Kids' Room Redo

Last Saturday, the kids loaded up in Grandma H.'s van, and headed off for a week(ish) of summer vacation adventure. That left Lucas and I (and the 2 knucklehead dogs) at home twiddling our thumbs (paws?). What to do with all this quiet free time?  I know!! Let's totally gut and redo all 3 bedrooms! Yeef!

To be fair, we had already painted Sebastian's bedroom the weekend prior, so we only had to paint 2 rooms. But still, there was LOTS of gutting and reorganizing and purging to be done. LOTS. Why do my kids have so many stuffed animals? There are some questions in life that can never be answered.

At any rate, we worked hard and painted for HOURS on end. Truthfully, if I don't have to paint anything else for a while, I'll be okay with that. (Sadly, I have projects lined up out the door that require my painting attention... a few days off to rest the hand, and then it's back to work for me).

The kids got home from Grandma & Grandpa's today, and they were seriously excited and surprised! Meagan actually squealed. She's not a squealer. We did tell them that after all the hard work it took us to get all the trash and junk OUT, it was NOT to find its way back IN. We'll see how long that holds out before we're asking them to clean it up again. *sigh* If only theory and reality would line up in real life. *lol*

So here it is... the big reveal...

Sebastian's room:
Yes, it's a very yellow wall. And pretend like his furniture is all sanded and nicely painted a dark brown/black color... that's one of those painting projects that I mentioned a minute ago. This was actually my grandparents' first bedroom suit together when they first got married. When I was in high school, my grandmother redid it for me, and now here it sits in Sebastian's room. It's maybe not the most stylish of colors currently, but it's solid wood... you just can't beat that!

This is the view from the door...

Isaac's room:
Isaac never asks for much. But when we were picking out the colors for his room, he asked for a bright green wall. Um...really? Bright green, huh? Like I said, he never asks for much. If this is a request that means enough to him that he would actually speak up and ask for it, then I guess I can at least TRY to oblige. As it turns out, I really like how it turned out. Yes, it's bold and loud, but it fits him. When he saw it, he was thrilled! He said one of his favorite things about the room was his big green wall. So, no, I will not be painting my own bedroom bright green, but if he's happy, I'm happy!

The view from the doorway...
We moved his bed. I wouldn't normally position a bed so that it blocks the view from the doorway, but this seriously is the best placement for it. It makes the rest of the room feel so much bigger like this.

I think this is my favorite little niche of the room. I love the symmetry. And the books. And that he finally has a shelf to show off HIS trophies (try having a big brother who needs steel braces to support all the darn medals hanging on his wall). Isaac doesn't do sports that involve individual awards, so he really only gets the end-of-season trophies. And still, he has never had a place to display them and be proud of them. Now he does.

It's hard to see, but the sheets have blue, green, and gray stripes on them... that's where the inspiration for the big green wall came from... the green stripes in the sheets. And one lonely green pillow. *lol*

Meagan's room:
Meagan has said for the past year that she wanted to have an ocean room. In her mind, this would include seaweed and mermaids painted on the wall. In my mind....not so much! *ha*  I did my best to really bring a beachy ocean feel to the room without going overboard (and no seaweed!). I LOVE how it turned out! Especially tonight, when we were able to turn the lanterns and candles on, and enjoy the peaceful, quiet darkness...so magical. I would have loved to have a room like that as a child (I better be careful...if I get started on my childhood room woes I may never stop! *if you only knew*).

The view from the door...

 I had this fishing net from a birthday party we did a few years ago. I still have to work on getting it to hang just right, but this is the gist. And I plan to weave a few seashells in there as well. She needs seashells, which is a concession I am willing to make. We hung the lanterns in the corner using Command Strip clear hinged hooks. We simply stuck the hooks to a flat spot on the ceiling, and hung the lanterns with fishing line. They have battery-operated LED lights in them, so I'm SURE they will be turned on for bedtime! The candle by the fish tail is also an LED candle. And we also have little tea-light LED candles that change color. Fun night lighting going on in this room!!

I found this fish and the glass candle dish at Pier 1. They make me happy. Currently, the fish actually has a broken fin that needs to be soldered back on, but he still looks cute as he is.

Lots o' Layouts

The kids were on vacation with their grandparents for a few days, which meant two things... 1) my house stayed clean, and 2) I actually had time to scrap.... yes, even with a new puppy in the house. 

Rather than doing one post for each layout, I'll just dump them all here in one post. 

Ride the Waves... These pictures were from last summer and our days out on the lake in Ohio. 

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Family Snuggle Day... This is an insert for my album. I had a bunch of pictures that I took one day while we were being lazy bums around the house. They aren't stellar photography, but the pictures say a lot about our life and our family. I loved the details that can be pulled from them... like Dublin's frog Pillow Pet on the couch (that he has since dismantled), and the fact that he chewed hangars like bones for quite some time. I also love the fact that these pictures ooze with love and comfort. How can you not love that?! So, great pictures or not, I wanted to make sure they were included in the album.

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Hey Handsome... Another insert page for the album. I had this funny series of photos of Dublin and his football (yet another toy that he has since dismantled). His expressions and playfulness are all over these photos, and I couldn't bear to leave them in some dark dusty corner of my computer files.

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Tacos... Snow day, March 2013... We celebrated the day off of school with lunch at Taco Bell. Just one of those fun moments that build up life's memories.

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Summer Vacation... Just a quick page that I threw together to document our first evening at the cabin on our vacation this year. Roasting marshmallows was on the top of the kids' priority list! And, of course, s'mores!

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Squishy Puppy Face

Today marks our one week anniversary! Of having 2 dogs, that is!  Last Friday, we welcomed Arya to our home, and a week later, here we are. She is not kennel trained and sleeping through the night on her own. And she is doing well, although not perfect, with the potty training. We're getting there. For the first few days, she did nothing but sleep. Now, though, the stress of the travel and the change has worn off, and she is spunky and feisty and sweet as can be!

I found her online through PuppyFind, which is also how we found Dublin. I have had puppy fever for...well, about since we found out we really enjoyed having Dublin... it's been months! And for the past month at least - probably longer - I have stalked Puppy Find for a blue Weim or some other such super cute puppy that I could love and hug and call George (or Arya). Well, the breeder where we got Dublin had a litter with 2 blue females in it, but they were gone within hours. When I saw we had missed out on those, I was heartbroken. We had a small window of time to be able to get a puppy and work on getting her trained before the kids are back in school and I am back to work. That meant, the puppy had to be the right age right now, and we had to be able to get her ASAP. Well, I did one last search, and found two female blues... in Miami, FL. *sigh* It was a loooooong shot, but I figured I could at least call the breeder to see... 

To my surprise, he came back with a pretty decent price for the puppy and shipping. Cheaper than if I were to have purchased the same puppy from our local pet store (trust, me, I looked into that option). So, after MUCH back and forth of do we / don't we, we decided to go for it. 

We picked her up from the airport last Friday afternoon. Her flight got in at 11:15, and we were supposed to pick her up at 11:40. But at 11:20, on our way to the airport, we completely blew out the right front tire on the van. We were turning in to get gas, and I heard a huge explosion and the van shook. Errr....truly, NO idea what happened, but it looked like the side of the tire had been stabbed and slashed.  Luckily, it happened right in front of our service station, so I didn't have to drive far on my rim. As soon as I got the van in for service, I called the airlines to tell them we would be late. They promised to hold the puppy in the office for me, no worries.  An hour and $180 later, we had our new tire, and we were back on the road.

So, we finally got her home after what seemed like a day-long fiasco.  We set her up in the front yard, and then Isaac went into the house to get Dublin. There was lots of sniffing and curiosity, but nothing else really. He wasn't sure quite what to think, but he was gently and sweet with her. Over the course of the last few days, though, they have begun to develop into buddies. They constantly look for each other, hang out in the same room, and even sometimes lay down by each other. If one goes outside, the other has to be right there too. And Dublin has gone to great lengths to teach her how to play... It's funny because he looks and sounds like he's being rough, but if you really look, he is being very gentle with her. I love it.

Okay, some pictures... you may have seen these on facebook already. But if you missed them on there...

 

As for her name... Arya is a character in Game of Thrones. She is a little girl who is born to a noble family, but who doesn't want to be a lady, she would rather be a warrior. This was the name that all 3 kids liked the best of all the names we came up with as options. I guess if you can get 3 kids to agree, you go with it.

week 13

Week 13 of 2013 was primarily focused on Easter. But not entirely. There were some other noteworthy events that week as well... like I GOT MY NEW CAMERA!! And we grilled out for the first time this year. And Isaac had a friend over after school. And we made cherry chip cupcakes (and we also made Brussels' Sprouts, but cupcakes are better).

Here's the whole spread....

The left side...

The right side...

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I love the colors and fun pictures from this week. Bright and happy and full of energy! A lot of these were taken with my NEW camera!!  I ended up getting a Nikon D5200. As of yet, I have still not learned how to use manual settings, and would LOVE to someday take a class or two to learn. But the auto settings and scene selections are abundant and can pull off some pretty great photos on their own.

Winter Walks

One more to share today. I had a second to get (a little) caught up on some of my layout posting. I'm sure there are still tons I've missed. One thing at a time, though, right?!

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Mr. Bubbles

A new layout to share with you today! I used July BYOC goodies available at TLP.

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Lucky 13

Do you know what today is???

Thirteen years ago today, we woke up nervous and excited. We dressed up in our fanciest clothes. And in front of so many of our friends and family, we promised a lifetime.

Goodness, we were young!

That was 3 kids, 1 apartment, 4 houses, 3 states, 2 ferrets, 1 cat, 1 dog, countless fish, 8 vehicles, and forever ago. Lots of changes and challenges, and we're still here. I love this man like nothing else.

Happy Anniversary Lucas!

Sweet Pick

This is what we did today...

We picked strawberries at a local farm. We drive by this farm every single time we go to or from the gym (which is a lot), and we noticed they had their strawberry sign out... which means it's picking season!! This was something we had wanted to do last year, but we missed the picking season. We ended up getting our berries already-picked from their store. Delicious, yes, but without the experience of picking them ourselves. But we didn't miss it this year!! And it really didn't take us long to pick 6 1/2 pounds of berries! I'm planning on at least one strawberry pie. I'll also freeze some for smoothies. And we'll use some to make homemade strawberry lemonade. All good stuff!

What else did we do on this lovely day to celebrate fathers??  We went 'window shopping' for a new car and a new puppy. *lol* Interesting mix, no?  We've been kicking around the idea of a new car for Lucas for a while now, so we took advantage of the Sunday-no-salesmen time to peek in windows and check out price tags. We actually had a bit of success and found something we all agreed on. So we'll see if it leads to anything.

And then we stopped at a local pet store to get a puppy fix... I think Lucas was hoping maybe seeing puppies would satisfy my ongoing longing for another puppy... um, not exactly... it sort of did the opposite. See, the problem with his plan was that they had a sweet little weimy puppy, which only made me want another one all the more. The kids were even offering up all of their saved money to help purchase said puppy. BUT. We walked out empty-handed. For one thing, the puppy - as cute as he was - was grossly overpriced. And secondly, we are getting ready for our vacation - not exactly an ideal time for purchasing a new puppy. *sigh* Logic won out in the end... but I STILL want another one. ;)

Nature Walk

Miracle of miracles - I scrapped!
Second miracle of the day - I actually have time to blog about it!  Hello Summer Break, I love you!

Okay, so anyway, I've missed out on TONS of great kits and goodies that have come out during the month of May, because I have had ZERO time to scrap, or even look at new products or THINK about scrapping. It's been a busy month. Yesterday evening, though, I took advantage of some quiet(ish) time, and plopped my butt in front of my computer. Truthfully, I almost felt guilty about just sitting still. Sad isn't it? But true.

I'm a bit (*cough, a lot*) out of practice, and I sort of didn't even know where to start. So I decided to keep things super simple. Pick a few photos, crop them to standard 4x6 size, and pretend I'm doing a page with paper supplies. It all started coming together pretty easily from there. Here's what I came up with.



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The photos were taken on the day of Meagan's 8th birthday party (which was this month, although you wouldn't know that because I never blogged about it). She had a bunch of girls over for a few hours, but 2 of them stayed the night. Once the party cleared out, the 3 girls, Dublin and I went for a walk down to the nature reserve by our house. We found a trail through the woods, and we played in the river. Meagan and C literally played IN the river, but G kept her distance. It was a good time, though. Sadly, I didn't have my actual camera with me, so these are cell phone pictures. They work.

Picky Eater (???)

Two days ago, I noticed that Dublin's food bowl was full. And had been full for several hours. Odd? A little. But I thought maybe it was the heat, and he would just eat in the cooler hours. Well, night came and went, and the food still sat there in the bowl. Surely he would eat in the morning then, right? Nope. Morning came and went as well. And not only would he not eat, but he was actually spitting the food back out. I tried to get him to eat from my hand (because at this point I was a little worried... Weims have tummy issues as it is.  Combine that with being a large breed and running the risk of turning the stomach if they romp while their stomachs are too full...) and he would take it and drop it right back down on the floor. So I tried a treat. He would either not take it at all, or he would spit it out, much like the food. At this point, I had this nagging little something in the back of my head wondering if something was really wrong. 

One more little experiment to try before deciding there was a big issue... 

I took a tiny piece of Isaac's breakfast sandwich (turkey, cheese, croissant) and offered that to Dublin. He not only took it and swallowed it, but he followed me around begging for more. 

Hmmmmm..... what we have here is a case of a picky eater!! I don't think (although who knows what the kids do when I'm not looking) we feed him much in the way of people food. Not intentionally anyhow. But the counter surfing and dumpster diving must have given him a taste of what he's missing, and he thought he could shun the puppy food in favor of the people stuff. 

Not gonna happen. 

I told the kids right away not to give him ANYTHING but puppy food. He will eventually get hungry enough to eat what is being offered to him. 

He held out all morning. And much of the afternoon. But by about 4:00, he finally gave in and started nibbling at his food. I noticed, though, that he was still taking the food out of the bowl, dropping it on the floor, and then picking it back up to eat it. Well, over the weekend I had gotten him a food bowl thing that stands about a foot off the ground (to keep the ants out, and also because I guess it's supposed to be better for them to eat this way??). Apparently, though, he is not a fan of elevated food, because when I put the bowl down on the floor, he chowed!! Empty bowl. Full puppy. No issues. Just a picky picky eater. 

Project Life 2013: Week 12

Nope, I'm not even a little up-to-date on my Project Life. But I'm not giving up! I'm determined to make something of this project for 2013!

Here's week 12...

 

Right side close-up...

Left side close-up...

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The highlights of the week...
* snow day from school on Monday!!
* Lucas got a Camero rental car for work travel
* Bas is working on level stuff at gymnastics
* e-collar for Dublin
* Chili's for a bacon cheeseburger...and a really long wait
* Webkinz reemerge as a hot item around our house
* Family Survivor dinner date
* Handles on the kitchen cabinets - Meagan helped
* We met our pastor at church this weekend for the first time

Fiasco

Fiasco.
That one word pretty  much sums up our last 7 days with Dublin.
Last Tuesday, he and I took a nice long bike ride / run (where I ride and he runs along beside me... obviously... not the other way around).  We got back to the house, all was good. I got off my bike to open the garage door. The wind blew. The bike fell. One his foot. He started bleeding and never stopped. About 30 minutes after the incident, we were loaded in the van and on our way to the vet.
At said vet, he was given stitches and a cone of shame. The vet tech then told me, with all seriousness, to 'prevent him from running, jumping, or playing' for the next 10-14 days. I looked at her and said, 'Have you ever had a 9-month-old Weim? That's not going to happen.'  Apparently, she didn't get what I was telling her. She sent us on our merry way with strict instructions to make him lay down and stay calm. Yeah right.

Three days later we were back at the vet because, with the cone on - the cone that supposed prevents him from being able to reach his foot - he chewed a giant hole through the bandage and pulled a stitch out. THIS time we saw a different vet. This vet has a Weim of her own, and had a very different perspective on all of this. First off, she out right LAUGHED at the cone. It was, clearly, not big enough. And then she laughed at the attempt to sedate a Weimaraner without sedatives.
We left the vet last Friday with a staple to replace the stitch he tore, a fresh bandage, and a bigger cone. I though, surely now he would  not be able to chew his bandages.

I thought wrong.

Today we were back at the vet. Again. This was actually a planned visit to see how he is healing (very well, by the way), but still he had chewed through his bandages yet again. We left with fresh bandages and an appointment to have his stitches removed Saturday morning.

Within an hour of getting home, he had already chewed through the 3rd set of bandages. He now has one of Isaac's long tube socks over his bandage and taped to him way up high where he really SHOULDN'T be able to reach it to pull it down. Truly, Saturday morning can't get here soon enough!!!  This has been a fiasco!

Funny note, though... If ever you are in need of a good laugh, you should watch a Weimaraner that is on a sedative. It's good stuff! He'll be going going going and then all of a sudden the meds kick in, and he crashes! Drops pretty much wherever he is. The other day, he flopped down and went to sleep two feet from the back door. He had been on his way to the door to 'knock' to come inside, but he never made it to the door. We found him passed out in the sunshine. Thankfully it wasn't pouring rain or anything. And he walks like he's had a bit too much to drink (especially with the satellite dish on his head). Our walls may need a touch-up when this is all said and done.

Updated Chore Charts

For quite a while, we used a button chore chart for each of the kids, and it worked. As the kids got older, though, they sort of outgrew the old system. My response, until now, has been to just not have any kind of chart in place. I thought it would work. But really, more than anything, it was me dropping the ball. Weeks would pass, and it would totally slip my mind to give them their rewards. We were doing allowance $ for a week of chores. Inconsistency quickly became our biggest issue... the kids were inconsistent in what they were doing... I was inconsistent in how I was rewarding... and soon it just became either (a) I paid them all whether they earned it or not, or (b) I just forgot to pay them altogether. Neither is good. Time for a new plan.

Nothing a quick stop at Target can't fix. I got a few supplies: a black dry-erase board, some wet erase markers, Mon-Sun magnets (all found in the office supplies section), and a packet of Smash journal strips (found in the scrapbooking section).

And I put together a chore chart for the week... 

It's pretty basic... Days of the week across the top, chores down the side. If your initial shows up in the box, it's your chore for the day.

As for rewards... it goes like this:

• For each day that you get ALL of your chores done, you get a dot. The dots will be tracked at the bottom of the board, under their names.
• Once you  have 7 dots, you get whatever the individual reward is for that week (I'll get to that in a second). Dots carry over from one week to the next until you get to seven... it could take you one week or three weeks to earn 7 dots. At the time you DO get 7 dots, whatever the individual reward is for that week is what you earn. 
• There are 2 sets of rewards... Individual Reward and All Together Reward. The Individual Reward is earned by accumulating 7 dots. The All Together Reward is earned if, and only if, all three of them get all of their dots for the given week. So, EVERYONE does EVERYTHING Monday - Sunday of the current week. If that happens, they get a collective reward as well as the individual reward. It's my hope that this will encourage them to support and encourage each other. We'll see how it goes. 
• Each week, we randomly pull out one Individual and one All Together Reward Card. That's what you  see in the top left corner. It changes each week. 

Our rewards include things like $5 cash, a $5 gift card to Barnes & Noble, 2 1/2 hours of electronic time, and having a friend over (maybe for a sleep-over or something more special than just the random friend who shows up to play for a bit).  All Together rewards include things like Cupcakes from the specialty cupcake bakery in town, a trip to Dairy Queen, a day at the zoo or museum, put put, popcorn party & movie night... stuff like that. 

It's new. It's untested. But the kids helped develop it, and they are excited about it. I think the degree of its success will actually depend on me. I need to follow through in a timely manner with the rewards. Otherwise, their motivation will drop off pretty quickly, and we'll be back to where we've been for the past several months. 

Spring Sports & Crummy Weather

What a week we've had!! Wednesday was the official start of lacrosse games, and it was also Meagan's first soccer practice! The return of Spring sports.  Unfortunately, it was also the return of crazy Spring weather! 

So, Wednesday, Isaac had to be at the field at 5:30 for a game that started at 6:00. Meagan had to be at her field by 6:15 for a practice that started at 6:30. Meg's practice was to last until 7:30, and Isaac's 2nd game was to end at 8:00. Throw in Sebastian's gymnastics practice from 4:00 until 6:30, and factor in that Lucas was several states away for work, and you have one insane effort at playing SuperMom on my part. Thankfully, I had a little help from the weather! 

Meagan was all dressed and ready to go for her practice. We took Isaac to the field, with plans to stay until about 6:10 to watch a bit of his game. But... around 6:00, lightening started in up north of us, where the soccer fields are, leading to one canceled soccer practice. This freed us up to just hang out and chill at Isaac's games.

Meagan, all dressed up and ready to go.

It was a good thing I was able to hang out at the lacrosse park... it started raining and lightening there shortly after. The game was delayed twice for weather, and was finally called at the end of the 3rd period. The second game was nixed entirely, but we still ended up getting home at 8:30, so it lasted as long as 2 games would have on a regular day. 

Isaac's team played great! Considering that last year they one all of ONE game, and they had seemingly NO concept of passing or setting up plays... this year, first game, they scored twice on a series of nice passes and play set-ups! They ended up winning 4-3!!  Good start to the season! Hopefully they continue to improve as the season goes... win or lose, it's always more enjoyable to play when you know you're playing well!

Know what else lacrosse sticks are good for??  Sword fights. 

 This year, Isaac has been getting some nice compliments from his coaches about his defensive play, and it really showed in the game. He is a lot more aware of the plays this year, and plays a lot more aggressively.  Good to see him gaining confidence and understanding of what's happening. It's a tough sport to learn, and the first year was one giant learning curve.

*****

Okay, so on to soccer. With no practice to date, today was their first game. Her coach had emailed me and told me their jersey's were green. Since she does not yet have her jersey, we went with the green m&m shirt. Perfect! Meagan even said, "maybe it will distract the other team because it will make them hungry for m&m's!"  Love that girl!

 So.
This sport fits her. It's full-go and non-stop. There's always action. There's always something to do. And it's intense. She got about a 15 minute crash course on the VERY basics before the game started. And that was it before go time. Even with all of that, she played rather well. And she's QUICK! When she gets the hang of dribbling and passing and shooting, this could work out well for her. She even ALMOST scored! So she's feeling okay about things, and has plans to score at her 2nd game, which is tomorrow.

 

I love the intensity and focus on her face. And the pink socks. Love those. ;)

This is what you do when it's FREEEEEZING outside and it's not your turn to be in the game. *LOL*

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