Exterior Color

I've had ample amount of time to decide an exterior color for the house, but it's been a hard decision. It's a huge commitment, I mean this is what everyone will see from the outside. You can't take back first impressions, or big costs for a color you picked wrong. Jack and I had an idea to set out a ballot box and let our friends/neighbors help. So I put this together :

Waffle boxes make excellent ballot boxes. Just for future reference.

For those who can't vote in person, here is a look at the colors but it's hard to see in a picture. I'll let you vote anyways. My time is running out because Jack actually got the brick yesterday and a mason is coming to take a look at it today. I've given him a hard time so now I need to be ready. Help.
My style is vintage, country living with a twist of eclectic.
FYI: the trim will be white dove  by Benjamin Moore. I don't have a shutter color because I need to know the body color first. Hopefully that won't take as long.

Stone Cloud Gray- a soft green gray

Amherst Gray-blue tones. This is my least favorite, but Jack is liking it

Stonington Gray-looks almost white. Very pale gray. I've always wanted white bungalow house, but not quite sure if it will work on a ranch.

Briarwood-brown gray. Neutral and very likable. 

1, 2, 3, or 4 from left to right

1 and 2

3 and 4

*All Benjamin Moore colors

Wish me luck

My seeds are growing and now it's time to make compost! (who knew I would later be into this and it would be exciting?! My younger self is screaming "Lame!" as I type)
I watched and read several posts on composting and doing a chicken wire one seemed the easiest for a beginner. You can buy a composting bin from the city ($50) or at Home Depot ($100) where you can crank it, but I'm cheap and trying to be resourceful. The chicken wire allows the compost to "breathe". Jack used a couple of plastic ties to close it to a 3X3 opening. If I was to do it again, I would do a square with one side open for easier access, but Jack said you can just lift up the chicken wire. You'll want to mix about once a week or whenever you add ingredients. I will report how it goes.  Amateur here. As far as location, they said away from the house and where some sun can get to it. You'll also want to keep it moist, so you may want it close to water access.
Basically you want to make a compost lasagna. Brown ingredients to green with a 1:3 ratio. Microorganisms of nitrogen and carbon will break down to make nutritious soil for your garden.

Brown:
paper, fall leaves, straw, sawdust, shredded newspaper or wood chips.
Basically any dry or woody/twig types of things
Green:
freshly cut grass, used coffee grounds, seaweed, spent flower blooms,tea leaves or vegetables and peelings.
Basically most organic, growing things that are still fresh and moist.
Supposedly the stuff lets off steam when you turn it. I am using an empty, clean paint can to store my green items from the kitchen. You can also buy a little bin but why do that when you can use what you got. My friend, Anna, said her Aunt uses a coffee can.

Is anyone else doing this? Any pro tips? I'm planting the garden this weekend or the beginning of next week! Can't wait. I hope all this work isn't ruined by birds and squirrels (I do have an organic homemade pesticide).

Nothing to do with composting. I just love how Dalton will play with his cars by laying down his head on the floor or the couch and rolling it back and forth. So cute.

Star wars invitation

This was Dalton's party invitation. I laughed for 20 minutes when I first saw his head stuck on Luke's skinny body. This guy on etsy did it, I'm sure he could put your child's head on many other characters. Mr. T from the A team? Done. Punky from Punky Brewster? Absolutely.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

Dalton's First Birthday- Star Wars!
I had waaaayyyy too much fun planning Dalton's party. I've actually had several people ask if he is a star wars fan. Well, I am and he's one, so...
Some may say I am a crazy person for making a one year old birthday party so big (wait, have you seen parties like these?) but they obviously don't know me. I make all parties this way, unless it's your husband who doesn't like birthday parties for himself. Also, Dalton is our joy and I celebrate him to infinity and beyond. I say it wasn't enough... I should have had butlers, dressed in stormtrooper gear. A giant replica of Millennium Falcon in the front yard.
We were thankful for all of our friends who were able to come and help us celebrate Dalton's life. Most of our neighborhood church group was there, close Nashville friends, our neighbors, and even Lindsey and Sam from New York. I'm bummed I didn't get a picture of the food spread, but I got a couple of individual pics. On the menu:
"Han" burgers
Chewey hotdogs
Vader Pataders- potato chips
Ewok Food-fruit
Yoda Ears-edaname
Yoda Soda-a lovely sherbet punch
Jawa Juice- Sweet tea
Wookie Cookies-in the shapes of battleships, yoda, darth, r2d2, and a stormtrooper
Princess Leia Cupcakes

I got a lot of ideas from the star wars blog and borrowed many a lightsaber. My sister got her neighbor to steal her son's extensive star wars toy collection (Boba Fett!) for me and Hayes (my friend's Brett and Katherine's son) let me borrow his light saber potty present. There were even mini lighsabers made out of sparkle stirrers. I had slowly gathered some Star Wars paraphernalia over the previous months, such as a certain cardboard Darth Vader cutout. He had been staying in our basement for two months. I'm surprised this happened because I was deathly afraid of him as a young girl. This is directly due to my sister and brother putting on a darth vader mask and tying me to a chair while playing Elton John's the Funeral. I guess I've gone through enough therapy to overcome my phobia. He's actually still up in our den looking at me as I type this.

I covered up some of our unsightly construction with black paper and used my trusty gold stars (this is my 5th reuse!) to spell out this:

An Ewok that I've had since I was little. It still works!

On the other wall was Dalton's year of dress-up. It was super satisfying to see it all together and so fun to see how much he's grown. This is what I've learned- babies grow fast. I did a giant one shape of Dalton pictures on our bay window to just show off even more of him.

Dalton didn't know what to make of the cake... he did a shiver on first bite but then smiled really big, which got a good laugh by the audience. Didn't eat a whole lot of it and yes, it was vegan.

We put up this sign for our guests to make them feel as if they were Padawans going to training. For all the kiddos I printed off a certificate of training making them an official jedi with their name on it and an official gold seal. You're not official until you have a gold seal.

Dalton was dressed up in a Jedi robe for the first fourth part of the party, but due to some overly concerned grandmothers and a sister who thought he was hot, it got removed. He almost went shirtless, but I put the ca bosh on that. E.T. kept his outfit on.

Dalton got some great gifts that he really liked.

Star wars book. It's currently hard to keep him from tearing it up.

Tractor? Yes, he loves it. All things with wheels, he loves. Way to go Philpot.

Of course, there was a pinata but we didn't bust it open until a majority of people were gone. All the starbursts were a little dangerous for these two.

Long day

Happy Birthday Dalton!

Dalton is one year old. This guy is truly a miracle and we are learning that more and more everyday. He is such a joy and blessing in our lives. Someone asked me what the biggest surprise was about having a one year old boy and I said that I actually want and love to hang out with him. He's really been a light in some dark days. I really can't express how much my heart overflows for Dalton and I pray God directs me how to be the best parent I can be for him.
Of course, I had to do an E.T. for the last picture. He didn't quite want to get on the bike until he knew there was a bell on it. The end of these pictures is bittersweet.

He would rather push E.T. around

Totally capturing the scene

E.T. is worried about Elliot's driving skills, can you see it in his eyes?

Oh no, you can see he is not actually in the air

And now you see Dalton is not actually driving all by himself.