The Little's Rooms Got Some Love

Last week I was thinking about how much creating I do for custom orders or for volunteer jobs. I spend a lot of creative energy on people outside of my family and so I suggested to David that it would nice to spend some creative energy on the littles. I had some ideas brewing and when he gave me the thumbs up, I went into full design mode. We settled on a gallery wall for each room plus curtains, hooks for their towels, shelves for each bedside and an art hanger for each little. I made a list of elements I wanted to include in each room.

1. something sewn/fabric element
2. woodcut element
3. string art
4. monograms
5. photograph
6. printable art/quote
7. scripture verse

Then I narrowed down to specifics as to what that looked like. So for the girls' room it ended up like:

1. kite
2. heart (inspired by HEart by CC)
3. crown
4. cut out of foam board
5. siblings picture
6. "Dream Big" (source)
7. I will add a verse to the heart woodcut at a later time

The boys room:

1. deer head
2. arrow
3. sword
4. cut out of foam board
5. siblings picture
6. fox
7. I will add a verse to their arrow art later

David shopped, cut and stained wood during the daytime. He was in charge of the woodcuts, string art, shelves, towel hooks and art hangers. I painted the clothes pins (for the art hangers) and the frames plus rough cut out the fabric elements during the day. The rest of the projects were done in the evenings after the littles went to bed. That meant late bleary eyed nights, but I'm really happy with the results. Last night I planned the gallery walls, but putting them on the floor. I took pictures to give to David for hanging and while I took the children out on a playdate, David re-arranged the girls' room and hung all the elements we crafted. What a thrill it was to reveal it all to the littles!

The deer head was made from a pattern found here. I found the wood plaque at the thrift store and a with a bit of paint it made a great mount.

David cut this based on a few pictures I showed him on Pinterest. I didn't want to tell him exactly what to make, but I knew I wanted an arrow. It turned out great. His favourite piece.

Again, I asked for the sword, but I left David to do the style he wanted. He found a sword image on google, added a cross in the middle and enlarged it to make the template. Screws were an easier choice and he just went with it. I like it a lot!

The monogram "M"s I printed out on the computer, taped to foam board and cut out. I painted them and that's it! Super easy and a great and cheap monogram! We enlarged a photograph from our last family pictures in 2014. The same picture for both bedrooms. 

I thrifted and painted this cute frame and got the printable from here. 

Here's Malachi's art hanger in action (sorry for the dark picture). Just clothespins painted and glued to a board. Each little has one, though we haven't hung Hannah's yet. We are saving it until she is a bit older.

Michaels had these cutlery clothespins in a bin and I simply glued them onto this little board, also from Michaels. Cheap and funny, considering the boys are always thinking about food. This wasn't planned for, but added on a whim.

I found this wood pineapple at the thrift store. It was varnished and worn, but I saw its potential and snapped it up. I painted it and glued an oversized clothespin on it and it's adorable! My favourite piece in the girls' room!

David did the crown the same way as the sword and he did a great job!

The girls' monograms were done the same as the boys. I found the birdhouse and bird at Michaels and threw it in. 

The kite I made up as I went. I drew a pattern and did a basic quilting pattern on it. Then simply tied jersey bows onto a ribbon tail.

Each little got a shelf on their bed. They all needed a place to put water bottles and treasures etc. Here's Abby's in action. David made simply with two boards, painted white and attached right to the bed frames.

David made this based on a picture I showed him. Abby thinks it looks like a minecraft heart.

I used flat sheets from two of the littles' bed sets to make quick curtains. Not too difficult as I cut them in half, finished the two cut edges and voila! Curtains! I hate sewing curtains, but this wasn't too bad. We are exhausted, but happy with the results!

Looking Back and Moving Forward

Phew! Anyone else wrung out a bit? 2014 was a crazy year that had really great challenges and really great blessings. I can hardly believe how much has happened this year and yet, I know that we have so much to look forward to in 2015. Here's a bit of a breakdown of 2014:

• We said a sad goodbye to David's father, Richard in January. God showed us His generous provision as we traveled to Alberta for the unexpected funeral. Hannah was only weeks old. Abby celebrated her fifth birthday among our extended family - a first. I mourned the loss of something in my David that I feared I'd never see again - his jovial nature. We came home to a really long and extremely cold winter.

Richard Gingras

• February was a month of adjusting and healing, both physically and emotionally. We were blessed to attend a family retreat on Valentine's Day weekend. It was a great weekend that I enjoyed more than I thought I could. 

Family Retreat

• David returned to work after being on paternity leave just after spring break in the beginning of April. That adjustment went better than I expected, but I do recall thinking that I'd be glad to get out of this season of just surviving. I wanted to thrive. April was still cold and we were all longing for spring.

• May brought Mother's Day and for the second time, we got to dedicate our baby on that special day. We were so blessed by the support of friends and our Winnipeg "family" at her dedication and in awe of Hannah's big sister, Abigail, whose prayer for her dedication was incredibly special.

Hannah's baby dedication

• We had a little backyard BBQ in June to celebrate Micah's 2nd birthday and waited for the heat of summer. Micah, our only summer baby, got a swimming pool with birthday money that we enjoyed throughout the summer. 

Micah's 2nd birthday

• In July we celebrated our one year van-iversary. We are still in awe and wonder as we think of what a blessing our "Cinderella" has been to us!

Cinderella's van-iversary

• 10 years of marriage brought us to August's party of the year. What a great celebration we had with David's mom and step dad as well as brother and sister, plus my parents were able to come and join the fun. We renewed our vows along with many others (we invited the married couples to join us in the vow renewal). Fresh cotton candy was a party favourite - if you ever get a chance to rent a cotton candy machine, do it!

• September brought our little Abby to Kindergarten and family adjustments as David returned to work once again. We had our family pictures taken by our favourite photographer and life rolled on.

Abby's first day of kindergarten 

twila mae photography

• October rocked my world as I received a text from my mom saying that I needed to come if I could - My dad almost died. It seems so unreal as to how he got there and how he's doing now, but it was a scary time. I clung to the promises of Psalm 34 and did, in fact, go visit my dad. Hannah and I travelled over a weekend and Dad was barely aware that we even came. Thankfully, that wasn't the end of the story.

• In November we celebrated with my Dad as he finally accepted Jesus as Lord, but continued to pray fervently for his healing. Things got dicey for awhile. We hosted 37 people in our home for a superhero party of epic proportions. I've heard stories that the children who attended are already planning for next year's party. Sorry, littles... not sure I'll repeat that one, but I'm so glad you had fun. The party was to celebrate both David and Malachi's birthdays. Malachi still asks about Mrs. G (my heroic alter ego).

some of our 37 party heroes

"Mrs. G - Truth Serum"

• December had us make the long drive to Alberta again. We weren't originally planning on going for Christmas, but with my dad still in the hospital, I couldn't imagine him there on Christmas without company, so we went. We stayed for a week and a half, travelling back and forth between our families about every day and a half. I got to visit with my dad 3 different days, including on Christmas, and I'm so glad to say that he's doing really well. The long road to recovery is only beginning, but I'm still praying for miraculous healing and an incredible end to that story. Our church family experienced a tragic loss and though I wasn't personally close to their story, I couldn't help but be even more grateful that we were celebrating Christmas with my dad and not attending his funeral.

we celebrated yellow day on our drive to Alberta

Christmas at the hospital

We are home now and it's New Year's Eve. I've been thinking a lot about the past year and looking forward with hope for the next one. I've chosen a word to focus my prayer life around and how I want to live in 2015. I'll share that with you soon. I don't make new year's resolutions, but I do try to make reasonable goals. I hope to find myself thriving in 2015 and not just surviving, but it's something I plan to FIGHT for. Through our trials my character is being refined and strengthened. I hope to put that to good use next year.

Thank you all for sticking with me through this year and I hope to share many triumphs and joys with you in the next. May you be blessed! 

Checking In

Phew! It's been a bit crazy here, let's talk about it!

• We got this year's family pictures back. We love them! Twila always does a great job. This shoot was a chilly adventure, but I really love how they turned out. We brought Auntie Trudy (a family friend) with us and I am so glad we did. The littles were able to sit and warm up in her SUV while David and I had pictures taken and we had extra arms to keep the baby warm and the littles taken care of. I totally recommend bringing help to a family photo shoot.

• We are still deciding on our family philosophy on Halloween, but this year we did dress up with the littles and go for candy. We got a lot of comments about dressing up with the littles, it seems a bit uncommon around here.

• It's less than a week to our IKEA shopping preview! I whipped up some business cards, in case I run into some other mom bloggers. Inspired from Pinterest.

• Abby broke her arm. She took a fall off a play structure and life has been ALL about the broken arm. Our little Dolly sure has learned to "milk" it for all it's worth. In all seriousness, she's doing great. Abby's been our big brave girl. Her permanent cast goes on today. Pics soon.

hamming it up

• Abby has learned to take pictures on our camera. We get a lot of random ceiling pictures, but here's two worth keeping.

taking a few minutes to crochet

Miss Sophia and Dolly (a great picture taken with a little help)

• I have a whole bunch of projects on the go. Busy busy busy. Not much to show you yet, but it's coming. Abby has even been working on secret Christmas projects. Here's a sneak peek. If you guess, don't give the secret away.

• My Malachi turned two. Where did the last year go? He's so fun to listen to right now. We aren't fluent in Malachi, but it sure is fun trying to figure it out. We are celebrating with a party on Sunday. If I remember to take pictures, I'll be sure to share them later.

• Christmas card finished. I had to do a bit of a redesign when I saw the first print. Certain details came out too small, but I think I've got it to a place that I like now.
• I told you I got a dishwasher, but I haven't shown you yet...here she is! I love to hear her hum and I am so impressed by how much she saves my hands from. So thankful!

Checking In

I have a few moments, so I thought it might be good to check in.

• We took our annual trip to our favourite pumpkin cart. It was a crisp day, but still lovely.

• A friend crocheted these adorable hats for my littles. We all love them!

• I am excited to start Christmas gift shopping and sewing etc. The music came on a little bit late for me this year. It was too hot in September for me to be thinking about Christmas, but October's cooler days have got me in the mood.
• Summer list wrap up - tore down the poster and well, we did pretty good. I've decided to skip the wrap up, but you can read my old posts to see the bulk of what we did. Here, here and here.
• I'm hosting a group baby shower on Tuesday. I started to decorate today... didn't want to run out of time. I'm very interrupted during the days and don't want to feel rushed. Thankfully, my David is totally cool with it.
• My Dolly has been working on large scale colouring. She's been taking it very seriously... so cute!

• I have our 2012 family Christmas card pretty much designed, just need a few more details and a new family picture. I am toying with the idea of selling custom digital designed Christmas cards this year. Maybe $18/card, you print as many as you want. Anyone possibly interested? (I also do birth announcements)

2011 card

2010 card

•  Sad nursing story... Micah gets tummy aches when I eat/drink dairy. This is hard! I LOVE dairy and milk in my tea. I can drink almond milk and I'm pretty sure lactose free milk as well. The almond milk is TERRIBLE in tea, otherwise I like it. The lactose free milk is okay in tea, but I confirmed this week that Micah also can't handle my favourite teas. The good news is that it won't last forever and I'm grateful that I am able to nurse and don't have to mix bottles!
• Family pictures with Twila next weekend! We always look forward to this, Twila is amazing!

from last year's photo shoot

• I am going to be making roman blinds for my living room window. I'm looking forward to getting rid of those terrible vertical blinds!
• I was inspired by a crocheted afghan I saw on Pinterest and have begun my own. It won't look like that one, but I'm enjoying how it's going so far. Fall is such a cozy time to crochet. A good cup of tea would make it even better, but by the time I'm finished I might be able to curl up in it with said cup.
• My Pinterest boards have been hopping lately. By that I mean that I have been pinning a lot of Christmas gift ideas, party ideas and sewing tutorials. A lot of which, I intend on using very soon. I have begun a board "Pinned it and did it!". I was pleasantly surprised to find that I've actually done a lot of things that I've pinned. Makes me feel a bit better about the time I've spent on there. 
• I have a dishwasher! The electrical is being worked on as I type and we'll hopefully have a functioning dishwasher by the end of the weekend! HUGE blessing! More sewing time - woohoo!
• Oh, and to answer Donna's questions: the rest of my cabinet still needs organizing, but holds coffee maker, tea pots, napkins etc in one cupboard. Tablecloths and placemats in the drawer and misc. junk in the bottom cupboard. My plan is to organize it to be my "hosting" cupboard. Special serving dishes and accessories will be in there. As to where the cabinet is, it's to the right of the microwave counter. I couldn't find a picture with it in there, and my dishes are dirty right now *wink*, so not going to snap one right now.

(directly beside the cupboard on the bottom right of this picture)