A house full of color.

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If there's one thing I cannot do, it's white walls.  To me, they're a blank canvas just begging for some kind of color.  And little by little over the 7+ years we've lived in this home, we've splashed color here and there.  As they say, a fresh coat of paint is the easiest and quickest way to totally transform a room. 

Thanks to my husband, a neighbor, and some friends who are handy DIY'ers, we're currently re-painting the outside of our house and doing some renovations on the inside.  Whenever we're thinking of adding a new color to our house, I first add it to our overall house color palette {below} to see how it flows.   Now I'll probably stop adding new colors and just use one of the current colors to paint the bathrooms - the only rooms left to be painted!

{click to download PDF}

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There's dust on every square surface of our kitchen right now, but when it's all said and done, it's going to be an even brighter and more colorful place to cook with our family and friends.  We ripped up the gross, broken tile and found a layer of vinyl flooring underneath.  And under that, we found the original hardwoods!  They're in pretty bad shape, and I've always wanted a painted wood floor, so....we painted the wood floors a nice, fresh green (Moss Print by Behr).  For the kitchen walls, I'm thinking a very pale blue (perhaps Waterfall Mist by Behr), inspired by this kitchen and this one.  All the cabinets and trim will be white (goodbye to the orange window trim for now).  If you have another idea for the kitchen walls, let me know!

We'll also be painting the hallway a calming, neutral khaki (Comforting by Behr), and all the picture frames will be shades of white to make it like a photo gallery.  We'll frame lots of photos of people we love and places we've been to tell the complete story of our journey.  It seems we have about a bazillion photos so it's going to be quite daunting deciding which ones will be framed.  To finish the hallway, perhaps we'll add a bright runner like this one from World Market.

Currently, the outside of the house is being painted a happy, peaceful combo of grey tones and yellow. 

Main part of the house: light grey

Small accent trim: dark grey

Main trim: white

Doors: bright yellow

Can you think of a more welcoming color for a front door than "yellow rain coat"?   Um, I think not.  The house colors are all Benjamin Moore, but I had Home Depot match them to Behr paint.

I'll share the final results soon!  Stay tuned.  In the meantime, I hope the colorfulness has inspired you!

I heart three-year-olds.

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I've decided that three-year-olds are some of the most imaginative beings on the planet.  My daughter Luci Belle is constantly cracking us up with her fanciful stories and tales, and I love seeing her imagination take flight.   Since her baby sister Norah arrived, it seems as if these stories have been taken to another level.  Here are a few gems she's said lately...

She walks into the room holding a flower vase from the bathroom, emptied out of the flowers and filled with water. 

Me: "What are you doing with that vase?" 

LB: "Just drinking out of it.  It's my wine glass."

~ ~ ~

Upon leaving for a walk, I notice change stuffed in her back pocket. 

Me: "Why are you taking money with you to the park?"

LB: "I'm just taking it in case we see someone who is sick or doesn't have food to eat.  Then I can get it for them."

~ ~ ~

LB: {very urgently} "I'm sorry Mommy, but I have to go to California to take care of my daughter, Claire.  But don't worry, I'll only be there for 5 minutes."

In addition to her "daughter Claire" {who, interestingly, is five-years-old}, she says she has "another daughter, Olivia Jewell" who lives in California.  The other day, we found out about yet another family member - "a talking cat named Carol."

~ ~ ~

It's funny how since Norah was born, Luci Belle now has her own made-up daughters onto whom she projects things, like if she has a potty accident.  She says, "My daughter Claire sometimes has accidents..." and we get to have a conversation about how to kindly respond when that happens.  I'm guessing all of this is just a normal, imaginative way to deal with the many changes in our lives and the challenges of being three.  These days can be so exhausting, but I record them here to remind me of their beauty and wonder - I hope I never forget that my daughters' childhoods are happening right now.  What a joy.  What a responsibility. 

And I've seriously gotta meet that talking cat.

Spring-ing.

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Things we're doing to savor Spring this year...

  • Walks everyday with the stroller and Moby wrap
  • Stopping to look up and see the blossoming trees
  • Pausing to pick dandelions
  • Eating sandwiches outside at the Farmstead
  • Pretending we're queens, and the playground is our kingdom
  • Driving with the windows down and our toes hanging out
  • Family time on the back deck with iced green tea
  • Giving our chipping home a facelift - repainting it a new fun color scheme - can't wait to share the end result!

Spring is like heaven here in Dallas, and we don't want to miss a thing.  What are you doing to savor spring in your neck of the woods?

Faith of a child.

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That one time my 3 1/2-year-old asked me to write some words for her in a book she made, and she dictated it to me, and in one sentence she basically summed up the entire Bible...

"if you don't love someone, that's not kind to Jesus." 

Yes, that's exactly right, Luci Belle. 

I'm a humbled mama today, realizing once again how important my job is in shepherding my children.  But in the midst of such a crucial and sometimes intimidating task, let me never stop seeing all the ways they teach ME.

Releasing to embrace.

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Today is the first day of the Lenten season.  Admittedly, I've never really observed Lent.  But this year, I felt compelled to.  Adding another baby to the family has made our lives wonderfully full.  And with that fullness there is no longer room for everything that was there before. 

The above challenge from my Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) lecture two weeks ago has totally stuck with me...release anything in our lives that prevents us from following Him wholeheartedly.  What should I be releasing?  Following Christ right now means serving my family - my husband and two children - and serving them wholeheartedly, not distractedly.  As I prayed over this, I realized something specific I need to change.  While I love Instagram as a tool to embrace life, I've been scrolling through my Instagram and Facebook feeds mindlessly lately, using them as an escape or distraction.  It's time to take a step back, and this is the perfect time.  So I'll be off Instagram and Facebook until Easter.  I might even quit Facebook altogether when this is over as I've been considering it for awhile.

At any rate, I'm excited about what this frees up for me.  I plan to blog here a bit more - I've really missed it. This time is about sitting down at my computer intentionally to write rather than checking social media mindlessly all throughout the day.  It's a choice that helps me embrace my life and creativity rather than taking away from it.

Our lives right now are beautifully imperfect, yet I feel so peaceful.  Like I said, wonderfully full.  My husband just turned the big 3-5 on Sunday, and we had a homemade pasta dinner {christening his new pasta attachment for the KitchenAid mixer} to celebrate.

He has completely mastered the art of homemade pasta.  I might crown him an honorary Italian.  As we sat down once again with friends around our farm table that he made with his own two hands, I was grateful again that sharing meals together is an important part of our lives, our story.

And this photo taken the same day just makes me smile. No matter how often I tidy up, our living room is chaos, with toys and car seats and burp cloths strewn on practically every surface.  I took a moment to sit on my husband's back with our baby Norah while he did a magnetic world puzzle, and it's just so totally and completely random.  But it's our crazy life that I love.

I hope you'll continue along with me during Lent as we seek to embrace these days more fully.  And please share any insights you have about taking life more slowly - I'd love to know what that means for you.