Grace is 5!

Happy FIFTH birthday Grace Elizabeth!!!! I cannot believe you’re five. According to you, you’re a grownup now so you can get a job. And get married. And have babies.  Slow down baby girl! I’m not even ready for you to be 5. That means I can’t really call you a toddler anymore. 
You are full of questions, sass, and love.
You love horses and dogs and are counting down the days until you’re 10 and can have your own dog and horse.
You LOVE art...coloring, painting, creating.
You love books. If I ever want to keep you occupied for more than 5 minutes, I give you a stack of books! The library is one of your favorite places to go.
You love pink. And purple and turquoise and yellow and....about every color. Except brown!
You have been a blessing and a challenge from before you were born. We have seen God’s hand of protection on your life from 20 weeks of pregnancy on. I cannot wait to see how God molds you and uses your life for His glory.
Happy birthday baby girl! We love you so much!! 

Jacob is 12!

My number 1 boy is TWELVE!! How is that possible?!  From the fattest baby I've ever seen with bright red hair (and then NO hair and then blonde hair)...to a tall string bean with the best smile ever...these 12 years have been an adventure!

Jacob, you are my quiet one...unless you're alone with someone and then you'll talk their ear off! You like to observe and think, always have. You have always loved things that move...but not just because you could move them...because you love to figure out HOW they move and why it works like it works. I have a picture in your scrapbook of you playing with Anna's doll stroller. As soon as she fell asleep on the floor, you crawled over and flipped that thing over just so you could spin the wheels and watch how they worked. 

You surprised us the day you were born almost 9lbs and with bright red hair, and you haven't stopped surprising us yet! You are musically talented...I love how you can listen to a song once or twice and then sit down at the piano and plunk out the tune. It's a challenge to you, especially if your sister thinks you can't do it! ;-)

 You can build just about anything with LEGOS and you love robotics and learning how things work. You can see things others can't...like how to fit different shapes together. Remember when Isaac and I could NOT figure out how on earth to get all the shapes to fit on one of his assignments? We worked at it for 10 minutes. You walked into the room and IMMEDIATELY put it all together. 

You have discovered a new love...exercise! You thoroughly enjoy working out at the wellness center with Dad. In fact, that is what your motivation is for getting your chores and schoolwork done on time is! Whatever works, right?! 

You still love farming. I don't think you'll probably every outgrow that love...

You are funny (and sometimes a bit too sarcastic), you have the patience of a saint...until you don't and then your red-head genes come blasting to the surface! ;-) 

Sometimes it's easy for me to forget you need my attention as much as the others because you're so quiet and undemanding. I know when you ask for a special movie night several days in a row that I haven't been spending enough time with you. 

Goodness I sure do love you Jacob Scott!! I'm so glad God made me your Mama!

This year you spent your actual birthday in Colorado at "Grandpa & Grandma Camp" and I think you had a blast!

 You got to take in a Rockies game.

 You even had birthday decorations and a special birthday breakfast!

And you saw some of God's most beautiful creation on your hikes.

But, you will always be my little chubby-cheeked, toe-headed boy! Love you so much buddy!

Refurbishing is FUN!

Another project that didn't go as planned...I'm seeing a theme here!

Aaron had this bookshelf made for me in the very early years of our marriage (I remember getting it when we lived in Wichita, so it was in the first 3 years). It's solid and heavy and classic. But it's the honey oak finish that clashes with the new floors (and I just don't like that finish! I loved it back then, but not now!!). So I thought...quick and easy...I'll just put some homemade chalk paint on it and be done in a day! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! 

 I won't even show you my epic failure at DIY chalk paint. It was a mess. And I should have known before I even painted ONE stroke that it wouldn't work. But I really wanted it to work and I REALLY didn't want to have to haul it out to Dad's to do this project. So I just kept painting, hoping it would get better. It did not. It just got worse.

 So I hauled it out to Dad's shop and started sanding.

 I actually kind of liked how this looked, so I started to put poly on it...and it just pulled that honey orange color right back out. UGH!

 So then I was concerned that even if I painted it white and distressed it, that the awful honey orange color would still show through! So I stained it dark. And I really didn't mind this look either...except with the dark floors, I knew I needed such a large piece to be lighter...especially since we have dark brown couches.

So I painted it all white (several coats) and then distressed it. WINNER! This is exactly the look I was going for...I just didn't think it would be such a process. 

 I know it's not everyone's style, but it IS my style and I absolutely love it!

And now I can tell exactly when a child uses it as a step to reach something higher...especially during "barefoot all the time" season. Ha!

Stay tuned...I'm sure I'll have another DIY disaster for you soon enough! Ha!

Dining Set Makeover

Aaron's aunt and uncle gave us their dining set when they downsized. It is perfect for us...the table has 4 leaves, which makes it nice and long!! After we got the new floors put in, the honey oak finish on the table clashed terribly with the floors! So I dove head first into sanding it down and refinishing it. Wow...what a project!!!!! It was WAY more work than I expected, but it was 110% worth it! I was hoping to get the whole thing done in a couple weeks. Wasn't I the eternal optimist!! Sick kids and travel threw a kink in that plan. I lost track of how long it took but it was much longer than a couple weeks!

Isaac was a faithful sanding partner. Boy did it take a LOT of sanding!

He did such a great job on the leaves (and he helped me sand down the bookshelf, too).

 Finally got the table top sanded down enough for stain.

Ohhhh I LOVE it!! Exactly how I envisioned it.

Poly coats all on.

I really wanted to stain the seat dark like the tabletop, but that was beyond my talent AND patience level! So I painted them all white.

FINALLY finished, dried, and back in place. LOVE IT!!

 It's perfect for me and exactly how I wanted it!

House Projects!

This summer we FINALLY got our floors fixed and replaced. Several years ago, when Aaron was gone for a weekend (this is a trend he hasn't caught onto yet) I decided to tear out our old, NASTY carpet in the front room(at the time our dining room/sitting room) and back room (at the time our living room). I figured I could just cheaply paint the subfloor and that would do for a few months until we could decide on new flooring and get it ordered and put in. HA!! When I tore out the carpet in the back room, I discovered what the large hump was...the old cement utility porch!!! When previous owners had the addition put on in 1999, their contractors did not remove the giant 8' x 10' cement slab. So that kind of put a kink in the whole "the floors will be replaced soon" plan. We had to figure out how on earth to fix it and how we would ever be able to afford to fix it! We finally hired a contractor and resigned myself to cleaning up cement dust for the rest of my life. They jackhammered it out and leveled it out as best as they could. I sealed off everything as best as I could, but we did still have to live here! It was so loud and so so dirty. But the bedrooms stayed pretty clean, so that was a huge plus (we all slept in the front of the house or at my parents' house). And everything was displaced. Most of my dining room was in our bedroom. As much of the front room as I could move was in the school room. I took everything off the walls in the dining room because I knew that room would be incredibly dirty and dusty. 

Good thing my kitchen is spacious! I had a place to put the table (minus all the leaves).

 Grace thought this was awesome! Her own "sandbox" INSIDE! 

Another time Aaron was gone I got the flooring torn out of the kitchen, so it would be ready for the new floors as soon as the contractor was done and ready to lay the flooring.

Almost done!

The new flooring took up 1/4 of my front room!

 I can't believe I don't have any more pictures of the finished flooring (and I now have a super cozy rug in here), but this shows how gorgeous the floors are! LOVE IT! 

We also had the contractors install a new sliding glass door at the back! It makes the dining room so much lighter. We also replaced the front doors (Dad did that) and it was a disaster. Haha! It took way longer than we expected, had to make a bunch of ridiculous adjustments and basically rig up a frame for it.

And the "easy to install" storm door...they're LIARS! 

I can't believe I don't have a picture of that finished product! It's gorgeous and I love it. Anna picked out the color and it's perfect. I'll have to try to find a picture of it and add it...

 So open...now we just have to replace the deck...step carefully until then! ;-)

July, Come and Gone

Well, I had this post started a month ago...now I'll have to do another one right away and replace "July" with "August"!! This summer whizzed by in a hurry!

We are so lucky to have Grandma Mary so close!! My kids love going over to see her when we're at Ponderosa Trails. If we can't find any of them, especially Grace, we know to check at Grandma's house! 

This is Isaac as a baby. Proof that he's always loved cucumbers!

A stop at the Farmer's Market usually means a treat for Isaac...a whole cucumber all to himself! 

Grace loves her school work and asks me every day to do it. We LOVE The Good and The Beautiful curriculum!!!

We saw some beautiful sunsets in July.

Jacob picked me some "pasture flowers" one day. I asked him what he was thanking me for and he said, "For being such a great mom!" What a charmer!

Our pumpkin partners tried out growing sweet corn this year. Aaron had the idea to offer it shucked and cleaned...

50 dozen ears later, no one was thrilled with Aaron's idea! Especially since he wasn't there to help!! ;) We spent 3 hours shucking and cleaning corn.

These two...they used to fight all the time. Now Grace bosses him around and either does what she says or ignores him. HA! But they are two peas in a pod and get along great...and cause their fair share of trouble! ;) 

And when Jaxon tries to boss Grace around? She just puts the ear muffs on and says she can't hear him.

Isaac, the contortionist! 

Early morning (for Grace) ride checking on the cows at Ponderosa Trails.

I didn't even get any pictures of the cousins from Nebraska visiting! We had a full July, that's for sure!!