Charming Country Kitchen

Do you ever fall smack on your blogging face? I mean, I was doing great, keeping up with themes and posting regularly, then .... crickets. What happened to me?! Not much really, just had a hitch in my giddy-up I guess. Hopefully I'm back and I can stick to my schedule without getting overwhelmed, neglecting my family or always having my face in the computer. Does that happen to you sometimes? Balance is tricky!

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I took pictures of my in-law's kitchen, you know, where we're staying right now, where three meals a day happen for 8 people, where we've been experimenting with no grains, no legumes, no sugar, no dairy, no processed foods and LOVING it! Seriously, I feel good, some troubles are clearing up, and we're going to stick with it at least for now. 

So, about that kitchen--right. I wasn't loving the pictures I took. I need to really learn how to use my grown-up camera already! But I did what I could, edited them a little and here they are for you to enjoy! 

One side of the kitchen has a big counter flanked by the fridge on one side and a pantry on the other.

The other side is a modified u-shape with the oven, dishwasher and sink.

The kitchen is decorated with country wall paper and bird houses, as well as Helen's collection of antique rolling pins.

The cabinets are oak and the counters are corian.

Cutting boards, olive oil, salt, a knife block and measuring cups and spoons are left out because someone is almost always up to something in the kitchen!

All the grandkids know that there is gum in the smallest crock! (Even my 20-month-old knows, and I will catch him scooting a chair over to help himself. Silly boy!)

Jon built a small shelf to the left of the stove to make use of an awkward angle left after the builder installed the stock cabinets from Lowe's. Helen uses it to store some of her cookbooks.

The view from the sink is into a breakfast nook with lots of windows and a door to the porch. I love watching birds at the bird feeder while I wash dishes.

Currently, no one uses the breakfast room--there are too many of us to fit around the table! 

It's a great spot for folding laundry (the laundry room is just beyond this room), building legos, coloring, or being near the cooking action.

Have you noticed Helen's seriously green thumb? Her plants are a little more crowded these days as all of my plants from our home in Iowa are loving the sun and care they receive here.

The dining room is next to the breakfast room, on the other side of the wall with the dishwasher. This is where we all fit around the table for our three meals a day! Don't mind the boosters and plastic covering the table--it's grandkid friendly!

Hope you enjoyed this charming country kitchen!

Lift Up the Trumpet {Wordless Wednesday}

Family Living Room {Moodboard}

Hey! How was your weekend? We had a nice one here in the Ozarks. My boys sang for church and it was adorable! The video is on my personal facebook page, but I'm thinking of sharing it here too. This is one proud mommy that they actually went through with it! 

I started this moodboard with the blank room picture as inspiration. The focus of the room are the awesome reclaimed wood floors and of course the rustic fireplace. I love both of those things and didn't want to pretty it up or lose the rustic vibe, but I also didn't want to make it too log-cabin primitive. 

I started by adding thick molding around the windows and doors and floor, in my imagination, of course. Would that make the room look so crisp and finished? I love some nice white chunky molding! 

Next I found a set--yes, a set of furniture, and no, I don't think it looks too matchy-matchy. I personally love sets like this, as they go together and nobody is vying for too much attention. What set am I talking about? Well, the dressers and sofa table, all Hemnes from IKEA. I chose the black finish so there would be no competition with those beautiful floors!

The tall dresser would go on the wall to the left of the fireplace under that short window. The long dresser would fit on the right wall, one you can't see in the picture, but it would serve as a place to put the TV and all the stuff that comes with that. The sofa table would float in the middle of the room behind the sofa and would be a great place to put lamps and baskets for blankets, kid's toys or puppy supplies.

About the sofa: I chose a white leather sofa because the room was getting too dark and I am absolutely allergic to anything that adds to the amount of laundry I have to do! I still don't understand the slipcover thing, but if that works for you, I'm glad. Leather is durable and wipeable and at least in my family, kids aren't allowed to eat in the living room or have crayons or anything, so I think it would wear well. I would position the sectional sofa across from the fireplace.

The brown floral rug helps define the sitting area without competing with the wood floors or being too light to handle foot traffic. Also in the sitting area is a brown leather reclining arm chair and a coffee table made from huge pieces of lumber and steal. 

I chose brown curtains with a subtle floral print for all of the windows. I would hang them all at the same height and width to make the windows appear more similar in size. I like the layered look, and besides, the blinds would help unify the look of the windows from the outside. 

There is a small bit of lime green in the curtain fabric, so I thought it would be fun to include some lime in the accessories! I virtually shopped Pier 1 for a vase and pillows, and made sure to include some live (or fake, it's up to you) plants for more bright green. 

I threw in a few other accessories, like the leaning floor mirror, the globe, some rustic candlesticks, the shiny accent stool used as a side table and the huge wall clock for more layers of color and texture. And like usual, I'd love to move in! Would you?

Hope you have a great week ahead! Keep us in your prayers as we continue to follow God's will for our lives. We know he has something great in the plans for us!

(Design plans are available! Contact me with your unfinished room, wishes, what you have to work with, and what you'd like it to look like!)

Insta-Friday!

It's Friday! And it's February. Not sure how I feel about that! 

We took a trip to our old hometown last weekend, so the number of pictures I took went way up. I love Instagram because it's such a great way to recap your adventures and make memories of every-day happenings too! Are you on Instagram? I'd love to follow you! Come find me -- gibsongirl726.

1. On the road again! Our boys are the best travelers. #Iowa (Seriously, they've logged so many hours in the car the last 6 months!)

2. Not part of the travel plans. #Missouri (This turned out to be a great story. I haven't shared it yet. Ooops! I'll fix that soon.)
3. Oh look, it's a rare picture of ME!
4. #Iowa (Iowa was home for 6 1/2 years, where I was a newlywed and where I became a Mom x3. It will always have a special place in my heart.)
5. Sunset on the prairie. #Iowa #nofilter
6. Home away from home. #Iowa
7. Daddy's helpers. Love these boys! #theyposedthemselves (The boys always help Gary unload the car and roll the suitcases into the motel. Part of why they each have a suitcase, even for short trips!)
8. Iowa. Land of pretty skies and FREEZING COLD TEMPS!
9. Pretty morning. 9 is way too cold. #Iowa

1. Keeping my three busy while daddy presents the sermon. (It's so hard to keep them quiet by myself!!!)
2. Cute pastor! #thatsmyman #cedarrapids
3. Baby Rachel is a big hit with my crowd of boys! Doesn't she look like she belongs to our family? (This little sweetie belongs to our friends Mark and Julie. She's 5 months old and a complete doll-baby! I might be crazy, but I want another baby!)
4. Presentation #3. So proud of my man!
5. So hungry for salad!
6. We got to eat lunch with Noelle! (Noelle was my first real friend in Iowa. She was there for each of my deliveries and has been to every birthday party. She was our babysitter and LOVES our boys!!! Such good friends are hard to find. Super glad we got to see you, Noelle!)
7. Goodbye Vinton!
8. It's a quiet trip today. #wornoutbuddies #zonked
9. Icy #Iowa. The roads are just wet and we're headed south. (We had to delay our trip for 3-4 hours as we waited for the ice to melt. The parking lot was a big ice rink, but the roads turned out to be fine.)

1. We're baa-aack! #Missouriwelcomesyou
2. We're safe and sound at our home-away-from-home!
3. Let's get this over with. I've heard it's a sad one. #downtonabbey (Oh, it was. Not good. I was prepared because of some spoilage on social media, but it still hurt!!! Where can this plot be going?!)
4. Taste the rainbow. #Iloveveggies (We're still eating super-healthy and seeing results too! My husband is quickly getting back to his college weight!)
5. Little boy takes his popcorn seriously! (This is Jared. He was not letting any of that yummy popcorn go to waste!)
6. Funny boy! #happyeyes (This is Jonathan. He and I were goofing and I told him how some people could hang a spoon on the end of their nose--I have never been able to, but he did it right away! Stinker!)
7. True love. #Daddylovesjojo (This is Josiah. He's seriously developing a little character! He's loving, funny, and so very opinionated!)
8. Little performer. #commongrounds #Salem #Missouri (Gary and I ran an errand and brought Josiah along. He loved the stage at the coffee shop, especially because of the audience--his parents + two other adoring ladies.)
9. Out with my Sweetie. #mymanishot #inhisshadow (This coffee shop is privately owned by a Christian family and it's very cute. It's also the only one in Salem! They are very slow, however, and we waited about 10 minutes for our drinks. Good thing we weren't in a hurry!)

1. Enjoying the sunny day. #mythreeboys
2. Funny face! #lovethisboy #boyloveshats
3. How many boys does it take to dig a hole? #onediggertwosupervisorspluspuppy
4. My little helper. (And by "helper" I mean he slows me down and messes things up and gets all dirty, but he had so much fun helping me with the recipe! He was really good at popping pieces of onion and carrot into the food processor!)
5. Boys and their toys. Always.
6. Meanwhile... Toys strewn around the living room and here are the boys watching mountain biking with Daddy.
7. Helen's indoor lemon trees are fruitful! #greenthumb
8. Me and my boy. #lovethisboy
9. Gearing up to go outside to play in the snow before it melts. #lovethisboy

So there you have it, our week in... well, little bitty pictures. Did you have a good week? Did you stay warm enough? That question is not for my California friends; you guys need to stay cool! 

We have a lead on a job that we would love love love to get. Keep us in your prayers this week!

 

Wacky Wednesday

Do you bloggers go through times when you have no crafts or projects or even family pictures to post about? Yeah... Me too. I thought I'd share some funnies from Pinterest today, just because it's Wednesday and we could all use some humor. But my humor is kinda dry and quirky... So while these are hilarious to me I'm not even sure they'll make you chuckle! Oh well! Here goes nothing!

You can follow me on Pinterest by clicking the icon on the right side on my blog page!

Oh my, I have a terrible time remembering jokes, but I always remembered this knock-knock joke. Maybe because of my Kindergarten teaching days. Do you know it?

Our dog's name is Jude. When we were newlyweds we came home early from a camping trip and stopped for breakfast at a cafe called Jude's. We both started singing the Beatles song and decided if we ever had a male dog we'd name it Jude. And if we had a female dog, her name would be Lucy from "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Two years later we got our Jude. We only had Jonathan at the time, but now it's funny to us that our dog's name fits right in with the J names for our boys! And that song gets stuck in our heads every time we call our dog, "Heyyyyy Jude...." 

Source: laughingsquid.com via Ellie {Beauty4Ashes} on Pinterest

Ok, so here's proof that I'm a weirdo!!!

Source: Uploaded by user via Ellie {Beauty4Ashes} on Pinterest

Seriously, that makes me snort!

This one is me. All winter. And sometimes in the summer. Do you rationalize like this?

Source: lifed.com via Ellie {Beauty4Ashes} on Pinterest

Ok, here's a super-long one that isn't really funny, per se, but it made my heart happy to read through all the different pictures. I want to volunteer to hold babies all the time too, but would have freaked out as a new mom if someone had asked me, so I bite my tongue. That and my hands/cart are usually full with my own brood! I LOVE the story about the new tires too. So meaningful! What's your favorite one?

Source: lolsnaps.com via Ellie {Beauty4Ashes} on Pinterest

So there you have it, hopefully a giggle or two, or at least a warm heart. I hope your week is going well!

Until next time,

Navy and Coral Girl's Bedroom {Moodboard}

I'm liking the navy trend right now. Navy + green, navy + red, navy + orange and of course navy + pink. I thought I'd give it a little more of a twist and develop this girl's bedroom mood board with navy and coral.

I chose a Jenny Lind bed frame that will contrast beautifully with navy walls. To keep the walls from being too dark and heavy, I imagine navy on the bottom two-thirds on the wall and white on the top. Then there would be these fun, floral decals to brighten up the room. Another secret to keeping the room from getting dark is to keep all of the furniture (except the bed) simple, clean and white. I provided this girl with a book shelf with baskets for books and display or toys, a large dresser, a small desk and a bedside table. 

The bedding I chose is floral on one side with coral and navy stripes on the other. This gives the bedding lots of flexibility and fun! I chose three pillows in the same colors but with different patterns. Patterns are also found in the curtain (chevron) and area rug (stripes). Of course these are just inspiration and you can mix and match all you want. The piece I used for the "curtain" is actually a towel, but a chevron pattern would be easy to stencil and paint yourself on plain curtains, or you can find something similar ready-made. 

For the walls I chose a monogram and a large beautiful mirror. Of course this leaves lots of room for individual personality--framed art, a bulletin board covered in another fun fabric, or a picture collage for a girl's collection of BFFs. 

The lighting in the room includes a chandelier in the middle of the room as well as a lamp on the bedside table. If the desk is used for studying, there should be another light source there as well. 

This is a room that will grow, meaning it would be totally appropriate for a young child all the way through the teenage years, yet there are small things you could change to suit a girl at different stages of interest and growth.

What do you think? Do you like navy + coral?

Insta-Friday

I can't believe it's Friday! We're probably driving north to Iowa as you read this. Gary has been invited to speak at our home church there! We're excited to see our friends there, and I always overload Instagram a little when we're on a trip. You can follow along -- I'm gibsongirl726. 

This week was pretty quiet. Even when we're just hanging out at Grandma & Grandpa's house, I still reach for my phone and take pictures now and then. And there seems to be lots of food pictures! I've been experimenting with new recipes that are mostly veggies. I love this new way of eating and I've lost 5 pounds in less than two weeks! Ok, let's get to it.

 

1. Adventures in Potty Training, volume 3. #isnthecute
2. Yup. They still love Legos!
3. Triple batch of banana bread for potluck this weekend! (There were 6 loaves total and I stayed true to my no-gluten commitment. Yay me!)
4. Lunch date with my Sweetie! #Mexicanfood
5. Jonathan and Josiah. So much CUTENESS! #isthataword #brothers
6. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho... Rather, Jared built the city of Jericho...
7. Lunch was so yummy! I'm rocking the quasi-paleo experiment. (That's roasted cabbage with caraway, steamed broccoli and sweet potato burgers. So so good!)
8. Yay for nap time so I can enjoy episode 3! Love #downtonabbey
9. Freezer box - fort - every boy's dream come true! (I don't know why I never posted this, but when I downloaded them to my computer I erased it on my phone. Sigh. Seriously, they're so cute and that box is so huge! They've been taking turns sleeping in it each night. Awesome job, grandparents!) 
 

I hope you don't mind that I'm slipping a few other pictures in here. I posted the series of family shots on Facebook but not Instagram. So now you get to see them too! I know you're excited!!!

1. My sweetie and me. :)
2. Jared & Grandma.
3. Jonathan & Grandpa.
4. Josiah & Great-Grandma (in the halo).
5. Thinking of you Tinkerclonk! (I seriously can't look at tulips without thinking of my bff/sil who I haven't seen for two years now. Have I mentioned she had a baby in September and I haven't met him either??? I've seen my brother a time or two though. At least there's that.)
6. Three in a row. #hydrationstation
7. It's a frittata morning.
8. Boys and their toys. I love this one the most of all my 20 month olds. #getbackjojo
9. I scream you scream, we all scream for ice cream! 100% frozen fruit. (Seriously. I didn't even miss ice cream. Gary made this with a juicer but you can blend frozen bananas and other fruit to substitute ice cream. We had banana, strawberry and mango.)

Ok, that's all folks! Did you have a good week? Any highlights? Let me know your Instagram name and I'll follow you!