Goings On

This is traditionally one of the hardest weeks of the year for our family. Doug and Sara are at band camp (from 7 AM to 9:30 PM), and work is picking up for me quickly. On top of that, Lauren is at camp with her friend Amelia. SO, the little ones and I are home with lots to do.

It seems I am always inspired to begin a project this week - maybe it's a good bit of time at home; maybe it's trying to hold onto the calmness of summer. Not sure. This year is no exception, as we are FINALLY re-doing (well, just doing) Lauren's room. You see, she moved down to the guest room in our basement just before we left for China last December. With the whirlwind of getting ready for a trip to China, a new daughter and Christmas, she was pretty much just dumped into the basement.

Now it's not all that bad. She has a BIG room (16' x 16') and her own bathroom and a blank slate of a room (we had never really decorated it). She had gone through several variations of what she wanted "her room" to be and it evolved into a zebra and hot pink/lime green theme. GREAT! Looks cool - just right for a tween, almost teen, girl. She and I had shopped for a few room things, we found a zebra comforter set on ebay and had a plan. The problem seemed to be finding the time to put the plan into action. She was planning to go to camp in June, but things changed with that broken arm she had! My plan was to surprise her with her new room when she got home from camp. I had promised her that we would do her room this summer - before school starts back. Of course, she didn't know my intentions of surprising her, so all summer she has "reminded" me of my promise. I have been buying time with her and she has been OK with it (or has given up on me!).

SO this was the week. She went to camp on Sunday and we started the new room. I began by moving the furniture out and sewing. Sunday night we had the walls painted. Monday (yest) I did a little more sewing and painting. Last night after band camp (mostly outside in the not-so-forgiving GA sun), Doug trimmed out the paint one more time (I'm the roller, he is the trimmer).

Today I put a coat of paint in the bathroom, finished the curtains, made 2 initial towels and plan to paint a bookshelf after A and A are in bed. Tomorrow the carpet man is supposed to come. Honestly, I'll be surprised if he comes. Each time I call, he needs a reminder of what we want. Who knows what he will show up with or if he will show up at all! This (the carpet) will be the biggest surprise for Lauren. We told her that the dark red carpet was only a few years old and didn't need to be replaced. Now (6 years after finishing our basement) I wonder "What WAS I thinking?" with that carpet color!!!! Oh well.

Assuming the carpet guy gets it installed tomorrow morning, we'll move her furniture back in and get things set up. A few months ago, she drew a diagram of how she wanted the room to be arranged, so I know what goes where. She will (hopefully) be surprised and pleased with the things I have bought that she hasn't seen. She has no idea there were plans to "do" her bathroom either...

Before (well, not really a true before pic, but close enough)

Dash checks out Lauren's new STUFF!

Today is the 4th day of Ally NOT taking a nap -- intentionally. She is at that inbetween stage of sort of needing one, but when she does nap, she cannot settle down at night. I'm trying to get A and A back on the 8 PM bedtime for school, so I need her to transition. Boy, does that do the trick - she has fallen asleep within 2 minutes of laying down. AND, the best part, she is not that grouchy in the late afternoon or early evening! I just have to watch her carefully if/when she slows down to make sure she doesn't collapse! I don't dare put her in the car after 3 PM or she will snooze quickly!

I took A and A to Walmart to get Alaina some of her school supplies. One of the items on her list is a water bottle. As we rounded the corner of the lunchbox aisle, we saw 4 designs that caught their eyes (yes, Ally "needed" one too). Alaina waivered between 2 bottles - a pink one with Sleeping Beauty and Belle, and a light blue one with Tinkerbell and Ariel. She chose the pink one. Ally immediately knew the water bottle for her -- Spiderman. That just cracked me up - their personalities are truly showing through.

Anyway, more on the room as we progress (no, she doesn't have internet at camp - I don't think Lauren reads the blog all that much anyway!)...