wait for next week.
I'll try to post again tonight with lots of pictures. I still need to get pics of the kids' rooms on here, as well as some stuff we've done over the past week. Have a great afternoon, and thanks for dropping by!

K

It's Photo Time!

Hi, all (yes, I'm talking to all 2 of you!),

I'm having fun trying to figure out how to make my blog "cooler", so I'm going to try playing around with posting pictures. So, here goes nothing...

My favorite season is fall. I love the changing of leaves, the cooler temps, the smell of cider...I pretty much love anything associated with this time of year! Today, I decided to break out some of my fall decorations. Here is something I threw together for a simple and inexpensive centerpiece for my dining room table.

I have held onto this hurricane shade for years, thinking that I would someday have a use for it. Well, friends, that day has come. Here is the plain Jane shade:

Then, you add a taper candle and holder that you purchase at Hobby Lobby for 50% off!

While you're at the Hobby Lobby, pick up one of those handy dandy candle rings for 50% off, too. Ya gotta love the deals at the Hobby Lobby! My heart starts racing and life gets a little happier when I enter that store!

Put 'em all together, and voila!!! :) A happy, cheap centerpiece!

Now, that makes me even more excited for fall to come. While I'm working on getting the hang of posting pictures, these next two are for my friend Jeanne. I bought a tassel from Susie Harris. She has the sweetest blog with the most wonderful projects to do. Anyway, I fell in love with her and her tassels and had to buy one! So, I did. Here is my tassel. Her name is "Miss Fancy", and no, I didn't name her. Susie did! She was great to buy from, and the packaging was amazing with handcrafted tags and a handwritten thank you note. So sweet. So, I shared my love of the tassel with Jeanne, and she now owns one from the Nester, another fabulous tasseller (is that a word?). I love me some tassels, and I WILL learn how to make them. You just wait!!

Here is Miss Fancy...she is hanging in our master bedroom in all her robin's egg blue and chocolate brown glory!

Now, for the two of you reading, could you give me some advice? I have this picture frame a friend gave me two Christmases ago, but I want to use it for something besides pictures. The three openings are 3x3 each, so they don't allow for very large items. I was thinking of using something with scrapbook papers or embellishments. Any suggestions? Take a looksie. Then, drop me a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks!

One more thing...I have decided not to use our whole names on this blog in order to protect the kids from any yucky people who may be lingering out there in cyberspace. Since our initials spell out a portion of the alphabet (J, K, L, M, and N), I decided I will call us by those instead of our names. Thanks for understanding!

Thanks for dropping in!

K :)

Blogging 101

Wouldn't it be nice if there were actually a class for blogging? I would SO be signing up for it!! I really want to learn how to put pictures in my blog, because that would make these entries WAY more exciting for all of you (as well as myself!). If anyone has any tips for doing so, please send them my way. Otherwise, it's all just my boring babble on the page!

This weekend has flown by, as they all seem to. We spent Saturday at home! Yippee! It was so nice to stay around the house with the kids and hubby instead of all of us flying in different directions like we do through the week. With the two oldest going to two different schools (on two completely different sides of town, by the way), an almost 2 year old to change a diaper and dress, and a husband going to work, it is nothing short of CRAZY around here!

We actually accomplished some things! We hung M's ballet barre, which was about 18 months overdo, and it looks great. She just loves it! (See, here would be one of those times where a pic would come in handy! Hook me up, people!) Seriously, I'll take a pic and see what happens! Now, if I could just get the hubs to hang up my Southern Living magazine/toilet paper holder, all would be right with the world!! :) It doesn't take much to make me happy, obviously!

Today, we took the kiddos for lunch at the Pizza King Station. Have ya been there? The kids LOVE it. The little train brings you drinks, and the booths have TV's to keep all of us happy. J and I were actually able to talk during lunch. Shocker!

I hope you have all had a great weekend, whether it was with family or friends. See you soon...with pictures, I hope!

Love, K