Chevron Wall

Our community group got together on Saturday to help Buck and Kelli with several projects before baby Ruby's arrival next month. I was in charge of painting the chevron wall in the nursery. I read several tutorials and combined a few of my favorite aspects from each one, and this is what I came up with...

You start with a grid...

I measured the wall, which was 118", then I divided that in half and got 59". This was my center point in the wall. The good thing about chevron is it creates an optical illusion so it does not have to be prefect. I measured 59" across at several points so that my vertical line would be straight. From that point we made a line every 12". So we drew a line at 47", 35", 23", and 11". Each time we would measure from the wall over and make about 7 line segments at various points, then take the measuring tape and line up each little line segment. This made sure we had a straight line without using a level. We also used green chalk to draw the lines. I figured it would be easier to remove chalk than pencil. Make sure you make your lines as light as possible.

The horizontal stripes were so much easier. I took the ugliest, most out of date piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper I had and used it as a stencil. (Now would be a good time to apologize for my poor quality iPhone pics. I wasn't planning on documenting this day:))

You could either start at the top or bottom. It depends on if you want a solid chevron at the top or if you  don't care if it looks like it goes into the ceiling. We started at the bottom, just because it was easier for me to line the paper up along the baseboard.

Not sure if you can see this or not, but here is our 12x12 grid complete. My friend, Liana, was helping and the grid took about an hour and a half. We did stop to talk a lot though.

Here is a little closer picture.

The next step was to tape off. All you do is connect the dots from the bottom corner of one box to the top opposite corner of the same box. We put small pieces of tape in the stripes that were going to stay cream, so we wouldn't accidently paint them. The trickiest part to this whole process was getting the corners sharp. On the cream stripes we didn't worry about how the tape met, but on the pink stripes we folded the corners under so that they would meet perfectly and be crisp. Also, since we only had half of a box at the top we made a stencil with the scrapbook paper to make sure we kept the angle the same. 

Be sure to tape off the side walls so you don't accidently paint those.

Now the easiest part. The painting! I'm pretty sure painting the chevron took about 20 minutes. We rolled it and it was so fast. I would recommend investing in frog tape for this project. It also helps seal the tape if you take a very damp rag and run it over the tape before painting. You will want frog tape though so you don't spend time touching up afterwards.

The finished product!

 I am SO IN LOVE! 

I wish I had a picture complete with furniture, bedding, and baby Ruby. It is all so cute! I also decided I'm going to recruit friends for every painting project from here on out. I loved having the company!

I Matter

I did something today. Something that made me feel like I mattered and it felt good. Deep down into my soul good. I didn't rescue a puppy, feed the homeless, or even meet with a struggling a friend. I simple took my baby to the doctor, cleaned my house, read three books and worked four puzzles with little A, showered, cooked two dishes for our pre-marriage class, finished painting a dresser, unloaded the dishwasher, blow-dried my hair, and had myself put together when Josh got home. What made me matter today and not every other day was the fact that I put my phone down, stopped wasting time on things that fed my insecurities, and focused on the things within my control.

I have been doing the study Stuck by Jennie Allen again. My stuck places this year are much different then last year. One of the most drastic changes is in the area of discontentment. I realized that I wasn't really struggling with discontentment but with the desire to matter. I really just wanted to be known. Known as the most organized house wife with the cutest house; known as a selfless, sexy helper to my husband;  known as the most grace-filled, patient, joyful mom; known for my creative ability; known as a successful small business owner; known as an amazing cook; known as a wise mentor; just known.

Jennie references Ecclesiastes 4:4, "Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This is also vanity and striving after the wind."

Are we not suppose to work for God and not man? All of my work, all of my desires to be known, all of my soul struggle between spirit and flesh is because my motivation was rooted in my envy of my neighbor. I didn't just want a cute house, I wanted her house and her house and her house, oh, and her house. YUCK!

I was sick, disgusted with my flesh. I had actually just apologized to Josh the week before for being lazy and not serving him like I should. I can make excuses all day. I'm tired. I have a baby that doesn't sleep. I've never been a good housekeeper (why did I think it would be easier with a toddler). And on and on and on. So I challenged myself to put my phone down. I really didn't think I used it that much until I saw how much I accomplished when I didn't indulge until I finished all of my work. I will say that I think God blessed my commitment to serve others first because Annabel took an extra long nap and had her best day of independent play so far.

It sounds so simple, but I actually felt like I mattered. The clean house and clean wife mattered to Josh, the meals mattered to the couples that ate them, getting Annabel's eye checked and having my full attention during play time mattered to her, my client was ecstatic with her dresser, and the fact that I was able to do something tangible for the people I love mattered to me. Being joyful and serving when all I wanted to do was cuddle my baby, look for houses, and play on social media mattered significantly more to the King of Kings. I matter more to the King of Kings. 

Jennie says, "We hunger for the point of starving for Him, and yet we still don't turn to Him." If you are starving but don't know what you are hungry for truly commit your day to the Lord. Die to selfish desires, put down your distractions, and let Him fill you up. I pray that you realize just how much you matter and find comfort that you are personally known and loved by the God of the Universe.

Thanksgiving 2012

Just realized I forgot Thankgiving:/. 

Annabel's first piece of art from MDO! It's still on the fridge!

 A and I went to LR a couple of days early so we could see friends.

Madeline and A

Sweet hugs with Eleanor

The sweetest girls ever! Love playing with the Clinton girls and wish they were closer.

We went to Kroger the night before Thanksgiving to pick up a few things and Annabel found this grocery cart, pushed it all around the store and filled it up with hair products.

Macy's Parade! My all time favorite thing! Watching A enjoy it was seriously one of the happiest moments of my life!

Dancing!!!!

We stopped by Josh's aunt's house to see his family for a bit and had a yummy lunch! Then we swung by my grandparent's house just to say hello. 

Hitting up Whole Foods before leaving town.

And we had a nice walk at the Twin Rivers Bridge

Then headed to my dad's for the night. So fun to spend the night with the whole family! Annabel would not cooperate in any of the pictures though.

The two babies are hilarious!

I love Julian looking at Annabel throwing a huge fit. They are seriously are so fun together.

I just remembered I never blogged about Thanksgiving because I was waiting for pictures from my sister. She had cute ones with people smiling and looking at the camera. Oh well, it's the memories that count, right?!:)

Elmo

Well, folks. It happened. We are living with an addict. Just another toddler statistic.

 We've been crying it out (again) for over a month trying to finally  get Annabel night weaned and it has caught up to both of us. We are pretty sure exhausted does not begin to describe our current state in parenting. So Josh and I both had an off weekend a couple of weeks ago where we were both not feeling well on top of not sleeping, and we have a child who is in full toddler throwing fit, miss independent, as cute-as-she-can-be-so-can-easily-get-her-way mode. And to be totally honest we just did not have the energy to parent. So. We turned on the TV. Again, something we pride ourselves on is was the fact that our child had very limited screen time. I thought at least we could do Sesame Street so it would be educational. WRONG! 

This cute, red, furry, obnoxious creature has invaded our lives and totally turned our family dynamics upside down. We taught A to climb off of our bed as soon as she could walk, so she could go find Josh in the mornings and give me a few extra minutes of sleep. So for the last six months, she wakes up, I say "go find daddy," her little feet pitter patter across the floor to the kitchen where Josh is drinking coffee and reading, they reunite and have the sweetest daddy daughter morning. Josh and I were reflecting on how adorable this is Sunday night after the Elmo introduction on Saturday. 

And what happens Monday morning? She stops at the TV on the way to the kitchen grabs the remote and starts yelling "Melmo! Melmo!" No more sweet daddy morning, afternoon dates with the dolls, or playing with puzzles. As soon as that kid sees a remote or iPad she immediately starts yelling for Melmo. Of course, we have limited her exposure, but she can't forget about him. And somebody please tell me why, oh why is it Elmo kids are obsessed with? Not Oscar, Big Bird, Grover, or Slimy. I swear there is some sort of addictive pitch, color, subtle message, something that draws these kids in and shakes up every household:).

I think we need a support group.

Christmas 2012:LR

Christmas at my Grandparent's is by far the oldest tradition that I have. With 40 people and almost half of those under 12 it is a pretty chaotic time, but we would not change a thing.

My 91 year old grandparents. They are such an example to us! (Again, I don't have my camera in any of these pics. Good thing for the iphone)

My beautiful mommy.

In order to try to tame some of the chaos we made the great grands sing carols to Granny and Grandpa. They were so in love!

Granny and Grandpa and the great grands.

All the little cousins come in with their newest toys and show them off. Sweet A is learning all about American Girl dolls here. When I walked in and saw this I immediately panicked. Oh the lessons I want to teach her, but I don't want to alienate her either. It's hard enough for me to learn what it means to be in the world but not of it. How do I teach that to my two year old? (No, I do not think American Girl dolls are bad and I'm sure my child will own one- it's so much deeper than I'm getting into)

After my grandparent's we went to my mom's for Santa there. I loved this sweet time with my sisters, mom, and niece. Oh I pray Annabel has a sister! She is obsessed with this stroller, carrier, swing set my mom got her!

Helping CC. Well, I think CC was "helping" A:).

A was asleep at this point and we had officially survived our first Christmas as parents who had to put toys together, cook, get a human ready, travel across the state and relish every moment. We.were.exhausted!

That night there was a HUGE snow storm in central AR. Many people were without electricity for 4-5 days. We didn't loose it until about 9:00 that night. We tried to play out in the snow for a bit, but A was not a fan!

SO, SO COLD!!!

The next day the roads were AWFUL, but NWA did not get a drop of snow. Josh decided since we had electricity at home that we needed to leave LR and head towards heat. I really questioned his judgement here and had a hard time trusting this decision. Especially since we went to see friends before we left town.

All of my fear of the roads and not wanting to leave were totally forgotten as soon as I laid eyes on this brand spanking new thing! Meet Jana!

Annabel was in love with her! Jana is our friend's, Mohamed, niece. She is a Tunisian beauty:)! And you can see that Annabel was in awe.

As soon as we were about 20 mins outside of town the roads were clear so I slowly began to let my bitterness towards Josh go:). And as soon as we entered our 68 degree home it was well worth the 45 mins I thought we might not make it in one piece! I'm still hoping that NWA gets some real snow this year, and that we keep our heat! 

We felt more than blessed this year and loved seeing all of our family. It did take Annabel a few days to detox from the constant attention, but we are back in our routine and actively trying to wean her and sleep train. It's a constant battle. More on that later.

Christmas 2012: Home

These were a few days before Christmas, but too cute not to share.

LOVE THIS!!!! Except Santa is covering up the applique shirt I made:(.

We made it home from my dad's just in time to cook our Christmas Eve quiche and get ready for Christmas Eve service at church. 

Christmas Eve Service. Yes, our church meets in the Boys and Girls Club (less over head= more $$ to give:))

A's present pile. We like to keep things simple, not to mention she has some very generous grandparents:)

Trampoline from Aunt Lissa.

Walking to her presents.

The trampoline was an immediate hit!

Jumping with her new purse and big girl sippy cup.

...and then she turned 12. Princess phone, purse, and her hand out talking.

Helping daddy open his present from her. Since our anniversary is a few days later we just do an Angel Tree kid instead of giving each other Christmas gifts. This was our 10th year to do it! It is by far my most favorite tradition! And it really is TONS of fun if you haven't ever done it before.

After gifts, Annabel ate her monkey bread and we were out of the door for central AR before 9:00am. The fact that Annabel was actual able to eat monkey bread this year made it an extra special morning!