Lately in Spring

Hullo everyone! Just wanted to drop in and say hi. We are indeed still around. Things just seem more low key around here. We've mostly kept to home (aside from 2 little trips) and enjoyed 2018 so far. Weekends have turned into my time to do most of my school work, unless I know there is a lot planned for a weekend. So though we do stay around more often, I feel like we have been out exploring our own area more and more. Spring does have a tendency to offer ALL the events and things to do.

I'll just share a few pictures from the past couple of months and let them to the updating :)

Sister Sunday :) I have begun this tradition of trying to capture the girls together everyday. They are just too stinkin' cute together. Also usually about to fall apart since right after church is nap time. 

Baby Logan was born on 3/1! We have 2 nephews now!

Visiting JoJo back in March at rehab. One of the sweetest women I've ever met. We didn't know it at the time but this was the last time we would get to see her. She and my grandma passed away to the Lord about a week apart. John and I are both thankful we got to have our grandmas as long as we did and that our girls got to know them. 

On a different note, the girls got a handmade swing set thanks to Grandpa! Ellie asks to swing just about everyday.

John and I took a week belated birthday trip tTho Blowing Rock, NC while my parents were with the kids. It was quick but much needed and so pretty there!

                                              Our humble cabin for the night.

  Dyeing Easter eggs together. Evie was more than happy to dump all the eggs into the dye cups lol

This picture was all the little grandbabies together as we got ready to leave for my grandmother's service. Our whole family (except some spouses and other great grands who stayed behind-including Ellie thanks to a stomach bug) was there together to honor her. I still can't believe she is gone sometimes. 

Evie with her eyes on the prize :) We did visit my parents church for an egg hunt before heading back to SC. Evie had no problem taking part!

Evie and Reid! Ready to ride!

 This picture pretty well sums up Easters at JoJos. Everyone gathered together in her house, eating before the big egg hunt. I love that we still went to her house to celebrate. She LOVED welcoming her family into her home. 

Easter girls!

   These are just snapshots of some of our favorite spots in the house right now. Cozy places to play, read and just be together. I set a little "library" for the girls on our loft and it's a great way access books which may otherwise fall to the bottom of the box. The toy/guest room is self explanatory for it's fun-ness. The girls are at such a good age though (almost 18 months and 4) they can honestly have fun almost anywhere with a little imagination. 

Christmas and New Year

*-+Happy New Year to all! I like the idea of the new year, not necessarily the idea of a new start but just the calm that is after the Christmas season but still having time off ;)

Here is a little about our month of December, holiday décor in home and what's to come in the new year...

December started with a trip to the tree lot for a little dinky tree for the girls ornaments on the loft. They liked it and I missed having a real tree for the past several years. We also had a snow weekend the next weekend. It didn't stick around but it was beautiful while it was coming down.

After we decorated...
             
                      
  
                 
 

  

John and I got to go to the ACC game in Charlotte...at least we saw them win that game.

We traveled to NC for my cousin Roxie's wedding and to celebrate Christmas with my family. It was a privilege to be a bridesmaid in the wedding party and to also have Christmas with my parents, aunt, uncle, brother, sister in law, grandma and little nephew!

The next weekend was already Christmas. We drove to see some special light displays here in Greenville and the girls met Santa for the first time. We just said Hi and took a picture, no reason to even bother trying to sit in the lap! Evie's babbling when she saw the lights was so stinkin cute. I'm so glad I got a video!

On Christmas Eve Eve (yes you read that right) we went to celebrate with John's parents, brother in law and sister. We had a great meal and of course fun with presents.

Christmas Eve was spent at church twice, once for service and once for Christmas Eve service. WE got such a treat at the 10:00 AM service when the choir, pianist, 3 violinist and 1 cellist played Handel's "Messiah". It was incredible.  That night I cooked my first festive meal for my own family and light candles and had a nicer than normal meal together.

Christmas Day came and so did Santa ;) After we opened Santa gifts and ate the traditional cinnamon rolls, we changed and went to JoJo's to see all our aunts, uncles and cousins. I ended up going and it worked out well. ( I was on call with work but never got called! yay!)

As we get into 2018, we look forward to another year with our family, having fun, taking trips, helping, serving and I will be going back to school. I said "never again" after nursing school but here we are. I start at Clemson University on Thursday to become a family nurse practitioner. Here's to hoping the next 2 years go smoothly as possible! I'm going part time at work, full time in school to get it over with ASAP ;) There are several reasons for this but mainly of course for my family.

Here's to productive, happy year!

A little spring decorating...

This post could also be labeled as "if you can dream it, my dad can built it". Truth. While some of this post does relate to my own cycle of continuously rearranging and redecorating, it has just as much to do with me showing off my dad's woodworking skills.

Remember when I posted my home tours from October? I think I even pulled some line like... the house is mostly the way I want it! Yes kinda true. But! I carried on with some new ideas this spring which I was eager to see through completion after we saw the whirlwind of newborn-ness and the holidays change to more content baby days and a new year! Needless to say I'm so happy with how it looks. How one's home "looks" or presents itself is not the most important thing by any means but its OK also to enjoy seeing pretty things in your own space and making it a cozy place for your family.

I'll start with the outside space. A cleaned and stained deck and fresh potted and planted flowers.

Here enters some of my dad's work! Our outside love seat! This couch is so great out here. We needed more seating and something comfortable so we got just that.

 

My dad helped me replace our old closet light fixture. We had a huge florescent light here and I was ready for it to go on day 1 of owning this house. After I took this picture I told John he had to move his bags at the top of the closet...OCD for life!!

Back in December, we got our Christmas gift from my parents: a new kitchen table with benches. Enough room for everyone!

 

I also decided to do something I've wanted to do since day 1 in our home and that was to paint the kitchen. It's the same color as the dining room and looks so much better. We also switched out the hardware for brushed nickel.

Our powder room. This one was by far the most time consuming but it turned out beautifully. I thought the bathroom too plain (so dramatic) but loved a certain ocean blue in bathrooms. Well I didn't want to just add dark paint in a small space so the board and batton idea came up as a way to break up the paint. We had previously changed out the light fixture to something more fitting of the space.

As some of you know, our living room shelves are insanely tall and at point I said I'm not worried about the top half! You have a have a much taller ladder to even reach them. Well apparently the time came to finally decorate them a little so I bought some (many) books from Habit for Humanity and turned them spine out so they all blend in. My dad made several bookends to hold them up as they previously kept crashing over. Not convenient to fix! But now they are all good. For the other shelves, I got a bouquet of wool ball flowers in put them in jars. Done. Now the top half of the shelves (which I never plan to touch again in the near future) are consistent looking and give the living room a more cozy atmosphere. Also a new wooden frame to rest on the mantel! Thanks dad! 

Also in the living room? My new cart! Yes.. my dad made it complete with galvanized shelves per my request!

In the playroom I added a rug under their table which helped with the overall layout of the room and hung some "new" wall art. These fairy tale prints are from a storybook I had from childhood.

Last but not least, is my little nook on the loft upstairs. I was at a lost for what else to do here (I had my desk set up in front of the windows since day one but that was it) but I finally got it. Cozy chair, side table, repainted lamp and open shelves all make for a nice reading nook. The chair is new but all else is recycled from what we had. My dad helped me cut and hang the shelves. I tell ya, natural wood is just so beautiful. After all these products, mostly all I like to see is stained wood. It's just lovely.  Anyway, with fresh flowers from our yard an knick knacks from my travels, I'd say this space is good to go. Happy reading and relaxing!