Getting ready for Back-to-School

Well my friends, it is almost that time of year again.  Are you ready for the BACK TO SCHOOL season? We here at the Byerly home are in full-on prep mode.  

New Clothes ✓ School supplies ✓ Registration ✓ School pictures ✓  

Locker Decorating ✓ 

Mom needs a drink ✓✓

We have a few small things left to do but are well on our way!  

Having 4 girls that are so spread apart in age makes for an interesting back to school experience.  Caity is going into 10th grade but attends online high school from home.  Her back to school to-do list consists of online course approval, text book purchases and making sure there are enough sweat pants and snacks to last through the week.  

Emma is now in 8th grade and has the largest back to school to-do list.  

-Buy new clothes

-Buy new school supplies

-Buy/create locker decor

-Register at the school: pay fees, pick up PE clothing, have school ID picture taken, have school pictures taken, find locker, try locker combo 372 times until it actually opens said locker and then proceed to stick more decor into a 3 square foot space than anyone could possibly imagine would fit!

-Complain about not having enough school supplies. 

-Complain about not having enough new clothes. 

-Complain about not having the latest and greatest locker decor- apparently she needs a new chandelier. ;-)

The list goes on...

Her before and almost finished with decorating locker pics and some of her hand painted decor. (Made- of course- with Chalky & CO products!)

Paige is starting kindergarten this year. Yay! or I am going to cry! It varies minute to minute.         Her back to school to-do list was pretty simple. 

-Buy clothes

-Buy backpack

-Write $20 check to teacher to cover all supplies (My favorite part!!)

I also painted a Chalky & CO kit for her to hold in her first day of school pictures.  

I am pretty excited about that part!

I am glad that everyone is excited and in prep mode.  I am even more excited that there won't constantly be 4 Little Byerlys in the house 24 hours each day.  Don't get me wrong.  I love my girls.  I live for my girls.  My girls are however driving me crazy. Haha.  Momma needs some quite time!  

I did take an hour to gather the girls and take a few pictures in front of the corn field to commemorate the fall season here in Colorful Colorado.  It is impossible to get everyone to look at the camera and smile and that same time and not have a silly expression on their face or have a piece of hair in their eyes... etc.  We got a handful of shots that turned out pretty cute though. 

Thanks for stopping by and checking in on my #4littlebyerlys.  

Have a great day and best of luck with all of your back to school experiences!

Mermaid Bedroom Make-Over

My lovely niece upgraded her bedroom to a big girl standard twin bed rather than the adorable Cottage style bunkbed that she had been using.  This means that we inherited the Cottage bed. Yay! I decided to use it in our five year old daughter's bedroom but she had some specific bedroom decor requests.  

1.  No pink and purple little girl colors.  I want adult lady colors.  (What does that even mean?)

2.  I want a mermaid, underwater, sea bedroom but not the Little Mermaid.  Big girl mermaids.  

3.  I want big girl decorations not little kid decorations. 

Ok... I think that I can work with these requests. Here we go!

BEFORE: As you can see we had a teal, mint and coral color scheme in the old bedroom.  I started by removing her bed from the room to give myself room to set up the new Cottage bed.  I also removed any decor that wouldn't match the new theme and set aside items that could be painted and re-used.  I also took down her old posters of Disney movies as they are not "big girl" enough to fit in with the new theme.  

 

Next I painted the purple, pink and green Cottage bed so that we didn't have any "little girl colors" in the room.  I used my Chalky & CO painter's powder mixed with latex paint I had on hand to insure a smooth coat of well-covering paint that will adhere wonderfully to the particle board that the bed is made from with little pre-work.  I lightly sanded each piece to scratch it up a bit and give the paint a better surface to adhere to.  Side note- this bed was super heavy to carry in and set up alone! haha

I moved her dresser to the apposing wall to make room for the cottage bed and re-painted her "P" with the same gray that I used on the bed.  I left the frame turquoise because that is an acceptable "adult lady color".  NOTE- I did end up taking down the large metal butterfly also. I may use it on the back patio.  Love to re-use and re-purpose!

I used the same paints to make this custom sign to hang in her room.  Almost got into trouble for the pink sea-shells. ;-) The paper fans were saved from her big sisters's birthday party at the beginning of the month. 

I snagged this cute cardboard arrow at Hobby Lobby on clearance for less than $2!  Painted it with the blue from the bed and cut a custom stencil- Mermaids Cove.  It makes for cute door decor!

Another Hobby Lobby clearance find.  Every Mermaid, underwater, sea bedroom needs a big blue whale!  Now to find some cute decor to set on the shelf. 

I grabbed this cute bedding on sale too (it was our color inspiration).  Found mermaid figurines, octopus statue, whale tale and beach wood basket at Hobby Lobby and TJ Max.  Paige herself painted the dragon, whale, Piggy bank and sea turtle on the top shelf.  

Also found this cute Sea horse to add to her existing corner shelves. 

On one of my many trips to Michael's I came across (on sale!) this cute beachy lantern and tiny sea decor.  As many of you know we love Fairy gardens, Fairy houses and all things tiny so having a tiny Mermaid Lagoon in the bedroom was a perfect find for us! 

Paige is very happy with her big girl, adult lady colored, mermaid, underwater, sea bedroom make-over.  Now lets just hope she keeps it clean! Hahahaha.  Who am I kidding?! 

Thanks for stopping by and checkin in on my 4 Little Byerlys.  Have a great day!

Grandma Elsie

This handsome couple are my paternal grandparents.  Louis Arther & Elsie May Johnson were married on March 12, 1941.  They brought 5 children into this world: Arliss, Karen, Pamela, Allen (my daddy) and Jeff.  They were married for 64 years before my grandad passed away in 2005.  On May 3, 2017 my grandma Elsie, my hero, and my favorite person passed away.  She lived an incredible 98+ years.  She built a family, a home and a life that will be remembered by her loved ones and friends.  She touched the hearts of many.

I have feared for years that when she passed our family would lose connection as she was the binding that held us all together.  I feared we would not contact each other, not visit one another and frankly not have much to say to our more distant relatives.  Our family would sever into 5 sections; each child having become the patriarch or matriarch of their respective family tree branches.   This may still happen slowly and quietly without much notice but I know that for the 1 week that we were all together in a tiny tourist town in Northern Minnesota that we were all closer and more connected than we had been in years.  We visited, we laughed, we cried, we embraced and opened up to one another. Of course there were times of tension and anger but there was more love and support between us all than I have ever seen.  

I hope that her amazing example of what family is and how we should all connect will pass on to each of the generations that she left behind.  My grandma Elsie was famous for her birthday cards and hand written notes.  She is survived by 17 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren and 15 great-great-grandchildren and she sent birthday cards to every child from birth to age 18.  She sent Valentines, Easter cards, Halloween treats, and Christmas goodies.  She loved to send and receive letters and photos of her family.  She kept them all and showed them off whenever a friend or relative stopped by the farm for coffee and cookies.  

Ah... coffee and cookies.  Never did I ever see a guest arrive at my grandmother's house and not be offered a hot cup of coffee and homemade cookies or cake.  Not once!  She was always happy to receive visitors and loved to sip coffee and chat with the neighbors, relatives and friends.  

There are a million things that I could tell you about my grandma but here are my favorites:  

She was honest.  She knew when to sugar coat the truth and when to give it to you straight and she had a way of making both versions exactly what you needed to hear.  

She was sassy!  She was by no means a potty mouth but she knew exactly when to use a choice curse word as the perfect adjective to spice up a joke or story.  And she would laugh.  My god, I loved her laugh.  

She loved us.  All of us.  She was disappointed, she was angry and she was sad with all of us at some point-in-time but she loved us- always. 

She was up at 7am cleaning out the deep freezer, she was flower beds and gardens, she was baking fresh bread, she was smashing freshly picked raspberries for jam, she was cinnamon toast for snacks, she was bedtime stories, she was blanket forts in the living room and she was everything a grandmother should be or could be.  She is the grandmother that I hope to become. 

I love you grandma Elsie and I will miss you always. Thank you for bringing us together at your end.

P.S. I planted pansies this year- just for you.

 

WAHM not SAHM

Hello!  My name is Kylie and I am a WAHM (Work At Home Mom)- not to be confused with a SAHM (stay at home mom).  I have nothing against SAHMs.  I know many moms who absolutely ROCK the whole SAHM lifestyle.  They have playdates and hiking adventures.  Their kids are happy and well-rounded little humans.  I admire them and their intricate family happenings.  I am NOT however a SAHM.  I am a WAHM.

  

Work at home mom... what does that mean?  Well, it means that I simultaneously perform the duties and tasks of a 40 hour a week business professional; payroll, tax preparation, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and the like while nursing, changing diapers, receiving makeovers from a 5 year old, washing dishes, folding laundry, snuggling, playing with toads in the backyard and basically doing EVERYTHING!  Whew! I need nap just thinking about it all.  Seriously- the baby (19 months) still doesn't sleep through the night... I NEED SLEEP!  

I love that I am home with my babies.  I love that my 15 year old is enrolled in online high school right in our living room and that I am there to help her.  I love that I don't miss out on first steps, mid-day dance offs in the living room and all the other tiny happenings that make up a childs' day.  I do feel overwhelmed, stretched far too thin and tired though.  There are never enough hours in the day.  The house is alway at least a bit dirty.  I haven't filed any paperwork in... well a long time.  I feel like I am not doing either job (corporate or parenting) at 100% which weighs on my mind and my heart.

I am doing it though!  I am working in our den while the kids play in the back yard.  I am taking breaks in the afternoon to swim with my girls.  I nurse the baby while billing and I let my 5 year old help me open the mail.  It is crazy busy, it is harder than I ever thought it would be but it is AMAZING!  If you have the opportunity to earn an income from home while raising your babies- DO IT!  You will want to pull out your hair and you will wear pajamas all day way more often than you care to admit but you will be there.  You will be a part of every moment and there are far too few moments in the happy go lucky toad finding years that we call childhood.  Don't miss them!