A Mini-Makeover

I love my kitchen. 

I designed it to be white, light, and airy.

But there was one thing in my kitchen/living area that didn't go with the decor:

My 12-year-old kitchen table.

It went perfectly with the decor in my last house--dark, black, gold-ish.

I've been saving some money and decided Mother's Day was the perfect excuse to finally splurge.

I went to Four Chairs Furniture.  I've never been there before, but I will be a customer for life.

I got to completely design my entire table.

 I picked a "Riverwash" table top and ivory table legs.

For the side-chairs, I picked the design and the paint color.  It's hard to tell in the picture but it's a super subtle gray/green/turquoise/ivory.  The official name was "Silver Sage."

The table came with two leaves and I'm able to seat up to ten people.

For the end chairs I picked a formal shape but very casual burlap slipcover--trying to go for the "Shabby-Chic" look.

 So much better with my kitchen, don't you think?

And perfect with my family room and the aqua accent wall.

The only bad thing about custom designing furniture is the WAIT.

I am NOT a patient person and that two weeks was interminable!

Totally worth it, though.

 There's something about getting something new for my house, however small, that motivates me to clean, clean, clean.  I've spent the last few days cleaning out drawers, organizing cupboards, and *gasp* mopping the floor.

Now THAT hasn't happened in awhile.

Remember those job charts I was going to make for my kids?

Yeah, well, that turned into me giving them a random, verbal list each morning according to how tired I was/am and how much of the mess there was/is.

It's working, though, so, whatever....

Month in iPhotos--Crazy May

We started the month with our 7th and 8th round of Strep in the family.  It has only passed back and forth between Lucy and Jake but they have each had it four times in 3 months!!!

The doctor said if they each get it two more time in the next 3-4 months then they will need their tonsils out.

I'm so glad school is out so maybe we can get a break from the germs and antibiotics for awhile.

Dance auditions at our dance studio.

Six hours long.   Phew!

I am craving Original Tart frozen yogurt big time.  

We've made a few trips to Orange Leaf.

Sam in his favorite outfit ready to go run errands with me.

Lucy absolutely loves gymnastics.  She will NOT miss a class--even if it falls on her birthday.

We brought treats for all the girls that day.

So random, I know.

This is on dress rehearsal day at the high school.  When I arrived the whole parking lot was completely paved.  Then we got a message to move our cars from the south parking lot.  This is what I came out to find.

So nice of them to leave my car intact....barely.

Warm up in the hall before the show.

I was a nervous wreck the day of the recital.

Dress rehearsal did NOT go well.  We ran into several technical difficulties and the logistics of getting 200 girls on and off the stage, in intervals, in a 90 second time-frame for the Grande Finale just wasn't working.  

We had a to schedule an extra rehearsal the morning of the show.  We've never had to do this before.

I did not sleep all night.  We worked out the kinks--but we never had a full run-through from beginning to end.  

I was up helping the tech crew with music for the show and the adrenaline/nerves kicked in so hard that my heart literally raced and palpitated until I thought I was going into cardiac arrest.

But...

....The entire ballet turned out absolutely perfect and gorgeous!!!!

I was so thrilled and relieved that I was crying.  

The girls were beautiful!

All that hard work and stress paid off--and this year was definitely the most difficult year-to-date at my studio.

First, only a month into choreography and rehearsals I had emergency surgery (while out of state on vacation!!!) and missed almost a month of dance.  Then right after, I discovered I was pregnant and taught all through April and May with extreme fatigue and nausea.  There were days where I didn't know how I would get off the couch and make it to the studio, much less teach, rehearse, and clean the dances.  Some days I just sat on the floor with my crackers and ginger ale and barked out instructions to the girls.

Little Lulu in her ballet costume.

End of the second and final show--best feeling ever!!!

The very next day we had Lucy's baptism.

We had 40+ people at our house afterwards and I knew I would be exhausted.  I ordered Olive Garden for lunch and I hired cleaners to clean my house from top to bottom.

It definitely made things easier and I was able to relax and enjoy the day with our families.

I love my sweet little Lucy and her decision to be baptized a member of our church.

This last week of May was truly the "week of Lucy."

She had her birthday on Tuesday shopping and lunch with Grandpa Holland, a recital on Friday, a baptism on Saturday, and another birthday celebration on Sunday at Nana's house.

(I promised her a birthday with friends this week--not sure if that is still going to happen.)

Uncle Dave is always making up fun and crazy games with the kids.  Here they had to all lay on their stomachs while he launched tennis balls high in the air and tried to hit them in the back.  

Three kids ended up crying.

But then they got their revenge and the adults had to lie down while the kids directed hits.

Meanwhile, Summer has begun.  I am so excited.  I'm working on job charts and organizing a few rooms.  I've also changed up some decor and the landscaping projects are all done--all future posts.

But don't you just love these pictures of my boys vacuuming?

Nothing wrong with teaching yours boys (and girls) to do housework.  My future daughters-n-law will thank me someday.

The Cleaning Bug--Pantry

I caught the cleaning bug over the weekend.

I LOVE when that happens.

It happens so infrequently that I need to document.

I was in the middle of preparing for a small party for Sam when it hit--so unexpectedly!

I decided I was going to clean out and organize my pantry.

(Which I haven't done since I moved in the house over three years ago.)

The before:

And AFTER!!!

I had these two baskets left over from my closet-makeover-that-never-was,

so I filled them with all the miscellaneous pantry items like granola bars, sunflower seeds, sauce and seasoning packets, etc.

Left side of the pantry

Bottom: drinks and large cans

Second shelf: cereal

Third Shelf: snack and crackers

Top shelf: cleaning supplies

Right side of the pantry

Top shelf: Large jars/bottles and paint supplies

Third shelf: Sauces, syrups, cocoa, garbage bags

Second shelf: bread, rice, pasta

 Bottom shelf: paper products, cutlery and cookbooks

In the corner I put the baskets on the third shelf,

Canned food on the second shelf,

More drinks on the bottom.

This picture has nothing to do with anything except that I can't get over how cute this picture is.

Sam's birthday was yesterday and mine is tomorrow.

Lots of birthday fun around here.

Except...

Have I mentioned that I have a birthday curse?

I have not had a good birthday for the last 5 years.

Kinda nervous to see what happens tomorrow.