Ten, five and thirty

2013 is kind of a big year for us.

Not because we've done anything ground breaking.  We didn't cure any diseases or end world hunger.  We didn't get pregnant or have any babies.  We didn't move from one house to the next.  It was just an average, typical year for us.

With a few rather large milestones along the way.

For starters, in January we celebrated our first decade of togetherness.  (And one of my all time favorite posts to commemorate it.)

Today, we celebrate our fifth year of marriage.

2008

....and, for that matter, our fourth year of marriage....

2009

And, in one week, my wonderful husband will turn thirty.  Milestones, milestones.

Every year, I'm in awe of just how far we've come since our days as college co-eds.  It has been the most wild ride of my life - and without question, the most incredible.

We decided to get married a full year before our "set" wedding date because we just couldn't go one more day without being married.  We were - like - soooo in love, you guys.  For reals.

What I couldn't have imagined at the time was how much more in love with him I could fall as I watched him grow.  First into a husband, and then, as he locked eyes with our brand new daughter for the first time, into a father.  And again when he went from inexperienced and tentative to seasoned and comfortable the second time around.  And every day, as he tackles the challenges, big and small, of our lives together, from diapers to midnight wakings.  And as we work together to accomplish our life's goals.

In these extraordinarily ordinary moments, I have discovered a love that is so much greater, so much deeper than the one I pledged five years ago to be faithful to forever.  

I've already married him twice, and you can bet I'd accept all over again if ever he asked.

Happy anniversary to the love of my life, the best dad I know, and my very best friend.  Thanks for proving to me that some things only get better with time.

 
I love you.

Spookified 2013.

'Tis now the very witching time of night,

When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out

Contagion to the world.  

My good friend Will S - you've hit the nail on the head, as usual.  

I do believe it's the child in me, the one who is only very thinly veiled unless something is really exciting, that loves Halloween.  Always has.  I am quite sure that before this whole thing is over, we'll be that house in the neighborhood.  

You know the one... all good neighborhoods have them.  

Anybody can do a yard display.  We'll be the Halloween version of the Griswold family with every square inch of the lawn covered with some sort of tacky/spooky decor and a creepy haunted house which we have to start setting up in July and no space in our garage or basement 9 months out of the year because we're housing all our junk  delightful accessories.  The neighbors will all know us and cross to the other side of the street when they see us coming and Leah and Logan will be shunned by the other kids because they have creepy parents who like to lure children into their back yard.  Girl Scouts will refuse to sell us cookies.  The Travel channel will do one of their Halloween specials on us and all the normal, non-freaky Halloween enthusiasts out there will raise their eyebrows at each other and be like, Daaang those Strassners are weird.  I'm sure glad we're not that crazy about Halloween!

But I digress.  We've still got a few years on that particular brand of crazy; stay tuned.

In the mean time... it's October!  And it has been a whole two years since I've decorated anything for Halloween.  The last time we had Halloween decorations, Logan didn't exist yet, Leah was 18 months old and the mantel looked a little like this: 

Yes, that's the best picture I have (and shhhh... it's not even from 2011, it's from 2009.  Evidently once my daughter was born I had other things to photograph besides the mantel.  Go figure.)

We were ready for a change.  

I've mentioned that my color scheme for this house is completely different from the colors typically in my wheel, and in that spirit, our family room is a light, slightly greige color that's very nearly white.  That, coupled with our black couches gave me a little inspiration: Black and White! 

One thing led to another, and now I'm excited to give you...

our 2013 Halloween mantel!

Ahhhh!  I love it!   A few close ups, because details are always the best part.

This Halloween mantel is definitely sponsored by black spray paint, which took all the natural elements from ordinary to spooktacular.

With all the birds happening on the mantel, I was crushing on this bird cage.  At first I was going to leave it empty to mirror the empty frames.  But I came across this super awesome skull in our Halloween stuff, which Casey drilled a hole in and we've always used for candles on the kitchen table, and knew he'd fit right in.  Love him in that bird cage - birds out, skull in. It's a nice nod to surrealism because I'm a super big Nerdy McDork pants.

On the other side, a pumpkin, a few candles and another empty frame round out the display.

.

 I loved this candelabra, but it was originally silver.  Black spray paint to the rescue again, and now it fits right in. 

I tend to be a bit of a mantel minimalist.  I like an agreeable sense of symmetry, but without adding too much stuff through the middle.  I know it's not everybody's thing, but I prefer a more clean-lined look. 

Initially I was going to put a bust of Edgar Allen Poe on that white pumpkin, but it was getting a little too kitchy and nevermore for the look I was going for.  So instead, I grabbed a sharpie and inked a spooky tree.

To finish it off, we spotted this burlap banner from Pottery Barn and knew we had to have it.  I like the way it matches the colors in our clock (one of my all time favorite buys from Target, on clearance nonetheless).

And there you have it!  We're a little on the fence about whether to add spider webs... Casey's all for it, but I don't want to take it too far.  There is a fine line between Halloween chic and completely tacky.  What's your vote?  To cobweb or not to cobweb, that is the question (might as well bookend this post with a little paraphrased Bard, right?)

Happy Halloween!  Thanks for stopping by, and please share your own spooky creations in the comment section, I'd love to see them! 

On humbling elegance and sublime reality.

The music outside the closed door blared, singing the song of celebration for a bride and groom who were happily dancing away, blissfully unaware of what we three sat doing in the privacy of the bridal suite.

Surely, such a pack had never before been assembled in this room, which, after all, was designed for the beauties and perfection of the before, not the wonderful, imperfect chaos of the after.

Still, here we gathered.  Heels on.  Decked out for the first time in many months in clothing that was unblemished from sticky fingers or spit up.  Hair and make up done.  Feeling like we belonged to only ourselves.

Fancy, some might say.

Except for the fact that all three around the room had a boob out.

In the pristine bridal suite to the tune of Beyonce while the other guests danced and drank mere yards away, the first two still trying to provide for new babies, and me, trying desperately {and failing painfully, necessitating said visit to the bridal suite} to rid myself of it after a year of nursing.

For the record: this is what happens after you put a ring on it.  {If you're really lucky.}

In the midst of this completely comic bonding moment, I couldn't help but again be struck by how many, many things I'd like to say to people who don't have children.  How I'm convinced that a great divide exists between us in so many ways, and how much I struggle when people expect me to be the same person I was BC - Before Children.

How I wish I could explain to them that, five years ago I was the pretty girl in the bridal suite with perfect hair and makeup.  Never, ever, ever in a million years would I have anticipated that I'd be spending part of my night pulling on my girlie bits to squirt milk into a kleenex --- with two other moms doing the exact same thing {less the kleenex; breast milk is GOLD unless you're trying to make it go away}.

What kind of bizarre world have I been launched into?!  THIS is motherhood?!

And it is.

In all it's humbling elegance, this is motherhood.  It takes us places we never imagined we'd go.

How can you put into words the terrifying heartache of sitting up with a tiny, sick baby, listening to her labored breath and praying with silent tears that this simple cold isn't something more dangerous?

How can you explain the patience and emotional fortitude required when the baby spends his entire day screaming bloody murder at you, or the toddler knocks another bowl of cereal off the table, or the potty trained preschooler decides to pee on the floor for no apparent reason?

How can you explain the way your child's broken-hearted cries rip at your soul; the way it makes you ache for anyone and everyone who has ever suffered a child who is chronically hungry or terminally sick?

How do you put into words the way time moves forward both joyfully and painfully?  Yes, we are thrilled our children are growing and thriving, but oh how we wish we could live in these divine, ordinary, difficult moments forever.  And simultaneously, how we cannot wait for that magical hour called bed time, when we finally get to take off our riot gear and eat a full meal (in a chair!  Without sharing!) and listen to the voices in our own head for a few blessed minutes.  How can you express the logic-defying way that Motherhood is filled with long days and short years?

I wasn't prepared for how different my life would be when children became part of the equation.  I wasn't prepared to be different down to my core.  No one ever is.

But I am grateful.  It is the most wonderful of callings, and it requires every ounce of who we are.  It refines us through struggle, through tears and failure, through joy so potent you can hold it in your hand, through questioning every single decision we ever make.

But mostly, it changes us because it's just us out there, doing the best we can with what we have and what we know, to love those babies into really, really great humans.

Even when that requires us to squirt milk into a kleenex while wearing a fancy dress.

The dining room is all grown up

One of the things I was most excited about when we decided to sell our house was the thought that I might have an actual dining room.  

In our old house, the "dining room" (yes, it deserves the air quotations, because it wasn't actually a room.  More like "undefined space probably used for eating and stuff") sat right off the kitchen, and was only large enough for a small table.  We did the best we could with it, but it was never a great space for entertaining.

This is my superproud BHG photo moment.  Yes, I was in the BHG 100 Days of Holidays e-mail.  One time.  A really long time ago.  

This table was accomplished because we purchased two identical tables - they were super cheap and I like the look - and stuck them end to end.  'Cause we're classy like that.

A dining room was one of those non-negotiables on my list when we were house hunting.  I couldn't keep shoving two tables together in a room that was waaaay too small like the dining version of a fat guy in a little coat - I just couldn't do it.

After spending the last year living in a construction zone of varying levels of completeness, I was so excited to have the opportunity to actually pull together a table.  A themed out, season-appropriate table, because I'm super OCD and since I'll never cure cancer, my love language is to feed people and make things pretty I'm an amazing homemaker.

So here's a little of the decorating and renovating and finishing we've been doing around here to take these empty walls from house to home. 

Ta-Da!!!

We've got an awful lot of blue and green working in our house right now; it's kind of the glue that's holding the whole design together, and it extended to our dishware.  Since those aren't traditional "fall" colors, I wanted something that would incorporate the blue and green, but in a way that still lends itself to a fall feel.  I already had the galvanized wash tub - which I adore - so we filled it with seasonal flowers.  The pumpkins I found at Pier 1, and I like them because they pull in not only that fall feel but also unify the other gold and silver elements in the room.

I made the napkins, which I like because of their versatility.  A gold-ish charger, a bit of twine and a simple hand-printed name tag, and we're in business.

I'm really enjoying displaying my dishware, all out in the open and whatnot.  It's a nice alternative to letting it collect dust 362 days a year.   Usually those pillar candles sit on the top shelf where that awkward space is, but they were upgraded to prime real estate on the table. 

Also, that square plate up there?  It used to look like this...

...but it's gotten a facelift to work with the decor in our new home.  I firmly believe in the transforming power of paint.

I'm loving all the natural elements in this room.  The flowers, the metal, the twine, the hint of glamour with the gold and silver, but in a way that doesn't overpower.  There is a lot happening with color and texture, but it still all works.

The room opens to both the living room and the kitchen - which means it's a fabulous running ground for children and dogs.  Is it weird that I really like the sound of their screaming and pounding feet as they run themselves silly in circles through my house?

The chandelier in this room (which, sadly, didn't make it into the photo) is the only original light fixture left in this house... and I'm seriously considering spray-painting it blue.  What?  Too far?  

I'm not completely sold on the art above the buffet.  It too was a beloved part of our old home, and has been with me since my very first apartment.  Although I love the print itself, I'm not sure it "goes" in our new house.  What do you think?

So there you have it!  Our first grown up dining room table in our first grown up dining room.  And just in time, too, because we were lucky to have ten people (not including the two preschoolers and SIX! littles that have been born in the last 13 months) join us for dinner recently.  Turns out, it's the perfect space for entertaining.  We all FIT!  Can I get a woohoo?!

It's a serious upgrade from those two tiny stucktogether tables of our first house.

Have I mentioned that we're kinda loving it?

Have a great Monday, and let us know if you have any questions!

Sneak peek {and a freebie!}

Happy Thursday, friends!

We are busy with a snotty nosed three year old and a one year old who wants to be held.  All.The.Time.  School has been suspended (better than being suspended from school - can that happen in the home school world?) in favor of lots of TV, naps and that age old, mom-approved fluids, fluids, fluids.  It's extremely glam around here.

I am hard at work on several projects, including our first house-iversary update and TOUR!  Stay tuned, because it's coming next week.  I'm excited to show you all the progress we've made (not to mention all the horrible befores, which make us look reallygood by comparison.  It's like I planned it that way!).  

Also coming next week...

It's October, y'all!  My absolute favorite month of the year.  Without giving too much away, I'll leave you with: We've been doing a little decorating.  I can't tell you any more because it's not 100% finished, but I am loving this project.  I've had the same old boring stuff on my Halloween mantel for the last six years, and it was time for a change.  Cue the dramatic, spooky music and break out the fog machine, because like werewolves on a full moon...

 .....it's coming.

Lastly, something I'm over the moon about: It's my first ever FREEBIE!

You guys and your sweet compliments about this printable from our kitchen makeover, you really know how to make a girl blush.

Here's my secret: I made it.  In honor of your encouragement on our crazy journey, and how creative you've made this non-creative, artistically-challenged gal feel, we've decided to share the love.  

Simply click here to download and save.  You should end up with a JPG file which can be printed from your home computer (I took mine to Tarjay and had it printed as an 8x10 photo for the low price of about $2).  Since this is my first ever freebie, please let me know if you're experiencing any trouble with this; we'll work out the kinks as we go.  {Obnoxious necessary legal stuff: images and printables found on these links are intended for the private and noncommercial use of individuals and are not intended to be sold, distributed or recreated.}

If you find a home for my friend the happy camel here, let us know how you use him!  

Have a great day!

Best of the net: Fall Home tour faves

Have you ever had one of those moments where the stars aligned, the light of Heaven shown down and you were in total, complete bliss?

I'm a geek - GEEK - for fall/Halloween/Christmas home decor. I'm the girl who subscribed to Better Homes and Gardens magazine instead of People at the age of 18.  Yes, they delivered it to my dorm room, thank you for asking. I wait every year for mid-September when two amazing things happen: 1) PSL, 2) 100 Days of Holidays e-mails from BHG.com.

(Sidenote: I'm still a little on the fence about Pinterest, even though it should probably be right up my alley. Sometimes I love it. Sometimes the crazy amounts of creativity all in one place makes my head feel like it might explode. Plus, all my seemingly-creative ideas seem to slide through a sieve once I get on Pinterest and see that someone else has already done it better than I could have. WHAT'S IN YOUR WATER, Pinterest people? I want some!  Rant over.)

This year, BHG went one step further and hooked up with some amazing and talented bloggers to creat the Finding Fall Home Tour. You guys? It's like Christmas morning, calorie free ice cream, a full night's sleep and fireworks all rolled into one. With a pumpkin spice latte on the side.

So today, a crazy-talented roundup of a few of my faves from the tour. You can see the whole thing by checking out Finding Home. Grab your coffee and a cozy spot to sit, because you'll want to stay a while.

via Finding Home

via Jeanne Oliver

via The Yellow Cape Cod (Drool.)

via Thislewood Farms (Double drool.)

via Shabby Creek Cottage

via The Old Painted Cottage 

via Jennifer Rizzo

via All Things Heart and Home

RIGHT?  Aren't you in the mood to go out and buy some mums, pumpkins and burlap?!  Nothing's better than a little inspiration on your computer screen.  No - not even a PSL.  (Well, we'll call it a tie.)

Have an inspired day!

Week 3 Roundup

Our third week of preschool was brought to us by the letter A and the garden of Eden.

Predictably then, our activities were chalk full of one thing: APPLES!

We made prints using apples and paint.  Once they were dry, we used them to do a variety of activities.  We hung them on the wall and practiced counting in order, which she has completely mastered. 

I gave her a basket, and she got to "pick" the apples off the "tree" (aka the wall.  It wasn't fancy, but totally fun anyway.)  She recognizes the numbers in order, so we were done with this in about five minutes, but it was enough fun that I put them back up and we did it again a few times. 

We did an apple taste test, and had great conversations about the ways that the apples are similar and different.  We got to explore the word OBSERVE.  My favorite part of homeschooling isn't the activities, it's the conversations and listening to her frame the world for herself.  She knows so much!

We recorded our findings (while practicing the letter X, of course).  She got a little mavericky and drew her first S - totally on her own - for "soft" and a G for juicy.  Love.

This child loves her work books, so we did a little of that too.

And I'm quite happy to report that the chalkboard is getting its fair share of use!  (Those big circles are apples, not bombs, in case you were wondering.)

We used the apples to do a few things, including working on patterns, and doing this apple craft based on our memory verse.  I'm starting to suspect that Leah knows quite a few sight words.  She decided that she wanted to glue down "God" first, so she picked it up and pulled it out of the pile.  

 Except that I hadn't read the words to her yet, or told her anything about what we were doing.

Logan really liked this activity.  I heard an awful lot of "ooooooh!" pointyfinger.  

We made applesauce and apple pie.  We made an apple tree using her foot and her hands.  We drew apples with water colors and made a diagram of an apple on a paper plate.

On Friday, we took a little trip to a farm to pick raspberries.  I looked for a you-pick-it apple orchard, but just couldn't find one.  It's been an unusual year weather-wise in Colorado, so perhaps it just wasn't in the cards.  

So that wraps it up for us!  We're looking forward to the letter Z and the story of Noah's Ark!

Leah and Logan - Dancing in September.

What triumphs and challenges did you face this week?  Anything you and your child are particularly proud of?  Brag it out!

Happy learning, friends!