Missing my baby

My oldest child... my first-born, Noah... is away for his first church camp. 5 days of fun in the sun, being with friends and most importantly.... learning about our Lord and Savior.

Heading into the church with his friend Micah. Is he really big enough to pull his own suitcase?

Wasn't it just yesterday that he was this big:




Five days seems like such a long time. And 4 hours away. I pray he is loving every second of it.

Look at the excitement in Noah's eyes.... I'm so excited for him.

Best buddies... Noah, Jake and Micah.

Best brothers... my boys... Noah and Easton...

Mom and Dad and the big guy

These the are children "Left Behind". (hehehe)

Praying over the bus, for the kids, for the driver and for the volunteers. (It's my favorite picture... but taken off a cell phone and my computer information systems degree is failing me.... I can't figure out how to resize it.)

Daddy helping Easton to spot his brother inside.

"Is that him right there? "

The bus is leavin'. I think Daddy is wiping a tear from his eye.

Our house is unusually quiet. I feel a little blue. I miss him. I can't imagine how college will feel one day.

Be blessed baby boy... Momma loves you!

Things that make you say "hmmmmm..."

"CEO income"... but no spell check. Bummer. It made me giggle.


Jennifer

Killer lights

I get to see ALOT of pretty homes with my job. But every once in awhile I will walk in a client's house and go WHOA! This week the lights got installed in a home I have been working in since January. And I just had to photo some of these lights for you.

My pictures don't even begin to do justice to how pretty or how large they are. And the picture quality is horrible. I think my camera was also shocked by the lighting, so not playing well with others. Plus... whenever a home is empty, lighting bounces around and does funny things. But use your imagination and enjoy...

Entryway:


Master bathroom:


Yes, we did the walls. It's a Modern Master's Warm Silver for the metallic base, troweled with Aqua's Aquastone and glazed. But who cares about the walls... let's look at a closeup of that light:


Oh my how I love it!!!!

And finally.... there are 4... count them 4 of these lovely chandeliers in the woman's master bedroom closet. My camera couldn't get in the 4th one... but trust me, it's around the corner.


I can't wait to show you more pictures of this gorgeous home as we keep working in it. Until then, I am thinking I may hang a chandelier I was given this summer in my closet. My closet is 1/10 of the size of this one. But why not? I'm going up to measure it now....

Many blessings,
Jennifer

Altered window panes

Ava's window pane...


I finally re-did a project for Ava's room that I had originally made a year ago. And then slowwwwwwllllly I watched it fall apart day after day onto the floor. What is it with me and projects falling apart?????? (remember my wreath post).

Lesson #1 about making an altered window pane.... you need special glue to get things to stick to glass. I don't remember the glue name... but it's from Walmart and it said "good for glass" on the front. It's not so good on your fingertips however.

Lesson #2... try not to get glue on your hands.

Our church has a monthly "Holy Scrap" night where you bring your pictures/projects/scrapbooks and just spend a evening eating junk and being creative (thank you McKayla). I redid Ava's window pane at the "Holy Scrap" where I could spread out all my junk and have 4 hours of un-interrupted creative time. I love it so much now.


I also have this window pane in Ava's bathroom that I bought already beautifully decorated from "The Pink Chandelier" here in Kansas City. It is one of my favorite things in her bathroom! They backed the pane with some sort of tissue paper and used scrapbooking letters to spell the words.


Much to my hubby's dismay, I have managed to gather probably 10-12 more window panes in the basement. I'll do something with them eventually... so I've saved some pictures of other window panes I love that I want to share with you!

I found this gorgeous window out in blogworld at Old Oak Cottage. I am seriously copying this soon. I need to get on the "chalkboard paint bandwagon" before it's over!!!!! You can order the crown from the Old Oak Cottage also!!! Seriously cute!



Yesterday I stumbled upon "The Bittersweet Hollow" in Zona Rosa (did it move from Parkville to Zona Rosa???) and they have windows and doors galore. Some serious cute talent here!!!

(Ok so this picture is seriously distorted, but its as good as the camera on my phone would get!)

I was recently in the gorgeous home of RitterB's.... and asked if I could take a picture of this window for you all. I just love it.


And finally, I saw this pane at an antique store. And have you been to Hobby Lobby lately? Apparently it's not too early for us to start thinking about Christmas. Ug.... is summer really almost over????


Bless you all,
Jennifer

Cutest entryway

Cruisin' thru the neighborhood with my family the other night, I made my hubby swing back around for a picture of this adorable front porch. That's a real lamp and dresser out there!!! How cute is that?????? At dusk... it looked so charming...

How a "Professional" does it at home

There is nothing like company coming over to initiate some productive work around the house. We have been planning our annual 3th of July celebration on our block. So I decided 2 days before the big party to repaint my master bedroom.

Master bedroom before:
The walls were Sherwin William's Tatimi Tan. Very tone on tone with the wood of the bed. I know that violates every decorating law out there.

Master bedroom After:



HUGE DIFFERENCE! I used Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay. It's blue/it's green/it's gray in some lights.

I originally had started with 2 swatches... Oyster Bay and Benjamin Moore's Wedgewood Gray.

I did 2 squares here:


And 2 squares there:


And went against my gut and put up an entire gallon of the Wedgewood Gray ( I had already bought it... I was using that bad boy up!!!).

Then I panicked because it was just too bright. I didn't want a nursery blue.... but I didn't want bright either.

So, I emailed The Nester for advice. And she came back with Oyster Bay.... my other choice!!!! So back to the paint store and covered up all I already did and then finished the room in the Oyster Bay. You can see in this photo how the Oyster Bay is just "dirtier".


I will be replacing my bedding as soon as that money tree in the backyard blooms. Yes... I did it COMPLETELY backwards to what I always tell my clients to do. First, pick the bedding. Second, pick the paint.

Ughhhhhh. I just wanted it done.


Mistakes this "professional" painter would tell you, but completely ignored in her own home:
#1) Give yourself plenty of time to paint the space (48 hours is NOT enough time).

#2) Pick your fabric first.

#3) Only buy a quart of the color you want (insert banging my head against the monitor right now) and try it out on several walls first (I did do this).

#4) Live with the color on the test spots for a few days before pulling the trigger. In retrospect...I wish I still had chosen an even "dirtier" blue. I know most paint seems to look darker and brighter once it's in an entire space. Usually if I pick a color that is a little "duller" than I want... it ends up to be perfect. I may end up glazing my entire room after I pick out new bedding (right after that money tree blooms).

#5) Clear out as much of the room as possible to give yourself plenty of room to work. (Ahahahahahaha..... what a joke. Check out this "during" picture with 1/2 Wedgewood, 1/2 Oyster Bay).



The party was a "boom". The bedroom is painted. Ava painted her forehead with red fingernail polish. I am exhausted.




Many blessings,
jennifer

"D" is for Drive-In Movie Theater

Inspired by my over-achieving, wonderful friend Becky, our family is trying to keep up with the Jone's and is doing the "ABC's of summer". You know.... "A" is for ????. Wait... we haven't thought of an "A" activity yet. Well, "B" is for us to go bowling, etc. It's actually much more difficult than I thought it would be and the summer is half gone already! (***sigh.....****).

But we did do "D" for Drive in Movie Theater. I have never been to a Drive In Theater, nor had my children. So... we hired a sitter for little Miss Ava.... and decided to surprise our boys. We told them we were going to do "something fun" and blindfolded them (insert evil laugh).


The blindfolding was as much fun as the movie! (We did let them take the blindfold off while driving just to make sure we'd have no car-sickness drama...this was a neighbor's truck!)


Once at the theater....we stopped for a photo opp. Gotta scrapbook the ABC's of Summer.


Then, we snuggled in and settled down to watch "Night at The Museum II".


Things I learned at the drive -in theater:

1) Use the restroom before leaving home. Need I say more??? These are not the cleanest restrooms on the planet.
2) Momma can actually catch a 10 minute cat nap cuddled up to her boys in the back of a truck bed.
3) Pringles chips make great Daffy Duck lips
4) Don't forget point #1.



If you haven't been to your local drive in lately.... it was good, old-fashioned fun. We'll be going again!

Many blessings,
Jennifer