And So It Begins

Today was Day 1 of Operation "Get the House Ready to Sell!"  The painters arrived this morning and while they got to work, we got out of dodge to keep the kids away.  Since it was President's Day, there was no school, and thankfully Scott was off of work.  We spent the morning at the church building, where the kids were excited to run around the gym and play ball (both basketball and volleyball -- along with a little dodgeball with some other kids who were there, too), before picking up some drive-thru for lunch.  {I know it may sound crazy, but with 6 kids and lots of strong opinions, it was almost impossible to decide on the one place that everyone wanted to eat.  In the end we did McDonald's for the bulk of the family, and Panera to-go for the rest.}

 The whole house is going "Accessible Beige" by Sherwin Williams, per our realtor's suggestion.  It's not a whole lot different from the current color, but there's nothing like a fresh coat of paint to give a house a facelift.

Dining Room almost complete.

Once we were home, Isaac was content to chill in the TV room with a little Backyardigans, while the other kids played outside and Scott worked on cleaning out the garage and I worked on cleaning up  the front yard.  With the weather a balmy 70 degrees today it was the perfect chance to get some outside stuff done before it turns cold and/or rainy once again.  We finished the day off with a delightful evening spent with friends who were so kind to think of us and invited us over for dinner and a chance to hang out away from the paint fumes.  ;)  The only negative of the day is that I kinda threw my back out with all that yard work this afternoon and now I can hardly stand up straight and walk.  Dun dun dun.  Hopefully, a decent night's rest and being able to take it easy tomorrow while all the kids are at school will be enough to restore it to working order.  We shall see!

 There was a LOT of junk to clear out of the garage.

Ethan was the only kid who kinda, sort of, almost ended up helping.