Show us where you live Friday-Dining Room

I have been having so much fun touring rooms every Friday. You can see some great dining rooms by going to Kelly's Korner Blog http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ Every Friday is a different room. I've done our kitchen and Great Room and today it's our dining room. I hope you enjoy our home tour. I was excited about this one because I didn't have to clean. Ha. Our formal dining room is always clean because we never use it. I shouldn't say never, but only when we entertain big groups. It seats 8 to 10. We eat at our banquette in the kitchen. Scroll down to see our kitchen tour. I was looking for a farmhouse table and found this one for $300 at American Signature Furniture. It was in their clearance room because it was missing a piece that runs along the bottom of the table, which you would never notice if it was there or not. I love when I find a good deal. This is one room that hasn't been painted yet. We built our house so all the rooms were painted a neutral color. My plan is to paint the top and put some funky wallpaper below the chair rail. I want to get a new chandelier, curtains and some fancy stuff for the table.

The view when you walk in the front door.

My deal farmhouse table for only $300. The leaves are on the end which make it really easy to remove. I haven't done that yet because it's a big room so it can handle a big table.

The view from the outside exterior wall looking into the foyer. Our office is behind the french doors.

This is my galley way. I love this and one day will build a custom buffet to sit inside.

This is between the kitchen and the dining room. Great place to hang pictures of my girls.

Where did this week go?

I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted a blog. I hate that. Maybe it is because the girls last day of school was on Tuesday, so I didn't have a ton of free time to get things done like I usually do. I was so sad to see the school year end. It went by so fast and I loved their teachers. They were great. Brooklyn and Sydney Kate's teachers gave them a book of pictures and drawings from the first day they started school to the last. It was so sweet. I started to tear up when I saw Sydney's. She was just a baby back in Sept. when she started. She was only 18 months. She had hardly any hair and was so shy and innocent. Now she has the cutest little ringlet curls in her long brown hair and is a force to be reckond with. In Brooklyn's book, her teacher took down her height and weight on the first day and then the last day. I can't believe how much she's grown. In Sept 2008 she weighed 27 lbs and was 37 inches tall. On the last day of school, May 2009, she weighed 36 lbs and was 41 inches tall. She gained 9 lbs and 4 inches in 8 months. Crazy! I look at her now and she is growing into such a beautiful little girl. I am so proud of her. The other night we were laying in bed and I had had bad allergies that day and my eyes were all red and swollen and I said, "My eyes hurt so bad". She said, "Mommy I will pray for your eyes". "Dear Jesus, please help mommy's eyes to get all better, Lord Jesus, Amen". What a beautiful prayer. I am so proud of her. She loves to pray. I love that about her. She still remembers praying to Jesus to help her find something that is lost and she will say, "Mommy remember when Jesus helped us find that puzzle piece?" If I can instill one thing into my girls is that they know and want to pray to the Lord. It warms my heart to hear them pray.

I am also proud of Brooklyn that she has overcome her habit of biting her nails. Who knew a 3 year old could have such a habit, but she did and it was a bad one. She had been biting her nails for the last 9 months or so. She always had them in her mouth and they were bitten down so far that half of the nail was gone. I was starting to get concerned when one day she said, "Mommy I'm not going to bite my nails anymore." That was that. She stopped biting her nails and she was so excited when she could see the white part of her nails growing in. Nana painted them a pretty pink and that made her day. I realized something about her. When she makes her mind up to do something she does it. She didn't want to cut her hair for the longest time. She loved having really long hair. One day earlier this year she said, "Mommy I want to cut my hair". I wasn't quite sure she meant it so I waited a few days and she kept insisting she get her hair cut, so I made an appointment. I had never cut her hair ever, so I kept thinking she is going to change her mind, but she didn't. We got it cut and she loved it. Just this week she said she wanted to get it cut really short, but I told her she had to wait until we got back from California. We'll be taking family pictures on the beach and I wanted her hair to be long. I can't wait to cut it short for summer though. I think it will be really cute short. I'll post pictures when we do. Another milestone this week is that she started sleeping in her own bed and through the night. I know what you are thinking? Yes she is 3 1/2 and she should be sleeping through the night, but she's not or at least hasn't been up until this week. Sydney doesn't either and so yeah Brian and I haven't had a good night sleep in about 3 1/2 years, unless we're on vacation, just the 2 of us. They still take 2 hour naps during the day at the same time, so at least that is going well. I'm blessed they still both nap together.

Now onto Sydney Kate. She is my little ball of fire. She is a talker. That girl will talk and talk and talk. She says the cutest things. Tonight when I was putting her to bed she said, "No t.v. on Monday mommy". What? Does she know tomorrow is Monday? She actually reminded me that tomorrow is "no TV Monday". Yesterday, she was eating something in the car (can't remember what it was) and she said, "Mmm, good stuff". Cracked me up. She is just so much fun to be around, when she's not throwing a tantrum. And throw them she does. The child is strong. I have to literally push her down in the car seat with all of my force just to get her buckled in when she doesn't want to get in. I will be glad when that phase is over. The other day she was running and my sister Stacy said, "Wow Syd is solid". "She is so big." Then we were at Chick-fil-a at the play area and Sydney was running around and there was a woman there with a little girl who looked to be about 2 but much smaller than Syd. She asked my how old she was. I told her 2 and she said, "Wow she has huge calves". Not sure how to take that, but I just smiled and said yes she does. She is her daddy's girl. If she is not an athlete I will be shocked. I think those calves will come in handy playing soccer, don't you?

This entry is getting long so I think I will call it a night. It's hard to remember things that have happened during the week when I wait so long to write. I hope to do a better job this week. We will see. Stay tuned.

P.S. I want to thank my girls and my wonderful hubby for getting me an iPhone for Mother's Day. I love it and I love the fact that I have a camera with me at all times. These photos I posted are from my iPhone. Pretty good don't ya think?


I loved this picture of Sydney Kate. I turned around and she had fallen asleep so I grabbed the iPhone and took a picture. Too cute.


Brooklyn had a swim party at a friends house and the girls had so much fun. Brooklyn is my little fish. She did not want to get out of the water.

Sydney on the other hand had more fun playing outside of the pool.

Blessed to be called Mommy.

There was a time when I didn't know if I would ever hear the word "mommy". Times I thought it would never happen to me. I knew I wanted to be a mom since the time I was a little girl. There was no question about it. Fast forward to 2001 when I got married. I married an amazing man and I was blessed to have found him. I couldn't wait to have kids. I never would have dreamed what lay ahead for us. The years of infertility and medical procedures and the loss of our firstborn daughter, Zoe Renae, who was born stillborn at 21 weeks. Through it all I some how clung to the hope that I would be a mom. There were days that I just had to hold tight to my faith and trust that the Lord had a plan. I knew that He had put that desire in my heart from the time I was a little girl and I believed that it would come to pass. God was faithful and continues to be faithful to give me the desires of my heart. The journey to motherhood has been long and painful, but these 2 little faces make it all worth it. They are the joys of my life and they bring me so much happiness everyday. I love you Brooklyn and Sydney Kate with all my heart.

To my other sweet daughter, Zoe Renae, I miss you everyday and I look forward to the day I get to see you again. I am proud to be your Mommy.

To my mom. Thank you for giving me life and for raising me to know and serve the Lord. You were and continue to be a wonderful example for me to follow. I know I say it all the time, but I don't know how you did it. For those that don't know, my mom had 4 girls in 5 years. She and my dad didn't really have family nearby and my dad worked a lot to make sure my mom could stay home with me and my sisters. She was truly Supermom in every sense of the word. She managed to get us to school and pick us up only to chauffeur us around at night to softball and soccer practices. To this day, you continue to be an integral part in my life and I am so glad the girls have such a wonderful nana. I love you mom. Happy Mother's Day!

Show us where you live Friday-Living Rooms

Friday's are fast becoming my favorite blog day. One of my favorite blogs to follow, Kelly's Korner Blog, sponsors a "Show us where you live Friday". Each Friday you show a different room of your house. This week it's living rooms. We call ours the great room and it's right off the kitchen. This layout pretty much sold us on our house when we looked at one of the models to build our own. That and the fact we could get a basement. Something I've always wanted since moving to Tennessee. This Cali girl was used to earthquakes, but not tornadoes. I feel much safer with my basement and it's a great place to hang out. Anyway, on to our great room. There are still some things I need to get, i.e. curtains, throw pillows and an ottoman, but you can get the general idea. The one things I've liked about these postings on Friday's is that I'm taking pictures of my house. It's great for insurance purposes :) and it's a great way to see how I need to decorate from different views. Thanks Kelly.

















View from the kitchen looking into the great room.





I love all the windows in this room. We sit high up and have a really cool view out the windows of the hills behind the houses.


The view from the Great Room into the kitchen.

Tuesday's Tip (Snack idea)

I can't take credit for this new way to serve my girls a snack. I got it from MckMama's blog and thought it was a great idea that I had to try. My girls are picky eaters and don't eat a whole lot anyway, so I thought this might get them to eat more. It worked. They loved it. There is so much you can put in it. I actually feed them lunch alot of the time in it as well.

Today they had strawberries, turkey, olives, grapes, laughing cow cheese, crackers and pretzels. Usually I have baby carrots as well, but they wanted 2 fruits instead. I purchased the cupcake holders at JoAnn's for $5.99 (after I used a 50% coupon, reg. $9.99) I like the silicon ones instead of the metal pans. I tried the metal pans that I got from the dollar store and they rusted the second day, so I tried these and love them. The nice thing too is that you can leave it out (if you don't have anything that will go bad) and they can sit and snack on it when they want. It also keeps them from fighting over it because they each have their own one. They have them in different colors as well. Let me know if you try it and how your kids like it. I'd be interested to see if it worked for you.

(Yes it is noon and my girls are still in their nightgowns. At least they have clothes on. They wanted them off and I said they had to wait until I took their picture.)

Tour of my kitchen

Kelly from kellyskornerblog is sponsoring "Show us where you live Friday" and I thought it would be fun to join in. We've lived in our home for a year and a half and we put in the granite, tile back splash and custom banquette. Hope you enjoy!

Thank you Lord for our journey through infertility

This week is Infertility Awareness Week. As I think about our journey over the last 7 years I am humbled and amazed at what God has done. As I listen to daddy struggling to put Brooklyn to bed upstairs and her fighting it every step of the way, I am thankful even in the hard times because I know it was all worth it. My girls were worth all the pain, even the pain of losing our precious Zoe. I tell people all the time that my scars of infertility are just that, scars. They will always be with me. They might fade over time like scars often do, but they will never go away. Why did God choose me, choose us, to walk this path? I don't know, but what I do know is that I am a much better person, a better mom I believe because of it. My relationship with the Lord has grown in ways I would have never known had I not gone through infertility. My relationship with my husband is stronger today because of it. I would have never picked this journey to go on, but I am glad He chose me. Thank you Lord for seeing us through and continuing to walk us through this journey you have for us. Thank you for blessing me with Zoe, Brooklyn and Sydney. I am proud and honored to be called "mommy". This video is amazing. I feel like it was written just for me.

A Day With NO......

TV. You must be thinking, did the poor girl lose power? Thankfully it did not go out seeing how it was so hot today. That might have made this experience just a little bit harder. I didn't plan on not watching t.v. it just sort of happened. It was around 9:30 a.m. and I realized I hadn't turned on the t.v. yet which is a phenomenon in itself because I usually turn it on as soon as I get up. So I thought, why not try to keep it off all day. Could I do it? You see I am one that has the t.v. on way too much. Even if I am not watching it I like to have it on for noise. I know that's crazy. I get enough noise with 2 toddlers in the house, but for some reason I like to have it on. I've been feeling convicted that the girls watch too much t.v. Most of the shows they watch are educational, so I passed it off as learning. After today I have changed my tune. It was great having the t.v. off. So I know what your thinking. What did you do all day? Well here is how my day went. Ate breakfast, played for 2 hours, went to Publix to get groceries, came home and ate lunch, girls took 2 hour naps, went to the gym, came home and the girls played in their new water table while I made dinner, ate dinner, girls played upstairs with the blocks while daddy mowed the lawn, read books and in bed by 8 p.m.

It was a great day without the t.v. I loved not having that extra noise. I can't believe I am saying that. During our morning playtime the girls and I went into Sydney Kate's closet with the lights off (she has a huge closet the size of a bathroom) and played with all of their toys that light up. They loved it. I couldn't believe we did that for an hour. Brooklyn didn't ask for t.v. until tonight before bed, which we cut out tv from dinner on like 3 weeks ago so I'm not sure why she asked then. Syd asked 3 times today and I just said no we're not watching it today and she was fine. We even cut out watching the t.v. in the SUV. Instead I put a cd of their kids Bible music on. They loved singing all the way to the gym. I decided tonight that Monday's from now on will be t.v. free. I encourage you to give it a try. See what fun and creative things you can think of doing. I am going to continue to cut back on t.v. daily and see what happens. Who knows, maybe one day we'll decide to get rid of them altogether. Although not sure how that would fly with Brian during football, basketball and baseball season. I think I would miss my HGTV too much as well.

What was I thinking?

Ok so today was the big Music City Marathon in downtown Nashville. Brian left early this morning, before 5am, to go to the race which started at 7am. The girls woke up early around 6:45 and I thought to myself, what a great surprise to be waiting at the finish line with the girls when he crossed. It was a last minute decision, but one that would be well worth the hassle. I knew it would be a difficult task forging our way through the crowd of at least 25,000. I was excited. There was no way Brian would ever believe I would have attempted this by myself. I decided to get Brooklyn and Sydney Kate dressed up in their new $5 Target matching sundresses I bought them yesterday. They looked adorable as you can see. So off we went. Wagon in the car, check. Sippy cups, check. Snacks, check. Kids buckeled in, check. Camera bag & Flip video, check. I was set. Now to find them their sprinkled donuts I promised them on the way. Krispy Kreme in Cool Springs was closed for remodeling, so on to Dunkin Donuts. There was a line wrapped around the block so that wouldn't work because I knew I didn't have time to wait. So off we went onto the interstate. I get downtown and streets are blocked off. Great I have no idea where I am going. I ask a cop, who was directing traffic, how to get there. He tells me so I proceed. I knew we might be in the car for sometime longer so I stopped at a mini mart to get them a donut. I park right in front, turn off the car and run inside. 7 people in line. Crap. I can't wait that long. I did what any mom would have done in this case. Grabbed two chocolate sprinkled donuts and gave the man in front of me cash to cover it and asked him if he would tell the clerk I took 2 donuts. He was very nice and said no problem. Back to the car, give the girls their donuts and off we go. I follow the cops instructions and now I am lost. How did I miss Shelby Ave off I-24?Somehow I did and I find myself at another Krispy Kreme off Nolensville Road. Brooklyn informs me at this time that she has to go potty. So we stop and she goes and we proceed to get back in the car. Well Sydney is not a happy camper. She goes balistic and starts screaming. It takes me a few minutes to get her buckled in her seat and off we go again. I will add that Sydney screams for the next 1/2 hour. I finally reach downtown, but the way I know how to get to the stadium is blocked off. So I ask yet another cop and he tells me how to go. That way has now become blocked off as well. Keep in mind it's the next stoplight. I ask that cop how to go. He tells me and I proceed. Well his directions are wrong and I end up in a part of Nashville I don't want to be. Scary. Syd is still screaming and I cannot stop anywhere for fear of my life. Ok it's the middle of the day and I am probably overreacting somewhat, but I wanted to play it safe. I finally find 2nd avenue and I continue until I see a bunch of runners. Hallelujah I can see our end in sight.

I finally find a place to park, load the girls in the wagon with enough goldfish and suckers to keep them happy for a good while. At one point I looked back into the wagon and saw that Sydney had 6 suckers in her hand. Good grief. She was content so I didn't mind. It is a task to pull a wagon through thousands of people on one tiny sidewalk. We go to the family meeting "L" (goes by your last name) but no Brian. Then I think well lets go to the end of the finish line. That would be nice if I can wade through the crowd to get there. I get close and decide to pull up in the shade I could find and stop to rest. How in the world am I gonna find him? I texted him earlier to let him know I was there, but I knew he probably left his phone in the car. I call Eddy and he said that Brian was a few miles ahead of him. In my heart I knew he had finished and we had missed him. Then I get a call from Brian. He's in the car. I lost it and just sobbed. It had been such a long morning and I can't believe everything we had been through to see him and now I know there is no way he can come back. So I continue to cry and pull the wagon back to the car. By this time the girls are fighting in the wagon and Sydney is opening the wagon door and hitting people as I try to pull it by. I take her out and I am carrying her in my left arm and trying to pull the wagon at the same time. Did I mention it's 80 degrees? I get them in the car, attempt to drive away, but traffic is crazy. I have another meltdown and said some "choice words" that I am not proud of, but in the moment seemed ok to say. I finally get home and on the counter I see this...

I broke down again. What a sweet husband I have. I know he was tired, sweaty and feeling bad for me, but he stopped by Gigi's on the way home and got me and the girls cupcakes. (Note... they had eaten theirs already when I took the picture, but they had pink cupcakes. Too cute). Then I started to eat my lunch when I happened to turn my head for some reason and look at the refrigerator. The sunlight hit it at just the right angle that I see this... Several dings on the door. What the heck! Those were new and one of my children were to blame. Not sure which one, but I am gonna take a guess at Syd. She likes to beat stuff against walls and she probably thought to herself, why not try the refrigerator door. I lost it again. I had had enough. I crawled in my bed and started this blog. I'm physically and emotionally drained. It had been a long week anyway and this was the icing on the cake. Then it dawned on me that I never even asked Brian how he did. So I went downstairs to finish my lunch and ask him how it went. He finished the 1/2 marathon in 2 hours 10 min. I think that's pretty darn good considering the heat that we are having today. I know that probably slowed down 95% of the runners.

Thankfully I can end this rather long drawn out blog on a happy note. I just saved $350 on our tickets to California on Southwest. So happens that today only from Nashville to Cali they have slashed prices by 50%. I think the Lord knew that I needed that today. Thank you Lord for showing me your Grace.

Random pictures from Daddy's iPhone

I downloaded some pictures from Brian's iPhone on to my computer. I love some of the shots he took. I am still trying to convince him that I need an iPhone so that I can take good quality pictures of the girls on the fly for posterity sake. I don't think it's worked so far since our anniversary and my birthday have come and gone and still no iPhone. I guess there is always Mother's Day, right honey? I love you.