Looking Back - Projects 2020

 We figured we would use all this spare time we had on our hands and get a couple of projects done.  Josh helped me put a border around my garden and created a door.  I LOVED it!!! 

Back when my parents lived in Marion they had this amazing old milking barn.  Every time I would go visit I'd go searching for treasures within.  I found this old mantle. I came home and made it into a little decorative bench.  Well, I was kind of over the bench so Josh reclaimed it and made a coffee table for our carport! It is still there now and we use it almost every day.

On a day when we were trying to reclaim the shed we pulled out ALL of our bikes...or at least PARTS of bikes.  The kids began grabbing tools and set up a bike shop to see how many whole bikes they could put together with all the pieces.  Cai made a stunt bike where the front wheel would fall off if he flipped up the front of the bike.  Then he would pretend to flip off the bike and get hurt.  They took it to the park trails, with Zeke hiding in the bushes with the iPad to film people's reactions, ha!

Rainy, The Birthday Cake Baker

We have a tradition around here.

If anyone has a birthday they place their birthday cake order with

the queen of baking.

She has become pretty amazing!

For my 40th she made a mint chocolate cake

with essential oils

and IT.WAS.DELICIOUS.

Jude always has some pretty elaborate ideas, 

but none too hard for Rainy!

The first cake pictured was Jude's birthday cake last year.

This next cake was Jude's birthday cake THIS year.

He wanted a penguin and panda theme...of course, lol.

Rainy went with a homemade cookie cake base.

She is also getting pretty good at improvising when she needs to.

The black icing was dyed with activated charcoal!

Pretty impressive if you ask me.

And Jude was a huge fan.

Rainy, herself, isn't a huge cake fan, but since she loves to bake so much

she is going to make her own birthday cake next week

just so she can get creative in the kitchen!

2018 Backlog - The Farmhouse Table

Josh has had the sweetest tradition over the last few years of gifting me with blog books for each year I have blogged.  I kind of dropped the habit of scrapbooking once I began blogging and we missed those years of memories in a tangible book. 

But the past few blog years have contained less and less posts.

It doesn't help that my real camera isn't working...

Anyway, I decided that we actually DID have some fabulous memories to capture from 2018 that I want to backlog for my future blog books I will receive from Josh (hint, hint;).

My first post is a project that began at the beginning of 2018 and took the better part of the year to complete, but we eventually got it done!

We saved all of our Christmas money and added it to the Lowe's gift cards we received so we could make the table we had always dreamed of having.

And because buying a 10' table just wasn't an option, we decided to build one.  

As our family has grown we began running out of seating for any additional people that might be at our home to eat with us...and we always seem to have extra mouths to feed and people to enjoy at mealtime.  So it was a want, but certainly a need as well.

We found some FREE PLANS on Pinterest.

As we all know, the first step of a project can sometimes be the most difficult.

It took us nearly two weeks to purchase the wood.

January 12, 2018

An additional two weeks went by before we even began the sanding process.
And that process seemed to take FOREVER!

So.Much.Sanding.

January 24, 2018

Then the pieces began taking shape (another 2 weeks later, ha!)

February 3, 2018

With the cuts made we were a little more motivated to begin putting the pieces together.

February 9, 2018

Then the process of staining.

The first coat went on WAY too thick.  It took several days to dry completely.

We learned quickly from that lesson and the other two coats went much quicker.

February 13, 2018

My parents let us borrow some folding chairs so we could begin using the table.

I'd like to say we jumped on the benches super quick, but life happened...

Here was our first dinner at the new table.

March 1, 2018

FINALLY, in the middle of May we took advantage of the gorgeous weather
and began the process all over again,
this time with the benches.

May 12, 2018

July 3, 2018

By the beginning of July we were using both assembled benches.

Staining began July 3, and took a while because we could only do one bench at a time 

so we could have a place to eat and do school.

July 3, 2018

August 1st was the magic day.

The table was done! 

August 1, 2018

We had long begun incorporating this table with the many people that came in and out of our home.

They saw the whole process!

The good. The bad. The ugly.

The only way to hide this process was to shut the doors to our home,

and that simply wasn't going to happen.

And even though our table is done,

there are many more lessons to learn,

so much more refining to do,

any many, many more messes to clean up.

But you are welcome here.

Let's walk through it all together.

Another Transformation ~ of the bathtub variety

Our Master Bathroom has been out of commission for about 9 months in our home,

so all 7 of us have been sharing our guest hallway bathroom.

(Don't worry, I'll share this story as soon as our bathroom is DONE!!! It is looking AMAZING!)

I have tried to keep this bathroom clean but there have been certain elements that I simply have NEVER been able to make clean.

Check out these before and after pictures!

For example:

This silicone glue that has been stuck onto the tile since before we moved into this home.

So has this grout and mortar

Then there is this paint that I, ahem, I mean, SOMEBODY carelessly didn't see to clean up.

The bathtub has been full of splattered paint, caulk, and who knows what else, just STUCK to the bottom.  No matter how hard I scrubbed I just couldn't get it clean.

Until last night when I got out my Norwex cleaning paste, the Norwex Spirinett and then wiped it down with my Norwex Bathroom Scrub Mitt! I mean, I know I sell this stuff and I know it works, but I literally could NOT believe the difference!

We still have to strip the old caulk from around the tub and replace it, but man what a difference!

theColonyShop Is Going To The OTMS

I have the opportunity to add some of my items from theColonyShop to my friend's booth at the Wake Forest "Old Town Market Shops" venue THIS SATURDAY!  So this week I've been working on some new pieces to sell and see how we do.

I am so excited to see the other 30+ vendors and all the products that are going to be available as well as get my first taste as a vendor.

Come on out and get some of your Christmas shopping done and support some local artisans!

11900 Louisburg Rd.

Wake Forest, NC  27587

Open 10am-3pm

"Old Town Market Shops"

You can find them on Facebook too!

Triple Bunk Bed DIY (Link With Plans)

Josh and I had 3 days without kids to accomplish the task of making a triple bunk bed for the boys.

We also happened to have Journey rehearsal, open mic date night, rehearsal dinner, wedding and a gig to play together during those 3 days so we needed to do it right because first of all, we were actually purchasing lumber (when we usually just pull things together from scraps in the shed to create something) and secondly, we wanted to be done with the beds before the kids came home.

So we came home and worked on finding the perfect plans, which turned out to be way more difficult that we had anticipated.  I had an idea of what I wanted and some pictures I found to match it, but because we didn't want to have to run to Lowe's every hour and a half to get pieces and hardware we forgot, or didn't know we needed, we wanted to find plans.  I also knew I wanted the triple bunk bed to be stacked and not angled in different directions (because the purpose of making the beds was to give the 3 boys more room to play in their room), and those were the ONLY plans I was coming across

Until we found THESE PLANS and decided that we could make them work.  We were originally trying to find FREE plans but quickly realized that $9.95 wasn't too shabby for someone else's step-by-step idea on how to put them together.  I did't like all the busyness of the layout so we adapted it to make it look a little more simple.

Josh put together all of the measurements and a list of things we needed while I scoured the internet for coupons and deals.

Then we took our date over to Lowe's and shopped for lumber and hardware, because that's a super sexy thing to do on a hot date. (Really, I LOVE this kind of stuff!)

The next morning I played a gig with Josh but you better believe I got sanding as soon as I unpacked my gear.  I sanded for 5 hours straight until I had to pack back up and head to Journey for rehearsal.  I finished sanding as soon as rehearsal was over.

The next morning I began painting, which took the entire morning, afternoon, and all the way up until we had to get ready for a rehearsal dinner we were playing for.

Saturday was pretty much a blur of sawdust, drying boards and piecing together this massive bed.

We got a pretty good system down.  Josh would measure out where the holes needed to go, I would drill holes and then he would have them ready to fit together.  The kids would be home later that night and we still had some finishing touches to complete (like painting the boards that hold their mattresses) but in between showers and getting ready for the wedding we raced around cleaning up the house, finishing up last minute touches and making sure the beds were made.

You can see the two boards in the middle level we had to add for support.
We will eventually add 1 more on either end of each level.

So, I would say these plans were GREAT! And we love the finished product, but there was one oversight...the boards needed some extra support so Josh toenailed in a couple of boards for each layer and it works great.  I also think we would have given the bottom and middle levels an extra 1" but we were already second-guessing a triple bunk with our 8' ceilings.  Josh and I can fit on every level AND I'm pretty sure it can withstand any natural disaster that comes our way, ha!

We spent right at $200 out of pocket for the entire bed (plans included).

A secret window for Cai to climb in

We are going to use Jude's toddler bed mattress as long as we can, but he doesn't mind because
he gets an extra playing area on his level:)

Meal Prep - a little motivation and a brand new system

Meals are one of my anxiety triggers.  I know, that sounds so silly, but I'm just being completely honest.  Trying to keep our pantry stocked and my family fed is a never ending process.  And then there is the trying-to-figure-out-what-to-eat-for-dinner question that always makes me feel panicky if I'm not prepared.

I grew up with a full-time working mama who made it a priority to feed us well.  We spend many nights eating crock-pot dinners in the teacher's lounge after a long day of school and activities.  She taught me to grocery shop in bulk and plan ahead.

And I was pretty good at it for a while.  I remember sitting on the front porch with my notebook and recipe box planning out our meals every month.  But then we kept adding kids and life just got in the way.  Feeding my family healthy home cooked meals is still a priority for me but I neglected to be proactive about it so it became a constant struggle and stressor.

So when my friend, Magan, posted a photo of her meal-prep day last month it triggered some pretty good motivation.  She is a full-time teacher, wife and mommy to two.  She HAS to be on top of her game in order to get her family fed and her budget in check.  Her post was just the motivation I needed to get my butt back into gear and figure out a new system for this large family that never seems to get full.

So with her fresh motivation and my mama's example I think I figured out something that will work for my family in this season.

1 - I grab my calendar, my computer (because Pinterest) and my menu board.

2 - I list out the next two weeks (that is all I can wrap my head around, plus our budget will only allow for 2-weeks worth of groceries at a time).  I write if it needs to be a quick fix or crock-pot night and then place the weekly traditional meals on my list so I know that those are already covered (i.e. homemade Pizza/Movie night)

3 - I only have a  handful of recipe cards that we use now because the internet has completely taken over.  But sometimes I find it's hard to find my favorite recipes.  This is where Pinterest comes in handy.  I create a board for the month's meals.  That way I know exactly where to go for my recipe each night and I only have to sift through a few to find it.  After I use it I move the recipe to my other folder for "Cooking Repeats" or nix it if we ended up feeding it to the chickens because it was a recipe #fail.  (but of course that NEVER happens, ahem).

4 - I write the meals in the appropriate slots on my calendar (with a note as to where the recipe is...cook book, card or Pinterest) and add the next weeks meals to my menu board for easy access.

5 - Next I get two grocery lists going.  One for the big trip to get the ingredients to put the meals together as much as possible beforehand, and then a list for the next week to get the final ingredients or produce we might need for sides that might not keep in the refrigerator for two weeks.

6 - Go shopping.

7 - Come home and do as much prep for each meal as I can.  That means prepping the meat, ziploc bagging up the ingredients to throw in a crockpot, mixing spices with the meat for swedish meatballs or prepping a side such as cole slaw.

So far this system has been a HUGE stress relief when it comes to dinner.  I KNOW what I'm making each night, I have the biggest prep work done and with minimal prep time during homework/piano lessons in the evening we have much happier hearts all around.

The Shift

Everybody likes a good solid plan.
But we also know that those good solid plans can change in the blink of an eye.

We were at Via Vacation all last week which is why you didn't hear from me all week.  It was gloriously relaxing and atypically quiet for having nearly 20 children 10 and under in one house all week.  They kept each other occupied and little to no drama.  It was heavenly!

We arrived home late Friday night and enjoyed a nice Saturday unpacking, repacking and getting daddy ready for Honduras (he left at 4am on Sunday morning!).  The Colony plan was to get all packed up and head to Journey and leave straight from there to go to my mom and dad's.  She is nearing the end of her weekly chemo treatments and we were so excited to love on her for a few days while daddy was out of the country and before the kids track back into school next week.

But then life happened.
Cai began running a fever on Saturday morning.  And we can't take germs anywhere near my mom so we were stuck.  I'm pretty sure every single one of us shed some tears when the reality sunk in.  My kids haven't seen my mom since her diagnosis in January.

And I know myself.
If I sit around and sulk for too long I will get stuck in the rut until Josh gets home, desperately trying to climb out of the hole and feeling "behind" the rest of the week.  And then the kids and their attitudes and hearts quickly follow suit.

So we called a family meeting and made a new plan.
Something fun for each day.
Spending as little money as possible.
And enjoying this BEAUTIFUL fall weather God has lavished on us this week!

Yesterday's grand plan was to go to the Dollar Store and get sidewalk chalk.  Yup, $1 for hours worth of fun making scooter tracks on the driveway and pictures in the carport.
I was also feeling a little creative and gathered all the empty containers I'd been saving (and expired spices after cleaning out the spice cabinet) and built the outdoor kitchen for the kids I'd been dreaming up.  I had a few extra pallets from the pergola project and some extra cabinet doors and knobs from the ones we had ripped out of the laundry room.  A little bit of sawing and a few screws later and this is the end product.  The kids have been playing outside since their empty breakfast bowls hit the kitchen sink.

So here I sit, cuddled on the couch with my Cai-bo, all the windows and doors open, writing a blog and waiting for Lumpy's to open so we can get our local milk and promised ice cream:).

IT'S GOING TO BE A GOOD DAY!