Children's Sabbath

This past Sunday was the Children's Sabbath service at church.  The children lead the worship service with singing, reading of scripture and prayers.  It was a wonderful day and such a joy to see these sweet babies take part in such a meaningful service.

This was Daniel and Jack's first time to sing with the Cherub Choir.  They both love going to choir and I enjoyed seeing all of them have fun!!  Just look at those sweet little faces!

Georgia Anne had a reading part during prayer.  

The Grace Choir sang two songs.  This is such a sweet group of kids!

The Tree House

We have a tree next to the patio and house that the kids love to climb.  They have pretty much stayed in it for the past 6 months.  Jack got the idea that he wanted a tree house in the tree, so after asking Papa continuously for the past month or so, Papa got on it and made him one!!

Papa and Michael adding the braces to the tree.

Jack was a very good supervisor and oversaw the entire process.

The first time in the tree house!!

Thanks Papa and Nana!!

The perfect place to enjoy a snack after school...

and to watch what is going on in the neighborhood.

Patio Spruce Up

Last week what started as pulling weeds and trimming hedges, turned into a patio overhaul.  I wish I had some before pictures to share with you, but at the time I didn't think about it.  I did manage to find some really old pictures to give you an idea of how it originally started.   

Shortly after we purchased our house in 1999,we added the boxwoods around the perimeter of the patio .

In 2003 we added a white picket fence.  (Aren't those silly pugs funny sunbathing??)

I pulled out the boxwood hedge on this side of the patio to give us a little more room and to finally make use of the space between the patio and fence.  It made the patio feel so much bigger and gave the kids a little more room to play. 

I chose pretty pink mandevillas for the hanging baskets on the fence.

My view from the kitchen window.

In one planter, I used a boxwood and variegated ivy.  In the other two containers I used a wrought iron trellis with a red mandevilla and a left over fern from last year.

Love the foxgloves!  I've never tried growing these so we will see how it goes??

We got all of the rocks from our local river, the Tallapoosa.  One of the perks of owning riverfront land....pretty free rocks!  I must admit that hauling them home isn't much fun though!

PJ lounging in his favorite spot!

We bought a whiskey barrel from Home Dept and added a Kimberly Queen fern with marigolds around the base.  

We planted a pair of arborvitae evergreens on either side of the whiskey barrel with day lilies in front.
And finally, we planted a peach tree in the corner.  I must admit this is my favorite thing in the patio.  About a week ago, the children received some money from some very sweet family friends in memory of Granny.  In the note they asked that they use it for something to remember Granny.  Michael and I were going to put it in their saving accounts but Georgie had a wonderful idea of her own.  She wanted to use the money to plant a tree in memory of Granny.  She said it would remind us of her everyday.  What an angel she is and what a wonderful idea!  So the three kiddos picked this tree and they wanted a fruit tree.  So there is our little peach tree named "Sara" in memory of Granny!  We are going to get a little plaque made and put it at the base of the tree to remember sweet Granny.  

Happy Easter

Hello friends! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter filled with the love of family and worshiping our risen Savior! I wanted to share a few family Easter pictures with you.

Michael selected what the children wore this Easter. I wasn't too thrilled about the boys wearing suits, but I will be the first to admit they were awfully cute in their little linen Easter suits. Michael even got a new matching suit as well!

Me, Georgie and Nana

Jack, Papa, Banks and Daniel

Tori, Banks and Bryan

Last week on Palm Sunday, the children participated in Sunday morning service at church by waving palm branches. We had a church picnic and Easter Egg Hunt after church. We had so much fun!

Bradyn, Elizabeth and Georgie

Bradyn, Elizabeth, Georgie, Jack, Daniel and Bry

Georgie and sweet Emily

Bathroom Reveal

Last fall we decided after living in our house for over a decade to demo the main bathroom. Our house was built in the early 1950's and most of the bathroom was original. There had been a few upgrades over the years, but it was UGLY!! I had looked at those peach tiles for entirely too long!!

I apologize for not having great before shots. I realized when the workers got there that I didn't have before shots, so I snapped a few just before they began. We actually had wallpaper that we had stripped because we thought we might try and salvage the sheet rock. It didn't take long for us to realize this beauty just needed to be totally gutted.

Before:

It was a great feeling seeing that peach tile come tumbling down!

The cast iron tub weighed a ton and was interesting seeing them remove. I won't go into great detail, but when you tear out walls that have been in tact for 60+ years you find some rather interesting things in the walls and under the tub!

Drum Roll Please......

After:

We love it and could kick ourselves for not doing it sooner! I will admit it was a real headache since this is the only full bath we have. Those few weeks were very stressful for many different reasons. I guess that is why it has taken me so long to blog about it!

We wanted everything light and decided on a very neutral color palette. The walls are painted Benjamin Moore's NC-80 Bleeker Beige and all the trim and bead board is OC-6 Feather Down.

The floor tile is a 13x13 ceramic from Lowe's that we got for about $.56 sq/ft. We used a grout that was as very close to the tile color and basically butted the tiles against one another to create as small of a grout line as possible.

We used the same tile for the field tile for the tub/shower surround. We splurged and added a tumbled travertine diamond pattern band.

I was excited to finally have a recessed niche for shampoo and soap.

The shower curtain is a basic waffle weave curtain from Wal-Mart. I cut the bottom off and added a ruffled band of cream colored linen.

I purchased an additional shower curtain and used it to make the curtains. I used the same cream linen and added a ruffle down the lead edge.

We reused the cabinet doors. We spruced them up by adding bead board and trim to each door and changing out the hardware.