Words for Wednesday...

This past weekend our dear friend, Michael, came up to Rome to visit. He was able to squeeze in a quick trip while he is home from USC for a few weeks. It was wonderful to see him and catch up. We hadn't seen him since March when we flew to Los Angeles to see him for a few days. 

When we went out to visit we took a set of Legos for AG to play with. Apparently, we brought them all back except for one. Michael has been holding on to it for months and was going to bring it to us when he came home this summer. One of the first things he says to me is, "Dang it. I forgot AG's lego. The one he left at my apartment. I kept planning on bringing it back to you." I told him no worries. 

Michael, consider it a reminder of our visit. What do you say we come pick it up our selves? :) And I think this photo of you and AG needs to be framed and on a shelf in your apartment. 

Meet AG's GrandMary...

For those of you who don't know this would be AG's GrandMary. She is also known as the Queen of all things Kindergarten and THE Tooth Fairy (I can't even begin to guess how many teeth she has pulled in her 30+ years of teaching.) When I was a student at Berry I was assigned to work in Mary's Kindergarten Classroom at Berry Elementary as my on campus job. It was a match made in heaven. I adored working for her and learning everything I could from her. My sophomore year I even arranged my schedule so that I could work all day Tuesdays and Thursdays for her. She is hands down one of the most talented and gifted teachers I have ever known. She LOVES what she does 150%. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that. Ask anyone who knows her and they will agree with me. I know people dread the day their child goes to Kindergarten...I on the other hand can't wait because I know first hand what an amazing year my child is going to have. It will be one of the most memorable years of his school career.

Mary became one of my dear friends over the course of my time at Berry. And so when we told her two years ago that I was pregnant (after much squealing and excitement) she informed us that AG would call her GrandMary...her grandmother name of choice. I asked how that would work when he came to Kindergarten...she said we'd cross that bridge when we got there. When people ask us if we have family in Rome we always reply with a "yes--in a way" and a smile.

Every year I help Mary get her classroom ready for the upcoming school year. Last week AG and I spent three days helping get things together. This time last year AG played contentedly on a blanket with a few toys. This year he enjoyed exploring every nook and cranny. He mastered climbing the stairs (both ways) to the loft. (Even tested out gravity by throwing a few things from the loft!) Played in the housekeeping area. Colored in the writing center. Admired the fish and turtles. Opened every cabinet to learn what goes where. Even discovered how to use the PC in the classroom. (Which Mary and I were quite impressed with since at home we only have MACs.) Played with the blocks. Tried out a resting mat. Familiarized himself with the art table. Mastered all the chairs in the classroom, how to operate the water fountain in the hall, and putting the boys bathroom pass on and off. If he could go to Kindergarten tomorrow he would. :)

Mary, we love you more than you know! Thanks for being AG's GrandMary. Thanks for being my dear friend. We can't wait for AG to start school.

Ps- I call dibs on being your Room Mom for the school year 2014-2015.

Art and a headboard...

...that's what we are making/working on this weekend. 

First up, we have the headboard that I've been talking about for weeks. Due to the chaos that is life we have not gotten around to them till now. This project should be fairly inexpensive considering what the end result will be. The doors were free from Andy's mom. When she did renovations/preservation work on the old barn they were discovered up in the loft I believe. We finally hauled 'em back from the farm Memorial Day weekend. So all we have to purchase is the painting supplies.

We have a lot of black furniture. And we have a lot of distressed furniture. I decided that we needed to at least change it up a bit even though a black headboard would really look best in the guest bedroom. So while the doors will have a top coat that is black the bottom coat is going to be a mustardy-goldish color. In between we are going to try our hand at a crackle finish! I hope it turns out well. At first I was quite put out with the woman at the Lowe's paint counter.  (Our Home Depot, my store of preference, no longer carries crackle supplies because there isn't a huge need for it apparently in our area.) So I found myself at the Lowe's waiting for a good 15 minutes to talk to the paint specialist. My question was if I want the natural wood to show do I have to paint a base coat? And she informed me that yes I have to. I asked there isn't any other way to do it...nope. Fine. I waited all that time for two words. I probably would have been okay if she had at least been polite. Instead she reeked of smoke and glared at me...I think I interrupted  her smoke break. Whatever. Grouchy and put out I purchased only the crackling supplies and headed back to MECCA aka Home Depot to purchase my paint. So there's the first project...

And here's the second...

This is my kitchen the night before it was demo-ed. That hot pink post-it is a reminder to the contractor not to trash my cabinet doors. On a completely separate note I do not miss my old kitchen one bit. This picture is proof that the kitchen needed a face lift.

After a year in the cellar (yes, we actually have a cellar) they are a little dirty but no worse for the wear.  

Since we re-did the kitchen I have wanted to have something on the walls to highlight our college "family" but was unsure what I wanted and where. After much thought and the itch to have something new on the wall before they return in a few weeks I have decided. If you look closely my old cabinet doors have raised molding around the inside. I've decided that we are going to paint a magnetic primer on the inside portion followed by a chalkboard layer. The outside portion will be painted to look like a frame. The nasty brass pulls will be replaced with pewter ones to match the rest of the kitchen hardware. If it works out the way it looks in my mind I should end up with some fabulous art to hang on my wall...that can be filled with photos, quotes, doodles, and who knows what else when our students return.

In addition, I'm going to make an extra door for AG. We have stainless appliances and thus, he has no place to put magnetic ABCs, 123s, shapes, etc. Plus we don't have room in this house for an easel. So by giving him his own door we can place it on his play table, put it on the floor, tote it around the house, etc.

We'll see how it all works out. Should be fun and interesting since we've never crackled, painted with magnetic primer or chalkboard paint. More pictures to come...

PS- I couldn't leave you without showing an after photo of my kitchen because the before is pretty rough! Once I get the art on the walls I will have to take pictures of everything. For now this shot from Christmas works.

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday...

My latest treasure and the possibilities are endless...

I think I posted last week in my update post about changing out what I display in the den window. Here's my latest display. I'm quite pleased with it. While doing some work around the farm house (where Andy's mom lives) I came across this wooden piece in the basement. I asked what it was and if I could have it. Mama said that her dad (Andy's Granddad) used it to organize things in the barn. She asked what on earth I could do with it and I replied, "The possibilities are ENDLESS!" Truer words were never spoken. I am constantly thinking up new things I can display in it. (Just wait till Christmas!) I got it home and scrubbed it down real good. I like how rough and yet, simple it looks. At the moment I have no desire to paint it...but I'll never say never. :)

For it's first use I opted for displaying some of my Starbucks mugs. Yes, I have a Starbucks mug collection and, yes, I still don't drink coffee! My love of Starbucks mugs and ornaments is because of my sweet sister-in-law, Caroline, who use to work there. We collect mugs for each other and swap 'em back and forth. When I went to Hawaii I brought back a mug for her. They just recently moved from right outside of Nashville back to GA and she bought me the new Nashville mug. I'm hoping we'll find something when we head to Virginia this fall. Currently, it houses Nashville, San Diego, Hawaii, Pikes Place (the original Starbucks), Atlanta, Dallas, and Fort Worth. So here are a few pictures of my latest treasure...

                            

Half Birthday.

Oh, my sweet boy! How are you already a year and a half old?! Where has the last 18 months gone? It has been a joy and an honor to be your parents these last 18 months. We love you more than you will ever know. Thanks for making each day a new adventure. We love watching the world thru your bright blue eyes as you take in the world around you!

Congrats...

...to Clay and Caroline on getting engaged! We are thrilled that Clay is joining the family. 

Wordless Wednesday...Sorting and Spelling Edition...

Mid-Summer Catch-up...

So here is the mid-summer catch-up on the Edwards crew...

AG

-Talking and babbling up a storm.

-He loves to copy whatever Andy and I are doing around the house.

-Two weeks ago I was standing at the sink in the kitchen and heard the water on the fridge flowing. So I turned around to see that AG had figured out how to use one of his golf clubs to press the lever. Water was freely flowing everywhere. Thankfully, our fridge has a lock button on it's control panel! We are now putting it to good use. Ha.

-Speaking of golf clubs AG loves to carry his clubs around the house and hit balls. For the most part he does a good job of only hitting balls and not the furniture, Samson, us, etc. AG also loves to throw and kick balls. We have a wide assortment and he even will borrow a ball out of Samson's toy bin.

-AG is a drummer already. (Just like Daddy) He does it everywhere we go much to the delight of his father.

-At the moment he's cutting 4 new teeth on the bottom and one on the top. He's lots of fun right now. Ha. :-) We'll see what the ped says in a week and a half when we go for his 18month check up. Which by the way I can't believe he's already that old.

Andy

-Is busy at work and playing on a company softball team. We've enjoyed heading to the fields this summer to watch him play.

-Has done some more work in the yard and cut down two small trees in the front. I'm hoping we'll do a bunch of work this fall once this heat wave passes. We've got some big ideas we just need to get them going.

Katie

-Working around the house by purging and throwing stuff away. Organizing whatever makes the cut. It amazes how quickly things can spiral out of control if you don't stay on top of them. Especially, in this last year and a half with AG's stuff. Between clothes, equipment, and toys I feel like I'm constantly re-organizing as he hits new milestones. Plus, every so often you just need to do mass purge of stuff.

-Speaking of re-organizing. I re-arranged our den last weekend with the help of my Aunt Joy. (Thanks Joy!) We don't have a playroom in this house (it'll be a priority in the next house!) and AG has out grown the original play spot we designated as "his". Since we are not moving in the very near future I told Andy we had to figure out a way to restructure the living space because I couldn't handle the chaos! Ha. Toys everywhere, shoes and bags by the back door piled up since that is the main door we enter/exit from, dog toys/bones, AG's table and chair set, and his personal arm chair that he drags around. By flipping things around AG has now gained an entire corner of the den to call his own. I have reclaimed my green bench that we were using as AG's play space to use for an entry way piece once again. So shoes go below it, blankets go under the lid, and my purse/diaper bag sit on the bench. We finally got my mirrored wall piece that I refinished from the antique mall hung above the bench. (I think it looks fabulous but I might be a tad biased?!) It has several sets of hooks on it...perfect for keys, Samson's leash, hats, and I'm sure it'll get lots of use once cold weather returns with coats and scarves. Once I get it all organized to  my liking I'll post more pictures. the house:
-I love changing out displays and one of my favorite display pieces is the long window that is in the den. It has a pretty wide shelf. In the fall it usually has pinecones and leaves, Christmas brings fresh greens and stockings, etc. I change it with the seasons and my moods. Currently, I am loving my newest display! I've got some of my Starbucks city/state mugs in a wooden segmented piece that Andy's granddad used to organize some of his tools in the barn at the farm. I need to photograph it, too, and post pictures. When we travel we pick up a mug for that location if they have one. His sister, Caroline, is responsible for this collection because she use to work at Starbucks. We both have a pretty decent collection between these and our ornaments that she started for us. :-)

-I've cleaned and scrubbed the doors that I'm making in to a headboard for the guest bedroom. I haven't painted them, yet. Last week I went to visit Andy's Caroline at their new house in Macon. So my project hit the back burner...which I was fine with since it meant that I got to spend some quality time with the Perkins clan! I am hoping we get to work on it this coming weekend. We've got the supplies all  ready to go it's just a matter of carving out the time for it. Which because I've decided I want to crackle it will take several days as opposed to just painting it and distressing it. Stay tuned...it'll be an adventure because we've never done a piece in this way before. I'm excited to see the finished project.

-Projects, projects. As if we don't have enough of them already I'm already dreaming up a new one for when we finish the headboard. I saved all the old kitchen cabinet doors last summer when they demo-ed the kitchen for the remodel. I've got an idea to use some of them in the kitchen on one of the walls that needs a piece of art...we'll see if it works out the way I'm picturing it in my mind.

Looking to the fall:
-I'm so ready for football to be back! Andy got his new NCAA '11 Football today and is already putting it to good use while I type this post.

-Our students officially return in a little over a month... hallelujah! I'm so ready for them to all be back. We miss them greatly during the summer! We've got several new students that will be rising freshman that we've been put in contact with this summer and I'm hoping they will come join the mix this fall. Speaking of the fall one of our students, Thelms, and I sat down this weekend and planned all the themed "family dinners" that we'll host once a month for them this year. We are kicking off the school year with a pirate theme! Should be highly entertaining. (For those who don't know we have a group of students that we've developed relationships with. Once a month we host them for "family dinner". We cook a big home cooked meal for them and we drag all the tables in the house together so that we all eat together as a "family". The evening usually wraps up with a family photo. The photo at the top of the blog was taken at the last family dinner of this past school year.) Family dinners are hands down one of my favorite things each month. This started out with us entertaining 3 or 4 students for dinner...at the end of this last year we were hosting between 12-15 students a month. They invite their friends and our "family" grows. I've enjoyed watching them bond and grow over this last year together. I'm really excited to see the new dynamics this school year will bring.

-I'm already starting to map out the rest of the year on the calendar. The fall is always super busy for us and then it seg-ways in to the holiday season. Hard to believe but it will all be here before we know it! July is almost halfway gone and back-to-school supplies are starting to appear in stores. Wow.

-Like said earlier I've got big plans for the fall when it comes to the yard! We just need to get the ball moving once the weather cools off a bit.


As always I'm sure there I forgot something...but there's plenty here to catch y'all up. Till next time...

Too Cool...

This picture makes me laugh...he's too much! :) This was from the beach a few weeks ago BUT it fits perfectly since it's almost the 4th. AG's sporting his new rashguard we got from Hawaii. (The Quicksilver logo is the Hawaiian flag and the back has the islands printed on it right below the neck. I love it.) And his flag suit from his Aunt Mis.  We have lots of plans for the weekend...more to come. Happy Friday.