I Love You Because...: Chalkboard Certainty

Enjoy Life.

The Trick is to Enjoy Life. Don't Wish Away Your Days Waiting For Better Ones.
Marjorie P. Hinckley

Dear Ethan, Lorali, Owen and Cameron,
This spring I have realized that my time with you is going by way too fast. You guys are growing up and changing before I even have time to blink. It's both sad to realize and amazing to see. It's made me change my attitude and outlook quite a bit. You see, Dad and I have dreams. BIG ones. Some have already come true and some we have to focus on and work for. Sometimes we become so focused on the next step, or the next dream that we forget that RIGHT NOW we are living about 100 dreams that at times we didn't think we would ever reach. I need to stop and enjoy you and your amazing talents. Enjoy our amazing attitudes and fun personalities RIGHT NOW. Because YOU ARE MY DREAMS. You four are the reason I trudged through hard days in my past. You are the reason I put my dream job on hold. YOU ARE MY DREAM JOB.

Love you to outer-space and around the world, all the way to Grandma and then to Jesus.... and BACK.
Forever,
Mommy

Posted at 02:41 PM in Chalkboard Certainty, Life Lessons | Permalink | Comments (0)

Character

One of the best parts of being a mother is seeing your children grow up and watch them turn into amazing people. This week has been rough on Doug. His depression is sometimes unpredictable and Ethan has taken it personally and hard. Last night our not-so-little-anymore-man came outside to sit by me while I trimmed a few plants in the backyard,

"Mom, I think sometimes people have a hard time."

"Yes, sometimes you have hard times too, buddy."

"Yes but just like when I was in school and you saw it hurt me, you stepped back and decided to homeschool me to help me. Sometimes we have to do that for other people so that they can be thier best just like you made me my best.....
I think we could do that for Dad..... (long pause as he gets lost in thought)
Like Dad loves legos, if we buy him legos I bet he'd cheer up."

seriously.... melt.... my.... heart.
He's going to be an amazing man and I am so lucky to be his Mom.

Joanna

Posted at 01:01 PM in Chalkboard Certainty, Depression, Lego's | Permalink | Comments (1)

He Lives!

Easter around here is soo fun and full of ham, spring decor, candy eggs and traditions but it's nice to bring it back to the reason for it all sometimes.

Happy Easter
Joanna

Posted at 02:55 PM in Chalkboard Certainty, Easter, Faith, Religion, Testimony | Permalink | Comments (0)

Butler's Pantry Done!

Okay so I think it's been almost a full year since I posted Round 1. This project has been on the top of MY Honey Do list since the day I posted that, but alas Husbandface just couldn't see the vision and it didn't make it to the top of HIS list until after the new year. After a lot of saving up and research on pintrest, and pricing out and even bringing in a kitchen specialist to design a space of us we decided that what we wanted was to utilize the space but not make everything matchy-matchy with the rest of the kitchen. So Husbandface decided that if what I wanted was so customized then he was the only one he'd trust to touch the project and a bonus? It saved us a lot of money that we had budgeted for this project and instead we got to use on something else just as amazing (I'll post that project soon!). After all that waiting and deciding and going back and forth between ideas and options and designs this is exactly what I wanted and I'm soo glad we were patient enough to wait until we could come up with an idea we were both on board with because I love, LAH-VE the finished product!

So I'm not much of a step-by-step instructions girl but, I do love to look at how other people bring everything together so I'll post a few picts of 'the process'...

JANUARY 2013-
removing the door... a hole in the laundry room/looking into the kitchen. (Have to admit I was a little nervous at this point...

FEBRUARY 2013-
building the base and adding the stainless steel subway tiles (have to say these were my favorite part! Soo easy to stick on and work with, you can get them at Lowe's)...

putting up the 'floating' shelves, sanding and finishing up the tiles...