The Living Room Tour

One of the little things I do for me just about every day, is to take some time to read Kelly's blog at Kelly's Korner. She is truly an inspirational person... and we would so be friends in real life if we really knew each other! haha.... she is totally missing out, right? :) Anyway, each week she does a little thing called "Show Us Your Life" where other bloggers can post and link to her website. All that to say, that this week in SUYL it is House Tour: Living Room. So here goes....

I have been really excited about this because I am so proud of my home... not just my house. David and I have always worked really well together when we remodel or build. He is the logistics person and contractor and really the person who knows everything about construction. I, on the other hand, just know what I like. So I come up with stuff, and draw really special (aka horrible) pictures to get him to understand what I'm thinking.... and he tells me if it can be done or not and we go from there. Our house is truly a labor of love! David did everything in it with the exception of brick, plumbing, electrical, roofing and carpet. He is such a talented builder and contractor and put sooooo much time and love into building our house..... I would have helped out more, but I was kind of gigantically pregnant with Barrett... (we moved in when he was 6 days old!) How's that for timing!!!

So here is a look at our humble abode...

Front porch - I'm ready to decorate for fall but I just can't bring

myself to it when it is 92 degrees! Come on in!

View of Foyer from Front Door....

View of Living Room from Foyer. The foyer is on the right and the dining room is to the left. David built our mantel and did all of trim work and I love it!!!

Living Room looking into the breakfast nook. I love a good project and my next one is curtains! I have a good idea of the style that I want and maybe I can get inspired to find some fabric and make some.

Since we have lived here, I think I have had the couch in like 8 different places. I had it kind of diagonal for a long time, but obviously it was too close to the kitchen bar. I kept finding Barrett in my kitchen sink with water running and soap everywhere, so the new location of the couch seems to work the best.... especially for safety!!!

My mother-in-law brought a friend over to see Macey and Barrett this week and gave us the biggest complement. She said, "You can't even tell kids live here." We have had our share of baby equipment in the living room, but for now we use the drawers and cabinet space in our entertainment center to hide the kid clutter...

Okay, this is my closing thought. Even though I am super proud of the four walls, roof, and decor that make up our house, it doesn't compare to the people and memories and traditions and love that make it a home! I could not be more blessed! I love that I will have these pictures to show my kids some day (I am sure they will get a big laugh out of all the things I think are so cool right now). But most of all, I want them to look back and know that

as for this house, we will serve the Lord! Joshua 24:15

And PS... If you need any construction/contractor services.... I sure know a good one!

Clayton Construction Company

longest blog in the history of the world....

Here's to randomness! CHEERS!

• I so can't wait for fall to be here and stay here! I mean, if I can't wear my white sandals, then I might as well pull out the fleece!
• I really got spoiled to having my children as my alarm clock since I quit teaching 2.5 years ago. It was always so sweet to wake up to a babbling baby or a sweet, soft little girl wanting some fruity pebbles.... All that to say, now I wake up to an alarm clock on my phone at least 6 out of 7 days of the week... and hit snooze at least 3 times each morning. aaahhh, the good ole days....
• I mopped my floors yesterday and they stayed clean for exactly 2 hours! WOW! Lucky me!!! Maybe I can do it again tomorrow!
• I'm in the process of redecorating Macey's room.... still have a few projects before it all comes together. She informed me yesterday that it looks like a KID ROOM! and she wanted it to look like a grown up room! How dare a 5 year old girl have a KID ROOM! Who ever heard of such!?! .... LOL

This is the before.... check back soon for the finished product!

• I am so excited that the Hog game is on this weekend and my amazing, handsome, work-a-holic husband has declared the couch as his primary residence on Saturday! Wooo-hoooo! We love having him home and I am pumped about cooking some of his favorite foods, listening to my kids fight, and the roar of college football on all day!


• I've been feeling a little nostalgic lately. When I drove back to Jonesboro last weekend, I took some backroads through lots of fields and watched the sun set behind them. I LOVE end-of-summer sunsets during Harvest and listening to some loud country music.... My mind wondered off a bit and I began to think about how many times each of those fields had been farmed and how many times the fruits of the labor had been reaped.... all that to say, God is faithful, the south is amazing, and there is nothing, nothing like being 10 minutes from 'home'.


• Macey is taking Kindergarten by the tail! She is loving every minute of it.... She was star citizen last week for Friendship! So proud of that sassy girl. She is just a sponge. I bought a set of sight word flash cards thinking I would be so ahead of the game and I could work with her on them. Good one... she new 93 out of 100 on her first time through them!!!! She loves to read and be read to. She asked me last week if I had ever read the book, "Who will call you Mother?" ... or something like that, and then told me the author and the illustrator.... trying to jog my memory for me! I love, love, love that girl to pieces. Macey is a test of my patience at times as she is the DEFINITION of STRONG WILLED CHILD!....And it is really like parenting myself sometimes! :) Today, I did have to take some disciplinary action with her due to her sassy mouth, stomping, glaring, sweet little self! After we had a talk, I sent her to her room and told her to write me an apology note or draw me a picture.... This is what I got:

I'LL TREASURE IT FOREVER. Macey is saying, "I'm Sorry" and the mom is saying, " I forgive you". Sweet, sweet!

• Barrett is pretty much hilarious! Today out of no where he told me this: "Me not get my name on board at muuaaa-day-ouuuut!" ... He didn't even go to school today, and it looks like he is really listening closely to my conversations with Macey when I pick her up every day. We are working on potty training (with Barrett, not Macey haha)... YUCK! I know there are worse things to come, but I really hate this job. He is so not into it..... but I am really sick of buying diapers. I can't wait to have that $40 a month to spend on something else..... maybe Dave Ramsey! haha!


• Last random thought: I LOVE MY BIBLE STUDY GIRLS! God is so real and alive in me. I love watching him weave people and things into my life to make me a woman after his heart. We are on Week 2 of Conversation Peace and it is all over my toes. I have a choice in how I use my words and my tongue... either for life or death! My goal is to let God direct my words and clean up my filthy mouth! ...(calm down, I'm not a potty mouth, but God sure has plenty of room to work in me!) So glad to be sharing this experience with so many AmAzInG women.

Disclaimer: I know some parts of this post sound a tad sarcastic, but I LOVE MY LIFE, MY HUSBAND, MY KIDS, AND OUR CRAZINESS! I HONESTLY COULD NOT BE HAPPPIER!