Frolic

My favorite part of this spring season has been all the beautiful mustard plants growing wildly in vacant fields that are squashed between areas of development. They always look so inviting. Just begging to be explored with arms stretched out and fingers brushing against the waving weeds.

 On our various weekly errand-runs, I'd been hunting for fields that were accessible. Many of them are surrounded by barbed wire or are just out of our way to drive to. Then last week I found one that we could just walk into to-- right passed the "private property" sign. ;)

 I loaded the kids up in the van, grabbed my camera, and went out to the field. I taught Ezra about my love of open spaces, wild weeds, and carefree spirits. {He insisted on taking his pasta claw with us.}

{he was there too; in his typical fashion...taking the world in while tucked comfortably away on Mama's back...}

An afternoon well spent. Love my little men.

One Thing Leads to Another

I scored some free pallets about a month ago that have been sitting in our garage since. They were waiting for me to pick something from all the great projects out there. Then I was inspired, not by pinterest, but by a window display while on a walk through our local downtown. Yay for seeing it in the real world! I had W create a pallet canvas of sorts by showing him this tutorial and then off he went to make his own version. 

While in the process of finishing the project, I was stumped on how to get my words onto the wood. Mod-Podge? Wood glue? Stencil? Craft paint? Free hand? I was at a loss so I decided to test a few of them....which actually turned into a whole new project that I'm sharing now. Distracted much! {More on the original pallet art later.} For now, it's on to this side project...

I started with Mod-Podge because it seemed the easiest. I got out three extra boards that W had left over from the original, cut some words out using my mom's cricut, and tried it out.

 I found out that the glue changed the color of the wood, even after it dried, so I covered the entire board with the stuff. Then I placed my letters out and covered it with a second coat.

It was super easy and I loved the mod-podged wood better--it looks so rich!

{before+after}

 While deciding on the phrase, I had an up-coming bridal shower I'm co-hosting in mind. I'm actually hoping to turn these wood planks into a wooden sign post and after the party, eventually put it out in our backyard. Hurray for multi-use pieces!!

Where's the Warm Weather?!

Ahhhh!! Who's ready for some warm weather?!

Ezra definitely is!

But it looks like rain all week!

Spring Mantle: Work in Progress

W completed hanging our wall gallery over the weekend {our Sunday had a rainy afternoon; perfect for home projects!} And I'm not completely sold on the mantle just yet, but here it is currently...

The wall gallery still has some space to fill in when I find some more frames I like. Right now it's looking a bit too tame for me or it could just be that I've been staring at this for too long, trying to commit...

But it's a start and I'm happy to have it up! I'm also waiting on my shutterfly order to turn into a silhouette {previously mentioned tutorial} for the oval frame. My mom found a slightly bigger 'S' that I want to mod-podge with fabric before hanging, so the smaller one is taking it's place. Anywho, here it is, in all it's iphone pic grainy glory! :)

Happy Hump Day!

Spring Fever

I've started to put some spring-y decor together even though spring doesn't officially start until the 20th. Perhaps I'm just hoping spring weather will come a bit early this year, but the storms of late aren't keeping my hopes up. But really, who's not itching for spring?! The blossoms are already making a beautiful appearance about town!

I filled our apothecary jars with that fake straw stuff typically used in Easter baskets. At .69 a bag, I was pretty pleased. W wants me to add a few plastic eggs in there too. 

After the pants fail, I decided to switch gears and made a swap with my sewing machine for a glue gun. I've been seeing these fun yarn-wrapped wreaths in blogland a lot and after seeing a friend's recent picture on fb, I thought I'd give it a whirl. It's a fabulous multi-taking project. I wrapped the wreath during a movie one night and did some felt flowers while tutoring this past week. Super easy. The only time consuming part is the wrapping. I used this tutorial for the wreath and this one for the additional flowers. Now I just have to find some coordinating ribbon to hang it with.

And since our wall gallery is still in progress, I've got nada on my mantel. I also have no inspiration yet for the space anyway. It's a good thing I'm starting early!

It's raining, it's pouring...

Willliam bought our dogs some raincoats! And so far, they hate 'em. We hope they grow to love them in time! They sure look hilariously cute!! And I got a good long laugh out of it too. :)We've been loving all the rain & how green it's makes everything! So beautiful!! And we've been having lots of fires to keep us warm & cozy. I'm thinking about planting my veggie garden again this year too. I can't believe it's March already!!! Wow!

One Down, One More To Go...

We're back from the city, just in time to wash clothes, say hello to our sweet dogs, and pack up again! Tomorrow we leave for Orange County to celebrate Christmas Swenson style...meaning lots of people, crazy kids, and yummy food in a packed house! Yippie! We're so excited! It's been forever since we've been down there. And we are so fortunate to be able to take the dogs with us too. I've also SO missed seeing baby Josiah (my youngest nephew) grow up into a toddler!

**A special congratulations to Wesley and Carolyn (Josiah's parents) as we just learned of baby number two due in July!** That makes grandbaby #12 for Mama Judy! Can't wait for more family time!

A Restful Christmas

I know. This is old, past due, etc. I've been avoiding the fact that I haven't blogged in so long, but William kindly uploaded some pictures so it makes posting easier. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We spend both days with my parents since we leave on Wednesday for Orange County and the Swenson's Christmas celebration. We started a new Arterburn tradition of Cioppino seafood soup for Christmas Eve Dinner. We even got to wear fancy bibs that my mom and I found when we went shopping in the city! So fashionable!William and I hosted Christmas morning with coffee and Æbleskiver (Danish pancakes). We opened gifts then headed to the movies to see Benjamin Button. Dad was so disappointed that he couldn't start an another new Arterburn tradition: hiking the ridge-- it was cold, rainy, and not outdoor weather. Next came a much needed nap (Jess) and a trip to the dog park (William), then back to my parents for Christmas dinner. We had both been super exhuasted with the ending of school that it was so wonderful to have both days be so low key. This Christmas season just flew by both of us. My dad was again let down this year: we didn't decorate or get a tree. Maybe next year?!

Autumn

I can't wait for the coming season. As I plopped into my scorching hot car after school today, I gave a mental scream, "When is it going to get CHILLY?!?!" I hate getting into my car at the end of the day--way too suffocatingly hot! Autumn is such a great season for many reasons. The changing of the leaves from green to orange, red, brown, and yellow hues.  And the smells are amazing: crisp, cool breezes; jack-o'-lanterns; spiced breads; pine trees dampened by the dew... and let's not forget about my all time favorite: Pumpkin Spiced Lattes!! So beautiful! I want to wear pants, long sleeves, coats, jackets, layers and the like. I have been eyeing this and that at j.crew for awhile now. I'm trying to figure out how I can work them into my closet without my dear husband noticing. :) I've got to do more nannying!! And with school full swing and the dogs--I-gasp!-- haven't had any time to go shopping. And blessing for my wallet, most assuredly. Both of us have really buckled down and seem quite focused on school and home. It's great for now, but I'm sure I'll be itching for an escape trip sometime soon! And I'm still working on our anniversary plans--nothing booked yet. What are your Autumn plans??