More Gratitude

A recent discussion with Liam regarding the donation of some of his unused toys led to a discussion about children who are less fortunate than mine. It must have been his newly developed ability to empathize that led him to look sad, ask a few questions, then begin to cry because we have had these discussions before and none of them have ended in tears. It was also just before bed time which is usually an emotional time of the day but I couldn't help but look at the information I just shared with him from his perspective. I was also moved but, mostly, I felt guilty for not thinking about these things more often. More specifically, beyond the topic of toys, I'm talking about children, right here under our noses, who are hungry or who aren't cared for or loved.

 

I'm not trying to be a downer but I am trying to change my thoughts and my actions. Obviously, taking some sort of action to, as the Bible puts it, "look after orphans and widows in their distress," is the first thing to do. I'm a little ashamed that I don't do all that I can in that department. But, even further, being mindful of the fact that there are so many hurting people in the world, should dramatically change our thoughts and our hearts. Thinking about these kinds of things should make us all take a step back from our own lives and our own "problems." We are a materialistic and selfish people. I mean, we can be, at times, right? I will admit that there have been days when I woke up in my air conditioned house, dressed my family in nice clothes, fed them a delicious breakfast and then walked my son to school in our beautiful, safe neighborhood, hopped in my functioning vehicle, danced around target with my Starbucks in hand, ate way too much food for dinner and followed it up with dessert, soaked in a hot bath before bed, and, at the end of the day, showed little gratitude for it all. Or, even worse, on some days, complained about it all. I've said it before, but I truly believe that gratitude can change our lives. Thinking about those less fortunate, and actually doing something about it, can change our lives. Living for something other than our own selfish ambitions can deeply change us.

 

I am not saying that our problems aren't real just because we aren't hungry. But I am saying that when our problems get real, we need to look outside ourselves and show some gratitude for the life we are blessed with, in our thoughts and in our actions.

Sundays

Since Liam started school life has been busier than usual. I guess I was naive but I thought being away from one kid for 6 hours a day would make life easier but, apparently, not. Scheduling our lives around volunteering, homework and early bedtimes alongside Paul's odd work days and hours has left us without much family time. In fact, the only full day everyone is home at the same time is Sunday. Our Sundays have become our favorite day and we have been making an effort to do something a little extra fun with the kids before our crazy week starts all over again. This past Sunday we spent our late afternoon at the lake in our community. We fed the ducks, ate stale bread, climbed on rocks, played chess, completed a book report that needed to get done and layed on a blanket while the kids played with sticks and trees. It was awesome.

 

 

Hutch Project

 

 

I have been feeling the need want for a hutch/ buffet in recent days. I had lowered my expectations a bit and planned on just purchasing a cabinet from ikea but then Paul spotted a hutch at our neigbor's yard sale and I snatched it up. I went Pinterest crazy reading a ton of DIY posts about painting furniture and I decided I would use Annie Sloan chalk paint along with Annie Sloan clear soft wax. It costs a lot more than latex paint but it completely bypasses the need to strip, sand and prime and it goes a lot further as well.

 

 

The only prep work I had to do was tear out those weird little rails from the middle shelves. I looked it up online but, for the life of me, I don't know why they were there. We also decided to try out the hutch sans glass cabinets so I filled all the holes with wood filler and Paul sanded them down for me.

 

 

 After that I just cleaned the furniture and started to paint it. The first coat gave the hutch a definite "rustic" look. I get why this type of paint is so popular since "shabby chic" is what's in but it doesn't quite fit in my home and I wasn't planning on doing any distressing so I painted a second coat.

 

 

I was so surprised at how well it covered. I had to do a little taping since I painted the back panel teal and taking the back off wasn't going to be easy.

 

 

 

I then waxed the whole thing with two thin coats and I was amazed at how easy it was. I still want to do another coat or two of wax to make sure it's sealed (and defended against my wonderful children).

 

 

 For now here is the finished product! I think I'm in love and I am on the hunt for another yard sale find.

 

 

 

First Haircut

It's no secret that Brygit has had some crazy hairstyles. She was bald for the first year of her life, spent the second year rocking a mullet and has pretty much looked like a wild child ever since. Don't get me wrong, I think her hair is beautiful. You can't beat the color and the thicker hair that has been (finally) growing in is going to be pretty spectacular but, in the meantime, it's pretty wild. Her first hairs were reaching down to almost the middle of her back believe it or not but there were only like 2 of them so we decided it was time for a trim.

I think she looks great and she did really well. It took like 12 seconds to cut and it was traumatic for nobody except me. Since Liam started kindergarten, I feel extremely sentimental about these things.

Photo shoot

I realized I never took pictures of Liam to document turning 5. I mean, I take pictures of him all the time but I usually like to snaz it up a bit with a nice shirt and maybe a nicer location than my front yard. It was 100 degrees (literally) and the kids wanted to play on the playground so I quickly snapped a few pictures in the shade and the kids turned on the charm. And by charm I mean weird faces.

Except for this one photo that I totally asked them to do. I think it's adorable.

And, although Liam really does kiss his sister all the time, this was his reaction.

So long summer and hello fall

Labor Day was the first family day we have had in almost three weeks. We wanted to do something fun as a family and celebrate the (supposed) soon arrival of fall and the end of summer. We started out at Oak Glen where the apple crop was plentiful and we filled our bag with the most delicious apples and pears.

On the way home we stopped at a store and the kids had to wait outside because they were stuffing their faces.

Brygit ended up eating 3 apples that day and I, of course, made apple crisp. We pretended it was fall and then we got real and took the kids to the pool. As you can probably tell, I'm praying for a nice fall this year. I hope Southern California delivers but I won't hold my breath.