Let's eat

I crossed off another little project on my list. Of course it isn't all-the-way done.  Just more progress.  I am going to paint the kitchen but I haven't gotten to it yet, and I knew no matter what I wanted to change the light fixture.  I decided to leave the black of the chandelier since our counter tops have lots-o-black in them and we aren't ever changing those. But I did not like the yellow-y glass cover thing-ys.  I am systematically eliminated the cream from our home.  So these covers had to go. 

And since our regular table is in the dining room we've been using the table we bought from Shopko in Provo (a store one step below Kmart) when we first got married.  The chairs have long since bit the dust but this faithful table has endured the test of time.  I remember when we first moved to Seattle, in our moldy, dark first apartment when Aaron was still in school, we had this table in our tiny kitchen.  I loved it.  I could sit at the head of the table, get things out of the fridge, take dinner off the stove and almost wash the dishes in the sink, all without leaving the comfort of my chair!  Our kitchen was t.i.n.y. 

It's a great little nook for eating and I LOVE the windows.   I can't even begin to tell you how much I love the windows.  Even on cloudy days we have light.  Tender mercies.  (I left my scriptures out so people would know how spiritual I am.)

One interesting thing left by the previous owners (along with their poor cat who wanders around in our backyard.  We keep feeding him and calling the owners to come get him.  We really can't take him because Cotton flips his skull any time he sees the poor thing.)  Anyway, when I went to change the lights, one was filled with rocks.  ??  Rocks?   I'd love to hear the story of how one light got to be filled with rocks.  ??

So I simply switched out the yellow glass cover thingys with clear seed glass ones from Lowes.  I also changed the light bulbs to clear, globe ones.  The light really isn't stark like I worried about and it completely changes the look.

We also bought new seating in the dining room.  Don't worry.  The Little Table that Could is being relegated as my craft table.   I looked and looked and looked for what would work in this nook, especially online and the thrift stores around here.  But like I said before.  They are SAD.   So we traveled to mecca called Ikea and bought our wares there. 

I sometimes shake my head at myself.  My decorating style has no rhyme or reason.  I sometimes like antiques, sometimes shabby chic, sometimes retro-modern and sometimes contemporary.  Anyway, the tables and chairs are different enough I didn't think if Aaron would like them.

Yep.  Clear, molded chairs with a sleek black table and a white bench on the far side.  And we love it all.

You can see on the far left the color I think I am going to paint the kitchen  It's the same one I painted in the dining room. A neutral beige-y.  (I'll post the dining room soon.) But for the kitchen, we'll see. I haven't quite decided yet.  So the wall colors and the trim will be different once I get going in here.  We're surrounded enough by trees and fences that I don't think we'll put curtains in here. 

I need to go.  I've been trying to write this while watching my niece and nephews but things are getting out of hand.  Crying, fighting, and my niece found the craft supplies.  Glitter is now everywhere.  She is a sucker for all things sparkly.  Duty calls.

Highlight Reel

My favorite pictures of our sweet boys this week.

Jonah, who actually licked a carrot this week and who put eggs into his mouth BEFORE he yelled, "Disgusting!"  And then of course spit them out.  Didn't some expert say a food is usually introduced 10 times before it is accepted by a child?  Well, that expert never met this child.  I think we're going on into the 100's on some of these.

Jonah actually took these two pictures of Lucas.  The boy tries to look tough but he is such a momma's boy. :)

And another momma's boy.  He sometimes won't even let Aaron or Lucas pick him up out of bed, yelling, "No! Go away! Where's mommy?!"  Yes, the dear boy is still in a crib. We have just kept waiting for him to climb out/not stay in before we transfer him to a "big boy bed" but the kid never has.  So, why ruin a good thing?

Below is Jonah trying to decide if "Marvelous Muave" is his shade of lipgloss.  Aaron said no.

Our little puppy who actually turns 8 in November.  He looks so sad in the this picture.  Maybe because he hasn't been walked for days.  Poor, neglected puppy.

Everyone else in the 6th grade is in their first year of band, but Lucas started last year so he is ahead of schedule.  He came home with harder books today so I hope the challenge will keep him interested in the good ol' trombone.

I've been finishing some little changes around here and the chandelier above is one of the mini transformations.  I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Aaron is in Seattle tonight (jealous!) so we're off to get take out and then to scouts.  Life is good.

(And I am happier than Sunday :)

Missing Pat

Where is Pat when you need her?  This very dear friend always saved us our seat on "our pew" every Sunday. No matter what time I got there (some days earlier than others :), I knew I had my seat with Pat.  My place.  It was a place cultivated for 10 beloved years. (Yes, I used the word beloved. I'm feeling nostalgic, ok?)  Here we have to get to church at least 15 minutes early in order to get a soft pew.  Yesterday was the first Sunday we snagged one and the whole time I kept wondering who we had displaced from "their seat."  It's a huge ward with fewer soft benches and everyone gets there early to save seats for meetings that always seem to begin one minute before the hour.  What's up with that??

During the week I keep myself busy with my home projects, creating play-doh pancakes with Jonah, helping Lucas with homework, running around town with Aaron and filling my friend-time with my sweet sis.  But Sundays are different.  I truly get homesick.  I won't admit that I may or may not have spent Relief Society in the car crying yesterday, but I will say I miss our ward family, where everything was comfortable, filled with dear friends and I had my place saved for me each week. 

Parts of starting over really stink.

Let the games begin...

They are off to a slow but positive start.  I oscillate between being giddy and completely overwhelmed by all I want to do in the house. It doesn't help that I have decorating ADD and I tend jump from one project to another not really finishing anything to the finished product.  My hand cramps from painting so I go to building a mirror frame until I run out of supplies to cleaning out the playroom boxes, so on and so forth.  I just leave a path of started projects in my wake without anything to say for it.  But now I can proudly say I finally finished my first major project!  Okay, the whole room really isn't done at all but the first stage is officially complete. :)  I finished painting the living room!  And I love it.  Below is the MLS listing picture of our living room...

 Here's my picture to help pick out the right color....

And here's the final product.

I painted all the trim a brighter white, changed the mantle to match the trim and the walls are Repose Grey by Sherwin Williams.  And let me tell you, it c.o.m.p.l.e.t.e.l.y. changes the room. The entire house is in browns, reds and more browns with a cream, yellow trim.  But I love the crisp grey and brighter white.  It lightens the room more than I can tell you!  I think I am going to take this grey all throughout the entry way I like it that much.  And I better like it because I won't be painting again for another decade or two.  Or three.

No, my pictures aren't great. I try to play with the lighting and exposure in my camera but since I really have no idea what I am doing, it doesn't seem to help.  (I WILL take a class and learn how to take incredible pictures. Oh I will.)

We going to put our dark, leather couches in here and a new sectional we ordered in the family room. Hopefully it will all come together soon.   I'm trying to get as much painting done as I can before I start putting stuff on walls.

The dining room is in mid-makeover right now but I am of course oscillating on the color.   I'm covering up brick red so it's difficult to rate it next to the red.  It changes the whole perspective.  I guess I'll just finish it on up and see what I think.

Until then, I am basking in having #1 out of 106 projects crossed off my list.

Home Sweet Home

We're starting to settle in down here.   It's going to take a while but at least we have the main parts of the house without boxes.  We just don't go into the garage or playroom yet.  They aren't going anywhere and we'll get to them sooner or later.

 

Thanks for the thoughtful emails & phone calls checking in on us and our move! It's been so nice to hear friendly, familiar voices.   Lucas said it best when he said, "It's just lonely here sometimes."  I agree.  We've only been to our ward twice since last Sunday was stake conference.  But we've met some super nice families and hope to get to know them better.

Our saving grace has been relatives.  And I have to admit that has been a.w.e.s.o.m.e.  We're talking Sunday night dinners, back to school BBQ's, and last minute FHE's.  We went on a double date with Genet and Mark and we had JACKSON and LUCAS babysit the kids!!  Welcome to a new era of freedom and fun! 

Jonah: Loves playing with cousins and with playdoh.  He's way into crafts and painting "just like mommy."  He misses Lukey at school and always asks when he is going to get home. 

Big news: We went cold turkey on the bottles!  For those who don't know, he had lots-o-swallowing issues when he was little and has still taken a bottle.  Granted he is totally fine now and we could have gotten rid of them 6 months ago, but I didn't have the stamina.  They would not go quietly into the night, rather kicking and screaming and a little hitting thrown in.  But with Aaron's determination, we just told him they were going "bye-bye."  Jonah was devastated, "That's not twoo!  That's NOT twoo!"  But after a few days of tantrums and said kicking and screaming, he has done fabulously.  And what do you know?!  His appetite for other foods has improved!  Go figure.  (I know. Don't judge.)

He said, "I wanna do 'cheese'!"

Monday is family night where we get together for a spiritual lesson, a fun activity and of course, yummy treats.  This last week we had a last minute Family Home Evening with Uncle Brant and the kids.  Here's Jonah sitting in Grandma's childhood rocking chair "retelling" the story of Abinadi, a Book of Mormon prophet.

Lucas: Had a few not-so-fun days at school near the beginning, but has since made friends and is enjoying his time at middle school.  He starts trombone and cross country next week and he is really looking forward to both.  (Aaron is just as excited for the cross country. These Williams boys were built for running.  Not this Jackson girl.  It's all Williams.)  We're still looking for a piano teacher but I heard there is someone great in the ward.  She won't be Laurie, but she'll have to do. :)

There are lots of boys in our new ward so he's enjoyed scouts and had
 a class pizza party on Saturday.  Super fun! We couldn't believe how many young men were up there passing the sacrament on Sunday!  There are 7-8 kids from our ward just the in 6th grade with Lucas!  Muy cool.

Aaron: Loves having some space to breath while he works.  He literally was working on our bed all summer because we packed away his tiny work table to sell the house.  He's got his own desk now!  It's the little things in life.  Put that desk in an actual office, and he's in heaven.  I have given him this office and decreed he can decorate it any way he wants. :)  Since time began, he has wanted a big, poofy, u.g.l.y. recliner to sit and read in, but since our space has always been in such short supply, I have had put my foot down wanting a little more style in our communal space.  I know. I'm a recliner snob.  So now he is scouting out the biggest, poofiest, comfy-est recliner for his office and I am excited for him. 

He's busy putting the house together, coming up with WILD ideas for an extreme playroom and mowing the lawn.  One of the very first things he said when we drove into our neighborhood to first look at the house was, "I guess I'm gonna have to mow regularly now."  Peoples' yards are meticulous here which goes so against all we stand for.  Well, not we really what we want to have occupy our time on weekends.  We are just not gardening people.  But I guess we'll have to kick it up a notch now that we have neighbors who seem to care.

As for me:  It's so strange not to have PTA, Relief Society or visiting teaching to do (work at church).  But I've filled my time with unpacking boxes, running errands with Genet and, this week, painting.  Our house is wonderfully painted but in all the wrong colors.  At least for me.  It's all warm, dark colors and I am just into light, cool colors right now.  I want to paint just about every room plus the trim.  Yes, it will take me years to to it all but I'll just start one room at a time.  I'm almost done with the living room and I'll post pictures when I am done.  (I haven't hardly been taking any pics at all.)   Anyway, the room looks like a completely different space.  I have to admit that one reason I was looking forward to moving was that I would have a different "canvas" to work with.  These past few years I couldn't have been more surprised to find myself loving decorating and crafting!  So not me.  But I love refinishing furniture, creating stuff for the house and thrift store shopping.  Which leads me to the complaint, there are NO good places near me!!  I ran up to Tigard to their Goodwill and was sorely disappointed in their selection.  I'm gonna have to branch out if I want to get this house decorated.

Well, that us in a nutshell this week.  We love you all and love to hear a familiar voice!

Jonah Quote of the Week #3

We've been encouraging potty training lately and Aaron was with him one day last week in the bathroom.  Jonah was sitting on his little frog potty and Aaron was patiently cheering him on.

 

After a few minutes of nothing, Jonah looks down at his "equipment" and cries, "Daddy!  It's broken!"  After a moment of contemplation he declares, "I gotta go get some batteries!"

(Yes, his hair is a disaster.  Yes, I cut it myself.  And yes, it's been rectified since this picture was taken. :)

And he's off...

It begins. 

6th grade.

Middle school. 

We can hardly believe it but he's off on the bus toward his new school year in a new school.  Jonah kept looking for his "pack-pack" and wanted to go too. It was difficult to make him understand he has a few years yet.  Poor kid.  Lucas met a few boys at church yesterday that will be 6th graders as well, maybe 5-6.  Very cool.  And we have 2-3 that live in the neighborhood.  (We haven't figured out all the details yet.)

Love this sweet, brave, thoughtful kid!

May the force be with you.

"Let's Go Home."

It was all Jonah was saying Wednesday night as we were getting ready for bed.  I have to admit I have felt the same way.  It's been strange in this new place.  It helped that Genet, Mark, Brant and all the cousins were over and helped unload the truck.  We couldn't have done it without them.  My aunt and uncle, Aunt Connie and Uncle Russel who live in Tigard have stopped by and some dear Seattle friends, the Hickmans, have visited.  I love having familiar faces.

Aaron wrote our monthly Williams family update...

" Lucas starts sixth grade on Tuesday. In his old school he would've been king of the pile of a K-6th elementary school. Instead he's the bottom of the pile of a 6-8th middle school. He's pretty tough though and I think will do well in spite of the nervousness.

So yes, we've officially moved to OR, which is good but strange. I feel like the new kid who moves in and keeps saying "Well back where I used to live..." because I am comparing everything to our old house and our ward in Seattle. The new house is no comparison - head and shoulders above where we were before, though we're still buried in boxes. Just the sole fact that we have air conditioning and it's almost 90 out today makes things good.

Our new ward seems great, but we miss all our friends. And sitting with Jonah during sacrament meeting is horrible! I want to go back up on the stand so I can sort of hear him yell a little and think "Oh, that's cute." It's not as cute when he's doing the yelling in your ear or using your tie as a rope to wall climb up to your face. I don't think he's really that bad - it's just that my child-wrestling-during-sacrament-meeting muscles have atrophied. He did great in a new nursery though. I do feel bad for his poor Sunbeam teachers next year. He turns 3 on December 30th, so he will literally be the youngest kid in his class every year. Luckily he's cute, so hopefully he can pull it off.

Natalie was a force during our move. I was working much of the time while we were preparing, so she basically did all the packing herself. I chalk this up to the fact - not that her husband is lazy - but that she's like those gritty, pioneer women and can pull the handcart by herself. Anyway, we're slowly getting moved in. Brant was awesome - he came by twice to help unload stuff. Sean unloaded too, but it was with his pants and underwear at his ankles, freely peeing in the street directly in front of our house. To his credit, they had just been camping and he had been introduced to the concept of relieving himself in the open, so we cut him some slack. Allison and Samantha were a huge help as well. Allison hauled stuff and then helped watch the little kids. Samantha literally was directing the unloading and telling us which boxes to take and where (I mean, up in the truck, reading labels and positioning things). Anyway, it happened and we're glad that everything is at least now in the house."

Genet, the wonderful, also tackled our fridge which was left filled with black mold, old spills and rotting crumbs of food.  Made me gag.  But with her help, we cleaned that sucker out and it looks good as new.

I have a lot of painting I want to do so nothing is going up on the walls until I get get some of that done.  Right now I am spray painting the pink curtain rods the owner left to make them more Jonah -room appropriate.  Once we hang a new shade and curtains, it will be my first official project in the house. Give me a yea!  And now that it will be a little darker, maybe JB will sleep past 6:30am.  Give me another yea!

I'll post pictures soon.