J Cooper Photography

The girls have survived their first 3 days at the new school.  They don’t seem overly traumatized.  Which means the endless nights of crying and carrying on in Kansas City can just be chalked up as girl drama  I’m pretty sure I was actually more nervous for them than they were themselves.  I walked them in the first day.  Walked them to their class.  Spoke personally with their teachers.  Hung around too long until the other kids started filing in and my girls were giving me “the look” to take a hike.

I had intended to take their pictures on the front porch on the way out but in the breakfast making/lunch making/coat finding/backpack filling/shoe tying I completely forgot.  The Brainiac mentioned the lack of photos as soon as we were on our way in the car and received a hard thump on the head from her sister.  So we stopped discreetly by the side entrance of the school to snap a quick iphone shot.  Then I got reprimanded by the school security Nazi for using the wrong door.  Work with me here people!

They were adamant that they “not look too cute” the first day.  No bows or crazy head bands.  Tennis shoes only.  Nothing that would draw attention to them.  Although the kids still swarmed

{”If I smile will you leave quicker?”}

{”this is totally weird and ackward and please hurry up as the kids are coming into the class and I am worried about be branded with a social stigma!”}

So while the girls have been at school and the boys have been napping (hello,  blessed 4 hour naps yesterday!) I have been wandering aimlessly through my house trying to decide WHAT to start on first.  Don’t get me wrong.  I LOVE our new house.  But it is a project.  More on this to come, but we knew when we purchased it we would have MANY long nights working to make it our own.  The question is…which 1990 decorating mishap is the MOST offensive?  The gaudy oak woodwork (sorry if you are an oak lover but 1989 called and wants its grain back), the carpet in the bathroom (heeby jeebies galore), the electric fireplace, the red plaid wallpaper, the off white carpet, or the solid gold fixtures?  Today I decided to just dive in and start on the first room you see when you walk in the door…the living room.  It has an ENORMOUS electric fireplace.  And it was just plain ugly.

First I sanded that grainy oak down

Then I slapped on a coat of primer

Tonight I put on coat number 1 of creamy white paint.  She’s definitely not in the “in crowd” yet but she is definitely climbing the social ladder.  I plan to tile over that freaky formica surround and somehow paint those brass strips.  Then we’ll add wood floors and board and batten in that room.  I ended up with Charlotte in there and my 2 brown damask chairs.  I should have zoomed out so you could see the arrangement…but it is actually pretty darn cute.  None of our furniture ended up in the rooms I predicted. I’m so crazy like that.

I’m debating between painting the board and batten in white to match the trim…or getting all wild and bold with a fun blue to offset the yellow couch.

I pinned these two rooms a few days ago

But then again…white is always classic too.

Care to cast your vote??

Thanks too for all the awesome texts, facebook messages, and emails of support for the girls at school!  I have the best friends.  I was truly touched by those of you who took time to think of them this week!   Anna came home from school today and announced that one of the boys has a crush on her.  I asked how she knew.  She said “well he turned to me and said – hey there, Anna” in a weird voice (think Joey from Friends).  I told her she was definitely right

We are making great progress getting moved in and settled here.  Our home PC is sadly still in a box in the basement.  With the addition of iphones and ipads…it just hasn’t been a priority to get it up and running yet.  But I’m hoping we’ll get ‘er up this week so I can share some “real” photos soon.

So tonight…just a few random shots of the past couple of days progress via my camera phone.

{purchased and hung new shutters.  took down outside lights, spray painted them and re-hung them.  next up…paint the front door}

{horrible picture of our new foyer chandelier…so pretty! it is THIS fixture from Lowe’s}

{spray painting in progress.  Rustoleum’s Carbon Mist}

{just a wee bit of trash}

{more spray painting}

{getting started on the Christmas decor}

{first things first…a girl has got to prioritize!}

We’ve been in the house 5 days now.  I’m really happy with the amount that we have been able to accomplish so far with the help of both sets of parents!

take down the weathered shutters, purchased new ones, and hung new ones (we added them to a few windows)

removed an overgrown tree near the front of the house

hung a new foyer light

hung new chandeliers in both girls’ rooms

removed a pool table light and added a ceiling mount light

unpacked every box (115+ of those bad boys)

broke down the boxes and bagged the paper for recycling

organized the garage so we could pull in the cars

hung large mirrors

put up 2 Christmas trees and assorted decor

WHEW!  Tired yet?  We are all pretty exhausted but the house is beginning to feel like home!  We are excited to get started on some big projects.  There are A LOT of them.  Mainly…installing woods floors in a couple of rooms and painting the oak trim and cabinets throughout the house.  We don’t plan to tackle it all at once.  But the red plaid wallpaper in the kitchen has GOT to go…and I mean SOON!

The girls have their FIRST day of school at their new school tomorrow.  They are a wee bit nervous.  This school is more than twice the size (885 students) of their previous school.  We’ve had some tears and worrying but I’m confident they will try hard and have a  successful first day!!

Be back to share more soon

I had grand intentions of photo documenting our entire move.  Big beautiful pictures of our empty house to compare to big beautiful pictures of our house once we had unpacked.  But the reality of our move has been entirely different.   It’s been a whirlwind of cranky kids eating entirely too many Goldfish crackers and spending obscene amounts of time playing Angry Birds on our ipad.  The good news is we are on this side of 115 unpacked boxes.  Everything is IN the house.  And we are down to just a handful of boxes left to tackle.  I’ve even set out some Christmas decor.  Extra credit points for sure.

Yesterday we took a much needed break to enjoy our families and stuff ourselves full of turkey.  I can’t even begin to count our blessings this season.  When I stop to think of God’s faithfulness in our lives, I get bleary teary eyed.  He’s been good and we are so undeserving of all He has provided.

As soon as I get our home computer set up I will try to share a few “real” pictures of our craziness.

{Proof of the obnoxious unrestricted access to technology.  And yes.  Sam is in his pjs as 4pm}

{Little watching the progress outside.  We replaced the shutters on the front of the house.  And the highlight of the day…Mr. P manning the chainsaw to take out a tree!}

I hope you are all feeling as blessed as we are this week!

We are in Lincoln and snug as a bug in a rug at my parents house {that’s code for cramped and probably driving my parents mad}.  My Mom and I drove the kidlets here on Saturday to avoid the dilemna of what to do with four rambunctious kiddos, an empty house, and movers.  The men stayed behind to oversea the movers and make sure all of our belonging actually made it on the truck.  From what I hear…it was a long night!

Yesterday we worshiped with our new (old) church family and sat around enjoying each other’s company (read: stressing about our house closings today and the details of the move).  We closed on our KC home this morning (we had pre-signed).  We were homeless for about 5 hours this afternoon.  Kind of an unsettling and exhilerating feeling all wrapped up in one.  This afternoon we closed on our new house!  Tonight after the kids are asleep I’ll head over to clean her up a bit.  The movers will be here bright and early tomorrow morning and then the REAL work will begin!

Right now I’m teetering between “miserably missing my *easy* life in Kansas City where I had friends and a cute house in the burbs” and “excited beyond belief to finally be *home* with family and chomping at the bit to start some projects”.   In other words…I’m a mess.  My kids are a mess.  My parent’s house is a mess {sincerely sorry about that Mom and Dad!}  But we are here where God has placed us and we are eager to move forward and make a new life for ourselves.  Mr. P, of course, has been completely unscathed by the experience and is his usual calm, happy go lucky self.  At least someone is sane in this family!

It will likely be a couple of days before we have our computers up and running.  But I promise a house tour (complete with my list of potential projects) as soon as I can find my toothbrush!

1.   The movers come in TWO days.  Which means this will be my last post this side of the corn fields.  We’ll have packers here (a blessing beyond words) on Thursday and Friday.  Saturday they’ll load up the truck and we’ll all drive up I-29 to our new home state.  Sunday and Monday we’ll hang with Mimi and Baboo and then close on our new house Monday afternoon.  Tuesday morning the truck will show up at our new abode and the REAL fun will begin!  The girls have appointments on Tuesday to see their new school and meet their teachers.  We are busy adopting out fish, organizing, and dealing with sick kiddos.  But life is good…and it will all work out in the end…even though it feels like complete chaos right now!

2.  {Just a disclaimer that some of these are Facebook repeats if we are friends there!}

3.  Speaking of Facebook…here’s my status from last Thursday:  ”You should have seen the look on our social worker’s face during our last post adoption visit when Sam asked to play the “KNIFE game”. OH MY! {We did narrowly escape the call to CPS when he pulled the LIFE game out of the cabinet}”

We have been playing A LOT of Life for some reason here lately.

{BEWARE of the scary weird two-headed board game monster}

Not sure it is in the rules.  But I had so many babies I had to tow an extra car.  HAPPY GAME.  I had 2 girls, 2 boys, and then I had TWINS (hmmm……)

4.  We are saying a lot of goodbyes this week.  This was a hard one.  We tried to get a good snap on my phone of these two crazy love birds but they couldn’t sit still.  LOVE THEM.  Gonna miss Miss Z and her mama like crazy!

5.  Getting really excited about our new house.  I have lovingly already nicknamed it “Land of Oak”.  And just to be clear…I actually hate oak.  But I love the house and the oak is going to eventually be covered in gallons (and gallons) of white paint.  I stressed myself out for a few days trying to figure out the perfect shade of white so we could take advantage of a big sale at Sherwin Williams.  I had a little helper which made it bearable.

6.  Speaking of helpers.  This one is almost as excited as I was about the red cup.

7.  You absolutely CAN NOT beat my awesome deal.  Approximately 5 years ago I set up a rewards card at DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse) then promptly lost the card.  I have apparently been wracking up bonus rewards points there for years and they have been sending those certificates to our old home address.   The store associate and I realized this on a recent trip there.  She called the customer service line and they issued me a $20 rewards certifciate right there on the phone.  I thought that was just a great deal!  Then they mailed me $40 worth of certificates in the mail.  There isn’t a DSW in Lincoln so I decided to try to use them up this week before we leave.  Walking through the MANY aisles of shoes I spotted them.  MUSTARD YELLOW CHUCKS.  TRUE LOVE.  They were $44.99 originally and 40% off.  They rang up at $29.  The store allowed me to use three $10 rewards coupons.  The computer wouldn’t give them to me for free so the sales clerk charged me a PENNY.  I got brand new Converse for ONE CENT.  And then I turned around to the teenage gal behind me and handed her my fourth rewards coupon {she almost hugged me} and skipped gleefully out the store.

They may not be a yellow front door.  But they are a little piece of happy.

8.  A few of the spots I’m looking forward to renovating in the new house!  THE KITCHEN.  It is big and happy.  OK.  Right now it is red plaid and dated oak.  But it WANTS to be happy.  And with some white paint, new tile, and a little elbow grease…it is going to be my favorite room I think!

I’m going to bore you with every minute detail of the renovation too.  Sound fun?

9.  The family room is also going to rank up there in the top new house spaces.  Add in some hardwood floors (someday I hope!) and some white paint to the trim and fireplace….stoke a fire in that fire place…COZY!!

9.  And the adorable little CRAFT ROOM that is tucked back behind the laundry room.  This is going to be MY space.  Can’t wait to make a mess in there and just close the door.  It’s like my own little dirty secret.  No one has to know  Just me and my crafts together in one happy little place!

10.  There’s still A LOT to do so I better unplug.  We are still looking for paper work ready families who would like to adopt TWO FISH!  We took the babies back to the pet store today so they narrowly escaped the big flush!

SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE!!!

Although I haven’t been officially working this fall…I have had a few favors for friends where I needed to keep up my end of the bargain.  Looking through some of these pictures has been very emotional for me this past week.  Some of my very favorite people….people who I won’t have the opportunity to see as often.  People I am going to miss DEARLY.

His Mama and I went to kindergarten together.  So it is only natural that after all these years together that our kids would be friends.  I’ve watched this sweet boy grow from an infant into a life-filled preschooler.  His mom has amazing taste and we have the been lucky recipients of his hand-me-down wardrobe.  Which makes clothing my little men a breeze.  Definitely worth a few pictures don’t you think?

We spent a crisp October morning at one of my favorite parks.  He smiled.  He told me about a thousand species of birds (his favorite topic).  In typical boy humor…he crossed his eyes at me and then burst out in belly laughs.  We played with his pup.  In general….it was the exact kind of morning that makes me wistful and teary and tempted to not get on that moving van.

I know a true friendship never dies.  And that is a great comfort to me this week as we say our goodbyes!  Gonna miss this beautiful family more than I can express.  Good thing his grandparents live in Nebraska so I can get my fix from time to time!!

I just realized I never drew a number for my NOVEMBER GIVEAWAY?  What is up with you people?  Send a girl a reminder already

I’m sorry that I slacked on this.  Single parenthood has gotten the best of me.  Did I forget to mention that here on the blog for the past 6 weeks?  Oh, I did, huh?  Mr. P moved to Nebraska October 1st and I have been doing the single parent thing since then (minus the weekends when he races home to help hold down the fort and tackle his immense honey do list).  He’s home now through the BIG MOVE so its “safe” to share with the cyber world.  If you were planning to break into my house to hack me into a thousand pieces…you are too late.  My big, strong hubby is here now  I’ve got more to talk about on this subject in due time.  But for now…I’m using it as an excuse for my lack of organizational skills!

SO….ERIN you were #48 which was the lucky number the random number generator picked.  WOOHOO!

This is what Erin is thankful for…”JUST THANKFUL MY FAMILY IS ALL WELL AND TOGETHER!”

Simple and sweet.  Erin shoot me a line (and do it quickly!!) so I can mail out your goodies in time for Thanksgiving!

HAPPY WEEKEND friends!

We have entered the start of “lasts”.  The last time to see friends.  The last time to hit our favorite restaurants and shops.  The last play dates.

And it has been especially hard on these two.

We don’t have a ton of trees in our yard here (one of the many things I am excited about in our new house is TREES!) but our little one in the front turned fiery red a week ago.  It is a brilliant show for about three days.  The change is remarkable.  It was down right ostentatious {I am using that word as often as I can these days as it was on The Brainiac’s spelling list last week and she was appalled that I had to look up the definition}.  But as quickly as that little red show off bursts its red tamale leaves…they come flitting to the ground.  I remembered how quickly it happened last year and was ready this time around with my camera in tow!  I grabbed the girls after school and we made a bee line for that little pile of red yumminess.

With the craziness of our lives this fall I never took the girls out for their birthday sessions…one of my biggest fall regrets.  So these will have to do!

If you think of these little girls…say a prayer for them in the coming weeks.  Last week is their final week of school and although they are excited about the move (at least most days)…the change is hard!

What’s a moving girl to do when the movers are coming next week and she has so much pent up energy??  Why craft of course

My mind is seriously running in a thousand directions these days between tying up loose ends here and moving forward in Nebraska.  I’ve been touching up walls here for the new owners and pinning on Pinterest like crazy.  But that nervous energy is still there.

You probably remember my posts about the girls’ new quilts I made them a few weeks ago.  I had planned on mismatched pillowcases in various prints from the beginning.  But then I was missing not having a cute girly sham to put with the quilts.  So I whipped up two ruffled shams from a funky vintage sheet I bought at the thrift store a few months ago.

It would have been a pretty fun little project if my serger wouldn’t of broken right in the middle of my sewing!    I found two sets of super cute vintagey floral sheets at TJ Maxx on clearance and they look adorable with the quilts and shams.

I know I posted a picture of my original stack of yummy fabrics when I first received them.  But if you haven’t checked out HAPPY NOTIONS on Etsy you are seriously missing out!  Nikole was so amazing to work with and went above and beyond my expections picking out THE BEST fabrics for our quilts!  (I told her the color schemes and let her go to town!) I had originally planned on collecting all of my own vintage sheets.  But after one day of running around Kansas City with the boys in tow I threw the option out.  And I really didn’t need that much of any one fabric.  I wanted the quilts to be quirky and fun without a lot of repeat in prints!

So…this week’s little project

This past weekend I headed down to Good JuJu with my regular shopping partner in crime.  She had heard about a rummage sale at an old catholic church in another part of the city.  We didn’t make it out too early for a Saturday morning…and I really regret that we didn’t get there when they opened at 7am!   The entire church basement was full of junk…so much fun!  I came home with 2 little white shelves, a leather suitcase (for a dollar!), and this rainbow chevron afghan.  I couldn’t decide if it was really ugly or “totally rad”.  It had a certain Antropologie-ish vibe to it so I decided I was really digging it in the end.  I think I’ll use it in our new guest bedroom along with a fluffy white duvet and some fun mismatched vintage sheets.

{sorry for the iphone pics to follow…I had to text these to my mom for approval of course!}

And since the whole ensemble needed a pillow to tie it together…today I whipped up this!

Hopefully I can tie it all together with some fun accessories and furniture already in my house!

And don’t forget to enter to win the NOVEMBER GIVEAWAY…only open until FRIDAY!!!

The leaves have turned and are busy falling and swirling in our neck of the woods.  Ok.  There’s no woods here (but our new back yard is wooded!)  Two more weeks until the packers arrive to cram everything we own onto a semi truck.  Over the hills and through the corn fields to Mimi’s house we go.  So in light of our current general craziness in the month of November…let’s do this quick!

1. “Thankful” can – for your family to jot down their thanksgivings…or to gift to a friend

2.  Mommy and baby owl dishes – ready for a few sweet treats or chips and dips

3.  “Service” notepad

4.  Hand crafted flower and feather hair clip

4.  Little brag book

You know it is inevitable.  “WHAT ARE YOU MOST THANKFUL FOR TODAY?”  My list is a mile long.  What’s on yours?

Leave a comment,  I’ll randomly choose a winner, and ship out your goodies before they get packed and moved to Nebraska!

GIVEAWAY CLOSES FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11th