Ginny Owens - The Loudest Voice (Lyric Video)

This song is helping me be a better wife. mom. daughter. sister. friend.
period.
It is also helping me clean my house. :))
and my kid's rooms, because i chose not to fight that battle this week. :/

Crank it up. And sing.
be blessed.

oh. and P.S. God...if it's not too much to ask. PLEASE enable my children to be the kids in this video, showing YOUR love, by picking up the girls books for her. NOT the mean kid that tripped her in the first place. #pleaseendmeankids #thatsall.

Our mudroom RENOvation.

I had been looking for lockers for years.

Let me clarify.

I had seen plenty of lockers for sale over the years, but MY lockers:

a) had to be in pretty good condition, and had to:

b) be cheap. ;)

FINALLY...i got some lockers.

Thanks to some cousin chatter. (Thanks Chelsea ;))

I did "clear" the decision with Matt.

I even measured on my own.

Impressive people. :))

I painted them. Lots and lots of spray paint.

And then...

then...they sat. They sat in the driveway. They sat in the garage. and they sat some more.

You get the picture.

We finally had the discussion.

Matt had voted the basement, and I had voted the mudroom.

For anyone who has been in our mudroom...you realize, for them to go in there, we had to tear out a closet. No big deal, right?

Until your hubs does NOT want to touch the closet. Or the mudroom at all.

Insert panic. A bit of panic and regret.

I am kind of a middle child. I am a people pleaser. Probably one of the top reasons my husband picked me. ;) I am not aggressive. I am not usually confrontational. I can be quiet. I am an introvert...the last 2 could be debatable...but that is only because I married my husband, and have changed to be more like him. :)

To make a long story short...I didn't give up this time.

I did not take no for an answer.

And the demo started. Kaden, his friend, Kyle and Matt started tearing apart one afternoon, when I had NO IDEA it was going to happen THAT day. Talk about motivation. I was hosting a holiday party at the end of the week. Yikes.

Beginning to tear out the closet...

Closet is out. Now you notice, the drop ceiling needs to come out also. :))

Ceiling is out...found a gorgeous fun blue color underneath...which I decided not to touch. Matt is now working on hiding all the wiring...

The project turned into a MUCH bigger project than I anticipated. This room was mostly made up of paneling. It was at one time a porch, and then enclosed. (If only I could have a porch). ;))  So...the paneling was in awful shape anyway, so it started to get torn down, which revealed the original siding of the house...which i decided i LOVED. This picture shows some of the wiring getting hidden...

The flooring also had to be ripped out...I had gotton this light at a consignment shop a few months earlier, and could not WAIT to hang it. I asked an electrician friend to come over and wire it for me...DELIGHTED with how it looks.
And THANKS Brandon. You can also see I started painting awhile. The goal is a bright WHITE room.
I am not sure why I liked dark red so much, almost 10 years ago, when we moved here??


And THIS lovee's is the finished project.
i absolutely LOVE it!!
Sooooo glad i was persistent, and did not take no for an answer. :))

The chalkboard is actually covering a framed out window that had been there.
Needed to come up with something cute up there to cover that akward space.
What better then a chalkboard? :))

I am BACK. and Kaycee turned 12.

Can't actually believe anyone would still be checking in here, but just in case.

My apologies.
Instagram is so much quicker.

I LOVE blogging.

But who am I kidding?

Life has gotton so busy.

It was always busy, but this is a different busy, an i am not home busy.

Which makes it hard to blog. 

Blah. Blah. Blah.

I will stop making excuses. :))

Where do I even start?

Okay. Well. Then I guess we will start back on December 30, 2016 when Kaycee turned 12.
This girl. Is somethin'.
I know I do not give her enough of my time and attention, mostly because she doesn't demand it.
And well....when you are one of five kids, if you are quiet and mind your business, you get lost in the shuffle.
I try to be intentional.
But it is so super hard.

Kaycee loves art.
She loves to paint. And color. And draw. And write.
She loves playing the flute.
She doesn't appreciate sports. Like at all.
She is kind of a pack rat. Keeps a lot of everything.
She is quiet. I have to really dig to find out about her. Her day. Her life. Her feelings.
It takes so much time. It's time well spent. But a lot of time.
She loves looking at my instagram. ;)
She still loves reading. She is super good at school.

Donut cake this year.
Mostly because why  not? :)

6th grade is figuring out some of who you are.
So far Kaycee is mostly sweatshirt/jeans/sneaks kind of girl.
No make up.
Lots of emotion. At the drop of a dime.
No girly-girl anything though.
She LOVES to braid her hair, and is getting so good at it.
She also loves to knit and crochet, and makes things out of nothing.
I call that a genius.
She doesn't follow patterns, or anything...just figures it out.
LOVE.

These 2 are 17 months apart.
I was wondering how these teen years are going to go for them.
So far. So good.
It's fun to watch them interact together.
So fun.

Oh Kaycee girl.

You are a treasure.

You see black and white always.

There is never any gray for you.

What a strength.

You are loved and appreciated so much.

Your quiet, gentle spirit is a gift.

Keep working hard. And being kind. And smiling.

God loves you and has great things in store for your life.

Much love, 

Mom.