The twins are here!

Jonah & Nathan were born today!

My son Shawn is the proud Daddy of two darling little boys.

Jonah & Nathan seeing each other for the first time after they were born.

Get this, Nicole's Dr. said it was the first time he had ever delivered twins together... like at the very same time! Neither can claim they were born first. They came out sandwiched together, one's head against the other's feet. 

How cute is that!

Nicole carried these babies for 36 weeks and she was sick most every single day ~

but delivered healthy, hearty, perfect little boys.

And she's feeling fantastic and full of life since the delivery. So happy for her!

Jonah Dean weighed 5# 11oz. ~ Nathan Beck weighed 4# 14oz.

Our hearts are truly bursting with joy and gratitude, 

and thankful for your thoughtful prayers.

Good nite everyone. 

More posts with pics to follow!

twins in two weeks!

Two weeks from today ~ my two grandsons will be born.

I'm in tears just thinking about it.

Two little boys ~ two sons ~ emolyn & elsie's brothers ~ two grandsons.

I can hardly wrap my brain around the reality of what is about to happen.

Oh Lord, you know my prayers for this precious little family.

You know they will be moving mere days after the delivery of these little boys.

(just so you know, they're staying in the Phoenix area)

You know what they need and You delight in meeting their many practical needs.

 And You know the plans You have for them... plans to prosper them and not to harm them, plans to give them hope and a future. 

Jeremiah 29:11

Please pray for Shawn & Nicole as they prepare for two more ~ pray for healthy, happy little boys ~ for emolyn & elsie as they welcome their baby brothers ~ that as a family they would continue to marvel at the outpouring of love ~ and blessings beyond all that they could ask or think ~ Ephesians 3:20.

And if you want a fun read, a good laugh or a good cry ~
you gotta read Nicole's last couple blog posts ~
click HERE.

my baking drawer

My kitchen has all drawers ~ big, beautiful, full-expension, deep drawers. But it never occurred to me that I could incorporate one of those drawers into a baking drawer... till I saw this picture (left) on The Farm Chicks blog. I had seen it a few years back... but thankfully Serena linked to her old kitchen again while revealing her brand new kitchen in her brand new custom-built home. And I'm thinking ~ "oh my gosh, why don't I have a baking drawer in my kitchen!!

I had lived with my new kitchen for almost two years and had a hunch that this baking drawer could radically change how I function in my kitchen as a baker.

Yes, I'm a baker ~ and let me tell you, this has seriously revolutionized my baking experience. Everything I need is at my fingertips ~ so handy and so easy to access and so visibly pleasing. I think I pulled out my baking drawer to anyone who walked through my door for weeks. Ok, so maybe only family members. And I may have had to show great restraint when the Schwan's man came over. Although maybe next time I won't. ha!

Anyway, I love that darling little blue & green Ball container that holds baking powder (from the 99 Cent store)... and the larger containers hold powdered sugar, brown sugar, flour and white sugar.

Most of the containers were found at thrift stores over the years ~ except for the two green clear ones that I recently found at HomeGoods on clearance for 2 dollars each. I plan on filling each of them with cornstarch and baking soda.

What more can I say ~ I absolutely LOVE my baking drawer!
Do you have a baking drawer? What do you have in your baking drawer?


I'm linking up this post to ~
SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY

Celebrate life

I won Nancy's Tourist of Life giveaway! So excited!

Nancy also threw in a free bacon coupon ~ 

because she recently won a years supply of bacon. I know!

But inside the box of chocolates I happen to unwrap a Dove chocolate and found this ~

The more you praise and celebrate your life,

the more there is in life to celebrate.

So true. Such a timely reminder.
So today I will choose to give thanks and celebrate my life.

Thank you Nancy. Thank you Dove.

a BEE-utiful picnic

That's my granddaughter Emolyn and her Pop Pop at Kiwanis Park in Tempe ~ 

on the picnic of her dreams. 

Just the week before, she had expressed to me that one day she would like to go on a picnic "with a real picnic basket and a real blanket and real food". So we did.

And she loved every single second.

And I loved watching her love every single second.

And then as we were leaving, we came upon the most bee-utiful Bottlebrush shrub.

Bee sure to enlarge each image for a better look.

And then my daughter Miranda came over and Emolyn's little sister Elsie came over ~

and they laid out in the backyard and giggled as little girls do.

I sure love my girl-Es!

Pantry transformation

MY NEW PANTRY

MY OLD PANTRY

When the previous owners built the old pantry, they took space from the master bedroom walk-in closet. And because the old kitchen had so little counter space, we put our microwave inside that pantry and that's why there is a good size hole looking into our closet (below). Which meant my clothes invariably took on the smell of whatever I was cooking in the microwave for these past 18 years. I'm not even kidding.

When we finally gutted the pantry, we decided to make it even bigger, which meant taking even more closet space, which was fine by me. I'll take more pantry space over closet space any day!

Thankfully we had extra tile to extend into the pantry. And those wood shelves from the Pyrex cabinet (see previous post) came in handy for pantry shelving. I also had a counter installed ~ which makes it a Butler's Pantry, right? Ok, to me it does.

Remember my inspiration? Well, I knew I wanted a counter top inside the pantry for my toaster oven. I probably use my toaster oven more than any other appliance in my kitchen, but I did not want it set out on the counter. And yes, that does mean I have to have the pantry door open while using it, but I don't mind in the least.

Anyway, I scoured every place you can think of to find the perfect counter top ~ Ikea, Home Depot, thrift stores, ReStore, etc. Oh, but let me clarify, not just any counter top... a counter top on clearance. Well, I finally found the perfect one on clearance at Lowes ~ $27.00! YES!

I LOVE MY NEW PANTRY!
But I gotta tell, we've been using it for months without a door... and quite frankly, it's rather bothersome having to open a door to get inside my pantry. ha!

A huge thank you to my handy, handsome husband! 

I love and appreciate you so much Randy!

And my favorite feature ~ it's THE coolest night light EVER!!
Two years ago during the kitchen remodel, my husband wired the pantry with a light switch,
so we could turn it off and on without opening the door.
Makes for the ultimate cozy kitchen ambience!

For those who want to check out my previous post for the total kitchen transformation ~
keep scrolling down or click here ~
MY KITCHEN TRANSFORMATION

Thank you so much for visiting my blog! And please come again!


I'm linking up my transformations with these parties ~
TRANSFORMATION THURSDAY
FEATHERED NEST FRIDAY
SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY

Kitchen transformation

My kitchen transformation was completed two years old this month. And I love it every bit as much as I did when this photo was taken two years ago. And I've said it before and I will say it again, I love my barn lights! OH, you've not read my kitchen barn lights story? Click HERE.

This is what my kitchen looked like before the flood of '09. I loved my 1979 galley kitchen and had no plans of changing a thing. Ok, so maybe I had a secret longing to replace the counter top with solid surface so I could have an under-the-counter sink installed... but that's about it.

(take note of my pantry doors to the far right)

But thanks to the flood, we got way more than we ever dreamed. 

And the reason I am showing you my kitchen transformation again is for you to be aware of my pantry to the far right. We decided to forgo a new pantry during the kitchen remodel, with plans to take on that transformation ourselves one day. Well, that day finally arrived. Yes, it took two years for those plans to come to fruition. And I can hardly wait to show you!

As you can see here, once we decided to switch to flex tubing, we also decided to raise the ceiling ~ two decisions that made living with an exposed ceiling for two weeks worth the nightmare. Again take note of our outdated pantry to the right.

We also extended the back wall further to the left to give us more cabinet space.

And this is the farmhouse table that I found at Goodwill for $32.00. 

You can read about it HERE.

We finally painted the pantry doors to make them a little less conspicuous. 

Take note of the shelving in the cabinet to the left of the microwave. That cabinet came with wood shelving, but we had glass shelves on order so the light would filter down through the whole cabinet. We were thrilled to later use those wood shelves for our pantry, thus saving us some money.

Here you can see that cabinet with the glass shelving in place ~ perfect for displaying my Pyrex collection! And our memory-foam metal stools from Target are THE most comfortable stools ever!

THE BIG REVEAL ~ posted two years ago ~ 

and I can honestly say I wouldn't change a single thing. 

Ok, except for my pantry ~ because soon after we completed the kitchen remodel, I found my dream pantry door on Craig's List ~ with the word 'pantry' on the door.

That frosted 'pantry' door has been in my possession for two years and this week I will be revealing my long-awaited pantry transformation!

Do you want to see the inspiration for my pantry? I have had this on file for years. 

Here's the link to my pantry transformation. So awesome!