Part 1: DIY Farmhouse dining room table.

I'm so excited our new dining room table is getting close to being finished! I first saw this farmhouse style table on Pinterest and pretty much fell in love with it. I sold our old table on craigslist a little while back because our family has grown quite a bit, so I knew we'd need a bigger table to fit around:)

Loved the look of this table, so we are following this tutorials staining process, but we altered the construction process quite a bit. My hubby combined several different plans, so I can't share just one link for that.

 

Once I saw the farmhouse table and bench I knew that's what kind of table I wanted to get for the new house.

It's even 100 hundred times better now that my hubby is building it....going to be a very special piece of furniture now for us to be able to watch our kids grow around this table and have family over for holidays.

Since we are in our apartment Mason has been using his grandpa's garage to build the table.  Here is the stages thus far:

This was a month ago the night we bought the wood....just laying it out to decide what length we wanted the table to be.

Then I don't have pics of all the in between steps to get to this finished table skirt frame and support for the table top....but here it is!

Attaching the table top to the frame...

Three generations of great men working on the table.

My husband with his completed table top:)

Looking great! Just have to add legs and sand/stain the table.

Can't wait to have it finished and in our new home:))

Rainy day fun and random pics from this week.

Rainy day fun today:) What a week it has been full of storms and rain. Such a devastating week for so many and it causes the rest of us undoubtedly to be more thankful for what we do have! We of course need rain so as always I try to enjoy it....but must admit B and I are aching for a day of pool weather again soon. I know there will be plenty of those this summer though!

Breyton, baby D, and I were reading a book about 'rabbits rainy day' and the rabbit made a paper sack mask, so B asked to make one. Here is his very quickly made mask lol....he was so excited to put it on and kept saying, " Daddy is really gonna like this scary mask."

Of course he had to try to eat his pb and j while wearing the mask still.

This photo was from the other day. Breyton has one of the biggest craziest imaginations. I wish I could even write down all the ideas he comes up with. Anyways, this day he decided to be a dog and wanted me to give him a box and make a dog bed....complete with requesting I get him a bowl of cheerios for 'dog food' and a bowl of water. Then he took it all out on the porch. I am really surprised DHS has not been called on us while living in these apartments(this being one of many seemingly suspicious occasions)....because we had a child caged on our porch with bowls of food for part of afternoon.

Lastly, here is B's awana club group from church. This was the last night at the awards ceremony.

B did not really want to cooperate that night because he mostly just wanted to sit with mommy....but he did go up on stage to receive his completion certificate. My little boy is getting big!

Things to remember: April 2013

Soo..back in January/February we were busy trying to finish up foster care classes, finding out I am pregnant, getting placed with baby D, taking turns being being sick with the flu, buying house/land and then being sick with pregnancy and exhaustion. Therefore, I pretty much stopped doing my monthly posts about the funny, crazy, and sweet things Breyton says or does due to lack of sanity:) haha jk.

Anyways now things are settled down again somewhat as we've adjusted to new routines... I seriously doubt I will be doing them monthly anymore...maybe quarterly haha. Here and there I make mental notes or jot things down, so when I collect a few I'll share. Mostly because I love having these little things to look back on because these moments are priceless and I don't want to forget that.

Most of these random things I post only mean something to me..whether the melted my heart, made me laugh out loud, or cry because my baby is growing up- I will cherish them!

Here's a few from the past month or so....

1) Breyton tells me while laying in his bed one night-"Your my best sweetheart ever". Love it when he says something sweet that's totally unprompted or unexpected.

2) Apparently B has been observing how our life works and when mason left for work one day he stated, "So Dad has to go to work..because you have to stay home and take care of the kids?".

3) A father and son moment:)
Mason informed me one morning that Breyton woke up when he got home from work, so naturally he had our 3 yr old awake playing video games at 2 am...it's all good though bc I actually got to sleep through it and I woke to find them snuggled in B's bed together that morning:)
....Though I did kind of panic when I woke up and Mason was not next to me lol.

4) For some reason the other day B was coloring and calling it 'crayoning' instead. Seemed fitting!:)

5) B was pestering Mason when he was trying to read...So Mason said, "I just want to be left alone for a minute." Immediately B looked at me and said, "daddy is a toy, lets play with him!" Lol

6) We drove down to vote(in a city election) so naturally B wanted to come in with me and I didn't want to get him out bc it was raining and cold....so Mason was trying to talk him out of it and told him you don't want to go in there it's just a bunch of old people. B thought for a quick second and replied, "I like old people."

7) This was the other day after it rained for like 48 hours straight and we walked outside the next morning and B said, "Momma, it stopped raining!! Is God gonna send us brand-new rain soon?"

8) This is Breyton a few mornings ago in his room- "Hurry mom!" (as he is filling his bed with stuffed animals)..."Jesus told me to build an ark and all the animals, you, baby D, have to get on before it rains!"

9) For 3 days straight Breyton pretended to be a police officer and upon waking up one of those days he walked in to the living room (where I was) and said to me, "Say good morning Mr. police officer."

10) Then giving baby D a kiss the other morning he said, "baby D you are the bestest...and you are my favorite!"

Soo sweet:) I won't mention all the times he tries to take D's toy, hits, or says something mean lol...really those are more rare. He truly does love having his baby brother. Breyton gets excited just like an adult when D reaches a new milestone. It's so cute he will shout for everyone to look when D claps, crawls, feeds himself, etc.

As a parent part of me of course wants D to stay a baby forever...but I seriously can't wait till D is talking because I think those two boys conversations are going to be priceless and unforgettable! I look forward to so much with the two of them...soon to be 3 of course!

Here are some random photos....as usual I sooo wish I could share the freakin adorable ones I have with baby D in them!


                  This pose and expression needs the caption....'Hey ladies...'

Stopped to get ice cream after his class one day! He was a little excited!

Wearing a pair of old glasses his Grammy gave him and I jokingly told him to make a 'smart face'...he immediatly did this...which seemed like the perfect nerdy pose lol!

                                                   Sporting a beard at bath time!

Having not a 'tea party' but a 'coffee party' accoording to Breyton with baby D and some stuffed animals. There is not really coffee in the cups lol.

The 'other' woman. ( In foster care that is:)

Yesterday was a frustrating afternoon for me. I drove over 2 hours round trip, including sitting in a huge traffic jam, to take D to a supervised visit with his mom yesterday....for her to not show.

In ways it's more difficult than I imagined. Foster care/adoption that is..not in the way I would have originally thought, but in the sense that your heart is torn. You have this child in your care that you quickly grow to love EQUALLY as your own while there's the 'other woman'.

The bio mom of course.

I didn't expect with D's particular case to meet her other than possibly in court. However, here I am learning too much about the mom that baby D will likely never know as mom. I feel deeply sorry for her, but at the same time my heart aches for what's best for her 5 babies. That doesn't mean I don't want her to change around because above all else I would love for anyone, including her, to know Christ and experience the radical life altering love He has for her. However, I feel with out a doubt that the best thing for D is that he stay with us.

 Not just because we love him and want him to stay with us forever.

Because I look at his sweet innocent face and I see the hard places his parents come from. The lifestyles choices they make are going to be an unbelievably hard pattern to break if he were to be with his mom and in the area she is in...it would be near impossible for he or his siblings to have any opportunity to rise above that. I want so much more for him I can't bear the thought of him ending up as a 'statistic' and following in their foot steps.

Now I'm not here saying that God isn't capable of performing miraculous miracles.....I am saying that I believe a person has to have a willing heart to let God bring about change and I don't feel at this time that is a very probable for his mom.

After yesterday afternoon I had to turn up Jesus in the car (through Christian radio:) to be able to get back in a more grace filled mind set because I was mad. Mad after seeing the heartbreak in her older children's faces who don't have the privelege of not knowing what's going on. Mad at the whole situation and the long wait ahead of us. It's not my job to be mad though....it's my job to love D unconditionally without seeing what the future holds. It's my job to earnestly pray for this woman who desperately needs God's love and healing. It's my job (to try) to unbiasedly pray for whatever God's will may be.

Then yesterday evening there was a little redemption. A picture perfect evening ....one of those times you want to permanently capture in your mind. Mason was home on his dinner break, the weather could not have been more beautiful, sitting outside, Breyton chasing bubbles and popping them, D in his new exersaucer bouncin and laughing just as happy as can be, new life growing in my belly, and those are the moments my 'cup overflows' and I see how all this 'hard' stuff is worth it. Especially if that's what it takes to see D- a sweet smiley content baby on my porch and in our arms safe and sound.

Random pics of B:)

 

Random pics from the past few weeks:)


Breyton was so tired the other night when we got home at 10:30 that he got in bed and fell asleep in this position while the light was still on and I was in the other room. This never happens, so I had to take a pic of course.

 

 

Painting letters for an "Art" wall in his room

                                                    

                                                                 He loves to do crafts:)

                            Our very non-fancy 'DIY' art display for all of B's beautiful creations!
                                                        He is very proud of it though:)

 

 

                             He told me he was getting all his cars and trucks ready for a rally lol.

                                                  At the science museum with a buddy:)

            A super tall(and fast) slide the boys went down all by themselves. I shouldn't be suprised.

                          Passed out in the carseat...this is also a very rare occasion now:(

                                         Helping make rice krispy treats! He loves to 'cook'.

 

I have sooo much to say about our foster care situation and so many pictures to share of our *soon to be* first foster placement...BUT I cant really share any of it for now, so this is what happens. It's good to have a post every now and again that has no purpose I suppose! lol

Leaving on a jet plane:)

 

I was not even going to mention it, but figured I better say we are going on vacation next week so nobody is wondering what happened to us:)

Mason and I had said if we sold our house quickly, and by ourselves, then we'd use part of the money we saved by not involving a realtor to go on vacation! Which was a success..praise God!!!

So a few weeks ago we booked a vacation for the end of January...kind of spur the moment knowing it was 'now or never' since our foster care/adoption certification would be complete by February we wanted to be able to be grounded here for quite awhile. Therefore we leave next Tuesday for Cancun! Very excited and blessed to get to have 6 days to spend together and on the beach nonetheless:)

I know Breyton is going to enjoy the ocean so much and can't wait to see how much fun he has! We took him down to the same area when he was 15 months old and he loved every second...but that age was harder to travel with bc you have naptimes, diapers, sippy cups, etc to keep up with. I think 3.5 yrs old is gonna be a great age to take him and will be a priceless memory....as this may be our last trip as a family of 3 ever!

It worked out rather randomly that a dear friend could make the trip with us and volunteered to help be a 'nanny' of sorts:) So we will get the best of both worlds! Breyton gets to be there with us, but Mason and I can have couples time on occasion and enjoy our favorite part of being down there--snorkeling adventures!

This trip has came upon us so quickly..especially since we were blessed to find out about our first foster placement ahead of time and have been lucky to be keeping him on and off to transition. It has kept us much busier! We have already grown attached to sweet baby 'D' , so I already know I'm going to miss him a ton those 6 days!!! Makes me a little sad. However after we get back we will only have 1 more class left before he will officially be with us. Can't wait!!!

Here's a few pics from our first family vacation...my baby has grown up so much since then:(

 

 

 

Things to remember-November

Before I begin I had a random quote to share:) I came across it the other day...I thought in a short paragraph it captured some of what motherhood is like. One of the hardest things you will ever experience...full of so many hard overwhelming emotions and decisions on. a. daily. basis.

Yet wrapped in so much joy.

Anyways thought I'd share it just because I liked it:

"Motherhood should come with a twinkle in the eye and a warning. A warning that you will never be the same; that before it’s over your heart will have cracked into a thousand tiny splinters of love so profound your body can barely contain what your soul is experiencing. That you will hurt in ways no one could prepare you for and ache with a vulnerability no one can protect you from.

And that as hard as it is, you would sign up to do it all over again without a second’s hesitation."

True words. I would without a moment's hesitation.

Anways half way through Decemeber I remember to do my usual documenting of the 'little things' Breyton did throughout November....I know I'm cherishing each moment and praying for those who don't have this privilege any longer.

So here we go..

1) I had been sick with fever and sore throat and my sweet little boy randomly said prayers for mommy.....he would sit by me and say, "Dear God, please make mommy better.".

2) One of Breyton's 'phrases' that he's said a lot lately is, "You are awesome!". It's so funny and sweet when he says it to you(or himself:)....I'm assuming he picked that up from his Kid's Day Out class at church or Awana's group.

3) A few times this past month when Mason was talking on the phone Breyton would start to follow him pacing around trying to copy every word Mason said. You probably had to be there, but it was hilarious. I caught a small part on video (after I recovered from laughing) because Mason could hardly carry on a conversation with his mini-me loudly mimicking him.

4) Breyton was asked "How did he get to be so brave?" and he responded, "God made me brave!". Love the little unexpected things he's says!

5) B and I always pray at bedtime...and my prayer usually includes please bring daddy home safe or something along those lines. So the other night after I finished B said, " Jesus can't carry daddy! Daddy is too big!" and I explained that Jesus is bigger than anything and can protect us....but B still still insisted 'daddy is too big' and is not convinced that God is big enough to physically carry daddy lol. I believe Breyton thinks daddy is as big and strong as they come....though I figure soon enough he will understand what mommy means! ha Still love hearing what his little mind comes up with.

6) Thought I should note- I believe B had his first experiences with nightmares at the beginning of November. He woke up yelling for me a little more frantically and said, "There was a big dog scratching at the window trying to get him." then the next day he said, "There was a big mean dog in his bathroom". Thankfully they only happened two different nights and have not happened since...so hopefully it's not a commom thing.

7) Lastly, a few other random funny things I remember B saying last month:  While playing one day he told me, "Awe man mom! I got an owie. Look, right here on my big muscle!".  Then while playing I asked B if I could play with one of his airplanes too...after some thought he said, "Ummm, no. Maybe you should ask for your own for Christmas." And, lastly Breyton loved to call Mason 'father' a lot this past month and it was cute every time he would say it!

Oh, and here are some pics-

                                               My sweetie pie before KDO one morning.

 

                     Below he is checkin out his 'snake' pancake that we made!

 

                   Breyton and all his dino buddies are having a meeting it appears:)

Now one of the dinosaurs is attacking the other.....

 

 

Now they are all taking turns 'eating' the Christmas tree. Good times.

B's amazingly cute 3 year pics!

We had current family photos taken finally! Its been over a year and a half since we last had some done (if you don't count the few Christmas ones we had done last year:). Breyton was not even 2 last time we had them taken, so I have been needing some new ones of him especially because they change so quickly when they are this little.  My friend Danielle of 'Danielle Nicole Photoghraphy' took them as usual and she did an exceptionally amazing job! I just LOVE all of them. If you are needing pics I highly recommend her;)

 I'm going to share all the pics in two separate posts because Mason and I had some 'couples' photos taken and that way there won't be waayy too many photos in just this one post! :)


Here's our little man getting so big and more and more handsome each passing day:

 

He's about as cute as they come. I love him so much and can't help but smile when looking at his pictures:D Thanks for letting me brag on him!