The Mott is Branching Out

Meet Nayeli, the newest (temporary) family member!  (Pronounced Neigh-el-ee.)  She's three days old and showed up on our doorstep a few hours ago, practically stork style. She's got lots of feathery down penguin hair and rosy round cheeks.  Cutie-patootie!

Welcome Guests!

Finished numero tres!

 

Before:

Actually, I think this bed frame is pretty cute.  This picture is from the previous owner, though.

 

 

 

During:

 

And After!!!

The bed and chairs didn't make the Montana U-Haul cut and we are happy to make use of them here!

 

What do you think about that wall art?  Perhaps you have been with us awhile and you know all about Jon and one of his favorite websites and our love of freebies.  I am not even sure when we got all these posters, but they sure are cute and outdoorsy, and if you like, I think we've still got five or six left rolled up.  I'll save 'em for ya.  Jon made those rustic frames from old fence pickets, and I white washed them.  They fit the wall perfectly!   

This room also had a broken bi-fold door to the bathroom and Jon turned them into French doors.  So much better!

 

Come one, come all!  We've got room and would love to see you, whomever you are!  All guests must promise to one condition though:  you must speak up about the room's temperature.  The guest room vents are at the end of our long, winding house and we don't want anyone to cook or freeze.  But don't let that stop you!  See you soon; I just put on clean sheets!  :)

We've got Cooties!

A Cousin!

Last week we got the best package I think we have ever received.

The boys' new shirts!

 

Joy and BJ are expecting a sweet little one early February!  We couldn't be happier for them! 

 

Now, Ollie has been calling Mimi his cousin (or his girl) for a while, so maybe having a real cousin will help clarify some of these family terms in his mind.  We got to talk to Joy and BJ later in the day and Ollie said, "Thanks for the cookies!  Thanks for the shirt!" Seth got on a few minutes later and said, "Thanks for the cookies and the cousin!"  :)

 

We can't wait to learn more about baby Cranny and help welcome him/her into the world!  (For the record, my guess is boy.) Congrats, Joy and BJ!  I can't wait to be an aunt!!  

 

Charles L Waters

I am so, so excited about Seth going to Waters Elementary next year.  Obviously I love the location, but I also think we are really going to enjoy the school as well.  I went over there last week while the boys were at VBS and made sure everything was turned in for Seth and that he was good to go for Kinder in the fall.  I met the principal, and she was the best and talked my ear off.  She told me that the librarian comes every Tuesday to let kids check books out and does a story time, so of course we went over today to check it out.  I love that Seth will be familiar with the school before the first day.  He's excited about school, but at this point, I think I may be even more excited.  Nothing like the fall!!!

 

Dog Days of Summer

Secret Agents

Thanks to Agency D3, I've got a couple spies on my hands. 

Special Agent S:  Master of disguise.

Special Agent O

On the last day of VBS, they gave out CD's of all the songs they had been singing all week.  Special Agent O has been singing them for over an hour.  (Pearl- would you love me or hate me if I burned Jubal a copy?)

Spy Paraphernalia

 

The boys really did seem to have so much fun at VBS.  Ollie would wear himself to the absolute limit, come home insanely grumpy and then nap for hours.  After coming home, Seth would hole himself up in some kind of hide out where I could hear him singing praise songs, talking to himself about vbs lessons, or perfecting the art of spying.  He did sneak up on me while I was working on something and kissed me square in the back.  I think I screamed.  Learned about loving Jesus- check.  Learned how to be a sneaky spy- check.  It was a very successful vbs.  :)  

 

 

 

Finished Room #2

In case you had no idea what my last post title was talking about, you are not the only one. :)

Here are the before pictures of the foster care room:

Okay.... couldn't find any!  Ha!  I vaguely remember taking pictures of all the rooms in our house a day or two after we moved in and having my camera die.  For some reason, I do have a close up of the wallpaper, very Texas Tech-y. 

 

The during:

Yessiree, that's sheetrock. 

Most of my wall paper removal jobs thus far have been a headache, because the walls have always had wallpaper.  This bad boy needed to be primed, texturized, primed again, and finally painted.  This is probably why I feel like we have been working hard, but only have a very few rooms that show it!

 

And the after:

 

We set up three beds in this room, hoping we are ready for whatever gets thrown our way!

Oh, and seeing the light fixture reminds me that we would like to eventually change out the light fixtures in both this room and the boys' room.  They are crazy low, and we are always running into them. 

 

I got this quilt from craigslist, and I love it.  I'm also a big fan of the curtains in this room, navy velvet.  They were another instance of buying one and cutting in half.  Gotta love saving a buck!

This is one of the beds the boys slept in at our old house.  Hard to believe Seth used to fit in there!

I would really love it if it were white, like the other furniture in the room, but there's no way I would paint all those rails.  Ain't no one got time for that. 

This is actually a shower curtain I bought from Urban Outfitters to use as wall art.  Jon, my peach as ever, cut some different sizes of paneling (ripped from the front entry) and I hot glued the fabric around it.  I'm smitten with how bright and fun it is!  Plus, I've got lots left to use for other projects around the house. 

 

And how about a foster care update, since this is the foster care room?  I'm guessing we will have a little one(s) filling this room shortly.  We told our caseworker that we were good (enough) to go about a week or so ago, and have actually said yes to a placement or two that we didn't end up receiving because another family with another placing agency got back to CPS first.  I'm glad this room is ready, because I would guess it would be any day now. 

 

And that ladies and gentlemen, is finished room number two!

The Cocoon may be Cracking!

The boys' room is complete!

Here's the only picture I could find of the before: 

Lots of Americana wallpaper!

 

The during:

Mimi, Ollie, and Seth are all great wallpaper removers!

 

And the after:

A finished room!

I really wanted to do another wall with open frames for hanging pictures like we had at our last house.  It's so easy to change out their artwork and I absolutely love it!

 

My mom and I found this fun car comforter at goodwill, which I cut in half and then hemmed.  Viola!  Two car comforters for the price of one goodwill comforter! They are still big enough for the boys to use in cooler months, but just don't have much hangover off of the bed.  I based the paint choices and the design off the comforter and couldn't be more pleased with how it came together.  I also saw that the comforter set was still being sold at Target, so I bought the detour and stop sign pillows that matched.  The boys, obviously, couldn't care less about throw pillows (unless it's fort time), but I do really love them.  I also loved seeing how much the comforters were selling for at Target, and loved my goodwill priced, cut in half one even more.  :)    

 

Seth's side!

Ollie's side!

My mom and I found the old signs and the O at an antique store.  I never could find a S anywhere, so I eventually just bought a wooden one at Hobby Lobby and painted it. 

But the absolute best part of the room has got to be their closet.  There is so much room to store clothes, toys, and all their belongs, but it also has so much floor space for room to actually play.  They boys play in there everyday, hide-out or fort style with the doors closed.  I think it's nice because they love it, but also because it keeps lots of toys corralled and out of the way.  A win, win! The middle has shelves that are open to both sides of the closet, which I also really like because then they can play together, but both have individual space.  Also that bottom shelf turns into a door for an animal cage, window, entrance to the bat cave, etc. pretty much every day. 

 

 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is finished room number one!

 

 

A Trip to the Zou

***This post is brought to you by VBS.  Here's a crazy first, I'm in our new house all alone!  This post is also brought to you by Megan A. Schulte, her big camera, and her ability to post pictures to facebook in a timely manner.***


M-I-Z, people.  M-I-Z.

We really got to enjoy the most beautiful campus while in college.  Gorgy!

 

 

 

Marriage has been good to us!

College friends, forever friends.

 

Hanging out with Beetle.

 

We walked into Memorial Union and saw this sign.  Crazy, right?

 

Fair Missouri.

 

 

The Column out-takes:

The one where Megan's arms suddenly turned SuperHero.

 

The silly shot. 

Kristen is sporting a "Guillermo", named for a kid in my very first ever class that I taught.  I totally forgot about him and was glad she remembered!  I bet that kid is in High School now!!

 

And the pictures that made me laugh so hard I cried. :)

Those columns are enormous and it's not so easy getting up there!!