On Making a Bed...

We had a lot of fun making a bed over the past couple of weekends! "Making" as in building, not just "making the bed pretty" like I tell the kids each morning! We have always had a little platform bed made of plywood which has worked just as it should in holding our mattress up off of the floor, but earlier in the summer a family from church generously gave us a big saw that they weren't using anymore and Nat has been itching to use it for something! As we were trying to think of something we'd like but that might be possible to make cheaper and sturdier than buying in the store, we started thinking about beds. A friend of ours in Charlotte had a home made version of Pottery Barn's Stratton bed that we both loved for the storage space. We were looking to see if there were any plans online and ran across an awesome website for DIY stuff: http://ana-white.com/ There were so many amazing ideas and plans and then Nat found this: http://ana-white.com/2011/07/farmhouse-storage-bed-hinged-footboard We were so excited!! A storage bed, but instead of cubbies at the bottom - a nice farmhouse style headboard and a footboard on a hinge so there is even more storage under the bed! The plan was a little confusing at times because the lady who made it was combining two different plans to make the bed, but with a little extra brain power we were able to do it! I'm thinking about re-writing them out to have it all in one spot, but at this point I'm just happy to have pictures up!

Cutting the wood into strips to make the cubby boxes

Cubbies with trim and lots of measuring! Graham had so much fun being in the garage and making his own little projects!

Trying to weigh down some warped wood - gluing and nailing the wood to make the footboard panel

Lots and lots of sanding (that was my job) - I didn't want any sharp corners or edges and wanted the paint to go on smoothly

Checking the measurements to double check how long we needed the panels to be so that the 4x4s were just slightly exposed on the edge of the bed - we made the same mistake the other lady did and had to make cuts through the panels (otherwise the 4x4 posts would be completely on the outside of the boxes and we wouldn't be able to bolt them to each other).

Sanding the top to make it level!

Headboard before being primed/painted!

Painting!

Another helper!

Putting it all together and checking out the storage space :o)

Ta-da!! It is done. I feel like we're living in a hotel (the good part of living in a hotel). A sweet friend surprised us by fixing up our room for us. I love it! We were excited about just doing a project but I didn't realize how peaceful and inviting it would make our room!

Hooray for even more storage! Graham has already deemed this his hideout :o)

A very talented friend made this and it fits the room perfectly!

Grocery List

Graham wanted his own list before we went shopping today. I did the spelling and he did the writing.

It's little things like this that remind me how big he is getting!

The Haircut

I thought I would try to trim Kate's hair while G was at preschool this morning, so I set up the living room with a folding chair, towels, and a Leapfrog video to keep her attention. My lack of haircutting skills plus a bouncy little girl made the results quite a bit shorter than I intended (continual even-ing-up kept the scissors going!), but it still turned out pretty cute!

G and I have been working on counting and rolling coins this week = explanation for money all over the floor ;o)

Coffee Anyone?

Some dear friends of ours from Maryland are adopting a baby from China and we are so very excited for them to bring her home! One of their fundraisers is through Just Love Coffee - for every bag sold, the Wileys will receive $5 toward their adoption! Once you're on the page you can link to different types of coffee on the lefthand side (most bags are $13-14ish and you can choose whole bean/ground/espresso/french press). So if you love coffee or are wanting to give a gift to someone who you know loves coffee, consider buying through this website to help the Wileys with their adoption :o)

Here is the link!

http://www.justlovecoffee.com/james127

Start of September

The past few weeks we've been settling into more of a routine (yay!) and enjoying some more bearable temperatures. Here's a bit of the start of our month...

Nat and Graham have gone fishing a few times - G loves(!) it! Kate and I came one time but spent much of the time on the playground :o)

A special grandparents' day chapel with preschool. We miss you, grandparents!!! We were very thankful for our friend Mrs. Ellen, though, who was able to come sit in for Graham!

Fun playdoh faces :o)

The majority of the wildfires are on the opposite end of Houston from us (and also many near Austin where we traveled around last month)... Please keep praying for rain in this area - it's so dry and windy! We've gone out in the evening because the smoke has made some amazing looking sunsets (although I suppose I haven't taken pictures of the sunsets, but have taken them of the kids).

Last Friday when Nat came home we decided to go down by Galveston to take the ferry boat to the Bolivar Peninsula. We've never done this before and we're already excited to go again! We went down around dinnertime so we picked up Taco Bell to eat while we waited in line. It's a free ride across (which made it even better!) and we enjoyed being out on the water for a short time.

We were able to see boats and ships (I suppose going toward the ship channel?) and even some dolphins!

When we made it across, Nat thought to stop at a little store to pick up some ice cream then we drove out onto the beach and played until it was dark.

Since this was a last minute adventure (I hadn't really thought about what we'd do once we made it across), we didn't have bathing suits/towels/etc but we had a great time! There was a sandbar that the kids used almost like a diving board - it caught them by surprise at first when they went underwater, but they were hilarious to watch as they thought up new games to play!

On Monday we went to see the Astros play - and they won! We went a little early so we could go down to the field and watch batting practice - it was so much fun!

Nat caught a ball that flew into the stands during batting practice and gave it to G - he was thrilled :o)

I know this is a hodge-podge of pictures - it's been a busy and fun month so far!

Getting Ready...

...just in case the temperature dips below 100 degrees this week ;o) Happy Wednesday!

Lovely

I was careless and didn't put my makeup all the way up where it belongs. Kate found it. Quickly and so quietly, too. Lovely!

Even Aslan got a makeover!

First Day of School!

Today is Graham's first day back to preschool! He has been so excited all week :o) Kate keeps asking when we will go pick Graham up from school - we do miss him! We have a fun day planned though... Nat is going to meet us for a 1st day back lunch at McDonald's and tonight we are going to Putt Putt and for ice cream with the youth group!

We are thankful for his teacher this year, Mrs. Schultz! She goes to our church, she is wonderful, and we love her!!

Spontaneous Adventure!

This past weekend we realized that for the first time all summer we did not have anything planned on Friday or Saturday night. For the fun of thinking out loud I said something along the lines of, "It would be great if we could just go explore somewhere and come back Saturday night." To which Nat replied, "Let's do it!" Let me first say that I was thrilled at willingness of my wonderful husband to take a bit of the afternoon off and for the opportunity to just go exploring. My next response was panic! Where were we going to go? How much could we afford in our budget? How am I going to get the four of us packed up and ready to be out of the house within 3 hours plus make whatever plans we needed to make? I love love love the idea of being spontaneous, I really do - it's fun (!) - but... I like to plan and figure out the best place to stay for our money, where we should go for the amount of time that we're able to be gone, do the grocery shopping so we don't have to buy tons of food out, clean the house so that it's restful to come home, and have a list of everything that each person needs and double check it to make sure nothing is forgotten. Thankfully, everything worked out just fine - I think we packed enough for a long weekend, didn't worry too much about the food (just grabbed a cooler, the pb&j, and any snacks I saw in our pantry), and made the decision that we were going to Austin, TX and the surrounding area. We really had a great time exploring as a family! Here are some of our pictures :o)

It has been very hot... we thought of camping, but decided against it because of the heat!

Graham and Kate's first (memorable) hotel experience. We were thankful for a good deal (on hotwire) for our hotel, so we were able to stay right downtown within walking distance to the Capitol building for super cheap! G was amazed by the special trick that turned the couch into a bed for them :o)

For dinner we went to Stubb's for some BBQ... it was delicious!!! And a really neat building too -- lots of character.

At the Capitol... it was impressive!

I was reminded as we walked through security that we were in Texas when I asked the security guards if there was anything we couldn't take a picture of and they answered that we could photograph anything but the security equipment! It was strange to be able to walk all around the building (and at 8pm) and not have security all over the place... we were allowed to just roam!

In the center...

...And the floor from a few stories up

Davy Crockett

Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin... both originally from Virginia, I must add :o)

The next morning we started exploring... we started by sneaking a peek at the Longhorns stadium, had brunch at a park, and then headed west.

We did most of our exploring in small towns around Lake Travis and really enjoyed a hike in the woods at a wildlife refuge. It was nice to have a slightly overcast day under a canopy of trees :o)

Poor Nat ended up with a thumb full of these (he removed most of them before I took the picture)...

from one of these! We had to stay on the trail for sure!

I am thankful for our little family and the time we were able to get away to spend with one another!