Zookeeper Jane

Monday afternoon I had the exciting privilege of going to the 3rd Grade Zoo.  In years past, they've done a 3rd Grade Sale for the big project of the year, but this year they decided to switch tactics.  {Apparently, the Sale was ending up costing too much real money to create the items that were being bought with fake, 3rd Grade Money.  Thankfully, our experience was never too bad -- Grace literally painted rocks and wrote words on them and Sophie melted used crayons into star molds to create "crazy crayons" -- and I don't think we spent much of anything on supplies.}

 Each of the "Zookeepers" were set up at their desks with a display board and all their information.

 They sculpted their animals out of clay...

 Decorated their boards...

 And created a power point presentation showcasing all their knowledge.

To take its place, the 3rd graders have been working most of the year on an animal research project  that they presented this week in class.  Jane was super excited to learn all about bottlenose dolphins, and even more excited that I was able to come to check out the zoo.

The "button" to start the presentation.

What she was NOT excited about was the fact that due to having Baby Godzilla with me, I did NOT stay the full hour that the Zoo was in session.  Isaac doesn't exactly like staying still or in one spot, so once he started to get dangerously close to ruining other people's projects, I decided we should probably keep the destruction at bay and go.  We'd already been there for 30 minutes, but Jane was heartbroken when we left and it hadn't mended by the time she came home from school a couple of hours later.  As soon as she walked through the door, she started crying, saying that I didn't stay the whole time and "no one" came to her presentation -- only 5 people, she said, and everyone else had a bunch more.  I thought she'd calm down after awhile, but I think she was extra tired and emotional, because she continued to melt down about it for another couple of hours after she was home.

 Did he stay in his Paw Patrol jammies all day long? Yes, yes he did.

She was so sad, that I decided to let her do her presentation for our Family Home Evening lesson that night.  Of course, none of the other kids got the memo that this was a tragic experience for Jane and I was trying to help her get over it, so there was lots of whining and complaining once she was up there and asking WHY Jane was doing her presentation because no one cared.  So that was fun.  After seeing her cry some more and yelling at them to cut it out, I finally got through to them,  and they shut up enough for her to go through all of her dolphin facts.

And that was our night!  Poor little Zookeeper Jane.  Next time I guess I'll just have to ditch the Dumplin' so that I can stay the whole entire time...

Derby Girls

Last night, the Cub Scouts invited the Activity Day girls to join them in their annual Pinewood Derby.  It was a lot of fun, even if ours were the only ones that were essentially painted wooden blocks.  Haha.  Or womp womp.  Thankfully, Jane and Sophie were really good sports about it even though I'm sure they would have liked to have had flashier cars.  Unfortunately, time got away from us over the last few weeks and they wound up painting their cars the night before the Derby.

Since Ethan didn't have any youth activities last night, he was gracious enough to stay home with Alex and Isaac so that we'd be able to actually watch and enjoy the race without having to chase down Baby Godzilla.  And as an added bonus, Alex got to bed on time.  Winning!  Hahaha.

Once we were at the church, it was delightful pandemonium as the cubs and the activity day girls ran around playing and working on getting their cars ready to weigh in.  We were lucky that others came more prepared, and were able to get Jane and Sophie's car up to the allotted 5 ounces with some super glue, a couple of pennies, and a few quarters.

The competition.

In the end, I'm pretty sure their cars were dead last in the overall runnings, but hey -- at least they had fun!  Hahaha.  And, they were pretty stoked to win some awards regardless.  Jane won the Most Creative award for her "Birthday Cake" car and Sophie won the Most Enchanted award for her "Galaxy" inspired car.  All in all, it was a really fun night.  :)

Sophie and Jane were in the same heat the first time they raced -- Jane came in 3rd and Sophie came in 4th.  

Brava!

Saturday brought us the delightful distraction (from house stuff) of Sophie's Talent Show performance!  If you'll recall, last year's show was her singing debut, and this year she really amped things up by going for a solo.  Singing a karaoke version of Alicia Keys "Girl On Fire," she brought the house down!  :)

I don't know where she got her guts from, because I would be terrified to get up onstage and sing by myself in front of a big crowd!  Especially as an 11 year old!  But she did it.  Afterwards, she told me she was so nervous right before going on that she was almost hyperventilating, but that she forced herself to sing along in her head to the group that was on stage and it helped to distract her and keep her from freaking.

 Grace insisted on doing her makeup for the show, along with her friend, Natalie.

Sophie's performance was towards the end of Act II, so we were there for the long haul of the night.  While I think the majority of us were totally fine with that, there was one little toddler who was NOT.   To say that Isaac is difficult in settings like this would be an understatement.  Hahaha.  Poor Scott was on Dumplin' Duty during all of Act I, since I had signed on to help out with the show, and was in charge of keeping kids moving in the right order and getting them backstage at the right time for their performances, but I took my turn with him for part of Act II and he was a handful.  He was freaking out about the loudness of the microphone feedback, he did not like the lights being off with just a spotlight on stage, and some of the performances themselves really scared him, too.  As a result, he started demanding very early "I want to get out of here!"  Hahaha.  After wandering the halls for a few performances, I convinced Ethan to take a turn so I wouldn't miss Sophie's solo debut.  In the end, Ethan burnt out rather quickly and Scott took over once again so that I'd be able to see Sophie and tape her performance.  {He had seen her sing at the dress rehearsal the night before and insisted that he was fine with taking Isaac out again.}

 Obviously we had to go shopping for a new outfit -- thank you Target for the super cute top and shoes.  They really sparked joy.  ;)

 Sophie with a group of her school friends.

Grace with a couple of her fellow Beehives who were so sweet to come and support Sophie in her performance as well.

By the time Sophie got up on stage, she was ready to kill it!  Being on the front row and able to see her up close while she sang was really fun, and I loved seeing her facial expressions.  She really did bring the house down!  I'm so proud of her for going after her dreams.  Look out world, here comes the next pop superstar!  ;)

I'd like to take credit for thinking of buying some roses to present to Sophie at the end of the show, but I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't even think about it.  Grace's friend, Natalie, was the one who bought them herself to surprise her with.  It was so sweet!  And I know it helped Sophie to feel like star.  :)

Evolution of a House

Yesterday morning, Scott had to leave for a quick work trip (as in -- he's already back today).  Before he left, he hugged me tight and told me he would be praying for me.  He's been super worried about me because I've been so stressed with house stuff, and in turn, I've been super worried about him because he's had his own super stress going on with finishing up work stuff.  We've been quite the duo lately.  Haha.  As he was leaving, I told him not to worry about me while he was gone -- even though  I woke up that morning with a horrible chest cold/sinus thing and I still had to get the whole house ready for the listing pictures that afternoon -- because I said I knew there would be tender mercies.

And there were.

The first thing I saw when I looked at my phone yesterday morning was a text from a friend asking how I was doing.  Because I was in such desperate need of help, I actually told her the truth and said I was not doing so great.  Her response was an immediate call to action and she recruited another friend to come over and help me clean the house.  And she brought dinner with her, too!  Less than 20 minutes after I responded to the first friend, another friend texted and asked if I needed any help getting the house ready for pictures that day.  Once again -- I went the truthful route and told her that I would LOVE some help.  After dropping Isaac off at preschool that morning, I was able to whip the house into shape ONLY because of the help of these three friends.  They were literally a godsend.  Like for real.  When I texted Scott to tell him how immediately the tender mercies had come, he was so grateful he almost cried.  And that's saying something.  ;)

By the time the realtor came over yesterday afternoon to take pictures, the house looked amazing.  I am so truly thankful for the helping hands that have aided in this process.  The house gets listed tomorrow and Friday it will be open for showings.  It's hard to believe that we're already at this point!   

To close out this post, I'll go straight to the part you've all been waiting for -- prepare yourself for an ONSLAUGHT of before and after pictures, from the beginning of our time in this house until now.  

The Front

(The top is Before and the bottom is After -- although, it's a pretty old shot of the After.

Changes made were in paint colors -- Tricorn Black on the doors and shutters; Dover White on the skylights and window trim.  Both by Sherwin Williams.)

Front Hall View

 (All of the Before pictures are from our house hunting trip here, and thus have all the previous owners' stuff in them.  Just as an FYI.)

Paint color is Accessible Beige by Sherwin Williams and that's what we had painted throughout the entire house for the sale, per our realtor's suggestions.  Before we moved into the house, we refinished the floors with a darker stain.  It's not DARK, but it's the perfect medium between dark and light to minimize the appearance of dirt and messes.  Which -- with a bunch of kids -- as I'm sure you can imagine, is an important quality.  ;)

Dining Room

 A little bare, but the realtor didn't seem concerned about staging anything.  I still feel like I should do SOMETHING.

Office

 We put hardwood floors in this room along with the Dining Room when we first moved in.

Kitchen

 The only real change in the Kitchen was new paint.

Back Room

 The room was so dark before with that maroon paint.

Family Room

 Slipcovers for the win!  Our couches are so trashed at this point, that we'll be chucking them with the move.  We didn't want to get new ones until we're in the new house and can find something that will fit the space.

 In addition to different wall color, I painted the fireplace tiles when we first moved into the house.  They used to be hunter green.  Now they're Simply White by Benjamin Moore.  Also -- the banister is painted Black Fox by Sherwin Williams.

Upstairs Hall

The molding on the bottom was painted solid Simply White by the painters.  I wish we would have done it 5 years ago.

Alex and Isaac's Room

 New paint, old furniture -- winning combination.  Hahaha.

Ethan's Room

(Ocean View by Behr was the color of Ethan's room up until this point.)

 Scott and I both joked about how spartan Ethan's bedroom looks in these pictures.  I really should have taken a before of what his room looked like before he hauled everything to the basement for the painters to get to work.

(The Many Iterations of) Grace's Room

 These Before pictures are from the previous owners.

 Bird's Egg by Benjamin Moore was the first draft of her room. 

 Dahlia by Sherwin Williams was the second.  And to be honest, I actually really loved this color.  For being so dark and bold, it was oddly relaxing.  Haha.  This paint job happened at the end of last summer when Grace decided she needed a change.

 Final draft is the Accessible Beige that's in every other room.

(And The Many Iterations of ) Sophie and Jane's Room

 The original color.

 First draft was a custom mixed color, which I liked to call Cupcake Frosting.

 When Grace decided to change things up in HER room last summer, Sophie and Jane decided they wanted to change things as well.  This color was also really lovely and relaxing -- maybe there's just something to shades of purple.  Haha.  Hyacinth Tint by Sherwin Williams was the name of this game.

And the Master Bedroom (of which I have no before pictures)

 For some reason, I never got a picture of the Master Bedroom on our house hunting trip.  And I was so anxious to change the brown-and-yellow-sponging-effect paint that was IN the room, that I didn't even stop to take a before.  

 The color I painted it originally (Antique Bone by Ralph Lauren -- a creamy beige) isn't all that different from this one, but I like this one better for sure.  I got a little burnt out on the Antique Bone after using it so much.

And that's a wrap! Once again, I didn't document bathrooms, because bathrooms are kind of gross, but you get the gist of things.  (And if you've made it through all these pictures without scrolling completely past everything, you should win an award.  Hahahaha.)  Until next time!