Sitting up and Finished Projects

At almost 6 months, William has started to be able to sit unassisted for, oh, about a minute to a minute and a half :).

Steady...

Carefully reaching for toys

A little more...

Almost there buddy!

Also this week, Matthew and I finished the table that we started on a couple of weeks ago.  It was great to get to do a partner project with my husband...  a fun and different way of getting to spend time together after William went down each night around 7.  We wanted something our family could cherish for years to come.  I was going to 'shabby' the legs, but decided instead to let them age naturally with time - maybe in the future all those knicks and dents will remind us of all the times we sat and ate together with our kids, our family, and friends.

Found the chairs through Craig's List.  They reminded me of the ones my family had growing up in Valdosta.

Found these natural elements and vases at TJMaxx (<3).  Runner was a scrap from our old table cloth that I passed on to my friend Amy in TX.  Thanks to mom for the placemats... you know I love that color.

Whoops!  Thought I sanded off all the wood glue, but apparently not!  So we're calling it a happy accident.  It's "rustic!"

 We also finished making some gallery shelves for the living room.    We used the Ten Dollar Ledges plan, another one from Ana White.  We adjusted the measurements to make one 6' and one 4' ledge.

Our living room is more long than it is wide, so it was challenging to find the right furniture arrangement.  We ended up not being able to center the sofa under the vaulted ceiling's beam, so we couldn't center artwork on the wall without it lookin funky.  Had to get creative in order to keep the room balanced.  I liked the idea of having a couple of shelves to hold anything from paintings to baskets etc.  And things can get swapped out seasonally too.

Shelf doesn't need support underneath if you drill it directly into a few studs.  But don't go putting 50 lbs on it or anything :).

Still figuring out lamps in a space.  The plastic still remains on the shade at left.

Finally found a globe.  So functional for teaching our kids about the world and praying for different countries, etc.  Also dig that it has the house's color scheme.

Starting to put more pictures on the walls.  Thank you Bean and Becky these two artworks that we love!

The entry still struggles to find meaning

Guest room got a little more done

Trundle bed pulls out from underneath to sleep two

Finally got a shower curtain and mirror up in guest bath

Put some pictures in our bedroom that we took in Colorado (sigh).  This room was based around the center pic.

A photographer friend of mine in town showed me some really beautiful pictures of her with her sons.  She told me how much these pictures meant to her and encouraged me to get some with William, too.

So I talked Matthew into taking some mother-son pictures of us.  He was too hungry to pose for father-son pics.  Maybe next time :).

If I may indulge...

Love how playful he is becoming

Maybe the only physical traits this child shares with mama: pale, pointy ears, and dimples.  All the rest is dad!

His thing right now - "kick kick kick!"

Sentimental framers...

We got to spend some time with our new friends, Cassie and Craig, at their church's bonfire.  They are from Michigan, and we met while visiting a church here in Clarksville.  They have two sweet children, Nadia-2 and Isaiah-3 mos.  Cassie is the only person I know who had a baby bigger than mine.  So we were instant friends, naturally.  Craig and Matthew have lots of Army things to talk about.  Craig leaves in a couple of weeks for Afghanistan.

View from bonfire

Hanging with Cassie and Isaiah.  Nadia was off playing and I think daddy was chasing after her :)