Trial by Fire

Yesterday I was privileged to be able to play TAPS at a funeral for one of our Veterans. I waited for the rifles to finish and present arms, and I began the first notes. At that time I also felt a stinging/burning sensation on my foot, then another, then another. I had been discovered by a small group of fire ants, and I because I was playing, I couldn't get away from them. I really wanted to jump up and down and swat at my feet to squash the vicious little things, but I wasn't about to stop playing and draw attention to myself... so being the good marching band geek that I am, I simply took it. I would have sworn that my foot would be covered with the filthy little insects, but when I finally finished playing I counted only 4 of them. I have six bites on my right foot, and two on my left so wearing shoes is out of the question today. On the upside, the Marine detail was impressed that I stood and suffered. Stupid Ants.

Decorating update...

I have been painting since Saturday. I have been painting the same rooms since Saturday, and this morning I finally finished. Now, granted it was a big job with alot of cutting in, but it has never taken me 4 days to finish painting anything. Today, I will go forth and search for window coverings. I may actually get these areas finished before the beginning of next week. Then I can finally open my Sonlight boxes, that I have been faithfully leaving alone until I was finished with these rooms.

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Tuesday, I sent Princess out to some storage cabinets in the garage to retrieve a plastic cup for my use in painting. While she was looking for the cup, she found some party hats from past birthday parties.
"Momma, can I have this hat to play with?"
"Yes."
"Can I get one for Professor and Warrior?"
"Yes."
"Can we play with the other party stuff?"
To this I started to say "No." but for what else was I going to use it? So, they retrieved the bag from the cabinet and delved into the treasures therein. About 2 minutes later they had set up their very own birthday party with, a table cloth, Princess's dishes, party guests (stuffed animals) in hats and masks, and even a few decorations. They then spent the rest of the morning playing party games.

This morning I found one of the guests in my closet who obviously won at Hide-n-Seek. I wish I could have found my camera in time to take a picture, but as with all of childhood you have to be fast to catch the moments because they dissipate all too quickly.

No No

The one thing I know that I have given my children is their ability to be Drama-Kings and Queens. And it has now evidenced itself in Baby J. Check out this face.

Now, you would think that we had swatted his little tushy or yelled at him, but no. All you have to say is "No, no." You don't even have to say it in a harsh way, you can be all sweet and gooey, but if you say "no, no" you will get that priceless look and a whimper and/or crying with real tears in his eyes. Now that is what I call D-R-A-M-A.

Switching Things Up

We have been busy around here. I am finally finished painting and moving Princess and Baby J into their current locations.

Princess was moved into my former work room - more on that later - so that she could have more floor space. She has a Queen sized bed so that we have a guest bed. In her former room, even though it is a nice size room, she just didn't have any space to really play. Also, the walls were painted a flat pink paint that was D-I-R-T-Y. I chose this room for her because it had a walk-in-closet, but because of the floor layout her dresser had to be in the closet so she didn't really have alot of space in there. With this new room her dresser is in the room, but out of the flow of the room, and even though her closet is smaller it actually has more space. I painted it a really pretty color called Sauted Mushroom in satin finish and then stenciled a diamond/flur de lis on one wall with pink. I also found a terrific all wood headboard on Craig's List for $25 to complete the look. Finally, Rock switched the ceiling fan in the room that the older boys share, which was white and frilly, with the one in Princess' current room that was far more masculine. All in all I think it turned out beautifully.







Baby J is now in Princess' old room and, although I lost my work room, Rock and I are the only occupants of our Master Bedroom after 10 months. Since moving Baby J, Rock and I have slept better and Baby J has slept better. And Momma with better sleep is a better Momma. I painted the room a very neutral light kahki color, and moved his crib out of my room (giving me more space) and his changing table out of the boys room (giving them more space). It looks really nice but I'm not going to get to settled with it, because come April we are going to be moving the boys around again.

Bathroom Re-Do

Now I know that you are wondering what I have been doing that has kept me so busy, well...aside from being on vacation and throwing a birthday party for Princess, Rock and I have been busy painting the inside of the house, and moving children around to different rooms. Today you get to see what I have done with the kids/guest bathroom. I really do like how it came out.

Before

When we started, the sink area was a light yellow and the original construction white with a flag/heart border, and the tub/toilet area was a navy blue. All flat paint and all impossible to clean. Plus we had that terrific light fixture and even though you can't see it...carpet. Yes, carpet. Whoever decided that carpet in the bathroom was a good idea obviously didn't have children, let alone little boys.

After

Now the wallpaper border is gone and both rooms are a really pretty Wedgwood blue-ish color in satin paint so that we can clean it. The carpet is gone and the floor is now painted/faux finished, and sealed. There are some nice Red,White, & Blue accents (some with a Texas spin), and a great new light fixture (which we bought on clearance...WOOHOO!!!).

All Hail the Princess

I can't believe she's 6!

Isn't she beautiful folks, and she is just as sweet on the inside (most of the time). We usually do the big birthday parties on the 1st, 5th, and probably on the 10th, but this time we made an exception. You see, Princess is the only girl in our family. Last year we had her big blowout birthday party with family, and as we set down to the table to open presents and eat cake we noticed a severe lack of females in the relatives her age. Amid all the princess decorations and the dolls, earrings, and pink bibles sat our little girl and one, two, three, four, five, six stinky little boys. So, we decided this year we would have an all out girls-only-no-boys-allowed party.

We handed out princess themed invitations, the girls dressed in their princess attire, we did distinctly girly activities, and we had a great time.

All the Princesses in all their girly glory!

Princess and our friend from afar decorating their cakes.

Momma Monk's ladies and a next door neighbor.

You should have seen them decorating. It was quiet...actually quiet they were so engrossed.

Just what every princess needs...more shoes...The girls decorated flip-flops and most of them wore them home.

Princess with her Ladies in Waiting.

We had such a good time and she loved every minute of it. It was a good day.