My girls room makeover

Kambree and Trinity have begged me since we moved into our house (16 months ago) to re-do their room. I explained I had to do one room at a time and promised I would get to it. Honestly I wasn't in any hurry because they had matching Pottery Barn quilts and some matching wall art that I still really liked. But the room was definitely a little "blah" so I planned to paint one accent wall some shade of blue upon my older daughters request. Kambree's favorite color is blue and Trinity's is pink and I've had my eye on lots of rooms on Pinterest with yellow accents. So I decided to go with those three colors. At Lowe's I found a gallon of blue Valspar paint on the sale rack called La Mirage for $7! (Normally $33) I used over half of it to paint our guest bath and finished it off on my accent wall.

Here's the before.....

And here's the after....

 

Next I found some inspiration on Pinterest with a collage wall of different pink, yellow, blue, silver and black frames. I also wanted to re-use a few fabric banners that I made for Adalynn's 1st birthday that I loved so much I didn't want to take down. What better way to get to see them everyday than by decorating the girls room with them! 

Next I spray painted yellow, pink and silver over a few old frames and a couple new ones from Hobby Lobby. I used coordinating scrap booking paper and printed out a few phrases; "Good Morning Beautiful, I love you, smile, happy, You are my Sunshine" and still working on one larger one that will say "so many of my smiles begin with you!" 

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The wall turned out so cute! I couldn't stop there! So I decided to paint the rest of the room blue (after we get more paint) and paint another wall the accent wall. So, I used painters tape to make a diamond style design on another wall that didn't have a door or any windows. Now, if I hadn't seen this on another blog I would have been technical and measured and marked my diamonds to make them all the same size. (This worked very well when painting Adalynn's chevron wall-I surprised myself with how well it turned out!) But, the blog I read said she just eye-balled it and started taping at diagonals with 3 inch painters tape. I didn't find 3 inch and used the standard 1.88inch. The thicker tape would have been easier and measuring would have saved me a lot of time in doubting myself and "re-taping." (Just a suggestion if you decide to paint a patterned wall.) I'm pretty happy with the big, bold statement it makes!

I ran out of painters tape and used masking tape because it just wasn't worth another trip to Home Depot! This is   Behr Orchid Rose. 

And last but not least the finishing touches. A pink polka dot rug and yellow  ruffled duvet cover from Urban Outfitters. The yellow was on clearance, I wanted 2 but not matching, so I bought the yellow to see if we like it and I'm hoping the gray one goes on sale too for the trundle bed.

The girls are quite happy! ;)

the daily struggle

Lately I've had such conflicting emotions that I want to share but then once I blog about them, I think that maybe it's just too personal and will be misunderstood. So I don't post. Everyone has their ups and downs, good days & bad. On those "hard" days there's certain things that lift me up; prayer, a phone call with a close friend, my husband, reading an inspiring story or blog from another mom and always....my relationship with God.  

I know that He has a plan for my life, and each and every person's life, and that I can't see those plans or the big picture but have to find a way to walk in faith. Some days, I just get in a rut and get stuck on what I'm struggling with that day. I can let it get the best of me and let it negatively affect who I am as a mom, especially, and as a wife and friend. It's hard to find a way to handle things that are completely out of our own control without letting them get me down. 

I guess most people struggle with something; their marriage, their children, their career, overwhelming responsibilities, financial struggles, their faith. For me, I think its the feeling that I should be doing more to help support my family. What a huge burden that must be on my husband's shoulders, to provide for 7 people! I ask God every day to bless his career, to give him wisdom as a father and a husband and to fill his heart with HIS love and purpose for his life.  I LOVE being a mom, obviously or I wouldn't have 5 little ones! It is the most challenging thing I'll ever do but there's nothing better than sitting with my husband and watching our children playing together.  My husband has been my best friend for the last 18 years and God has truly blessed our marriage. We struggle with one income and on the difficult days question God as to why it is this way, but I know that God has me where I'm suppose to be-- home with our children.

Being a mom and running a home is demanding and feels like a never-ending job. It makes me wonder how the working moms do it! I have nothing to complain about when I consider that I don't have to drop my kids at daycare and go to work 8 hours a day. My passion is health and fitness and has been since I was a teenager. I became a Certified Personal Trainer after having Brayden in 2001. I thought it was the best job I could ever have. I made my own hours, was paid a very well hourly rate, got to develop a relationship with my clients and take care of my own health and fitness all in the process. The downside of personal training is that its not a reliable income and it's hard to do on your own without working for a big gym that requires you be there 8-10 hours a day.

A little over 6 months ago I created a name for my Personal Training and decided that I could encourage others to get fit and live healthy thru my website and social media, without leaving my home or my kids behind. My intention was to build my personal training business  and hopefully find new clients especially moms in my area, as well as help others online with daily posts about quick home workouts, healthy recipes and fitness tips. 
It has been much more challenging than I expected! I knew that it wasn't easy considering I've been a trainer for 11 years, but I was very hopeful that I could get a group of people together in my neighborhood and the surrounding communities for morning "bootcamp style" workouts. I only needed a handful of personal training clients or a successful class to significantly help our monthly income. My little sister has kept me inspired! She is a Personal Trainer near Newport Beach, CA . Her boyfriend has built her webpage and helped her build her business over the last few years. She has gone from working two other jobs plus training, to hiring a trainer to work for her and maintaining over 60 clients! I am so proud of her! She has followed her heart and it has paid off.

"Persistence is key" is what I have written as my health and fitness philosophy on my webpage. I have to keep telling myself this when trying to build my business. But, there's days I just want to say "screw it!"   When you want something really bad, no matter how discouraging, you eventually keep going back to it. I'm going to keep at it no matter what. And even if I don't make a penny I will hopefully inspire others to take care of themselves, to exercise and eat right and pass that along to their kids and families.

http://train-pure.com/
 https://www.facebook.com/TRAINpure
 http://pinterest.com/puretraining/

http://train-pure.com/

So Much Fun! & a "Mommy Moment"

Look who's already 8 months old!!! She is a doll and is such a happy baby but she has become mobile and doesn't have much interest in sitting still for my photo shoots :) Adalynn has found her voice and we hear her rambling "mamama" and "dadada" for most of the day. I just want her to stay this age. She's so much fun! I don't look forward to the to toddler years. It seems that she might be a very opinionated little lady.

       


















So, I had a very embarrassing "mommy moment" yesterday. I was pumping gas at Costco with Adalynn while my little ones were at preschool. It was very cold and windy out so I got back inside the car and gave Addy a snack while the gas finished. I got out of the car and put the nozzle back at the pump and heard a "beep" sound assuming it was someone else's keyless entry. I got my receipt and went to get in and ALL the car doors were locked with my keys and cell phone sitting in the center console and my sweet little baby in the backseat!!!!! I started to panic and found the attendant explaining to him that I did NOT lock my car but somehow I heard the car beep and all the doors locked and that my baby was inside. He must of thought I mistakenly locked the doors before getting out and that I was nuts. He said he was going to call a locksmith and he paged the manager at the main store. There was no way I was going to sit here and wait on a locksmith......it was freezing and Adalynn was awake and beginning to cry! Of course this would happen when I don't have any of my other kids with me that could easily unlock the doors!

The nicest (and not to mention, very attractive) guy came over from Costco and called 911 telling them there was a child locked inside of the vehicle. They assured us the police would be right there. The man tried to comfort me telling me that I was not the first person that this has happened too. I felt the need to tell him that I didn't lock my keys in the car and have no idea how they locked after I got out with my remote entry inside the car. But, it really didn't matter at this point I just wanted them to hurry up and get the doors open! An ambulance showed up first, two paramedics hopped out and asked if I was ok. One of them said that thankfully it was a cold day and we didn't have to worry about Adalynn being overheated. They said it would be just a few more minutes before the truck got there and they could open the doors. Meanwhile at least a dozen cars line up to get gas as the police arrive. Now, there are about 6 police officers and paramedics around me (slightly excessive).  :) I was SO embarrassed!!! I had to fill out a form confirming that I owned the car and once the doors were opened they checked my drivers license to make sure I wasn't stealing the car or the baby. It just took 2-3 minutes for them to get the doors unlocked and there was Adalynn just sucking her thumb and staring out the window. They were all very, very kind! THANK YOU TO THE SOUTHLAKE POLICE!

The gas attendant said that he had seen cars being accidently locked by another person's keyless entry with the same make of vehicle. I don't know if he was just trying to make me feel better but I will NEVER close all my doors again when I only have Adalynn in the car!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

I saw this on Facebook and loved it. Thought I'd share!

Yesterday Trinity and Hudson had Valentines Parties at their preschool. They had a blast and made cute little crafts too!

                                                         Hudson adores Ms. Pam!

                                                        Adalynn enjoyed the parties too.

                                                             Miss sweet and sassy!

Mr. Personality

As for me & my Valentine.......

Stephen and I re-did our Master bedroom last weekend. We have been wanting a King size mattress for some time and finally got one. :) I was so excited to get rid of the old mattress that was older than all of our children combined! Gross! So, with a new mattress we needed a new headboard! I am very grateful for my very handy and talented husband who made us a solid wood frame from floor to ceiling! We used a pottery barn picture for inspiration. I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out and made our room so much more sophisticated and warm.

Here's our bed without the bed frame so its sitting on the floor.

                                                     And here its complete, frame and all.

     I am SO impressed with Stephen and all his skills he has put to great use improving our home! LOVE you babe!

Kambree had a Valentines Party at school today. I was planning on going but after a trip to the dentist with Hudson (for sealants), he left in tears with nothing accomplished. We ran 2 more errands after that and he was an emotional basketcase! I had no idea my little boy could be sooooo much more emotional than all 3 of my girls. I keep telling myself it's a phase....it has to be!! right?!   Anyhow, I was stressed and didn't want to take him, Trinity & Adalynn in to the elementary school. So we missed the party. I felt bad for Kambree, but surprisingly she didn't call me out on it when I picked her up. She was so excited about her Valentines box overflowing with sugar, she must have not noticed my absence.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

~Erin

Adalynn's nursery

I am so excited to share Adalynn's room! I looked and looked for inspiration for her nursery...it drove me to a bit of a Pinterest addiction! I was thrilled to finally have our own home so that I could do whatever I wanted to the room. I decided on aqua, coral, gray and white as the color scheme. My primary inspiration was a painted chevron wall I saw on a blog. It was a little intimidating after reading the "how to" but I decided to give it a try equipped with several rolls of painters tape and a yard stick.
Here's how it turned out......

                                                       I was pretty happy with it!


Then I picked these fabrics for the crib bedding and the window treatment. I am so blessed to have my sister-in-laws mother as a dear friend and she happens to be a very talented seamstress! So, I bought all the fabric for about $80 and she did the rest! :) These are the colors/fabrics I went with.

I made a few things for the walls and enlarged her newborn prints from Splendor Photography and attached them to canvas'. I also repurposed this old Ethan Allen dresser that was my husbands as a kid.

Cardboard letters from Hobby Lobby decoupaged with scrapbooking paper.

                         

      My sister-in-laws mom, Barbara, also recovered an old glider of mine in this gray and white                                                                             damask pattern. Looks SO much cuter!

And here's my little cutie that gets to enjoy her own room. Growing way too fast, 7 months old now!

Hope you like it as much as I do :)
~Erin

Brayden

My oldest, Brayden, turned 12 last Sunday! I really can't believe he is one year away from being a teenager! I pray over him every day that he doesn't become the wild, rebellious adolescent that I once was :) He has such a kind heart and a sweet spirit that I really can't imagine him causing the havoc that I did. Now is more important than ever that I keep our relationship strong and our communication open so that he will continue to share things with me about his day and the other kids at school and even the little comments about the girl he thinks is "cute!"

                                              He has a very special relationship with Adalynn

                                                               Trinity and Adalynn

                                                   The birthday cake Brayden picked out :)

A couple weeks ago he got a facetime call one evening. My husband & I overheard the short but loud conversation from the living room while several young girls squealed into the ipad. He was cute and just said a couple girls from my english class just called but they overwhelmed me all talking at once, so I hung up. He talks with me often about how all the kids at school use Instagram, more so than Facebook, and how its almost a competition to see how many likes you can get on a photo. I cautiously warned him about putting things on social media and how once its on the internet, it always out there and therefore to try and use good judgement. It's a little scary having a kid this age and all the different issues that you need to prepare them how to handle; drugs and alcohol, gossiping, social media, internet use, their relationship with God, friends, girls and sex! It's all a little overwhelming for me but I have so much to share with him and so many ways to encourage him to stay true to himself.

This past weekend our Pastor gave a sermon on "Why are Christians so...judgemental? Each week its a different trait that Christians are characterized by. He talked a lot about our community and how many tragedies have occurred due to drugs and alcohol. And how we all need to work together to as a community to to help prevent more deaths from occurring. It is our responsibility as parents and as a church to work together with teachers, law enforcement and the the schools to better educate our kids on how dangerous, and potentially fatal, trying something with a "friend" in an effort to be cool or included in the clique can be. He talked about how we all want our kids to have friends that are a good influence and have strong values and morals. Even more importantly, I want my child to BE the good influence and have enough confidence to lead others to turn down drugs, or to stick up for someone that is being bullied and to make choices that reflect who they are and where they come from.

Brayden always talks to me most when I tuck him in bed at night. The other 4 kids have all been asleep at least an hour and I'm usually finishing up all the household chores and so I'm typically exhausted. I give Brayden a hard time asking if I have to tuck him in & can't he just walk upstairs and go to sleep? Then he says NO! Don't you want to tuck me in while I still want you too? That gets me every time :) As tired as I am I treasure that time when he can tell me whatever he wants without his siblings interrupting and he has ALL my attention. The last 12 years have gone by so fast and I don't want to blink and miss these last 6 years before he goes to college. I'm learning to treasure every moment!