One more room and a precious one year old!

Okay, so I've been a little busy lately (I'm sure to hear murmurs of aren't we all?) And as much as I truly want to have you over and invite you in. . .there has just not been time to clean up anything! And when I don't clean, you really don't want to see what happens around here (think two Jr. Highers watching two pretot/toddlers and Mom ignoring not only the housework but the kids and nutritional needs of her family as well [um, McD, Pizza, and Pop Tarts nearly everyday] and then Dad throwing in some "more fun than all this work, let's go! suggestions" and you have a sorry looking mess!

Confession time! The pic of my daughter is from the State Fair and is as close to live animals and their surroundings as I go all year long. My 11 year old once called horses "big dogs" because her Mother had not taught her any differently at the age of 4 years, opps. So now, come rain, heat or whatever, we head down to the rural part of my small state and see horses, cows, pigs, goats, chicks, rabbits, and on and on it goes I'm afraid. We even climb on tractors. My favorite part? Touring those mega motorhomes and double wide modular houses! They'd be perfect for a place at the beach. . .so I like to dream! Guess there's just not much country in this girl.

Now the 3 yr old is properly versed in all domesticated, farm and wild animal names so you could say I'm reformed, sort of. I still do not have any pets and leave no hope in my children's minds that I will change my mind anytime soon.

But isn't it a cute picture? Barefooted and hay! so cute.

uh-anyway, confession number #2 I actually threw stuff off the couch onto the floor by the couches so you could not see it in these two pictures of my family room!! Don't look to close or you'll see lots of stuff I didn't move at all or look hard and have a grand time seeing the lovely toys my children drag around each and everyday from all over this obnoxiuosly large house (yup, I don't feel guilty and I love it! Hey, 7 of us fill it up).

The shot on the left is taken from my kitchen (which you will not get a picture of today for sure) into my backhall and family room. Down the hall is my powder room and to the left you can see my overflowing bookcases in my office. There is a 3 year old being babysat by public television and a 4 foot pink stuffed bunny from Easter that the little ones think is a great chair. Otherwise I love my big chair and halfs as we call them. These shots are from early in the day. I have morning sun in this room which is wonderful in the winter streaming through my double french doors and 3 Palladian windows (they match the window over my front door). You can just catch a corner of them in shot number 2. Oh, before I leave shot #1, notice the back hall has been painted. woo-hoo! It only took me 5 years to convince hubby that I could not stand builder white any longer. I guess shot #2 is pretty self explanatory. We sit in here everyday. We read in here. We occasionally watch the news or tv in here (only once or twice a week actually for the adults) Seeing the 3 year old in here is kind of deceptive and not of my choice. His Daddy has started a morning routine and I can not seem to break either of them of it. Every morning while I am still in bed (yup, he does not want me up and under his feet he says, I'm happy to oblige.) before he leaves for work, this little guy hears his Daddy putting his shoes on (He drops them on the hardwood for goodness sake as he comes down the steps! We all hear him!) and gets up out of bed to say good morning /goodbye to him. This also includes Daddy indulgently making him a cup of choch-ey milk and turning on PBS. Not a big deal? AAHH! This is builder grade carpet. This is a 3 year old prone to spills with no supervision, this is the big people family room, the kids have their own finished basement family rooom with a perfectly good tv down there. . . .oh , never mind, I have given up and besides, it is kind of cute that they have their morning thing going on. . . even if I'm not invited.

Other points of interest? My antique barn box, my grandmothers 100 plus year old quilt, one of many oil paintings ( Hubby I like to shop for art) and a stack of library books. The couches do not even have their throw pillows or throws on them (heaven alone knows where they are this morning) . The french doors need dressing up but I can't really decide which unobtrusive treatment to apply to them. All suggestions welcome, under $20 of course which is about how much my decorating budget would be this month! And please make it colorful, it's a very brown room (which I personally love but hubby thinks I'm nuts) . Can't quite see in picture, but accents are there in red and blue and yellow! Fireplace was suppose to be between those doors but we built it in the basement family room instead and now don't really want another in here so we must decide what to do.

So there you have it, the center of all activity in our home, the family room not the kitchen(I avoid the kitchen whenever possible to be honest except to entertain or buy pretty things for it or cook with kids . . .it's that regular meals thing that flusters me) . It's a lovely kitchen though, so keep checking back and I'll show it to you!