Other Painting Projects

I painted the schoolroom wall in our living room "Dark Cherry" after I saw a friend's home with this color in the living room and loved it.  I moved the clock over to the left a bit after I took this pic because it bugged me that it wasn't centered right.

Jeremiah's favorite color has always been green and Justus' has always been blue so I wasn't a bit surprised when they requested their color for their room.  So, they each got what they wanted, with some brown thrown in.

I got this lovely blue off the clearance "oops" section at Ace.  It's called Soft Serenity.

The green is Elm Valley which I also used on Kate's room to save on money.

Grammy painted two walls in Ali's room last summer a soft pink.  But after I did the other kid's rooms I realized that Ali, our most vibrant child, had the least-colorful room.  So, I took some paint leftovers from the siblings rooms (and a $3 can of yellow from the oops shelf) and made her room more vibrant.  It turns out that the quilt her great-grandma made her matches the walls perfectly!  I mixed Soft Serenity with Heavenly Sands for the turquoise-like color in here. 

She has a clothesline for art in her room since she is constantly making pictures.

We also have one in the dining room.

On my craft day, I had sudden inspiration to use the colorful, cool fabric scraps in my stash to make this large poster for Alathia.  Alathia is the Greek word for truth so that is why I chose this word.  I used scissors, a glue stick, and a large frame from Family Dollar.  It only took about an hour, and it totally fits Ali's personality.

I didn't get the dining room, upstairs hallway, and living room finished like I'd hoped, but I will work on those in the next couple of weeks before we start school.

My Stay-Cation

The second week in August was bliss for me!  Josiah took the 3 oldest kids on a road trip/vacation to his parent's house in MN for 8 full days!  They had a WONDERFUL time with family and cousins and riding in Grandpa's speedboat and on his 4-wheelers and even got to go to Reptile Gardens (my boys' dream vacation) on the drive home.  I knew they were in great hands with their Daddy, so I wasn't worried about them at all.  I had the house to myself for 8 days!  Yes, Kate was here, but she is at a very easy stage and she sleeps 18 hours a day (and no, she doesn't have a heart condition) so I got a LOT of quiet time.  It was my first time with only one kid in 5 years and my first vacation lasting longer than a day away from the 3 older kids.

What did I do?
*Went to breakfast with a friend one day.
*My brother took me out for dinner one day and my parents for lunch another day.
*I hosted an all-day craft day and got most of Katri's scrapbook done and lots of fun time chatting with my friends and eating pizza.
*I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and did not cook for an entire week!  I did a load of dishes once or twice.
*I painted for at least 30 hours and got my schoolroom wall done, Ali's room, the boys' room, and Katri's room done.
*Read for 2-3 hours a day
*Babysat my nephew a couple of times and hung out with my sis-in-law while she did laundry at our house (she helped paint for an hour too)
*Hosted a fiesta for my brother and his family after church where 15 people came and ate a taco/nacho lunch at my house
*Watched 6 chick flicks
*Listened to at least 20 hours of sermons/Focus on the Family broadcasts while I painted.  I find audio messages to be SOOOOOOO encouraging and I think this was the highlight of my time.  It was so encouraging!  I almost never listen to music when the kids are in the house just because they are soooo noisy and disruptive and loud that I can't handle it.  When I'm alone, I enjoy music again!

Here's Katrielle's room!

Rebecca (purple), Elm Valley (green) and Heavenly Sands (white)

A vintage print of girls in a garden from the thrift shop

I made the hat and flower pot decoration for her Garden Tea Party room using materials from yard sales or the dollar store.  The other decorations were yard sale finds.

I painted this frame and then put pretty fabric in it and then glued a teapot cookie cutter into it for a wall decoration

I got the cute "I'm a Little Teapot" decal from a friend's etsy shop.  It matched the colors I picked PERFECTLY!

I'll show you the other rooms I painted in the next post.....

Favorite Summer Moments

A fun photo shoot with the kids

A trip to the beach at a mountain lake we camped at for a few days

My acceptance of a dare by my husband to run and dunk in the ice-cold mountain lake

Meeting my darling new nephew Jedediah and hanging out with him on his first camping trip

Katri and Jed giggling at Ali--they look so much alike here!

Sitting around a campfire with my Dad and brother, making s'mores

Hosting a 5-Day Club and having 5 lovely teen girls stay at our home (1 stayed with her grandparents in town) for a week

They were the best photography models!

A pic of all of my folks' grandkids thus far

The teen purity retreat I helped with--we were in a mall (this is a big deal if you are from WY) and doing a photo scavenger hunt of appropriate and inappropriate clothing to wear for different situations/events

More pics of the teen missionaries

Going on a hike with one of my best friends and all of our kiddoes

Babysitting little Jed whenever I get the chance

Learning to take pics of lightning, which you don't see too often in WY

Doing lots of photo shoots with my little nephew

Josiah found these two red 4-wheelers at a yard sale for $5 each.  His folks bought Ali the blue one when she was 2 and a friend gave us the little one.  They all work so it's like a motor rally in the yard sometimes!  (Kate won't be using hers for another year...)

My happy, easy-going little girl is 21#, crawling backwards now, and eating tons of food chunks throughout the day.

My tiny man turned 3!  He wanted a motorcycle birthday and his favorite color is blue.