Some Joy

I love watercolor paintings. I love the way the colors bleed into each other and the water makes all the colors bloom into different shades. I've seen some people (Joanna Gaines for instance!) do some paintings and I'm jealous. It's been a tiny dream in my mind for a few years to take watercolor classes. 

THEN I saw on Instagram that the artist Sarah Nightingale was doing a free watercolor painting class video. She showed me what paint to buy which wasn't too expensive!

Anyway, it's not too hard to make watercolor look decently good. and its bringing me a lot of joy to paint. Especially today while Brent played Sweet Caroline on the guitar and I painted while the girls were getting dressed in their room for their little fashion show! I was feeling a lot of joy and that was so nice to feel right now.

Also, yesterday we went to visit our horse neighbors and fed them apples and grass and it was like balm to the soul with how nice the weather was and happy we were and how beautiful the horses are!

 We dont know the horses real names (the owners are not actually our neighbors even though the horses are. I think they just lease the land to board them? I don't know exactly.

But the girls named them Cookie and Brownie. They are just beautiful and shaggy with winter coats it looks like.

Staying at Home

 

We've stayed at home since last Thursday afternoon. With an exception of picking up takeout on Saturday.

And also of going to Wal-mart to pick up milk. The store didn't have any free pick up times this week and they don't deliver to my house. I won't go out again though. I was pretty anxious. But then, I saw people shopping, not wiping down their carts like it was another normal day. Which made me feel insecure for a minute about being intense.

Anyway, I'll do the best I can.

The girls are doing better than I thought staying at our house, the sweeties. We do arts and crafts and all sorts of things moms at home have to think of to do. Ha, that's not too new. Of course moms on Instagram have helped (playing with duplo blocks in the bath, eating popsicles in the bath, baking soda and vinegar explosion fun).

Though they do fight too- which is hard for me to sort through- but of course that will happen.

When we say a prayer over our dinner, Lucy is usually enthusiastic about being the one to say it. I'll give you some examples of what she says:

-Thank you for Christmas
-Thank you for Mom and Dad, and for my sister, and for me
-Thank you for Michelle Obama

3 year old's little minds are darling. I've been reading Michelle Obama's autobiography, "Becoming" and it has a really beautiful and big photo of Michelle on the front. Lucy seemed a bit taken with it. So I guess it made an impression!

Also, it is so tender to hear her be thankful for her family (and I don't even prompt it! wild) and I love she includes herself.

Fingers crossed we can get through this thing and be better for it. Love to all.

Ella took this photograph and what a candid realistic moment it is!

 We took in a stray cat about 2-3 months ago and the girls still adore him. Brent doesn't. I'm in the middle.

This partially disgusting "play dough" rainbow ice cream is a favorite of some... Ella got herself some a while back. AND SHE GOT A TON, BUT SHE PUT IN TWO SPOONS SO WE COULD SHARE TOGETHER. I mean.

It's wild how I don't really love being a mother all the time, but here we are when I write about it, I feel very postitive about it.

Our California Trip

We took a road trip to CA to go to Disneyland, stay with Brent's cousin (It can be SO SO wonderful to stay with family. staying with her was a delight.) and go to the beach. We drove there.... it was a rough ride there- we didn't break it up over two days, just a one day 10 hour drive and it was rough. Throw up. tears. refusal to sit in car seats. the works. thankfully, disneyland was a treat, an expensive treat, but a treat. Mr Toad's wild ride was too scary. but seeing ella and lucy meet Snow White and Tinkerbell and Micky and Minnie was such a sweet experience to see that.

Our sweet new house: a Tour

We've lived in our new house for about 2 months now, and its been so lovely. I've been finding out its quirks and that makes it feel more like a home, I think? They've been more negative quirks, so hopefully I'll get used to them. When its windy, it whistles through the front porch. The fabulous big windows and vaulted ceiling- while theyre a huge fabulous pro in most every way- except they make the living room and kitchen either hotter or colder than the rest of the house.

and don't get me started on black widows. I've seen and squashed about 20. They love the space between the foundation and the rain gutter and the garage door sensor thingy close to the wall. they nasty. I have called a pest control company and they have sprayed. but Brent is still annoyed by how often I talk about the widows.

The house is such a pleasure. Our mudroom is the BOMB. I've never had one before and it is a delight to corral the shoes and sweaters. The keyholder on the wall was in Granny Phoebe's house when I was growing up and I love seeing it every day.

 That door goes in to the garage. There is also a bathroom to the left there, which we debated about having, but I am glad its there close to the main living area.

Our kitchen is my dream come true. I adore our two dishwashers (on either side of the sink). I love the colorful island lights. I love the open shelves (i put my very often used plates and bowls there and they're so easy to grab). I love the pot filler above the stove (its fairly EXTRA but every time I use it for my big pot of noodles, it is so wonderful). I love the black faucet- I love the white sink and how big it is. I'm so lucky.

 The light is so wonderful. lil lucy is wearing her pink nightgown and you can see her little toilet! Moving to the new house made potty training tricky for a while, but just recently I thiiiink she has it down again and fingers crossed it will go more smoothly from now on. i debated for a while whether or not to have these living room windows as open-able windows or not (would the screen and line in the middle detract from the views? would i use them very much? those were my thoughts) and Im thankfully very glad that I can open them. the breeze is great, I use them often, more often perhaps then Brent would like :) and the screen and line dont bother me at all!

Guest bedroom and girls shared bedroom on the left, girls bathroom on the right, laundry straight ahead.

 I love the blue tile- but part of me wishes I would've done something more girly. Ah well. Maybe we'll have baby boys later? Doubt it...

 that laundry room window is so wonderful.love the light, love the breeze.

Went with a dark bedroom and it isnt too dark at all. I almost wish I would've painted the ceiling too.

Our bathroom has a separate water closet, which is tiny and traps smells easily.... but there you are. The shower is bigger than any shower probably should be, and it is lovely.

We have these holes from our closet to our laundry room so we dont have to walk around carrying the hamper. super unnecessary and yet convenient.

Auntie Eleanor, thinking of you and hoping you are so well! xoxo