Pleased as Punch

This seriously turned out better than expected! These boys are so lucky!

So good to be home!

And now I get to go back to work with an incredible sense of accomplishment.

Second in Command

I'm upstairs painting when a fight breaks out in the TV room below. 

Jaws breaks it up by shouting, 

"Do I have to turn this TV off? If you guys keep fighting, I'm turning it off!" 

The kids stop fighting and he yells up the stairs to me, 

"I've got this mom!"

I'm just glad to have a second in command.

Almost done!

 It's starting to get exciting around here! 

All the kids want in on the action!

 These two little rascals came to help- and even though they left a trail of finger and bum prints I was happy for the company...

 After this little incident Jaws jumped down off the ladder and innocently declared, "Oh, I think I will go wash my hands now..."

 LC left little bum cheek marks in another wall. 

It was really tempting to leave them!

At this point my mood had swung 180 degrees. 

I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and I was liking what I saw!

 I was pretty nervous about this green wall- but I immediately loved it.

 Superkid and Pops were away at Scout camp. They left before the paint went up on the walls. We were really excited to finish the job and surprise them! That included a few new jobs. Abz and I started painting everything that wasn't nailed down, including the night stand, airplane book case and little table and chairs.

 I did some of the painting on the back porch to enjoy the gorgeous Spring weather and the amazing smell of the pine trees. Little chief was busy making "sushi" with last of the snow bank. Jaws was playing trains.

 Tadpole was playing farm-military base. 

Normally I wouldn't let the kids take their toys outside to play, 

but I could hardly deny them on a February day such as this!

 In the end, we didn't get it all done before Superkid and Pops got back from their Scout Camp- 

but they were surprised and pleased with the progress none the less!

Superkid started with replacing all of the outlets- and he became a true believer about testing the outlet for a current first. 

I'll let Superkid tell that tale on his own blog. 

Pops headed out to the temple to fulfill his shift.

 Abizella helped scrape the paint from the windows...

And then sat down to enjoy a cup of tea with Jaws on his freshly painted table and chair set.

Tonight will be the first night all week that the kids get to sleep in their own beds! I've found them in some interesting places all week considering that I tuck them in snuggly on the air mattress each night...

A Break From Painting... to Paint

Then when I couldn't stand painting anymore, I took the kids painting.

Superkid painted the Golden Gate Bridge, Abizella painted a Kitty-Corn, Tadpole painted some Pokemon, Little Chief painted a Spring field of flowers and Jaws painted a horse.

Refreshed from all that painting, I then marched myself back upstairs to start painting.

Jaws crashed.

All the kids played!

 

 And I FINALLY felt like I was making progress when the first coat of blue went up on the walls!

 Now I'm getting excited! I think I am going to like this!

And So It Begins...

Ever since we moved into this house, I've had a thorn in my side. 

The boy's room. 

Besides the bathrooms, the boy's room is the only room in the house that hasn't been painted. I'll remind you that chain smokers lived here before us. Plus, the boy's room was formerly an old lady's room with old lady decor. 

It is time for a change.

Because I had to work over Christmas vacation week, I was granted a week off of work during February school vacation week. 

The opportunity I've been waiting for! 

Over Martin Luther Kind Day we took the drastic measure of installing a closet organizer in Tadpole and Little Chief's closet- moving toward the ultimate goal of eliminating the boy's dresser.

Before...

 After...

It was a miracle because we fit EVERYTHING that was already in their closet PLUS EVERYTHING that was in the dresser into the closet with room to spare!

With the boost of joy that gave us we were ready to tackle Superkid and Jaw's closet...

And install lights in the ceiling!

Installing lights in the ceiling required the partial demolition of a wall- 

Superkid was happy to oblige!

And a few strategic holes in the ceiling to pass cable....

Meanwhile, the Toads entertained themselves in Pops' refinished basement...

Superkid rebuilt the wall...

The kids entertained themselves on the shrinking patch of snow with their sleds...

And I tackled the wood trim and doors.

And just like that we were in too far to turn back... but it seemed this project would never ever end. At least the weather was amazing (high 60s and 70s!) and I could watch the children frolic in the yard as a labored to paint the room 

(3.5 days just to paint the trim and doors!).