Sunday, January 10, 2016

Grayson Room Remodel

This is a little difficult for me to write. When we first bought our house in 2005 we had big ideas and big plans. Plans for a family and to someday actually use the 4 bedrooms we had! When we found out we Kenna was coming I planned a great jungle theme room. I spent 8 hours painting the animals that flanked Kenna's door. All of our kids spent their first two years in that jungle room and I have so many memories of changing diapers, playing on the floor and endless hours rocking and feeding my babies in that room.

But Grayson isn't a baby anymore and he was over the animals. As part of his Christmas present we decided to redesign his room into a rocket room per his request. We took the opportunity to upgrade the look of oak to white trim. But I couldn't stand painting over the animals...I had to let Grayson do it!








Hours and hours of my Christmas break I spent painting sanding and repaiting trim, doors and walls. Josh and his family participated in a Star Wars movie watching marathon which game me more hours and hours to paint undisturbed. It was a labor of love and I am so pleased with the result! I feel like it is a very unique look and Grayson is thrilled - which was the hope :)







While the house was already all torn up, we took advantage of that and the free time we had over the holidays to redo the hall as well. I couldn't be more pleased with the result! Out with the oak, in with the white!








Bowling

Thought we would take advantage of winter break and take the kids bowling and to see santa. Bass Pro Shop have both things figured out! What a cool place!







Winter Parties

People probably wonder what I do all day as a SAHM. Well part of it goes into volunteering my time at the school and in organizing parties and teachers gifts. I know they appreciate it and always have a shortness of time and funds - so glad to help!





Chilly

If you are wondering where the warm spot is in our kitchen - our puppies can help you :)


Heartland Youth Choir Wintersongs Concert

So proud of this stinker! He not only spent 5 hours between rehearsal and performance at the wintersongs concert, he went up on stage and sat fairly still the whole time. For a 6 year old to do this into the almost 10 oclock hour on a school night is nothing short of a miracle! We really enjoyed some of the artistic takes on traditional Christmas songs as well as an acapella group from Iowa State "Shy of a Dozen." 



Christmas Goodies

Maaaayyyybbbbbeee went a little overboard on the Christmas plates this year...I think we did 15. Brownies, 3 kinds of fudge, 3 kinds of truffles, small cake cookies, raspberry almond cookies, eggnog cookies, almond joy cookies and sugar cookie bars....everything was pretty yummy even though the raspberry cookies turned into bars after my too hot kitchen melted them :)





Reading

We did a lot of reading over the holiday - perhaps my favorite was listening to all of them reading Kenna's library book Grossology. It discussed how your body works "weird science" boogers, saliva, toots, burps - nothing was off limits....at least they were reading!


Tick's Antics














The Other Half Live

Josh and I got a chance to attend the Ho Ho Holiday tour in Ankeny. It is a tour of 6 of Ankeny's most prestigious homes with all the proceeds going to charity. Each stop is catered by a local vender and while I don't think we ate $50 worth of food - touring the 3 million dollar mansion was worth the entrance fee!

We got to see the greatest of great rooms and a home with an indoor basketball court - but the tuscan style mansion was indescribable. The finest finishes and woodwork throughout the home, a 2 story monolith water feature running from the basement to the main floor...20 foot basement ceilings - just incredible! Very fun night! We likened it to Downton Abbey opening their manor to the peasants and allowing them to tour and ask questions...we definitely felt like that :)




Grayson Christmas Program

Ms. Betsy tried something a little different this year for the winter program. Instead of a formal program where the kids got all dressed up and sang and entertained us for a few hours - we got to spend the day doing what they do. I really loved it! I got to see Grayson go from task to task - see the "work" he chooses each day - what is his favorite and what he doesn't enjoy as much. My most favorite moment was watching him try to match the weights. There are many different cylinders that all have varying weights and they are supposed to match them. Many times he tried to match the 18 different cylinders and many times he made errors (I tried later and its really hard!!!) 

But, every time he got it wrong he just put them back in the main pile and tried again. He was so patient and diligent and it probably took him 10 minutes to finish but he was so happy when he did! I hope he can keep that work ethic and patience his entire life! So proud of our little man!!

And - since he goes everyday, I got to go two days in a row! Once with daddy and once with Gona. So happy to share these special memories! The finished the day singing a few very cute christmas songs. Cutest thing ever is watching a bunch of 3-5 year old sing "click click click" and try to snap their fingers above their head....just priceless :)