House Exterior Before and After

We had the house painted and some other things done on the exterior this summer.  We went from a butter yellow/cream to a warm grey on the siding.  We kept the white trim, but re-painted it.  We bought new shutters changing them from brown louvered to black paneled.We also had the accents on the house painted black to match the new shutters.  We had a custom-made steel porch rail installed and a new front door made and painted peacock blue with a new door handle.  We had new garage doors installed because the old ones had dry rot, since they had not been treated on the inside.  We went with a slightly different style for the windows in the garage door.  Lastly, we removed the shutters from the lower part of the house to expose more brick.

Paint Colors: 

Grey – Kwal color matched to Benjamin Moore Secret AF-710

White – Kwal White (whitest white they had, not sure of the name)

Black – Kwal Black (blackest black they had)

Peacock Blue – Behr Moonlit Pool

Rail

Front door

Hiding under an umbrella

The kids love playing with umbrellas.  They provide endless entertainment.  Cooper’s loves that his is green.

Happy Halloween

We got pumpkins two days before Halloween, so we got them for buy one get one free.  Basically the kids all around the little pumpkin patch making it in impossible for me to get any photos in focus.  These are all straight off the camera with maybe a crop and added watermark.  Too lazy to edit!

Waiting to get started carving.

Charlotte’s ‘happy’ pumpking and Cooper’s ‘mad’ pumpkin (their choice on face style).

We had so much fun trick or treating this year.  We went out with friends and their daughter Maile.  The kids really seemed to ‘get’ Halloween this year and had absolutely no problem running and cutting through yards to get to the next front door!  Cooper was a little too exuberant and tried to open people’s doors and help himself to their candy.  I think if he looked more like a 3 year old and less like a 5 year we wouldn’t have gotten as many dirty looks.

I took all of these with my speedlight.  The ones on the porch are bounced off the ceiling on the porch.  For the others I had my flash 45 degrees forward or straight forward.  It’s tough to get all the right settings and use the flash in the dark!  I think shooting on auto might have been better.

Here’s what happens when you ask preschoolers what’s on your hat.  (How cute are they…Thomas the Train, Tinker Bell and Iron Man.)

And then remind them you are going to get some candy!

We’re off!

Cooper was the first to the door, partly because he was the only one tall enough to reach the doorbell.

Have no idea what he was so happy about.  I’m guessing the candy??

And our required costumes per Cooper and Charlotte’s request – a witch and black spiderman (AKA Venom).  (Friend took this with her D7000 and pop up flash.)

Book Review & Giveaway!

This is the very first giveaway I’ve ever done!  I don’t normally do this kind of thing on my blogs because I don’t usually advertise my blog publically.  However, a friend sent me a request to get a free book as long as I was a mommy and a blogger.  I was on bed rest after surgery so I volunteered, especially because I LOVE reading!

This is essentially a blog hop by MOPS to read and review the book MomSense: A Common-Sense Guide to Confident Mothering. I was sent 2 copies of the book, one for me to read and review and one to give away on the blog.  If you want a FREE book, then leave a comment with how you found my blog.  I will do a random drawing to pick a winner.

 

The good:

Following your instinct as a mother can be challenging. I’ve gotten a significant amount of unsolicited advice, there are thousands of books on parenting, and the internet gives me more information than I could ever need. As a mother, more information isn’t necessarily better and has often left me feeling overwhelmed and confused.

I find myself now only seeking out advice or finding a solution when I am having a problem that I can’t solve, rather than reading to prepare myself for what’s to come. This has allowed me to listen to and trust my instincts more. This book is a good reminder about doing that very thing.

I really liked that this book mentioned both adoptive and biological families, as well as mentioned non-traditional families (i.e. using the term parenting partner and spouse instead of just husband).  I appreciate when authors recognize that families come in all shapes and sizes.

There are several pieces of advice that I liked:

• Embrace and trust your instincts
• Practice patience and set the example for you children.  You may miss seeing things from their view if you constantly rush them through life.
• Respect your children in order to raise respectful children
• Remember that your kids may have a different communication style than you and so listening to your words might be tough for them.  Try pictures, letters, movies, books, etc as a different approach in getting your message across.  Additionally give them your uninterrupted attention when listening to them.
• Teaching how not to lie is going to be tough—if they end up telling you the truth then how do you punish for the lie without making them feel like they get punished for the truth.  This has sparked conversation with my husband and I.
• During times of chaos or panic, just BREATHE.  It’s helping both me and Charlotte this last week.
• Love yourself and make time for you.
• Laugh and have fun with your kids.  Experience their joy.

The bad:

I think the author used too many anecdotal stories from other mothers and authored very little of the book.  I appreciate hearing from other mothers as an example, but if all the stories and quotes were removed, then the book seriously lacked content.  In at least two chapters 50% of the material was from quotes or anecdotal stories. 

I never really grabbed onto the author created word, MomSense (common sense and mother’s intuition).  I had to keep remembering what it meant and just made the book tough to read with the phrase ‘strengthen your MomSense’ repeated several times.

I’m atheist.  That matters because it strongly influences my biggest beef with the book. 

A little background:  Other than a couple of my friends in California belonging to some playgroups run through MOPS, I knew nothing about the organization before agreeing to read and review the book. I realized after I offered to read and review the book that they are a Christian organization.  I confirmed that they still wanted my feedback and they told me that since I am a mother and a blogger, they welcomed my feedback.

This book does not warn the reader that it is a Christian book (I think it should be in the title) and I find it insulting and confusing that the author assumes the reader is Christian. Bible quotes, recommending prayer, and overall ‘believe in god’ mantra in the book was very off-putting and I felt I was being preached at.  By the end of the book I was doing a lot of eye-rolling and was becoming irrationally angry that the recommended solution to deal with my children was to pray.  

I think it was awkward the way the Christian message was incorporated.  Up through page 27 there are only a couple of minor references to god and then out of nowhere it says the Bible encourages us to live sensibly and quotes a Proverbs bible verse.  It felt really out of place and didn’t flow at all with the first 26 pages.  The disappointing part was that the overall Christian message got in the way of the ‘Common-sense mothering’ message.  My friend said it best – ‘I don’t think parenting and belief in god necessarily have anything to do with each other.’

Would I recommend the book?

I would not recommend spending money to read this book. If it’s free, there are some good messages (see my bulleted list above). If you are Christian you may enjoy the book more. If you are Atheist, agnostic or anything other than Christian, you may find yourself annoyed as you try to sift through the ‘Believe in god’ mantra in the book.

Don’t forget to leave a comment for your chance to win a free copy of the book!!