Makeover

My house is really really old. The kind of old where you really should be a decent "do it yourself-er". Either that, or you should have some sort of trust fund. Sadly, we have neither of those attributes. When we moved into this house, I thought it would look great red. That's pretty much as far as it got. I was pregnant and working and really had no time. Fast forward 9 years.

Doesn't it look great? Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I usually post stuff I have done, but Jeremy did most of this. I helped, but 95% of the work was Jeremy. He did a fantastic job, and I love it. I will also insist on paying someone if we ever decide to paint our house again.

Painting was a big part of June, but aside from that it was still a busy month. Birthday parties, friendship blankets, teacher gifts, out of town guests, and my favorite part was that Eve lost one of her front teeth. I really love a toothless smile. :)

Onto July! Tomorrow is a busy airport day that will end with Janelle and her sister Karen coming for 10 days. Best birthday present ever! (unless you can think of something better...you have 7 days. Let me know if you come up with something!)

Random Unrelated Children

I think I have mentioned before how ridiculous it is to try to photograph my kids. Don't get me wrong. They are cute, and I even get a decent number of good snap shots. However, if I need a picture? If I want to pose them?? I usually end up taking a deep breath, rolling my eyes, and walking away. How do people get their kids to co-operate? HOW?!?!?!

A couple weeks ago I made some shirts for my girls. I used a $5 Old Navy shirt and some ruffle fabric. Two hours later, adorable!! I should post these for my friends on facebook!

Um, let's try that again...

Well, one of them looks normal...

I give up. (there were OH.SO.MANY more, but I was deleting them on the camera. I regret that now. It would have made a hilarious collage)

Only, I really want to show people my mad skills and my cute kids. I could just take a picture of the shirts. I did take a pic of the shirts, but they are SO cute on. So I convince the children to let me take one more. We'll even do it on the porch so the sun can't scorch your eyes...

Success! Cute shirts, cute kids, and they are even wearing identical outfits. Aw! Such a sweet sister picture... except they don't look like sisters! They hardly even look related. Jeremy and I each have our own signature kid...except the skin tone. Somehow that got flipped. Genetics are weird and fascinating! How do some people get 6 kids that look like a row of nesting dolls, while mine look like random strangers I snagged and sat next to each other? If I had a third child would it be a mix? another signature kid? secret option 3? Really, I want to know. And if I could find out hypothetically, and without the 9 month incubation period, that would be preferred.

In other news,

After waiting almost 18 months, I FINALLY got to go to the U2 concert last week. It was worth the wait. The only things that could have made it better would have been Natalie and Moons Over My Hammy. :)

Real life (or a lack there of)

Returning to real life after a vacation is hard. It is harder when you return only to leave again, and come home to the best house guest of all time. That is a sum up of April.  I could end the blog there...but really, that would be cheating...and I like the pictures.

A week after we got back from Africa my older sister Janelle was due to have a baby. She lives in California, and my younger sister, Natalie and I wanted to be there for her. So Natalie flew in from Alabama with her adorable baby, Eleanor, and the three of us made the trek to southern California. Eleanor is perhaps the best traveler in the whole world. (here is Eleanor and I playing in the car while her mom took a potty break)

 

The day after we arrived (less than 24 hours after we got in) Mosetta Rose was born. We were so glad we made the trip, and that we were able to be there for her birth.

Since "real life" doesn't stop, even when a baby is born, Natalie and I had to get back to our families and responsibilities too soon afterward. Luckily, I had something to soften the blow.

My friend Janelle came to visit for 2 weeks. Yes, it is a little weird, that I have a sister and a friend both named Janelle. And yes, we are capable of really awesome polygamist style hair dos. Why did we try this? Um, because we could. Also, we were sewing, and it seemed like the right thing to do. I am still happy about the choice. :) The rest of the 2 weeks was filled with crazy weather, a lot of "name blankets" (I think I am almost caught up on the baby boom!) and Janelle's birthday.

 

Janelle always comes for someone's birthday. I am glad this time it was hers....even if she is extremely hard to shop for! Thanks Janelle! Come back any time, for as long as you want. I really mean it. You are as close as I'll ever come to having a sister wife.... LOL

After Janelle left, I decided I was officially back to real life, and I better do something really productive with the rest of my month. So, with my business partner's help, we got what I was afraid was turning into an eternal work in progress, up and running. Announcing the opening of our etsy fabric shop Seamless Appeal!

www.seamlessappeal.etsy.com

I might even be able to swing a coupon code for any interested blog reader. :)

Africa

Last month my family traveled to South Africa. I don't think I can do it justice with words, so here are some picture highlights (click on them to make them larger).