Brown No Longer

So, the plan was to move the girls into the bigger bedroom in the back - before school started. We had decided on how we wanted to paint it, but things got busy and painting got put off. Finally, the week before school started, we got all our supplies and began.

The room started out brown. Kind of a chocolate milk brown - but enough that when I mentioned the color to the people at the paint counter, they said "brown? yes, prime it!"
Sorry to all you "earth tone" lovers. I DON'T like brown rooms. Give me color, make the room bright and fun - and I have a whole house to use!
I had moved everything out and taped the walls before I realized I hadn't taken a "before" picture. And, the only one of the room I do have is when we were looking at houses before we moved and it isn't a very good shot of what it looked like. Sorry.
I was really nervous to even buy the paint. The last time I painted was in 1991 - the stairway and hall in my parents house. Now it was for me (ok, the girls) and I had in my mind what I wanted it to look like. Once the paint was mixed and the guy opened the lids to show us, I got excited.Natalie and Alyssa helped through the whole process. Even Jake wanted his turn at the roller (before now rollers were only known as playthings, now he got to use them for real). I did the edges, a quick second coat to get any lighter spots, sponging the green up into the purple and the stencils up high. We got some wood flowers and butterflies to add some dimension. And stenciled butterflies, dragonflies, and flowers in about 6 different colors of paint.(a close up of some detail)
It looked so good (yes, just how I pictured it) that I almost hated to put the girls beds and dressers in. But, tonight they are in their new room. The puff quilt is one my mother-in-law made years ago that we have possession of (Lara, I think you might have claim to it, but we'll wait until Halle is older). It's beautiful and works out quite nicely.
Now I'm excited to hurry up with the plans for the bonus room, off their room, that we are going to make into a study room - the "Dawg House" - red, white and black paw prints around the edges. But I'll pace myself.

Sunflowers

Alyssa was taking care of our neighbor's dog for a few weeks and loved seeing their sunflowers. Her photographer instincts took over one day and she grabbed the camera. (OK, so if she could have it her way she would have a camera on her at all times, but for now she has to remember to grab it.)
She took these great shots.

First Day of School!

Wednesday marked the first day of the school year! The day before, the children got to meet their teachers. A couple of weeks ago we were on the elementary school's website and saw that Jake's kindergarten teacher had moved to 4th grade. The prayers began that Natalie would get her as a teacher. So, when it was "Meet the Teacher" day, the 4th grade hall was the first one we went to. Natalie got Mrs. Wolfe!!!! We are so excited!!

Jake's teacher is Mrs. Jungman. He has a bunch of kids from his kindergarten class in his 1st grade class and also his friend John, from down the street, and Yvonne, who also lives in the neighborhood! After leaving his classroom we saw some friends of ours whose oldest son had Mrs. Jungman for two years in a row (as they both moved grade levels) and said she was the best!

After going to the elementary school, we went over to the middle school to get Alyssa's schedule and see where all her classes are. She is "too old" to have her pictures taken with her teachers :), but it looks like it will be a great year for her as well.
A couple of weeks ago I started getting the kids up at 8am, getting ready for the early school morning rise time. A week before school I started getting them up at 7am. 6:15am Wednesday morning was still early! no matter when I had been getting them up! But a bit of breakfast and the excitement of getting ready for their first day, and they were ready to go!

The bus for Natalie and Jake comes at the same time as last year.

The middle school starts 15 minutes earlier this year, so Alyssa's bus is a bit earlier as well. No problem, she was always ready by the time the elementary school bus came, she just won't have as much time in the morning to work ahead on her homework and projects that will be coming . . soon.

Natalie came off the bus, after school, holding two Blockbuster microwave popcorn buckets, with three movie theater candies in them and a $25 gift card to Blockbuster . . . I had won the PTO drawing!!! My $5 family membership was well worth it!
The first day went great! Natalie said her first day was great because they were so busy they didn't do any math. Jake loved seeing all his friends again and has a goal of all E's (for behavior) this year. Alyssa said her day was fine . . . "it's school" (those preteens!). Since 6th grade is in middle school, being in 7th grade is now "been there, done that". After her second day she said she was bored and would rather be home. Yea, bored because they are still getting settled in, just wait until the continual homework and projects start!!
Now it is just Logan and I at home during the day again. I realized my summer projects ended up being the kids and now that they are back in school my projects are now everything else that didn't get done. I sure miss them though, the day seems much longer without them.

Super Cool Gift!

So the other day at lunch, out of the blue, Alyssa asked me what "super cool gift" I was planning on getting Robert for our anniversary - it's in a couple of weeks. I said "I don't know. We've been thinking about goats, so maybe it'll probably be goats." (We have been thinking about getting some goats to eat down our privet in the woods, but that's another story for another day.)

Of course I start wondering what Robert was making me - Alyssa had just gone with him the night before to Larry's house, Robert's cohort in woodworking. Later that evening when Robert and I went out, I told him about Alyssa's question to me. I told him my answer of goats - he thought that was pretty cool. Phew, I'm good there. Then he asks if I want to go to Larry's and see what Alyssa was talking about.
We walked into the shop and I saw a gorgeous headboard!! Robert and Larry do beautiful work! The dark wood is walnut (my favorite wood) from my parent's property in Missouri (I brought it home with me when we were out visiting this summer). The middle wood is spalted sycamore, which I think is some of the coolest looking wood.
Robert will tell you that giving this to me is like "giving a mouse a cookie," because now I can design the room around it and I have put in my order for side tables! We have a bench for the foot of the bed that matches, why not make some side tables?
Happy anniversary, birthday, and Christmas to me!! And I'll take it!

Summer Party II

Before school starts the girls needed one last summer party - this time inviting school friends (Summer Party I was for church friends - see 7/9 post). Everyone had so much fun, and why wouldn't they. Swimming in the river, jumping off the rock is fun enough. Jake's friend, who was out of town for his birthday party, come over which was great for him. Logan loves playing in the water and sand. And I sat and read.After a couple of hours they were ready for dinner - hot dogs, chips, soda, and ice cream - and we're good to go. We set up the volleyball net (on badminton height) for some games and had crafts inside. After so much fun, I think they might be ready to go back to school in a couple of days . . .
maybe.

SUCCESS!!!

It was time to get Alyssa's eyes checked again, and I knew her prescription had changed. When I would read something and Alyssa would say "you're suppose to be able to see that!", I knew we needed to get it done before school started.
Robert and I told her it might be a good idea to try contacts. She doesn't have as much fun swimming because she can't see anything without her glasses on and she can't wear glasses and goggles at the same time. And soccer season will be starting soon. In passed seasons when she has gotten hit with the ball hard enough to knock her glasses off, my first response was - "are your glasses OK?!" We had no back-up pair.
Unfortunately the thought of anything getting near her eye - especially a finger, even if it is her own, sicks her out. But, she decided to give it a try. After over an hour at the eye place working with two of the ladies there, she got one in. After some more time passed, she had both in. Cheers!!! Looking around she was amazed and loved having them in. We were hoping to go home and just take them out later, but the eye doctor always has first time contact wearers take them out before leaving. Another 45 minutes later they were out, we were done and going home with contacts! After getting home she tried to put them in again - only getting one in, after trying for quite a while and getting really frustrated. Today she tried again. Unsuccessful the first go around, she took a break and tried again - she got them both in!!! SUCCESS!! and just in time to have friends over this afternoon to go swimming - and she'll be able to see while she's in the river!

Dancing Through The Rain Drops

. . . well, swimming through them anyway. The storm clouds we had been having all week finally produced some locally heavy rain - on the day we had planned to go to the lake at Sandy Creek Park with our friends!
I looked at the weather radar on line and noticed one cell moving through, but then a break before the big storms over Atlanta would arrive. We went ahead with our plans. We left in rain, some heavy, but it cleared up by the time we got there. It was overcast and threatening the first little while, but the kids had fun playing in the water and sand.

The threatening skies brought a heavy downpour for about 5 min. We were soaked!! Of course being in the water and wet already the kids loved swimming in the rain (no thunder). Logan . . . not so much. The rain did stop and we stayed. The sun came out and it was beautiful. The kids swam, had noodle fights trying to knock each other off the rafts, and played in the sand. Alyssa dug a hole by the shore to stay cool in. The boys continued digging it deeper and used it to run and jump in. They had a blast. (Logan was trying to keep it filled with water while they jumped in - not that the lake did that automatically.) Natalie used the noodles to hold the rafts together and took Logan around the swimming area. Then the other two boys joined in.

As we gave the 10 minute before leaving call out the dark clouds were gathering again. We quickly gathered our things but they moved in quick and we got drenched again before making it back to the cars.
The roped off swim area didn't get too deep, Logan loved the sand, I sat and chatted, we ate lunch, and we had sun enough for Alyssa to get her back burned - even when it was sun screened.

Quite the adventure and we loved it! A great day!