. sweet sisters .

have i ever said how glad i am that i have two girls?  ok, i would have been happy with boys, but now that i have girls, i am so very very thankful that God made me a mom of girls.  you see, i have a sister myself and that bond between sisters is so sweet, special, and different than any bond could be. 

much like my sister and myself, my girls are completely different from each other, yet the bond they have already formed is unreal.  they laugh.  they cry.  they pinch each other and pull each others hair.  they play barbies.  they play puzzles.  and, my favorite, is when they cuddle up to watch cartoons together.

i love their bond and wouldn't have it any other way, but i do spend time constantly wondering how two children from the same parent could be so different.  my sister and i are the perfect example.  she is short and has always had straight blonde hair and i'm tall and have always has curly dark hair.  not to mention, our personalities are as different as the sun and the moon.   

now, my girls ... they do have similarities, but their differences outweigh those. 

mykah - she is my clown.  she's always laughing, always being silly.  she's a meat-eater and loves sweets.  she sucks her thumb 24 hours a day and carries her "gankie" as well call it.  she'd be content to sit and read books every waking hour.  she is very shy and it takes her quite a while to warm up to anyone.

karsyn - she is independent.  very independent.  and always has been.  she likes to keep things realistic, but likes to be silly.  she doesn't care for meat at all and prefers chips and crackers over the sweet stuff (gets that from me).  she is very smart and loves to learn new things.  she pretends to be shy, but loves attention and talking to people.  she's my outgoing one, much like my sister.

as different as they are, they love each other.  they love the interaction and they look after one another.  i cannot wait to see how their relationship develops over the years and to see what sweet sisters they become even more.

. january projects .

i have been doing projects around the clock it seems for the last week, but today was a big one.  for a little background on me ... i am VERY indecisive.  so in order to prevent making decisions about my home decor, i just don't decorate.  simple as that.  we lived in our first house for 4 years and never hung a thing on the walls.  we've lived here for 6 months and am just now MAKING myself hang stuff.  i'm determined to make this house a home for my family.  i want to LOVE living here.  in order for that to happen, i have to make it awesome.  i have to make holes in the walls.  so i did.  and i only need to patch 2 holes so far.  here's pictures showing you the projects i've been doing.  some before and after and some step-by-step.

the projects all started with my mantel.  {note: these are all horrible pictures.  most of them were taken with my phone.}

before:

 
after:  i wanted to created more of a "winter" themed mantel.  i went with white and aqua and used paper doilies for my banner to look like snowflakes.    
 my next project was my buffet in my dining room.  this is it before i even started.  i had just thrown all this stuff on there when i started on my mantel.

and here's the "so far" (instead of the "after" b/c i'm not quite done) ...

the centerpiece for my buffet is our new family bible that my parents got us for christmas.  it's kind of a tradition in our family to have one of these and was a very special gift.  my grandmother has one and my mom has one.  that is my most favorite thing of both of their houses and i'm so glad to be able to have a bible for my own family. 

next up ... you see that mirror hanging above the buffet?  here's the before ...

it is an antique mirror that i got from my granny, but it was a old off-white looking thing and needed a little freshening up.  so it got a coat of pure white.  and now it's beautiful and one of my favorite pieces.  i love the detail.

and those sconces hanging on either side?  i got those from my mother-in-law.  here's the before ... 

i'm not real sure what color they were before, but they needed some freshening up as well.  here's the after ...

here's another mirror i got from my mother-in-law.  i decided to use it for the girls room, but wanted to give it some color.  a little spray paint went a long way in this project.  here's the before...

some pink spray paint absolutely made this mirror cute ...

my last 2 projects i did today and i will post them step by step.  growing up, my parents kept our measurements on the edge of the wall.  i always wanted to have some kind of growth chart for our children, but, b/c we are not settled in our "forever home" i wanted to be able to take our growth chart with us without taking down a wall or part of a door frame (which is what happened when we bought our first house.  the previous owners took their door frame with them b/c it had their childrens measurements written on it).

while blog searching one day, i found this idea and ordered the vinyl ruler that i needed to make this absolutely adorable and fun growth chart.  

first, i ordered the vinyl.  then, we bought a piece of 1x8x6 wood.

 

here it is after it's done, but before we hung it on the wall ... it's like an oversized ruler!  love it.

after we hung it up, we got the girls first measurements.  i plan on going back through and adding their measurements from previous years.

the very last project was much needed.  i do not like clutter.  not on my counters, not in my car, not on my refrigerator.  which are the 3 places that were becoming cluttered every day with artwork and crafts.  i needed a place to hang up karsyn's color sheets and other things she brings home, or mykah's things tht we make at home and i had the perfect place.

it started with this ...

 

and became this ...

 

this little nook in my dining room was the perfect place.  now, the yellow clothes pins were NOT what i had invisioned at all.  i wanted big silver bulldog clips, but i went to four stores today and couldn't find them.  yellow just happened to be the only color spray paint i had left and i refused to hand paint 8 little clothes pins.  so, these are temporary.  i do have little splashes of yellow in my dining room and kitchen, but i'm not too fond of these.  i love the idea of it though.  i love that now i have a place to hang our masterpieces.

those are my projects in a nutshell.  i've had fun and i have another list of more i want to do and plan on doing them in the coming weeks.   

. 2/365 .

karsyn and her crazy curls getting measured for the first time on our new growth chart.

. new year .

i live for new beginnings.  i live for fresh starts.  for the brand new car smell.  the fresh cleaned towels and white sheets.  i have a crush on freshly shaven legs (because that doesn't happen near as often as it should sometimes).  fresh. clean. new. from the beginning.  it's what i love.  why do you think nearly all the furniture in my house is white?  i love clean!  and for the new year, i'm ready for a clean start. 

i have the usual goals.  lose weight.  read my bible more.  go to church every week.  be a better meal planner.  {yada yada yada.  blah blah blah.}  but what pulls at my heart strings the most this time?  what consumed my thoughts today and will for a number of days to come?  my kids.  my sweet girls. 

karsyn just turned 4.  mykah will be 2 in less than two weeks.  where has the time gone?  and from what i have read on several other blogs today, the favorite theme on "new years goals" seems to be to slow down.  to take time to live in the moment.  to cherish the small things.  apparently i'm not the only one who feels like time is slipping right between my hands. 

this year my plan is to truly live for the moments.  to be less of a stickler in my ocd tendencies.  to not care if the girls are in bed right at 7:30.  if they want to read one more book, lets read one more book, even if it takes bedtime to 7:40.  i know the day will come when they won't want me to read to them anymore.  i know the day will come when they won't want butterfly kisses when we're putting on pajamas. 

and traditions?  we don't have many, but i LOVE traditions.  so this year we are coming up with traditions for every little thing.  i'm going to document it all so i remember year to year what we do.  i want to make a big deal out of every holiday.  i want to S.L.O.W down, breath, and take in every sound, every sight, every feeling of every moment that i can. 

i love this moment our family is in right now and i simply cannot wait to see where He takes us this next year.

. 1/365 .

did you know that you should wear a helmet when you color?

my little artists at work.