100!

Friends, can you believe this is the 100th post of our blog?  As I look back over the last 99 posts, I'm so thankful that I have things documented in words and pictures to remember all of the details of our crazy little life.  I hope you've enjoyed following along with us and being patient with me as I try to keep up with posting.

Now, I am asking something of you.  If you're following along and checking our blog, I want to know who you are!  The blogger site allows me to sort of see my 'audience' but not anything specific.  So, come out come out wherever you are!

Please take the time to leave a quick comment on this post letting me know who I'm talking to!  I know that people are visiting from 10 different countries (which still confuses/amazes me) and that in the past year, we've had 5,528 page views to date.  And that just amazes me.

So please let me know who you are!  Don't be embarrassed...I'm a self-professed blog stalker too.  So if you have a blog, I probably follow you too :)

Anyway, happy 100 y'all!

annie sloan chalk paint: kitchen cabinets [part 1]

When we moved into this house, I fell in love with the layout of the kitchen.  However...the 42 inch dreamy cabinets were u-g-l-y.  They were some kind of yellowish wood with brass knobs.  Lots and lots of blingy brass knobs.  We knew we needed to do something about all of that wood, and thought we could just have someone paint our cabinets for us.  Do you know how much it costs to get someone to professionally paint your cabinets? A few thousand dollars.  Yeah.Right.  So, we ordered some pretty knobs and drawer pulls off of Amazon and decided to do paint them ourselves!  

Have you heard of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint?  It's fantastic.  No sanding!  No priming!  Just paint it on! And y'all, honestly we didn't sand or prime or anything!  We just cleaned the cabinets and started painting. But the thing about chalk paint (not to be confused with chalkboard paint, not the same stuff) is that you have to put something over top of it.  ASCP is designed primarily to use with a wax on top, but we chose to use ASCP lacquer on top instead.  It seemed a little more user friendly for us, and the lacquer is supposedly more durable than the wax (it's designed for use on painted floors!) which will hold up to the wear and tear of wet hands, flying food, and other insanities that happen in my kitchen.  You can't buy ASCP at normal paint retailers, you have to get them from one of their stockists that are usually set up in the cutest little shops.  We got ours from the Melville Trading Post in Mebane.  I could have spent hours in that store, drooling over beautifully distressed pieces of furniture painted with ASCP.  But I left with my paint and lacquer and began coming up with a game plan on how we would tackle this project.

The good thing about our kitchen is that we have tons of drawers and cabinets.  But it made it really overwhelming to think of actually starting to paint them.  Once you start, there's no going back!  It's not like we can just take all of our cabinet doors off and start painting...a wild and crazy 14 month old puts pretty strict constraints on how to execute a project like this.  We decided to start small with the island.  Our color of choice:  ASCP French Linen.

Notice that the can of paint is small.  ASCP comes in quarts, and because of the thickness of the paint, a little goes a long way.  We used a little over half of the quart for the entire island. 

This is the color of the wood that we were happy to cover up:

Yikes.

Between the brass knobs and yellow wood, it made our wood floors glow yellow. 

Step one...take of all of those knobs!

We cleaned the cabinet doors with a wood cleaner from Lowes, then we took the doors off and painted them with 3 coats of French Linen.  To paint 3 coats took no time at all, because one of the magical things about ASCP is that it dries SO fast.  By the time we were finished with the 4th door, we could loop back to the first one for the next coat.  

And then I stopped taking pictures...woops.  Next, we brushed on one coat of lacquer, then rubbed a dark mocha stain into the grooves of the doors and drawers, and finished it off with one more coat of lacquer. ASCP is designed to be distressed, most often you can sand it down in places to reveal the wood or paint underneath the chalk paint.  We wanted them distressed looking but didn't want the ugly colored wood to show through, so that's why we did a dark glaze rubbed in the nooks and crannies.  Then we added our knew oil rubbed bronze knobs and stepped back to admire our work!

[disclaimer: this picture was taken before we did the mocha stain rub in the grooves]

 Success!  Now we are in the middle of painting the rest of the cabinets.  Our color of choice for the rest of the cabinets is ASCP Old White.  It's a much bigger process since there are tons of cabinets, but we're trudging forward during nap times and after the little guy goes to bed.  So stay tuned!  It may be a while before we finish, but we WILL finish!

And I'd just like to say, this is one of the reasons why I love my husband.  He amuses me in these crazy projects and works his little butt off right alongside me.  You're the best, B.

happy birthday, B!

There are no words for how thankful I am for my husband.  Today is his birthday, and I'm so glad that 28 years ago he came into this world, he grew up, and he chose me.

B, you're my better half.  You put up with our craziness, show us grace, and point us to Jesus.  Lucas and I both think you are the best dad.  There's not much else to say except that we're thankful for you and we love you.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRANDON!

mullets, firetrucks, and streakers.

Did the title of this post catch your attention?  I couldn't call it "Asheville" or "mountain trip" or anything like that, because I've had quite a few posts titled like that so I needed to shake it up a bit.  

So first.  Mullets!  Or farewell to a mullet.  Lucas got his first little mini haircut because he was in fact growing a mini mullet.  MiMi did the honors and took care of that for us, and we saved his little baby blonde remnants of a mullet that we'll put in a little baggie in his baby book.  

Next: firetrucks! We spent the day after Poppy's party exploring downtown Asheville.  First, we ate lunch at Pack's Tavern where Lucas loved playing with the shuffle board tables.

We stopped in the fire station and Lucas got to explore and climb in the big firetrucks.  Watching those big brown eyes soak in something so gigantic and heroic was so sweet.

Then we enjoyed the beautiful weather and walked around downtown. 

We walked up to the newly redone area outside of city hall known as "Splashville" and Lucas first enjoyed watching some of the kids who came very prepared with bathing suits.  Well, you know where this is going...Nana stripped Lucas down to his diaper and off he went!

He had a BLAST.

Check out our peanut gallery watch mom and I chase our little streaker and dodge the jumping streams of water...

Lucas was all smiles and loved spending time with family in the mountains.  He got to play hard, get dirty, and get spoiled rotten by everyone.

Until next time, Asheville!

surprise, poppy!

Let's just start by saying that historically, my family is terrible at pulling off surprises.  But I have to give gigantic kudos to my mom for pulling off an amazing surprise birthday party for my dad!  We almost blew it (multiple times) but ended up holding it together just long enough to surprise him.

We came into town for the weekend, which is nothing out of the ordinary.  Except we all ended up at the Fields house for the cutest party.  If you know anything about Mrs. Fields, it's that she knows how to throw a party.  From the food to the decorations, not one detail is left untended to.  She set up her amazing backyard with appetizers, drinks, barbeque, and a Smore's station.  I admired all of the details while we waited for the birthday boy to arrive.

Since not everyone at the party knew each other, we had name tags:

We decided to all be waiting outside in the front yard when they pulled up since Dad would know something was up after seeing all of the cars.  So we all stood in the driveway and waved signs and yelled like fools! Mom took this from the car:

 Lucas of course was being a little social butterfly, but anytime his Nana got near him he was stuck to her like glue.

I think Lucas was saying here, get UP, Nana!!!  You can't be tired yet!

Love this.  A sweet little moment between Lucas and his Nanny Farrin.

What a fun party it was!  I'm so thankful for my dad.  Not only has he been an amazing dad to us, his love for Lucas is so deep that it just warms my heart.  Love you, Poppy!

mother's day in a messed up world

It's no big newsflash that we are living in a really messed up world.  The past year has been plagued with tragedy after tragedy.  I remember back in December holding on tight to my boy as I watched the news coverage on the shootings at Sandy Hook, letting the tears flow and trying not to throw up.  Most recently, the Boston bombing was all too big of a reminder that life can drastically change at the drop of a backpack, especially seeing the picture of the 8 year old little boy watching the marathon with eyes of wonder and amazement, now knowing that his life would be cut too short.

We live in a messed up world.  And I feel the weight of this messed up world on my shoulders as we try to figure out how to raise a little boy up to be the good.  I am so thankful for now that Lucas doesn't know how bad the world is yet.  He just wants to watch trucks go by and give kisses and get dirty.  He doesn't know about evil yet, but he does know about love.  We tell him we love him and people are sweet to him and we pray that he will know Jesus quickly.  After the Boston bombing, I couldn't seem to turn the news off...until I saw Lucas staring at the television screen that was plastered with the face of one of the bombers.  I couldn't get to the remote fast enough to turn it off, because I just couldn't let him stare into the face of evil.  Being a mom in the midst of all of this allows an anxiety that I didn't know existed to creep into my heart.  Glimpses of a world that is scary and unpredictable makes me want to bubble wrap our little life here and tune out all news of evil.

Please don't get me wrong, I am so thankful to be a mom.  But the news of the world is hitting me a little bit differently every day as Lucas grows up.  Do I want to or know how to have hard conversations with him on why bad things happen?  Absolutely not.  But what I do know is that one day everything sad will become untrue.  I'm thankful for that promise and praying that Jesus comes quickly.  Because this is hard stuff.  Not only global tragedies, but the tragedies that are infecting the lives of all of us every day.

I saw a blog post on honoring all mothers this Mother's Day and it has really stuck with me.  Here is an excerpt that brought me to tears:

To those who gave birth this year to their first child—we celebrate with you

To those who lost a child this year – we mourn with you

To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains – we appreciate you

To those who experienced loss this year through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away—we mourn with you

To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment – we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don’t mean to make this harder than it is.

To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms – we need you

To those who have warm and close relationships with your children – we celebrate with you

To those who have disappointment, heart ache, and distance with your children – we sit with you

To those who lost their mothers this year – we grieve with you

To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother – we acknowledge your experience

To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood – we are better for having you in our midst

To those who have aborted children, we remember them and you on this day

To those who are single and long to be married and mothering your own children, we mourn that life has not turned out the way you longed for it to be

To those who step-parent, we walk with you on these complex paths

To those who envisioned lavishing love on grandchildren, yet that dream is not to be, we grieve with you

To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year – we grieve and rejoice with you

And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising –we anticipate with you

This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and we have real warriors in our midst. We remember you.

If you want to see the full blog post, check here.

Mother's Day isn't just about people like me, and it's so so important to remember that.  I am SO thankful to be a mom.  But I must remind myself to be full of grace and love for those around me who are experiencing Mother's Day a little bit differently.


So we really did have a great Mother's Day weekend that was spent in Asheville with family.  We drove back home on Sunday, and Brandon and Lucas gave me my Mother's Day gifts after we got home.  Lucas happened to be in the bathtub when the gifting occurred, so all of our pictures together are with him naked.  Typical.

My sweet boys made me a coffee mug that has "I love my mom" on one side and Lucas's hand print on the other side.  Knowing that Brandon went to the effort to paint a coffee mug and wrestle a 1 year old for handprints does my heart good.  They also gave me the cutest frame with a picture of me, Brandon, and Lucas that says "mom + dad = me"

For our moms (Nana and MiMi) we got them their favorite lotion from Aveda and Brandon crafted them the cutest little flower pots.  Yes, Brandon crafted.  All by himself!  And he was SO proud of it.  I worked a bad stretch of days before we left town so I left it up to the boys to be in charge of the handmade gifts for our moms.  He came up with the idea of putting Lucas's hand print on a flower pot and making him have a 'green thumb.'  Get it?  Brandon also made sure to point out that he painted the rim at the top of the pot with chalkboard paint because "it's trendy" and he wrote MiMi and Nana's names on the rim in chalk.  Bless his heart.  I can't get the picture of both of the pots to upload, so here's a picturee of MiMi's that she posted online:

 I am beyond blessed to have an amazing mom and mother-in-law who have both loved us so well and shown us what Godly mothering looks like.  We love you both!  And I am also so blessed to be a mom to the best little boy.  Love you, little man.