hitting the ground running

I really believe that for the past month our family has been busier than we have ever been. I am counting down the days until school is out for the summer (Hannah has 1 and Avery has 6 1/2). I am counting the days until we can stay up late and sleep in, until we spend our days playing and eating popsicles and, until we are no longer in a constant hurry.

Here are a few highlights from our house over the past month:
* Jeff completed a huge mission project for our church, repairing and repainting homes in a low-income neighborhood. The project was meant to only take 3 weekends but turned into more like 6 because of rain.
* The kids attended no less than a half dozen birthday parties.
* We are 98% finished with our master bedroom makeover. I still need to make it out to buy some frames for the walls.
* We had a Family-Fun day at Fair Park and took the kids through the museums. We spent most of the day looking at dinosaur bones and cool, hands-on science exhibits.
* The girls completed 2 of 4 weeks of swimming lessons with Miss Margaret. The lessons are every day and were back-to-back at 4:45 and 5:30. We rushed home from school, had a snack, did homework and rushed off to swimming lessons. Then, we rushed home, hurried to eat and hurried to get everyone bathed and in bed. This round (started yesterday), we have better times and are getting home earlier. I keep telling myself (as I struggle to entertain Ethan for an hour while the girls are in their lessons) that it will all be worth it when Hannah is swimming independently this summer and I only have 1 child on my hip in the pool :-)
* I started going to Jazzercise. I love it! But, it has been a real challenge because going to Jazzercise means losing 2 hours out of my workday by the time I do the actual workout and then shower later. I have had to really "trim the fat" out of a workday where I really didn't think there was much fat that could be trimmed.
* We have survived 3 cases of Fifths Disease.
* I helped throw a baby shower for my sweet, prego friend (who was banished from my house because of the Fifths Disease).
* We farmed the kids out to our parents' for 2 Saturdays so that Jeff and I could do yardwork. The first weekend, my parents took the kids while Jeff was away and I spent 6 hours working in our front flower beds. I cleaned out acorns and leaves and planted all of my annuals including the caladium bulbs that I had dug up and saved from last year. The second weekend, Jeff's parents took the kids while Jeff and I trimmed hedges and laid a whopping 50 bags of mulch in the front flower bags and 10 more in the back. Everything looks so good!

I think that about sums it up!

it gets worse before it gets better, part 2

Here is a photo of our recent progress on our master bedroom. Do you like the new carpet? Oh yeah...there is no carpet, no pad either. Yeah...

The new carpet was ordered from Home Depot and was scheduled to be installed on Wednesday. When we ordered the carpet, we read in the fine print that the furniture moving fee did not include the bed. So, we decided that since we would be moving the bulk of furniture ourselves (the bulk being our queen-sized iron bed), we would skip the fee and move it all on our own. Then, we decided to cut a strip of carpet away from the wall so that the painters could paint all of the baseboards. Jeff then decided that he would just cut the remainder of the carpet and pad into strips and haul it away himself, saving us $30 or so in the process. All of this was done Monday and Tuesday in preparation for Wednesday's installation of the new carpet.

When the installers showed up on Wednesday the first red flag was that the carpet they brought was in a 12ft roll rather than the 15 ft we were expecting. With the 15ft width, the installers would not have had to make any seams when they laid the carpet in our room. When I followed the guy out to his truck to inspect the label on the roll he brought, I immediately knew that not only was the carpet the wrong width but was also the wrong color! %#@*!!!

Now we have no choice but to wait the 7-10 days that it takes for the carpet to travel from the manufacturer somewhere in Georgia to Dallas. To their credit, the friendly folks up at Home Depot have been very apologetic and very good (thus far) at trying to correct their mistake as quickly as possible.

On the bright side, the painters have come and gone and we love the color we picked out! We chose Colonnade Gray from Sherwin Williams which looked deceptively light on the swatch, but is just perfect on our walls. Always, alway, always spend the time and $5 to buy the sample paint can before you choose a color!!!

We (Jeff) also replaced the ceiling fan with one that was not manufactured in 1983. It looks great! Also, my new drapes arrived today and they are nothing short of lovely! They are so elegant and simple and just exactly what I wanted. Now the room is so soothing, until I look at the floor...



Even our poor pups don't know what to think!

grumpalotapus

Five reasons I had to be grumpy today:

1. My little E-man is sick. Last night he spiked a 102.7 fever and this morning he was still warm but with very large glands in his neck. A trip to the pediatrician and a negative strep test revealed that he has Adnovirus. Yeah, a virus. A virus as in it just has to run its course and there is nothing to give him but Motrin for the fever and wicked sore throat that will last four days. Super.

2. My little E-man is sick. He is sick and contagious. That means no Jazzercise for me until he is well again which really stinks because I was really looking forward to going today and tomorrow.

3. I left a bag of flour sitting on the kitchen counter and the ever-michevious Shelby Ann picked up the entire bag with her teeth. Her teeth made holes in the bag and spilled flour on my freshly-swept kitchen floor as she made her way to her hiding place under the kitchen table. Then, as I attempted to get the bag of flour away from her...it ripped. And then there I was holding a half a bag of flour with the other half on the floor under the table.

4. My husband is stressed out. Work is crazy. He is heading up a big mission project for our church that may very well get rained out for the second weekend in a row. And, our bedroom is not quite right. Jeff is not the type of person who does well when things are "not quite right."

5. I have a headache. And my eyeballs are sticky.

Tired of my whining yet?

it gets worse before it gets better, part 1

So this is our master bedroom as it stands now. Note the lovely red toile draperies that in no way, shape or form match the green and blue paisley comforter. And, the picture does not do the dingy walls and ceiling justice. Trust me, they are bad. Moving on to the floor, the patterned carpet that I liked so much when we moved in 2 years ago has been ruined by our dogs. Never, never, never put down patterned carpet if you live with dogs!


After living with our room like this for 2 years, Jeff and I decided that it was finally time to make this room a retreat for ourselves. Easier said than done. We have spent weeks shopping for furniture, carpet, fabric for new drapes and testing out new paint colors. Now I know why people pay interior designers to do all of that for them...it is work! Not to mention that it was, at times, torture for our entire family. Lugging 3 kids in and out of furniture stores and shushing them as they run all over the carpet store is seldom featured on HGTV :-)


So, over the next couple of weeks the walls will be painted, the carpet replaced, and the ceiling fan replaced. Then comes the fun stuff, we have new, custom white drapes, new bedding and even new furniture. Out goes the red toile, the faux wood nightstands and armoire and the dingy, old comforter. Then, we will be able to enjoy our grown-up master retreat!

i love sundays

Sunday is, by far, my favorite day of the week. There is something almost tangible about the feeling I get on a Sunday. It's an entire day devoted to savoring the fun that was had on Friday and Saturday. Sunday brings a wonderful feeling of being on cloud nine because the day before had been filled with birthday parties, productivity and maybe even a yummy dinner at a restaurant.

The best part is that on Sunday, you have permission to relax. Actually, you have been commanded to relax but that's for another post. Sunday afternoons are just made for taking naps, reading and lounging.

At our house, a typical Sunday involves getting everyone fed and out the door for church then home for a boxed mac & cheese lunch (I'm relaxing, remember?) then down for naps and "room time." Room time is an idea borrowed from my sister-in-law. She used it with her kids when they were younger as a way to institute some quiet time once the kids had outgrown their naps. At first, I thought it cruel to send Avery to her room for 2 hours every Sunday afternoon. Like a punishment even. But, we made it clear to her that it was not a punishment. I think its even good for her to have some down time to herself. So, while I am downstairs napping, Avery plays quietly in her room and every once in a while even she herself takes a little snooze. That evening, we have dinner and prepare for the week ahead.

This past Sunday was our annual Sunday School class egg hunt. We always have it at a local park and families bring picnic lunches and the kids all run around together. Somehow, the past 3 years the weather has been absolutely miserable! There were 40 mph gusts of wind combined with a high temp of about 58 degrees. Ahh! The kids could not have picked up those eggs fast enough!


This was Ethan's first egg hunt. Jeff was by his side, and he caught on pretty quickly. I haven't gotten around to getting him an Easter basket yet, so he hunted with his Frankenstein trick-or-treat bag. Ha! Afterwards, he loved shaking the eggs and then opening then so that the jellybeans inside spilled all over the ground. Funny boy!


The girls always enjoy any activity involving candy. Yesterday, I had their Easter baskets out on the kitchen counter and had been rationing out small portions throughout the day. Hannah and Ethan got some after their lunch and Avery had some after she came home from school. While I was busy with chores, my sneaky girls decided to take candy rationing matters into their own hands. I heard the two of them giggling in the powder bathroom, which is a big red flag for me. So I knocked on the door and asked what they were doing in there. Avery hollered out that they both just had to go really, really bad and they were taking turns. Hmmm. I sat down in our computer chair just outside the door and waited for them to come out. About 5 seconds later, Hannah popped out of the bathroom and said, "We've been eating lots and lots of candy!" Avery was completely dismayed that Hannah had given away their secret plot so quickly while I immediately proceeded to take the remainder of their candy and throw it in the trash. Sneaks!

isn't she lovely?

When you are the mom of a little girl, there are certain milestones in her life that you look forward to. Her first Barbie doll, getting her ears pierced, shopping for a prom dress, and shopping for a wedding dress are a few that come to mind.

I have always told myself, and Avery, that she could get her ears pierced when she was old enough to ask. Well, she's been asking and so yesterday was the big day. We went to Sweet and Sassy, a place recommended by a friend. And it was really exciting! We picked out her earrings and then Avery sat in a big, velvet chair while the girl cleaned her ear lobes, drew the dots with a marker and applied some numbing cream. When it came time to pierce her ears, Avery hardly flinched. I was really proud of her!

To be totally honest, Jeff and I did not expect Avery to go thru with the ear piercing. This is the same child that I had to restrain at the doctor's office last summer when they needed to prick her finger. She is also the same child who practically refuses to learn to swim because she claims to be afraid of the jets in the pool. So, we thought that there was no way she would willingly sit in a chair and let some stranger poke holes in her ears. But, she did it! I guess that she was really ready...

blankie brigade

If my kids ever had to choose one possession to save in the event of a fire or other disaster, it would, without a doubt, be their blankies. My children all have completely unique personalities, but the one thing they have in common is a love for their blankies.

Avery started out with a pretty yellow sweater blanket that gradually became unraveled. Aboout 3 years ago, I tried to replace it with a new one. That didn't work and so now she has 2. Even at almost 7 years old with requests for earrings and lip gloss, there is no way I could convince that child to go to sleep without either one of her blankies.

Hannah's blankie came from a Sunday School friend of mine who gave it to me at a shower before she was born. It is made from an incredibly soft lavender fabric that matched her crib bedding. So, when she was about a year old, I started sticking it in her crib for her to snuggle with. That blankie's fate was sealed the night we rushed her to the emergency room with a febrile seizure. I grabbed the blankie from her crib on our way out the door thinking it might be comforting for her to have at the hospital. She has not been without it ever since.

"Mr. Elephant" aka Ethan's blankie, came from a bag of hand-me-downs a friend gave me. Ethan's nursery is decorated with an elephant theme and there at the bottom of the hand-me-down bag was the softest, most perfect, little elephant blankie. It has an elehant head at the top, a blanket body, and feet and a tail at the bottom. Ethan likes to hold onto the elephant's trunk and suck his thumb with one hand and stroke the elephant's floppy ear with his other.

As much trouble as it can be to keep track of them and to remember to always make sure that they make their way into the suitcase, those blankies are symbols of their childhoods, and I love them!