WayfaringStrangers

Before Graham was born, I got that nesting instinct to put together his nursery. I wish I could say it was complete, but it's not, and won't be until we have our own home. But I wanted it to be a nice place for him to sleep and play until then. The room needed a rug. As much as I adore hardwood floors, they aren't very cozy. I looked for a rug for months. They are expensive! At least if you want a decent one. I wasn't even too picky on color, I just wanted something quality. But alas, despite checking stores for sales and resale shops for deals, I just couldn't find what I was looking for. When my mom came earlier this month, we were on a hunt for picture frames for the living room project. This led us to one of the antique malls around here, where I saw, and subsequently grabbed and held close to my body with a clinching grip, this gem: $15. Seriously. The handwritten tag said it was from Pottery Barn. Maybe it is, but they could have said it was from anywhere, I s

When I was a kid, I loved "Little House on the Prairie." I loved the tv show, yes, but before that, I loved the books. I loved Laura, and the idea of being a pioneer. In fact, I'm pretty sure I learned the read by reading the Little House Books. I was homeschooled at the time, and my mom would patiently sit down with me and we'd go through "See Spot Run" or whatever and then she'd read "Little House" to me. If I recall correctly, one day I wanted her to read another chapter and she handed me the book and said, "Go ahead and read, I have to go work on dinner." And so I did. I couldn't put it down. Here I am, all grown up, and still in my little girl heart, want to be Laura Ingalls. To live off the land and make my own food and, well, live simply. Being a stay-at-home-mom has given me the chance to explore this more. I cloth diaper. I garden. I hang my laundry to dry. I double recipes and freeze the extras. I make Graham's baby

Graham brings us SO MUCH JOY! At 7 months, Graham: Is trying hard to crawl! He gets stuck halfway in crawl position and then gets frustrated. He does rotate and scoot around a bit on his tummy though. Loves lots of solid foods: squash from the garden, applesauce, pear, sweet potato, peas. Has come out of his 'won't drink from a bottle' funk and has been doing great going to sleep for Daddy on nights Mommy is working (or watching the Bachelorette). Has really good eye-hand coordination and is great at reaching for exactly what he wants. Behn says he'll be a goalie. Greets us with a happy yell, smiling, and kicking when we enter the room. Seems to be teething. Ouch! Is more verbal...experimenting with sounds. He's a good boy! Just really sweet and a pleasure to be around. Thank You God, for this little boy!

My wonderful, sweet mother was here last week. We had fun! I LOVE having her around. She helped out a lot and was great company. I miss her already. Before she came, I mentioned I wanted to give my LR a new look. It seems we'll be in this house another year and I just wanted to make the place more fresh. Mom came with good ideas and lots of motivation. I should've taken 'before' pics but I didn't. Some of what we did was just re-arranging. For example, Stonewall got moved from the fireplace mantle to this bookshelf: The big project, though, was making these framed pieces. It was all mom's idea and SHE made them, not me. I take no credit. She did a beautiful job. We bought the frames at the Habitat Restore and at the Antique mall. We bought the yellow and blue fabric also at the Habitat store and the other two fabrics at Wal-Mart. I picked the toile, I've always like toile. Mom cut out the pieces to fit the frames, stapled them to cardboard (also fitted to fr

We have a lot of catching up to do! It's been a busy, but fun, past few weeks. We went to Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Jim's house last weekend. It's so cozy and quiet and relaxing. Ah, I love the country life, and I love my aunt and uncle. Some pictures: Graham with Aunt Jeanne at the rodeo :) Graham was in awe of Uncle Jim- maybe it was the beard or the glasses? It was cute, though. Graham's first time up close to horses- of course I was very pleased! On a quilt watching mama, daddy, and Aunt Jeanne picking berries. We strategically used the tractor to get further into the raspberry bushes. That's Aunt Jeanne driving and Behn, of course, in the bucket. We made a delicious cobbler from all those berries. It was a great weekend- too short- but still fun! Thanks Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Jim!

This morning Behn and I were talking about how we don't like Fridays. By Friday, we're all beat. It tends to be a long, draggy day. Today was no different, really, and then there was a fun little anecdote: While feeding Baby F a bottle on the floor (with Graham sitting next to me), I noticed the tell-tale smell of baby poop. I flipped him over to discover it was already up his back. At that exact moment, G lunged at F and faceplanted into F's backside. Horrified to see another kid's poo on my kid's face, I grabbed G and cleaned him up. Meanwhile, F crawled around, spreading the mess on the rug and beyond. It ended up being a total clothes-changing blowout. Oh, joy. But, as far as I know, G is healthy and I cannot complain. Reading this blog changed my perspective on my day. A little 12-month old with cancer. Cancer seems to be everywhere these days. God is in control. Will you pray for this family and baby with me?

My house needs a makeover. Well, at least my living room does. Pictures need to be updated, printed, and framed. (It's challenging hanging pics in this house, since our landlord doesn't want us putting nails in the wall. We have to buy those expensive 3M sticky hangers, and even then sometimes our frames come crashing down. SO annoying. But it's still worth the effort, I suppose.) Outgrown baby items need to be removed and properly stored in the basement. I'm tired of tripping over them. I've given up on getting a new couch. Maybe when Behn gets a promotion or new job. It's just not in the budget now. But for some reason the old loveseat hasn't been bothering me as much lately. I guess God changed my heart about that. Anyway, I would like to maybe re-arrange the living room. I want to dry some of the zinnias I've grown to enjoy them all year and put them someplace nice. Anyway, I'm kind of hoping my mom will help me with this next week when she visit