*lyssa beth*: April 2012

A slight remodel.

BEFORE: Cramped, dark, cluttered and claustrophobic!

This is the view from the other side of the shutters, in the dining room.

The Change begins!
Lore and I began by figuring out what was going where and colors. She graduated from Interior design so it was fun to her ;)
The first day was prepping. We removed stuff, taped stuff off, wiped down the walls and moved furniture away from the walls. You don't realize how long that process lasts!
We started by moving the love seat up stairs into the extra "Craft room" to free up some space, which the lovely Risdon's helped us out with that.
Then we started priming the wall. We had the kids help for just a little bit until we kicked them out.

Next, we painted the wall with white paint. I needed something to lighten up this space! We also removed the curtains, which helped a ton! That alone did wonders!
We also moved the entertainment center over against the wall and removed the shutters that blocked the archway, to open up the space too.

Next was getting stuff back up! Lore helped me a ton with this part. We went down into the basement thrift store to find stuff around the house to use. I wanted the "Simple, modern, cottage chic" Style. I've come to love "LESS is MORE".

Of course, a BIG THANK YOU to Lore Smart. She is amazing, talented, upbeat and so patient with me, who was in the midst of feeling gross in my first trimester of pregnancy. The best part is that she helped motivate me to do this while Joe was out of town for Spring Break, so we got this all done in like 3 days. So when Joe came home, was was totally shocked!
I LOVE the new changes. Makes the home environment so much more enjoyable! And all I really spent on this project was a gallon of white paint. Everything else, I had :)

Used to care

I used to care about craft blogs.
I used to care about doing things right.
I used to care about thrift stores or hitting yard sales.
I used to care about redoing junk.
I used to care about FB but even that's become annoying and meaningless.

Looking back, they all just don't seem that important these days. As i've been trying to simply my life, I have come to terms with things in it that are just "fluff". They don't improve me as a person. They don't make me a better wife or mother. They just distract me from what's really important.
I have been consumed by fluff! That Satan is a tricky one for sure.

Why did I care so much about fluff?

I'm realizing time is not on my side, especially when it comes to my kids. I look at them and i grow sad at the thought of them growing bigger, becoming more independent...so much so that they won't need me. That scares me. Especially in the past when I was so caught up that when they did ask for help, I was distracted. I'm embarrassed and ashamed as the weak individual that I am.

These are kind of the thoughts i've had lately, especially as a mom....when you're oldest is almost done with Kindergarten and got her first pair of laced sneakers!
When your second has registered for Kindergarten for next year!
And when your youngest is riding a bike with training wheel now...

I have a lot of growing up to do still!

Easter Best 2012

On Easter Sunday, the kids and I were all sick. So we missed dressing up and going to church as a family. But we were ready to go the next week.

Here are the kids all dressed up before church. Luckily mother nature has decided to finally bring Spring around so it's lovely around here now. I think it was around 80 degrees today. Perfect for playing outside with a picnic on the side :)

Easter Weekend

Joe got home Friday night around 2:30. Saturday, he was ready to roll with the family to have some Easter fun. We went to a place in Wenatchee that had an organized Easter egg hunt and a small petting zoo. Emma was very disappointed at the Egg Hunt. I was disappointed by their "petting zoo" but it was nice getting out.

Sunday morning, the kids and I were all sick with coughs and sneezes so we had to miss church. But we still had their baskets ready to go. Emma told me "this is the best Easter EVER!"

Once it got a bit warmer in the afternoon, Joe hid their plastic eggs and we did an Egg Hunt in our backyard. Then we moved to the BIG backyard the to the front yard. I think that was the funnest part of Easter this year. It was too fun watching them find the eggs.