Living at the End of the United States

Tyler told us the other day that he loves living at the "end of the United States" Annabelle refers to it as the "united stakes"

Side note: other funny things she says:

• "lasterday" instead of yesterday
• "two cocoa bugs" instead of 2 turtle doves in the 12 days of Christmas
• "oppameal" instead of oatmeal

there are more but that is all I can think of now. She also speaks everything with a German accent.

Anyway...
A few weekends ago we had a beautiful, sunny, 60 degree day. When a day like this happens here, you embrace it. We drove to the city and spent our first experience on a Puget Sound Beach. It was indescribably gorgeous.

They're Gone

I'm sad. But it was wonderful.

It is hard to describe how great it is to be with friends who know you well, call forward the best in you, and love you unconditionally. It is hard to pin point when the Schwietermans became lifelong friends but I am very aware of how rare and precious their friendship is. We have walked through all stages of life together: weddings (well, they weren't at ours because they felt it necessary to go on a honeymoon...sore subject), births (even when we lived in different cities we have been able to be at the hospital to meet every baby), early parenting craziness and doubts, family crises, job changes, moves, Church changes, conflicts and celebrations. There is depth that comes with history but also hearts that have committed to live together.

When we were deciding to move, we took very seriously the Schwieterman's counsel. I had always envisioned living in the same area with them for the rest of our lives. So, of course, I asked them when they would be moving to Seattle. God has us in different places now, that doesn't mean I don't still dream about a different time when we might be called to the same place.

But this weekend was such a sweet gift and reminder that distance can't change true friends. I will never forget seeing all of them walk into our house here, proof that my old life was not a dream. I squeezed those little girls so tight, Lizzie said I made her stomach stop hurting. :) We very quickly moved into a comfortable groove of sharing meals, housework, parenting and entertaining kids. The kids needed very little entertaining as they were inseparable. There was hardly any need for electronics as they had all kinds of invented games going on. Most of our time was spent hanging around the house, riding bikes in the rain and snow, and going to the park. We did a little bit of sight seeing too:


Ski slopes are just 30 minutes from our house and they have a snow tubing hill. The kids loved it, especially since St. Louis has had snow only a couple of days. Annabelle and Bea entertained themselves by pulling each other around and making snow angles. Ty and Brian got a great work out pulling the kids back up the hill multiple times. Lizzie and I built an epic snow fort and ambushed most of the unsuspecting crew with snow balls. It was awesome!

We stopped for fries and Root Beer at a restaurant that overlooks the Snoqualmie water falls. It was warm and quaint with a fireplace and our loud, loud crew that managed to spill 4 drinks in the 45 minutes we were there!

We celebrated St. Patricks Day with Shamrock Shakes and green cookies.

BTW: the shakes were a hit: Frozen Banana, Vanilla Yogurt, and tons of spinach.



Despite the drizzly rain and cold weather we made it to Pike Place Market and the much awaited Gum Wall. We made a stop on our way out so all kids could pick out their own pack of gum...so much fun!




We had pretty weather on their last day here. Which allowed us to spend more time walking the neighborhood and go on a hike through our Enchanted Forest.
The grown ups also got one date night out which was the most life giving night we've had in months. We laughed so hard we cried and our stomachs hurt, we were loud and obnoxious to probably most people in the restaurant. Our conversation was both ridiculous and meaningful. Even Brian and I were able to communicate about things more in depth in the presence of friends more than we often do just by ourselves.



Thank you friends, for coming. Thank you for spending your vacation and Spring Break with us. Thank you for sharing your life with us. We love you!

They're almost HERE!

This has been the longest week of my life. Our great friends the Schwietermans have just landed and Brian is driving them to our house right now!!! The week has seemed to drag forever as we've anticipated their arrival. I have been giddy all day!!

The guest room is all ready...I'll take this chance to show you my favorite room in our house.


Its my favorite because I love the way it looks but also because of how everything came together. The bed was given to us by my generous in-laws and it was in our old house but never in a room where it was able to shine. I had dreamed of all white bedding but when we tried that we realized the walls are actually cream. Enter ROSS discount store. What a fun store! The quilt was $16!!!!!! Lamps and red flowers from Target. My favorite creative spot is the picture frames. They are filled with wrapping paper I had saved from 2 Christmas' ago. Proof that never throwing anything away is NOT a problem.

The rocking chair used to be in my nursery when I was a baby and was then in Annabelle's nursery before. It was hard to decide to spray paint it black because my sweet friend Amanda Akin had done a fabulous job making it look shabby chic with a cream paint and antique finish details. I tried to take pictures of what it used to look like but I couldn't capture what a beautiful job she did. Thanks again Amanda!

I am debating about whether to post this picture of the closet but I am hoping that this might nudge some of you into visiting. Guests of the Janous Home will stay in this tranquil room with mountain views, plush robes and slippers provided as well as ample storage room for clothes. Guests are always greeted with a welcoming bed gift.

I am especially excited about the bed gifts for the girls. I had wanted to give them fleece blankets thinking it would be fun to snuggle in the morning with but couldn't find any that were inexpensive. I am trying to be faithful about spending very little money. I about jumped up and down when I found these blankets at IKEA for $2.50! Since I am so VERY crafty now I sewed felt letters and buttons on them to make them more personal. For those of you who are more experienced in this area will see this as an easy task. Not so much for me. It was quite comical as I Googled (oops...Binged) almost every step of the project. I think they'll be happy. So Who's wants to visit next???

Creative Weekend

I am so excited about the weekend we just had. We finished pretty much all the decorating in the house and did it without buying much of anything new. I have been so convicted about my spending habits (even though I could be considered frugal to many Americans). I buy most of my stuff at Target and discount stores but do I really NEED most of my purchases? I took the month of February as a shopping fast. I felt very victorious walking out of Target with only diapers and lotion in my hands and not even walking by the clothes section.

Much of my awareness was triggered by reading the book Seven by Jen Hatmaker. I LOVED IT!!! I will write more about how I processed the book but for now let me tell you...you should read this book! Its funny, entertaining, and not at all scary like I thought it would be.

So thanks to my resolve to spend as little as possible on unnecessary items and to Pinterest which allows me to believe I can create anything that has a tutorial...I spent my weekend being very creative.

I will show off my favorites.

The first is our Family Sign. I had seen a large wooden wall hanging in a fancy gift store with a similar poem for close to $300. I loved the words and wanted something just like it but I wouldn't dream of spending that kind of money on a wall hanging. I came home and looked on Etsy (which is what I usually do when I see something I like somewhere else...someone on Etsy is probably making it). There were a few on Etsy but still $50-$100.

$4!!!!! Four dollars is what I spent to make my knock off!

I had a large frame 20 x 20 that had pictures of Tyler from when he was a toddler. I found Searchfreefonts.com and downloaded multiple fonts. I set the word document size to 19.5 X 19.5 and justified my lines. It took me a couple of hours to figure out spacing and work it to get it the way I wanted. Then I emailed it to the FedEx Kinko's here in town and picked it up the next day for $4.

I love it! I love what it says, I love it more that it cost so little. It makes me so happy. Last night, Brian and I lay in bed almost asleep and I just blurt out, "I love my sign!"

Okay, so one last moment of creativity I want to show off. I feel very inadequate when I look at my mantel. Mantels are showcases for those with great decorating talent and when I stare at mine I felt its emptiness laughing at me. I've been wondering what to do with it since we decided to rent this house. Thankfully, I was finally inspired by a post on Jones Design Co. in which she decorated a wall with various types of the letter L. Again, using things we have this is what I did...

What do you think?

The vertical picture frame showcases photos Brian took of the first neighborhood we lived in (Central West End). The small square frame is an old picture frame with the glass removed. I used a piece of scrapbook paper and glued the wooden letter on it (Michael's for $2). The larger square is a mirror we've had for a while with no place for it here. The wooden letter is also from Michael's and is just resting on the ledge of the mirror. The last picture frame is our last name printed on a different piece of scrapbook paper.

I am feeling super creative and have even had visions of me doing crazy things like sewing and knitting. Who knows...

Sunscreen

A friend recently asked me what type of sunscreen I would recommend.

Last year I spent hours looking at the ingredients list of many "natural" products and reading their reviews and toxicity/allergic levels. You can go to the Environmental Working Group website to find out how safe your beauty products are.

I chose three sunscreens based on what was the safest and also the cheapest per ounce. Keep in mind that overall, my family does not burn easily. These all worked fine to keep away sunburn on us, but I am not sure if that would hold true for different skin types. I ordered all of them from Amazon. We used 2 of the loving naturals and one of each of the others to last the summer.

For the family: Loving Naturals SPF 30 ($9.99 for 5 oz)

For the kids: Caribbean Solutions SPF 25 ($17.99 for 4 oz) (This one leaves a white color to your skin which is why I didn't use it...vain, I know. Hard to imagine why I spent this much on this one. Maybe the price has gone up.

For my face: Beyond Coastal Natural Lip and Face Screen SPF 30($5.85 for 1 oz) I loved this one! A little goes a long way, I still have some left over. It does leave a little white residue but if you rub it in enough, it doesn't show much. I actually loved the way it felt on my dry skin. I am very sensitive to most everything, especially sunscreen. This felt soothing and nice to put on.

We also used hats and swim shirts to guard against sun too.