My Goal:

1. Get the kids out of their too small beds.

2. Give Hannah the pink room she was dreaming of without forcing Matthew to sleep in a 'girls' bedroom.

3. Accomplish #1 and #2 without spending a lot of money.

I have NEVER redone a room before and I do NOT have a knack for this kind of thing but I gave it my best shot. 

I brought home two little samples of paint.  One was pink and one was supposed to be blue.  When I put them on the wall side by side I realized the blue looked lavender.

At that point I was thrilled to have bought the little $3.00 paint samples instead of buying an entire gallon.

I went back and picked out a different shade of blue and this one was much better.  I would have felt horrible making Matthew spend all his nights in a pink and lavender room.

Please note the BED on this picture.  I am looking off into the distance with a glazed look in my eye.  But what I did want you to see is the beds we started with so you can see the difference at the end.

Just so happened that Facebook really is useful.  I noticed my cousin was having a garage sale and was selling 2 twin beds.  I had been looking for ONE twin bed for Hannah but hey, 2 is always better then one, right?

So for a great price I got to bring these beds home and fix them up to my liking.  Joe even spray painted the rusty side rails.

We did spend a bit buying new springs and mattresses but decided it was a worthwhile investment over time.

This was THE worst part.  Painting a window is NO fun - especially not when you're a perfectionist.  Took me hours- or maybe it just felt like hours???

I painted 2 walls pink and 2 walls blue.  When you stand at the entrance of the kids room you see two walls and I made sure one was pink and one was blue.  The colors mesh quite well, I think.

Joe was kind enough to help me paint the trim in the room and they he also took the doors off the hinges and took the blinds off.

(Edit: Just for you Rach.  Grainy looking picture....  I don't think the colors are quite true on this pic.  The blue has a purple tinge on the pic and in reality it doesn't, at all.)

This is what it looks like now.  Matthew LOVES his new bed and his blue walls.

Hannah is thrilled with her new bed and pink walls.

Things are NOT done but I think they are done as they will be for a while.  Both beds need a dust ruffle-I'll either make one or keep my eye out for one that matches the colors and my wallet size.

The walls are still bare.  Hannah and I did find a beautiful sparkling butterfly and it was PERFECT for her room but the only lavender one they had was the display model and was torn.   I was sad and she was sad.

I guess I'm going to keep my eyes open but I'm not going to stress over the things we still need.  I have too many other things to stress about.

Tonight both of the kids have vacated their NEW beds and jumped into mine.  Somehow, they think that when Joe is away on business they can sneak into my bed.  Hmmm.....  Guess it's kind of my fault for letting them do it one time and now they think it's an all the time type of deal. 

By the way, if anyone has great ideas for things to put on the walls or where I can look for neat stuff without breaking the bank, please let me know.

Tomorrows To Do

     1. Find my camera.

     2. Decide who I can blame for losing it in the first place.

     3. Eat my daily portion of chocolate. (I hear all women should eat plenty-makes for strong bones.. )

     4.Relax

     5.Surf the web

     6.Sleep till 9:00 AM (this should be #1 on the list but it somehow found it's way down to #6)

     7.Read a good book

     8.Play lots of Uno with Hannah (I just might win this time!)

     9.Have storytime with Matthew (his new digger books are a huge hit...)

    10.Spend quality and quantity time with Joe

OK, so I have just deemed myself very out of touch with reality!!  Ya, the list sounds blissful but so NOT happening.  I think I must have been dreaming there for a moment.

In real life, tomorrows list looks more like this:

     1.Put the 2nd coat of paint on the kids bedroom door and closet doors.

     2.Figure out what to do with all the STUFF that got moved into the spare room when we redid the kids room.

     3.Clean up the 1,000,000 little pieces of paper floating about the house from the kids last cutting/craft project.

     4.Quit procrastinating and start sewing the 2 dresses that need to be done for next weekends wedding.

     5.Make a good meal for my hard working husband.

     6.Laundry, Laundry and more Laundry. (Can one ever be done with laundry?)

     7.Teach and Train the little munchkins. (Can one ever be done with this? )

     8.Make cheesecake for Sundays family get together

There is more that should be added to the list but in reality I'm sure not all of these will be done when the day is over. 

Now I'm curious.

Do most people make 'to-do' lists?  Or maybe they have a mental 'to-do' list?  Do people who make lists get more done in a day then those who don't? 

I think it's harder to follow a list with little ones.  I have to give myself a little leeway when I don't complete everything on my lists.  Some days things come up or the kids need time and attention and something has to be dropped from the list.

1. Painting. 

That's what I found myself doing this week.

I felt very out of my league.  I have never before picked out colors, painted and done a total room makeover.

It really knocked me out of my comfort zone.  It's probably good for me.

I can tend to be very indecisive and stuck in a rut.

The kids room is painted and the beds purchased and re-done.  Now we need to restore order. 

Having the kids sleep in the same bed in the spare bedroom is not an ideal situation.  They manage to keep each other awake and every night becomes a frustration to us as parents.

2. Hockey

Winter must be on it's way because Joe's hockey league has started.

We are officially the RINKRATS.   That just makes me smile everytime I see it.  We've played one game and we won.  Woo hoo!

Here's the hot goalie of the team.

....and yes, that would be my husband.

I'm the #1 fan but Hannah is a pretty close second.  She loves every minute of it. 

 Papas little cheerleader.

3. Camping.

Last weekend was a stellar weekend for camping.

We went camping with our small group.  They tend to do everything with flair - including this beautiful bouquet of flowers that graced the table at our camp.

The days were nice and warm and the nights got rather chilly.  The temperature dipped to about 49 degrees Fahrenheit and we stayed nice and warm in our tent - huddled under the nice Hutterite made feather quilts. 

Joe always thinks I take WAY to much when we head out.  I don't think we've ever taken a trip that we haven't had a 'discussion' about how much we need. 

I NEED toys for the kids, plenty of clothes for dirty kids, lots of bedding for cold night, plenty of FOOD, towels, etc.  It all adds up.

Are we the only ones having this discussion/debate/argument??? 

Stef and Hannah

These days Matthew takes his shirt off frequently and has informed me that "he likes being naked".....  hmmmm.

In this case, I believe he had spilled water on his shirt and took it as an opportunity to rid himself of his shirt.

Seems like my life doesn't avail itself to dull moments....

He has a serious attraction to dirt.  He sat in this dirt for a long time and you could hear him singing as he played.

No dandelion shall can remain unplucked if Matthew is around.  The recipient is the closest person to him-which is oftentimes ME.  I love and cherish these sweet little moments.  I fear they will go by too fast!

Lots of football was played.  Very intense huddle going on here!

A fan watching the football game....

The campground had a free putt putt course.  The kids LOVED it.  They think anything related to golf is very cool because of Joe's love for the game. 

He took the kids down a couple times and it was a nice little break for me. 

Did I mention that I was reliving a bit of my youth?  We played Rook till 3AM one morning.  Let's just say the kids got up WAY too early that morning.  This mama was NOT ready to get out of bed......

Ever done that to yourself?