A long and wonderful weekend!

Happy late Independence Day! We had a great weekend here at the Skinner house. Josh took off Friday so we had a 4 day weekend.

Thursday and Friday were spent at home trimming bushes and playing in the yard. It was hot but Anna's pool provided relief. Thursday evening we went to the ISCA house to celebrate the holiday. Good food, friends, and conversation! The house has totally changed and looks great. Anna enjoyed playing in her old stomping grounds. After the kids were in bed, josh burned the bush trimmings and that was our "fireworks" for the night. We did see some in our neighborhood and even had some parachutes land in our yard:)

Saturday we went out and about. We made it to Homegoods in Rogers and found a rug for the house :). Afterwards we ate at On the Border and had an excellent dinner!! The kids did great until we went back to Homegoods after dinner. Josh did great entertaining them while I went to pay for the rug.

Sunday Josh watched the kids so I could do more errands, and then we all went to Home Depot together. It was a nice trip and we got a few necessities for some home projects. 

 

AND...I finished Anna's valance (finally) for her room.  Here is a look:

 

 

We really had a great weekend and enjoyed our down time.  It was a blessing from the Lord. 

House Tour #2 & A few lessons I'm learning!

Welcome back to our home! We are feeling much more settled now a days.  We didn't have much furniture, so a lot of our time up to this point has been spent on finding bedroom furniture for all the bedrooms, living room furniture, a dining table, etc.   

 

 View from front entry way into kitchen, dining, living room.  It used to be mint green and now is SW Interactive Cream.  It fits nicely with all the wood. 

Living room area looking from Kitchen.  How cool is that pink chair on the right?  I hope to recover it someday in the next 5 years. 

Anna's Big Girl room!! Paint color is Behr Rhino.  It's a blue/green/grey look.  Pretty & nuetral.

 

 

Baby Boy's room!! The bed in this room matches Anna's bed and can be made into bunkbeds for the future.  I'm pretty excited to have a bed in baby's room for those long nights! The crib bumper is the inspiration for colors in his room.  Eventually I hope to have it colorful but still boyish.  Paint color is SW Samovar Silver cut in half by 50%. 

 Master bedroom.  Lots of good natural light!! Paint color is SW Basket Beige.

Master bath.  A bit small (only has shower) but very adequate! We kept the paint color in here which is an olive greenish color.

Fourth bedroom on opposite side of house; we call it the sunroom.  It's all ready for guests...who is going to break it in?? :) We haven't painted this room, and may not. 

 

Bathroom off of sunroom.  Special thanks to my MOM who cleaned it top to bottom!!

 

Built in cabinets and shelves in sunroom.  Our paint is temporarily being stored here until we find better place...

 

Entry way from garage- picture taken from sunroom.  You can see into the family room through the doorway.  Josh painted this and the family room almost by himself.  He did an AWESOME job.  The color is Behr Pumpkin Butter.  Pics to come of the finished family room.  It's a mess right now :)

  

 

AND NOW.... THE LESSONS:

 

1.  Be content:  I REALLY want the house to be completely decorated with rugs, wall art, etc.  I'm learning (slowly) to be content and thankful for all the Lord has ALREADY given me instead of focusing on what we don't have.  A house can be all-consuming, especially when you stay at home all day and have pinterest to search.  However, there is such freedom in letting go of the "perfect house" and accepting the limitations of time, budget, and practicality. 

 

2.  Wait on the Lord; Patience really pays off:  I've been searching everyhwere for some accent chairs to go near our fireplace.  I really wanted 2 (cheap) matching wingback chairs that I could recover.  After weeks of searching and becoming impatient, a good friend of mine gave me a wingback chair in PERFECT condition for FREE.  Even in the seemingly meaningless searches for furniture - the Lord does help us if we wait on Him and ask for His help.  This is not the only example I could give of how the Lord has perfectly provided little things we need for this house.   

 

3.  Manage your expectations & talk about them:  Josh and I should have talked more about each of our expectations for the house in the short and long term.  We have different priorities (duh) and have had to learn to communicate that to each other or we definitely start to get frustrated with each other.  He focuses on the maintenance and outdoor things, while I focus on the indoor, homey things.  This causes conflicts.  We've both been selfish about things, and have had to ask forgiveness to each other.  In the end, a house is just not worth fighting about.  I'm sure we will have to learn this lesson time and time again (especially me!!). 



 

House Tour (Don't Mind the Mess)

We moved into our house in mid-January.  While it was move-in ready and has been completely remodeled, we wanted to make a few changes to make it ours.  A few things that we have done since these pics were taken (will take some pics tomorrow in good light):
- We had painters come in before we moved in to paint the bedrooms, kitchen & main living area.
- As of last night, we finished painting the family room (the red room in the pics below...we didn't like red). 
- New carpet in the master bedroom.
- Lots of cleaning, scrubbing, rearranging, and getting rid of stuff!!

Outside of house- looking forward to sprucing up the landscaping in the warmer weather!

Closing day with our realtor!

Front porch - we love it and the big magnolia tree that provides privacy.

Front yard

Kitchen, dining, living space during painting

Family room, used to be a garage and was converted.  The former owners added a garage after enclosing this one.

Master bedroom, it has an attached bath. 

Hall closet- Aunt Rox, this is for you.

Hall bath, do you like the blue? I'm undecided.

Anna's room closet, love the space!

Anna's room, excuse the mess!!

Kitchen

Pantry/laundry

Mudroom that was added when garage was added.

Office off of the family room.

Sunroom/4th bedroom with attached bath.  This was also an addition to the house.

 Ok, so there you have it.  I didn't have a picture of the new baby's room on there yet, but I will post updated pics soon. 

Here are the stats on the house:  It has 4 bed/3 ba (if you include the sunroom as a bedroom, which is what we will use it as).  It was built in 1978 and updated sometime in the late 90's/ early 2000's.  It's on a little over an acre of land.  We love our neighborhood, and even already knew one of the families here.  I'm excited to get to know the other neighbors soon. 

Again, excuse the mess in these pics!! I will post "after" pictures VERY soon :)  Thanks for looking!

Nursery Pics

Am I crazy or what?  I'm posting nursery pics now that Anna is 1! Better late than never, I say.  I took some photos before moving out of her room, so I could remember it.  Her room has been a work in progress - we have changed it several times due to air-vents, windows, and decorations :) .  Here is a peek into her old room:

This reminds me what a blessing Anna is- even on hard days!

Josh painted this rocking chair for me & his mom did the cushions - I love it!

The odd dimensions of the room served us well! The little door you see goes to our "Hobbit" room (for storage).

We used to have the wooden scripture sign above her changing table - and I loved it there.  But then we switched things around and it wouldn't fit.  I LOVE having scripture in her room because it really does help give me perspective that I NEED in times of frustration. I'm hoping to keep scripture a focus in her room to not only help me remember, but also for Anna!

Also I did have some decorations on her dresser with the lamp, and books on her shelves, but those were packed up first.  I'm looking forward to setting up her room at the new apartment soon! We may make some changes! 

Crafting!

So this December & November I've done a few crafts, with the help of my neighbor, grandma, and pinterest.   Here's what I've been up to:

1.)  For Anna's room:

2.) For above the TV and since we can't fit a tree upstairs:

 (Grandma did the wreath and I advised) Total cost $12...and I have left over ribbon! Hobby Lobby 50% off sale made it possible.

3.) For the clothes: 

Homemade Laundry Soap... and we are loving it!! It makes 10 gallons, so well worth the time involved. I borrowed a 5 gallon bucket from a neighbor and saved up some milk and tea gallons (as pictured!).  We will have lots of savings from this.

4.) For Christmas:   (Click here for tutorial)

I'm giving these as a gift to some family and friends.  I just LOVE how they turned out!!

Family Fun

We went to Little Rock this past weekend.  It was great to see Josh's brothers and his parents.  The only downside was Anna's growth spurt.  While I'm excited that she is growing, Anna only took about 1 hour worth of a nap on Saturday and needed to eat a lot.  We knew we were in for a rough day.  While the crying did give us a headache the next day, Anna seemed totally fine afterwards.  She apparently is over it now.  It lasted about 3 days and nights.  She's back to normal now, for the most part.  She did great in Little Rock considering her lack of sleep!

Josh missed the memo to wear Nike

Tired, growing baby!

Josh's brother and his family

These last two pictures are just from around the house.  I'm having to strap Anna in her bouncy seat now because she can squirm out.  She really wants to be mobile.  The picture on the right is from Halloween.  We just stayed inside and had a low key night.  Maybe we will trick or treat next year.  

Good news:  I bought a new camera.  I got a GREAT deal on a Nikon Coolpix from Target.  I'm excited because I already know how to use a Coolpix and I have all the gear for it. No more blurry cell phone pictures...or maybe just not as many. 

On another note, I made homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.  It was a hit with Josh and something I'll add to my normal routine of cooking.  Here is the website for the soup recipe. 

I'm also hoping to make this pumpkin smoothie sometime soon.  Click here for the recipe.

photo courtesy of Pioneer Woman (www.thepioneerwoman.com)

We should have a low key weekend.  I'm excited about the Alabama-LSU game on Saturday night.  Should be a great game.  I haven't decided who I'm rooting for yet...

1st week back at home

So we have been back in our house for 1 week now, and I can say that the Lord has totally provided for us during this transition.  Here's a few highlights:
1. Josh is able to carpool with some guys from work AND they listen to sermons on the way- how cool is that?
2. The girls have really taken us in well.  They LOVE anna and she loves them too!
3. Anna seems to like her crib and is sleeping very well here, despite the different sounds - my neighbors know what those sounds are :)

4.  People at our bible study have been very genuine in saying that they are glad we are back in the house; that has been a real encouragement. 
5.  The Lord has given me a fresh perspective on the house, and I'm excited to be back - The Holy
Spirit is doing His work!!

And Anna turned 3 months last Saturday!!!  Here are some highlights of what she is doing:

1.  She is smiling all the time and even laughing now! I went to lunch with some friends today and she totally laughed!
2.  Her hands have become very interesting to her.  She is always sucking (or attempting to suck) her hand.  She loves to grab her dress or whatever she is wearing and pull it.  See below

3.  She is drooling! Teething is next, so I hear.

4.  We no longer swaddle her for bed time.  I know some of you (who refer to the swaddle as a straight jacket) are happy to hear that!

5. She has become a very efficient eater- it takes only 10-15 minutes to feed her now.

6. She goes to the nursey on Wednesday mornings while I go to bible study.  She took a bottle from the worker this past week, which was great because she didn't the week before.  I hope she feels comfortable there. The workers seem great.

All of these pics were taken with my phone- hence the bluriness for some of them!

Anna simply melts our hearts.  Josh looks foward to getting her out of bed every morning, and Anna always greets him with a big smile! 

"Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate. " Psalm 127:3-5