The Parsonage. Part Three.

The Dining Room.

Better known as Grand Central Station. 

It's not *finished* mind you, but it's come a long way!

From this:

To This!

The walls all got brand new sheetrock, paint, and crown molding. Then we added the pantry cabinets for extra storage. There will eventually be a built-in window seat connecting the two cabinets. I can just picture it! The chandy also got a much needed update. Don't ask why it's not hanging in the middle of the room. I have no idea. But yes, that does bother me. Many light fixtures in this house are like that. Maybe our next chandy will have a chain long enough that I can swag it over to the center of the table. 

This is the before piccy of the other side. This was taken after we'd started taking down the old sheet rock. Love that tongue and groove. These kind of walls are all throughout the house - we never have to search for a stud! You can whap a nail anywhere and it will stay. right. there.

After:

Now if I could just get those new floors I've been dreaming about...

The Parsonage. Part Two.

Let's revisit the hall.

One of my favorite makeovers in the old parsonage!

Are you ready for the before pic?

Think dungeon.

Or cave. Very dark cave.

And don't say I didn't warn you.

*covers eyes*....I can't bear to watch...

Lovely, eh?

I mean, have you ever seen so much paneling?! So much DARK paneling? 

*Enter paint.*

WHITE paint.

Gallons and gallons and gallons of white paint.

(And a perfectly old cast-off church pew, also painted white.)

So. Much. Brighter! Love love love it.

The preacher built the nifty wall shelf/ledge thingy for me. Isn't it a beaut?! He was all for it because he knew if  we didn't have the shelf, I'd hang ALL those frames on the Wall. (Gasp!) He has this strange fetish about holes in the walls. Weird. He's threatened to build ledges all over the house. 

Now let's see the before of the other side...

Yes, the lights were ON. But you'd never know it. I'm not a big fan of darkness. Oh, so you noticed?

And now, the white version.

Honestly, the hall seemed to double in size 

when we painted it! 

We'd love to hang new light fixtures, but I haven't figured out exactly what I want in there yet. It can't be anything that hangs down much - there's lots of traffic in there. Lantern style lights would look cool, but I'm afraid they'd bump heads. We'll keep thinking.

The stairs were also in need of some attention.

My grandfather built this staircase many years ago. I really love it, and didn't want to change it much, so we just freshened it up with a new paint job.

Also on the old to-do list is new flooring - I can just see this hallway in walnut colored planks. I'll have to start saving my pennies for that one. Because when we do flooring, we plan to do a LOT of it - the hall, the dining room, the kitchen... yeah, I'll need quite a few pennies. But I can keep dreaming, right?!

Next up (for part three of the parsonage) is the Dining Room and Kitchen, so don't touch that dial!

Woopsie. I think I just dated myself with that one...

The Parsonage. Part One.

I'm *finally* starting to work on a few photos for the tab up there that says "The Parsonage". Yeah, it's the one that has said "coming soon!" for about a year now...  Soooo, even though you've all probably seen the old parsonage a gazillion times, I thought I'd post some of the pics here, too. 

First Stop - the Living Room!

Let me just say again how glad I am that I went out on a whim and threw all that blue in there. Made all. the. difference. in. the. world! Besides, burgundy and gold were just Sooo last year... or was it last decade.... Adding the blue accessories and paint was a cheap and easy way to update without tossing our furniture. 

The "comfort gray" (by Sherwin Williams) walls have sparked an ongoing debate in the old parsonage. The preacher says it's BLUE. I say it's greenish gray. Others think it's just plain green. Whatever it is, I LIKE it! 

And now for a pictoral story of the living room evolution...

Stay tuned for part two!

For Weston's Fan Club...

I've got a few projects in the works, but things take me longer to do nowadays! Having to relearn how to do everything one-handed. Soooo... till then, I'll post some baby pics!

My 3 little guys.

(This pose was actually plan "B". They were supposed to be all stacked up, but the baby's belly is so rolly polly, he kept rolling off. Every. Single. Time.) 

I'm trying to take a monkey picture every month to see how much he's grown. 

He's growing SOOO fast!

Mommy's little Alabama fan :)

 And just in case anybody was wondering who Weston looks like, I put together a few comparison pics with his big brother Jackson. 

It's almost like having the same baby all over again! He looks JUST like Jackson did. If only he *acted* like Jackson did...  He's not near as good a sleeper as his brother was. But he's still a sweetie!

Summer Time Pick-Me-Up

One of my little guys brought me a bunch of crepe myrtle blooms from the back yard this weekend. (Bless his sweet little heart!) I want to enjoy them while they last - they are all quickly fading away...

...just one more bitter reminder that summer time is nearly gone. 

Bummer. 

This n that...

Ohmygoodness....has it really been that long since I posted anything?? Hoo boy. I gotta get back in the groove! If I could just get the little guy to understand the difference in day time and night time, I might could make it through a day coherently. Thus, until then...

meet my new favorite shirt.

 I think they made this shirt just for me.

 I've been in survival mode for the last 3 1/2 weeks. 

Now that I've attempted to explain my absence, and shamelessly extract a little sympathy from my peeps... there's some things I wanna show ya!

Isn't this the coolest thing??

Thanks to my friend, Chari! She made this cute little addition to Weston's nursery. 

 Here it is a little closer - I just love the sock monkey print :)

 But that's not all. Chari's sister, Angie made him some sock monkey love too.

She made this adorable quilled card, and sent along a frame to put it in.

 It's precious!

Then my Mom brought over these little beauties...

 These little red shoes have been worn by just about everybody in our family. I think they started out as my Uncle's, then Mom's, then all of us kids wore them, too. So it turns out my love for red shoes must be hereditary. 

They look so sweet in the nursery. 

And I just can't hit that "publish post" button without putting a piccy of the little night owl himself on here!

Because, he is just too cute to leave out.

These were taken when he was 10 days old. He's already changed so much!

Weston says Roll Tide, Y'all!!

And Baby Makes 5!

Introducing....

Baby Weston!

 Born June 29, weighing 7 lbs 14 oz, 22 inches long.

Mommy was SOOO happy to meet him! He is just absolutely precious.

 Proud Daddy with baby boy # 3.

 Big brother Carson loves him lots!

 Part of the welcoming committee :) Mamaw, Jackson, Carson, and Granna.

 Our new family...

 We've decided to keep him :) 

Mommy and baby are doing well, and we're so thankful for this newest little blessing!