Happy Friday

Just cannot help but smile when I watch either of these videos today. Be Happy. Teach someone to be awesome.

Go Jump in a Lake

Norfork Lake that is. This Labor day weekend, that's what we did. And it was Wesley and I's first time ever. For her that makes sense, being that she's 4 and we don't live near a lake. But for me it was a little bit of a bigger deal.

See I'm not the bravest of people. I don't do heights, planes, open water, falling, roller coasters, or roaches to name a few things that send me over the edge. So jumping off a boat into open water that you cannot see through....a murky 100ft abyss that possibly had roaches.....Ok maybe I didn't think there were roaches, but still.

But here's the other side of it. I don't enjoy being a fearful person. I don't choose to lose control of the volume of my voice when I fly somewhere. I don't like having heart palpitations when swimming a few extra feet out at the beach. And therefore I certainly don't want Wee to get that from me. I want her to be safe, but not anxious. Anxiety is no fun.

And so I vowed to try new things at the lake and not be {openly} fearful.

Saturday morning we loaded up the boat and headed out. See how excited I am.

I actually did really enjoy being in the boat. Norfork Lake and the surrounding forrest and mountains are gorgeous. I could lay on the boat all day long. But about 30 mins in, the boat stopped and we dropped anchor and it was time to jump in. Moment of truth. The kids jumped right in. My sweet angel baby girl was in deep water without a care in the world. 

And that was what inspired me to jump. Not a conscious choice to just "stop being scared" which is what my husband wants me to do all the time. Nope, I just transferred my fear. I was more afraid of having my 4 year old in the water without me, then me being in the water. And so I jumped.

The day continued. Everyone swam, and tubed and lived. And the weekend was a success. I am currently scouring websites for cabin deals, and craigslist for boats. So I say, "go jump in a lake!" You just may have the time of your life.

What did you do for Labor Day? Have you ever tried something you were terrified of, just to fall in love with it? What will you do for your kids even though you hate it?

Family Fun Weekend

This weekend we were lucky enough to have out of town family visiting. Aunt Sue, from Birmingham, and Uncle Randy all the way from Ft. Lauderdale. Friday night we went to Overton Square and had a delicious dinner at Local and dessert at YoLo afterwards. Sorry no pics, we were busy eating crazy amazing bar fries.

Saturday all us girls met for lunch and a little pampering. And lucky for Wesley, her Sissy and Aunt Sue convinced me she should be included in this... So here are some shots from the nail salon.

I think she likes it!

Ridiculous and Adorable all at the same time.

Tiny Hands

Drying

Man it's hard work keeping up appearances!

After a quick nap, we got ready to meet back up with the whole family for dinner and catching up. And whole lot of storytelling. Man, that is my absolute favorite part. Especially as the "outsider" I love hearing all the stories from when Matt was little, or his Dad or Mom...anything. I find it all fascinating.
Needless to say, we had a wonderful time catching up. As you can tell from these snapshots.

Uncle Matt is hilarious!

This is Wesley trying to teach Olivia how to color.

She wouldn't cooperate, so she taped, with a bandaid, the crayon to her hand.

Birthday hugs for Aunt Sue before we go.

Don't forget sweet snuggles with Uncle Randy!

It was a great week and we miss you guys already!! 

First Day of School

Well it the day finally came. Wesley has started big school! Granted, she is in the preK room, so I tried not to get too sentimental because it's not kindergarten yet.... but it's still school. She is at my school this year and we have made a whole week. Which is a miracle, let me tell ya! I barely make it out the door with all I need everyday, and now there's two of us! Matt may have driven to Bartlett twice this week, already, to bring things for us. Thank goodness we have the most organized and patient husband/daddy ever!


Here are a few shots from our first day as a Singerella Sea Turtle (Class mascot).

First time she has ever been up and dressed by 6:50am!

Already sick of pictures and mommy just started.

Showing off her sea turtle necklace from Gamma.

Daddy drove her and walked her in the first day.

The eyes say make it stop people.

We're here!

Looking for our name.

Already busy, no tears, no big deal.

Schools out! The backpack is bigger than she is!

One more grin for Mom!

When we got home we realized the back to school fairy had visited! You know she only comes on the first day of school each year. The picture is really blurry because someone was just too excited to play with her princess present, and she was also D-O-N-E complying with the photographer.

How were your first days back? Everyone liking their new schools/teachers? 

DIY:: Home Updates

As you know, we live in an old house. Which makes quick fixes that normal homeowners take care of on a Sunday afternoon, giant ordeals to us that have to wait till I have summer break. 

Take this minor hole from an old towel rack that had fallen out of the wall.  Just get a quick wall patch kit and fix it right up you say? What you can't see from the picture is these walls are plaster. So when I used the good ol' patch kit, it left me with a bumpy mess!

YUCK! The patch just wouldn't lay flat. I pulled it down and repatched with just plaster the second time.....slightly better

But now the problem is, I don't have the paint to cover it up, so I have to repaint the whole bathroom now. Another project for another day.

What I did paint on the other hand was Wesley's bedroom dresser. The white drawers where looking a little grimy, so I did a quick coat of rose pink and ta da!

This project went much smoother.

And finally we installed a new dining room light. I have never really liked the chandelier in the dining room, but it's not that offensive so it's taken me 4 years to replace it.

This is the best picture I could find of it, because I (of course) forgot to take pics before I took it down.

Like I said, nothing really wrong with it, just not my favorite. And we have gone pretty vintage in the dining room, with an art deco buffet, several mid century modern serving pieces and a early twentieth century piano. So the modern light fixture just didn't fit in.

Luckily I found a light I did like at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for just $7! I figured it was worth the risk for that price!

Here's Matt installing it in his work clothes because I had started installing it 10 minutes before he came home, thinking it would only take me 10 minutes....not so much. Nothing in our house takes 10 minutes.

All in!

Closer look

Detail 

So this is only 3 projects done (ish) from a list of at least 14! Some being as small as replacing dead outlets, some as big as wanting to knock down a wall in our kitchen. I have just run out of summer, and run out of will power to get in over my head.

What do you think? Any hints on how to get better at "This Old House"? Maybe don't start projects at 5:50pm? Hire professionals?

In case you missed it:: Wesley got a haircut

So this happened back on June 11th, so I'm officially a month behind on blogging. But I still wanted to post about it for our memories. 

Wesley started begging for a haircut at the beginning of June but as someone that is way too emotionally attached to her hair, I kept putting her off. I love her long hair. And I know the feeling when you want a change but then when it's all gone your sad and I didn't want to deal with that for her. But she persisted. And finally I said yes.

I mean if we were going to do it this was the best possible time, before it got really hot, before we went to the beach and in time for it to grow back for school pictures in the fall if it was awful (J/K, kinda).

So here she is getting ready for the big cut at Mrs. Jen's!

First cut! She looks like she regrets it already, but I swear she was never sad for a moment. We were just so serious about her being still I think she got nervous.

All done! That is one excited little girl, who LOVED her haircut immediately.

Have to admit, when she woke up the next morning and it perfectly feel into place with now tangle battles, Mommy started to love it too!