Archives for June 2012

June 19, 2012

Letter from the Boys…

Dear Daddy,

Thank you for being such an awesome daddy. Thank you for being a strong man of God and an example for us to follow as we grow. Thank you for loving mommy with your whole heart and showing us how to be gentlemen and devoted husbands. Thank you for making our family your top priority and for always moving your schedule around to ensure you spend as much time with us as possible. Thank you for laughing with us. Thank you for teaching us how to do new things. Thank you for being so patient and loving with us. Thank you for reading to us every night. Thank you for all of the kisses and hugs and cuddles and tickles. Thank you for being so kind and selfless and showing us what it means to love others wholeheartedly. Thank you for everything you are and everything you do. We love you to the moon and back!

And, thank you for another weekend full of memories and moments that will forever shape who we are.

Thank you for picking blackberries with us at the Ledbetter’s cabin on Friday…we LOVED eating fresh blackberries…

And, thank you for taking us swimming at Mallory’s birthday party! We had so much fun!

We are so glad you loved the mugs we made for you! We worked really hard and were SO excited to run into your room with them on Sunday morning! Momma wishes she had snapped a photo but it happened so fast…luckily, she did get a few photos of us making the mugs. See? We worked REALLY hard…

We also had so much fun at the “Father’s Day / Ledbetter Going Away Brunch” on Sunday…we loved playing with our friends while you and mommy talked and laughed with yours…

And, what a fun dinner we had with all of the family celebrating Great-Grandma Marrs’ 93rd Birthday on Sunday night!

We are so blessed to be surrounded by so much love!

Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!

Hugs and kisses,

Ben & Nathan

June 8, 2012

Show Us Your Life {Kitchens}

Fellow NWA’er Kelly hosts a weekly series on her blog {Kelly’s Korner} called “Show Us Your Life.” I love this series and it’s always fun to see what she is featuring each week.

Today, she is featuring one of my favorite things… kitchen tours! How it works: folks posts photos of their kitchens on their blogs and then share the link on Kelly’s blog.

I LOVE to see other people’s homes…to see how they live and to get new styling ideas.

Decorating our home is an ongoing process for me. I am constantly moving items around from room to room to mix things up. I really don’t buy new house “stuff” often at all. I like to repurpose things I already have and find interesting ways to display meaningful objects. I get bored with decor and find myself making over rooms one section at a time really often. Dave loves when I find a new project for him. He does. He won’t admit it but trust me on this.

So, without further ado…here’s our kitchen!

I took this photo in Pienza, Italy and it reminds me of that magical trip each time I look at it…

I LOVE our butcher’s block counter top that Dave built {ignore the pan burn on the counter… I wasn’t thinking and set a hot pan down. It gives it a “distressed” look…right?}

We have moved this light fixture with us for five years…it’s in it’s third house of ours and it fits perfectly here in our kitchen.

I know. Our fridge is gigantic. We had this same fridge/freezer set in our last house and I couldn’t go back. It is just my favorite fridge in the world.

Our hidden pantry… check out more on the pantry here.

LOVE all the cabinet space in the island 🙂

The Breakfast Nook. Dave built the table and benches and Grandma Marrs made the cushions.
I know. I am SPOILED.
And, I am working on changing out the canvas images above the table of the boys…they are a little “wintery” don’t ya think? I have an old window that I’ll be hanging there soon.

So, that’s our kitchen. Hope you enjoyed the tour!

I actually missed last week’s “Show Us Your Life” series on Living Rooms and I couldn’t resist sharing a few shots… here is our “formal living room” {as if there is such a thing in a house with two two-year-olds and three dogs, really}.

That fun chalkboard there? A little project Dave whipped up for me last night after I saw this. LOVE.

My basket of favorite things…books about Italia… sigh….

I can’t remember where I found this little old chair but I adore it. It’s lived in several rooms of ours and I think it’s found it’s perfect spot with this cute pillow that the boys always try to pull apart. It’s a super fun game.

An image of my favorite sculpture of all-time. Michelangelo’s Pieta.

A chair I’ve had forever. It is my favorite spot to curl up with a good book.

LOVE my new chalkboard. Remember that verse? It brings hope and peace each time I read it.
Also, I am using the galvanized tin from the boy’s birthday party to hold their chalk. Could be dangerous. We’ll see how long this lasts….

I thought I’d go ahead and share family room photos too… I have them because we had to submit home photos with our dossier…so, here they are…

The boys were asleep when I took this. Obviously. Otherwise, that basket of toys would be empty and the toys would be EVERYWHERE.

Our old stove fireplace is one of my favorite things about this house. The bricks surrounding it are from an the first apple cider vinegar plant in an adjacent town, Rogers, AR. We’re so historic. 🙂

See the drawers under the TV? I have toys in one and diapers and wipes in the other. Stuff is hidden EVERYWHERE in this house. You never know what you’ll find. Play-doh in the Dining Room cabinet? Yep. Books and toys under the stairs? Yep. Treasure boxes under the bench in the breakfast nook? Yep. Surprises are at every turn around here.

I snagged this awesome sign from this shop on Etsy.

Some random weed/flower things from our flower bed. I love fresh flowers and try to always have them somewhere in the house.

Whew! Thanks for coming by…I totally feel like you did :).

Next week, Kelly is featuring bedrooms. If I can snag a few photos of bedrooms with beds made, I will share then :).

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!!!!

June 4, 2012

Barnyard Party {Part 2}

As usual, this weekend was busy and I didn’t have a spare moment to hop on the computer. So, I’m just now finally getting around to sharing some action shots from the boy’s birthday party! You can check out Part One of the party shots here.

Now, we had planned to keep the party really low key. Just gather our friends and family and head over to our barn for a fun afternoon. Enjoy yummy BBQ and let the kiddos run around and play in the dirt.

Seriously, that was the plan. Let the kids play in the dirt.

I started to worry about a week and a half before the party that the whole “just let ’em play in the dirt” plan was not incredibly well thought out. Maybe we should have another option for the girls??

And, the dirt is truly just dirt. Not clean sand or anything. The parents of kiddos covered in mud and gunk may be less than thrilled with this party plan of mine.

I decided pony rides would be fun. And, unbeknownst to me, The Builder had put on his party planning hat and called in reinforcements. He had a friend who said he’d bring over some of his pet animals {from an honest to goodness real farm not a pretend one like we have} for the kiddos to pet and play with.

We ended up with a little petting zoo, ponies, some of Dave’s “toys” and a sand pit for digging {I convinced Dave that sand was a better option than dirt and he hauled some in}.

Needless to say, the boys were in awe. They didn’t know what to do first. Play with the animals – kittens! goats! bunnies! – or ride the tractors- or dig in the dirt – or ride a pony. It was just too much. Truly. But, I consider it a complete success because the moment their freshly shampooed {they gave a new definition to the word “dirty”} little heads hit the pillow, they were fast asleep.

Sleep = success in our house.

Enjoy some photos from their fun-filled day…

Our little petting zoo:

Ben is never allowed to have lollipops because of the artificial dyes, but I found these organic ones online and he was as happy as he could possibly be. I think he ate four and hid some in his pockets for later.

The rooster and the chickens literally sat on this cage like this the whole day. I couldn’t get over it. I can’t say I’ve ever really spent much time with roosters and chickens but I never really thought they would be so laid back.