memorial day weekend

two of my brothers flew up to DC this weekend to visit arlington national cemetery.

have you ever been? this is a sacred place.

i wish i could be there with them. 

taylor in front of mark's grave 2011

just like many holidays,  i believe the true meaning of memorial day is slowly being forgotten.

so among the pool parties and BBQ's, let's stop and observe the real reason we get this day off work.

to remember our fallen. their sacrifice for our freedom.

let's enjoy our freedom, with humility, so their lives are not in vain.

and let's never forget.

i love you mark.

and all the men and women buried around you. 

carter 7 months

the carter girl is moving on to bigger and better things these days.

her first tooth came through in early may and boy, did she

let us know about it. poor baby had a rough couple of days.

she's also on to some pre-crawling adventures.

the knees, the rocking, the fall, the belly flail,  and then the squawking of frustration!

her personality is peeking through more and more each day. 

she's a talker and a smiler.

and i couldn't love her more.

paisley turns 3

she did it.

little miss p turned 3.

on her birthday, she was sick with a bad case of the throw ups,

so we celebrated a few days later.

you may remember the boys orange party back in september.

well of course little paisley wanted her own PINK party.

we kept it very casual and super cheap:

i had everything on hand except for the streamers.

 those were only $3 and i followed this tutorial.

 just a few families over to enjoy some cake with us.

for the cake, i was originally going to make this infamous rainbow cake, but i decided to change it up a bit and try different shades of pink. i think it would have turned out better if i had good quality coloring gel, but pretty nontheless. funfetti is our favorite cake mix around here. 

i enjoy it more than homemade. shhhh.

 still need to cut out baby carter's silo!

paisley got a pink and purple bike that she's been wanting for months.

it would be complete without a pink basket to carry all her goodies! among her favorite things to tote around, is her princess birthday card from nana. she even sleeps with it!

and an even better present is a visit from grandma and grandpa!

more to come on this delightful visit!

bored

we've been pretty busy around here.

unpacking still and getting ready for guests.

one of my weakest parenting skills is keeping these two entertained.

i don't know how many times a day i tell them to go play outside!

we have a great fenced in backyard with a trampoline,

but water always does the trick.

i love this wedgie pic of P.

 time for a new swimsuit i suppose. 

even carter girl gets bored around here.

baby einstein in her jumper is my trick for her:

but when all else fails,

have friends over for dress up!

chevron curtains

SO. this was our front room.

are you ready for the sexiest paint color in the world?

then scroll down baby!

::

::

::

::

::

::

::

::

::

::

::

::

dovetail gray.

 this paint color covers the majority of our home and i'm in love.

i knew i wanted some dramatic curtains to compliment our bright armoir,

but when i looked up chevron patterned curtain, they were basically non-existent.

i found a couple, but they weren't this dramatic and were way over priced.

so of course i made my own! i'm getting a tutorial ready 

to post if anyone is interested. total cost? about $30. 

and you'll never guess what they're made from. 

what do you think? are they too crazy? or just right?

i'd like a new light fixture, and

the curtains still need a trim at the bottom.

oh, did i mention that this is a no-sew project?

a smocked easter

i didn't have to buy new easter dresses for the girls.

just so happened to have these smocked beauties lying around.

both thrifted.

both in amazing condition.

paisley's was actually brand new and hand made in peru.

carter's was a light linen with smocked bunnies.

how lucky did i get?

 these are our new gray walls by the way ::: in. love.

we had a great easter.

tried to really teach the children about our savior and the resurrection.

hopefully it sunk in a little.

i'm so grateful for these little humans in my life.

they are so precious.

none of it would be possible without the sacrifice of jesus christ.

for my journal

dear journal,

i want to jot down what i was doing last night when this historical event took place. i remember the details of the day mark died so vividly. i don't want to forget last night either.

the kids were in bed. david was on the floor looking through our movie collection deciding what movie to watch as i was finishing up a blog post. i quickly checked facebook and saw a couple status updates about bin ladens death. i yelled out to david and gave him the computer to find a live news feed. we watched our president announce that after nearly ten years of war, we had found and killed osama bin laden. i got emotional. my mind of course went straight to mark. i texted my older brother brandon. no answer when i called him either. david and i tried to find out more information online, but this was fresh news, so there weren't many details yet. i looked at david and said, "it was the SEALs." 

a little while later, i went out in the backyard to try to get cell phone service. it was late and dark and calm. the breeze was blowing, the bugs chirping, a perfect spring night. i sat down and cried. they were grateful tears. grateful for the justice in this world and in the next life. grateful for the hard work & sacrifice of so many people to get to this point. grateful for mark and his spirit that still lives. i could hear his chuckle in my head. i wondered what he would be saying right then.

david and i stayed up for quite a while longer. maybe till 1am. we were pumped up. we kept speculating about all the behind the scenes details that went on behind this operation. 

this morning, i woke up. talk to my dad and finally brandon. more emotions. found out that it was SEAL team six. more emotions. 

i knew it was them.

and i've never been more proud.

layered ruffle curtain tutorial

first things first.

i. love. ruffles.

for paisley's curtains, i wanted to re-create something like these land of nod curtains.

so i went to target and picked up some cheap gray sheets.

BUT, then i saw these and changed up my game plan before i started cutting.

this gorgeous curtain is from urban outfitters and retails for 80 bones! 

it was pretty darn easy to re-create.

and so much cheaper.

here's how mine turned out:

 (the girls' room is still a work in progress)

here's my first attempt at a tutorial.

here it goes folks:

i picked up a twin size sheet set from target for $15, the cheapest rod i could find, and

ring clips to hang the curtains.

1. take the fitted sheet and cut off the elastic edge.

2. then i cut the fitted sheet into 6" strips. they don't have to be perfect,

especially since the style of the curtain is a little sloppy.

3. after i cut the strips, i sewed them together to make loner strips.

4. then i ruffled them. there are many different techniques to do this. because i'm lazy, i just run my strips through my sewing machine, and as i do so, i gather or pleat the material. the messier and more uneven, the better. i did this with about 1/2 inch allowance.

continue to do this till you have long strips of ruffly goodness

5. now get your flat sheet out and cut it down the middle length ways. i wanted two panels, and the twin sheet covered my window perfectly. you might have to cut them down more for a skinnier window. or you could choose to do just one panel. after you make the cut, fold over and hem the raw side.

6. once you have some ruffles ready, you need to mark your lines on the panels. i started from the bottom and marked a line every 4 inches. do this 7 times. i did 7- 6" ruffle strips. then i tapered them towards the top. more on that later...

7. after you've marked your lines, start sewing on the ruffled strips,

matching them up with the lines.

8. when you get to the end of the panel, stop the machine and cut off the excess ruffle strip

 about 1" after the panel.

 then fold under the excess twice. 

(this part gets a little tricky)

finish stitching to the edge and backstitch 1/2".

lift up the foot of your machine and turn the panel.

finish off the ruffled edge without sewing the panel underneath.

9. finish sewing upwards toward the top of the sheet.

here's what i did, but you can change your up:

7 rows of 6" ruffles.

1 row of 5"

1 row of 4"

1 row of 3"

the last row was 2", but instead of the messy gathering,

i sewed down the middle of the 2" strip and pulled the one thread to gather it evenly.

(when you mark your lines for the 5",4", & 3" strips, mark them one inch closer than the 4" we started with.

10. i also trimmed the length of my panels to make them shorter and used that scrap fabric for more ruffle strips.

11. clip on your hanging rings and you're done!

this is my first tutorial, so please email or comment with any questions. 

some things may need to be clarified , as i'm sure i may have missed something.

also, if anyone actually uses this, i would LOVE to see pictures.