Home Tour {Entry}

One of the main reasons I read blogs is to see how other people live.  You might also call that being nosey (or is it nosy?).  Since I enjoy seeing the homes of others so much, I thought it would be fun to show you our home.  I shared a sneak peek a while back here.

I'm slowly photographing our home so I can share it with you.  I feel like my home is a metaphor for my life--it's a work in progress.  I'm dedicating an entire post to share more thoughts on that in the future. 

Even if I feel like our home isn't complete or ready to show off, I have decided that I'd better start showing you photos of our home or I probably never will.  I'm just going to dive in and start the process. 

Here's my disclaimer before I start the process:  our home isn't perfect, it doesn't belong in a magazine, it's just a house that we're making a home.  I constantly dream up projects that I'd like to take on, but with work and raising two little ones the home improvement projects get pushed aside.  

I'll stop rambling and get to the photos.

If you walk in the front door this is what is in the entry.  Our home is so small that my husband laughed when I asked him what I should call this area.  He said it's the living room.  I guess technically it is part of the living room, but for the sake of the home tour I'm calling it the "Entry".

Something New

Hello Dear Blog Friends!

Did you notice something new around here at Imperfectly Wonderful World?

It's a new blog design!

It has been in the works for quite some time, and I'm happy to finally show it off to you. 

Thanks for hanging around here and taking time to share in this journey of good, bad and in between.

The ol' blog will be a year old in a couple of weeks and I may be getting sentimental and sappy as I reflect, but it's only because this blog has become a big part of who I am and so have you.

Much love,

Michele



The Thrill of the Hunt

The boys had 3 Easter egg hunts this year.  We usually hunt eggs at Mark's parents and that's it.  We had another Easter egg hunt with the kiddos from our church, but I forgot to take my camera to that one so I don't have any photos to share.  We also hunted eggs at our house this weekend.

Here are the boys at Mark's parents house.

Ben definitely knew what to do this year. 

As soon as Will found a few eggs he wanted to eat all of the candy.  He's not a greedy child because he could care less about how many eggs he had in his basket.  His only concern was getting the candy out of the eggs so he could eat it.   Notice his basket is almost empty.

Our last Easter egg hunt was this weekend.  I went a little overboard and purchased way too many eggs for three little one to hunt.  It just looked so neat with eggs all over the yard.  Mark and Durwood got tired of hiding eggs in our backyard.  Mark said they ran out of places to hide them so he started tossing them in the middle of the yard in plain sight.

Ben loved this yellow egg.

Will filling up his basket. 

By the looks of the overflowing baskets, Dade and Will were very successful.

The boys have had such a fun Easter this year.  We're blessed with a loving family, wonderful church and sweet friends.  They make special occasions even more meaningful.  I'm thankful for all of the memories we've made this month celebrating Easter.

Flowers and Fun

Sometimes I have so much to share and one of the best ways for me to do that is to compile it all in one random post.  It's Monday, and I'll be sharing my randomness with you and at lowercase letters.

#1

In January, I planted some hardy gladiolus bulbs.  You can read about it here.  I'm happy to report that the bulbs have turned into beautiful flowers.  I didn't know if they would produce flowers this year so this was a pleasant surprise.  The flowers are just emerging, and I think they will be even more beautiful in a few days.  Yay!  I have more flower photos to show you but that will be later in the week.

#2

I love my boys so much! 

Every time I hear Taylor Swift's "Never Grow Up" I get teary-eyed.  It's the sweetest song and my boys are at the sweetest ages. 

Will.

Will is 4.5 and we're talking about Pre-K.  I can't believe he's old enough to discuss pre-registration for Pre-K.  We still don't know if we'll send him or not.  He may just stay with his grandma one more year and then start kindergarten next fall.  Decisions, Decisions!

Ben.

Ben is almost 2!  It just seems like we were bringing this little fella home from the hospital.  Now he's an active little guy who thinks he's as big as his big brother.  Writing that he's almost 2 reminds me that I better get it in gear and start planning his birthday party.  Note to self--better get started on that ASAP!

My boys are the sweetest and so are my friends' kiddos.  We had friends over for the weekend and their little boy Dade is so adorable.

#3

On Saturday my friend Shelly thought it would be fun to buy the boys the new Crayola colored bubbles.  The boys LOVED it, but it was a HUGE mess.  The bubbles are washable so the mess wasn't permanent.  Here they are in the yard playing in the bubbles. 

To say they had fun is an understatement. 

Here's the evidence of the fun.  I thought they looked like freedom fighters in the movie Braveheart with their faces all blue. 

Ben had a blast, too! 

I wish I could show photos of the clean up process, but I was busy spraying the boys down with the water hose.  All of the colored bubbles came off and no one went to church on Easter Sunday with a bluish and orangish tint to their skin.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

There's so much I could share about all of the fun we had this weekend, but I'll keep it short for tonight.  Some of our good friends visited this weekend, and their little boy and Will and Ben had the best time dyeing eggs and hunting eggs. 

I must confess that I've never dyed Easter eggs with the boys.  It always seemed like such a big mess, and I figured they didn't know what they were missing.  Well, they had such a good time, that I'm sure I'll have to dye eggs every Easter from now on.  I'm okay with that because they were really good and surprisingly it wasn't very messy.

Colorful eggs

Shelly had the smart idea of covering the table with a trash bag, which made the clean up super easy.

Here are the boys concentrating on their masterpieces. 

Here's Mark, Durwood and the boys.  We had to interrupt some sporting event (probably the Rangers or Mavericks) they were watching on TV to force them to pose for this photo.

Sunday Morning

Will and Ben found their Easter baskets. 

Will's very excited about the Peeps.

Ben like his new animal book. 

Ben got Peeps, too. 

This was as good as it gets when I tried to get a photo of the boys after church.

Easter 2011



I hope you had a blessed Easter.

Hooray for Spring!

I'm finally getting around to sharing the photos we had taken in March at the Dallas Arboretum.  I shared a few photos of the Arboretum and the gorgeous flowers here.

About a month ago we met up with one of my favorite photographers, Lauren.  She's talented, funny, patient and easy to work with, which is very important when photographing children.  It's great to have someone who is laid-back because I find family photo shoots to be very stressful, anyone else?  Maybe it's because I have two active little boys who aren't very concerned about posing for the perfect photo.  Two little boys who are constantly on the move make for an interesting photo shoot.

Despite my active children, Lauren always amazes me with the images she captures of Will and Ben.  We started using her when Will turned two years old and I treasure the photos she's taken of our family over the years.

I've already used several photos from the photo shoot in different places on the blog.  I'll be sharing more photos in future posts.  Here are just a few of my favorites.

Hooray for Spring!

Outside More Than Inside

Peony and Irises in my backyard (reminds me of the van Gogh painting)

The last few days I've been outside more than I've been inside.  And, I'm in a little bit of a blog funk.  It's hard for me to want to sit behind the computer when the weather is so nice outside.  Check back with me in a couple of months, and I'll be more than willing to stay inside where the air conditioning is.  In the heat of July and August, I'll have all the time I need to blog.  For now, I'm going to embrace playing in the dirt and planting vegetables and flowers. 

My Garden

I finally have a garden in my backyard! 

Last week, Mark's dad brought his tiller over to our house and tilled up a spot in the backyard for my first garden.

I have tomatoes, squash and cantaloupe planted.  It's not a very large area so about 6 tomato plants and just a couple of other things will fill it up. 

Did you know that tomato plants can be planted deeper than other plants?  Mark's dad told me that you can't really plant them too deep. I didn't know that.  It's the opposite when planting trees, you don't want them very deep.  I followed his advice and placed the plants securely underground with plenty of soil around them.

Mark's dad at work.

Ben is my little helper.

Squash and Cantaloupe

I can't wait to have garden fresh tomatoes this summer.  My grandma used to have a garden that was almost an acre.  She would grow squash, okra, corn, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, peas, green beans, cantaloupes, various other melons and tomatoes.  She also had rows of zinnias.  I didn't appreciate her garden until I was older.  Working in the garden was therapeutic for my grandma.  She would work for hours in it.  I can relate to that so much now.  I'd rather be outside than anywhere else.  The hours pass and I don't even realize it.  I forget all the cares in the world when I'm outside.  I'm so happy to have my little garden.  My new "happy place" will keep me busy this summer while the boys play.  It's a win-win situation.  They get to play outside for a long time and I get my garden.

Is anyone else taking on a gardening project this spring?  I have more yard work and gardening projects in the works that I'll be sharing very soon.  Remember those Knockout Roses that I blogged about here.  Well, they are in the ground now.  I have the scratches from the thorns to prove it!  I have a few more things to finish up in the front yard and then I'll show you what I've been up to.

Happy Dishes

Mark and I didn't register for China when we were getting married.  At that point in our lives, it just seemed more practical and useful to register for casual dinnerware.  We registered for these dishes at Crate and Barrel.  I still like them 8 years (almost 9 years) later.  We were fortunate to receive all of the pieces that we selected.  The ladies at our church, some friends and our parents completed the set.  We use them every day and it makes me happy when I open the cabinets and see the cheerful, blue dishes neatly setting there waiting to be used.  I love something that is useful and sentimental.

One other thought, I arranged the dishes in the cabinet this way 8 years ago when we moved into our home.  Some friends came over and laughed when they saw it all so organized.  They told me to give it a few weeks or months and they wouldn't be so neat.  I may let other areas in my house get untidy but not my dishes.  I love this cabinet with its order and organization. 

Don't forget to check out other Sentimental Sunday stories .

I just love Modern Country Style and I'm linking up to this lovely blog to share.