Thank you all for the support!

Thank you to all my friends and family for being so supportive over the last three weeks while I digested the entire Twilight saga. Thank you for not judging as I cooked dinner, folded laundry, or helped with homework whilst peeping over a book. Thank you to my husband for not being jealous of my love for Edward Cullen; it just can't be helped. I think that this is out of my system, and I shall move on to more adult fiction. : )

P & C's Surprise Redo

Paige and Claire have been so patient through the whole room redo. Never once have they hinted at jealousy that Ava and Ike will have their own rooms. This is very impressive for eight-year-olds. Really I think Paige and Claire love sharing a room, especially now that they are in different rooms at school. At night we hear them chatter back and forth to each other. It's a sweet part of being a twin sister.

For being so awesome about sharing, we surprised them with a loft bed. They have a nook in their room that fit the loft perfectly. The cool thing is that Brant designed the loft so that it can be pulled out sort of like a drawer. This means I can stand up behind to put the sheets on. No climbing up in the big space with my big butt to wrangle sheets into place.

Isaak also got a little surprise, we could now give him back his bunks. Boys love bunk beds. Did you know if you shove quilts all around the top layer, the bottom becomes a house, or a fort, or a space ship, or a monster truck, or anything you want that little hidey hole to be?
AND ta-da! Ava's room is pretty well done. She spent her first night in it Sunday. I think this worked out better for Ava than for Ike. He had a bit of room buddy longing in the wee hours, but we'll work through it. Ava LOVES her new pink room. She keeps dragging everyone in there to show them special things. It still needs some finishing touches, but for the most part, it's finished.

Bend It Like Beckham

Paige and Claire started winter soccer. You can see from the pictures, one girl was a bit more into it. One was a bit more into not messing up her hair. Hmmm. . . Oh well, we all have different gifts.

Ava's Room -- week 4

MY SHELVES -- Are these awesome or what? I love the new shelves. There are supposed to be baskets under the bottom shelf for stuffed animals, but the chairs just look so charming in the "library" section of the shelves that I left them for now.

All the trim is up, the doors are up, and the paint is done. We are moving right along. There is still a ways to go before she can move in. The closet is still full of tools. There is no bed. No curtains. Just a bit more finishing to do.













Ava loves the fireplace in her room. I, on the other hand, hate it. I love the fact that it warms the whole downstairs to a toasty temperature, but it's just not my taste. It will stay because, in Iowa, we do have some extremely, chilly evenings














The doors are all hung and trim is up, but you can still see all the junk laying around. We'll wait and see what week 5 brings.

Beautiful Brownies

Troop 46 did so well on cookies sales that they earned an extra special day out. The local beauty school gave all the girls a make-over. This is the nicest beauty school I've ever been in, very classy, glass and chromes feel. Not at all what I'd expected. Each girl got their own beautician, who did hair, make-up, and nails. It was such an awesome day for the eight-year-olds. I chatted up the beauticians about whether grown-ups could do this. One young punk, er, lady answered, "We've never had any as old as you. Maybe 13/14 year olds." What? Old as me?!!! Grrr! Granny should just spank you right now, whipper snapper.



Anyway -- Claire went for the dramatic updo and full blown make-up. Paige got a softer, curly do and some sparkles. Very cute. Each girl just gleamed over the McDonald's happy meal after all the make-overs.


Beauty school makeover: $16
McDonald's happy meal: $4
Giving your little sister a make-over: priceless

Wee Bit Bluesy

I had to go register Ike and Ava for Kindergarten Round-up today. *sigh* I'm feeling rather blue about this. I mean wasn't it just three short years ago I went through this with Paige and Claire. Where did the little girls with their bus number taped to their shirt go? I knew this day was coming, and, honestly, I was a bit excited by it. Now that it's here, I'm just a bit weepy. I even welped up at the library over a book I was getting for our preschool unit this week. Oh, time is just zipping by far too fast. Hope this wave of blues passes, so I can get out of the kitchen. Somehow hot tea and far too many cookies isn't remedying my sadness.

Ava's Room - week 3

O.k. It is now pink, and we have a closet door up. My family was up this weekend, so we worked them like borrowed mules. Dad and Brant did all the hard stuff. Becca and I painted Ava's room and the hall. Mom and Sarah just kept the masses out (maybe the harder job). It's coming along nicely. The pink is not too pinky and will look better when all the other elements are added: curtains, bed, trim, etc. We decided to keep all the trim dark. This is a different move for me, usually I paint it all cream, but the entire house has dark trim. Since the house bleeds all into each other (very open), I'm just overwhelmed at the thought of painting it all.
Here are my shelves. No trim is up yet, but aren't they going to be lovely. Big baskets full of stuffed animals on the bottom. Books and board games on the middle. Quilts piled up on the top. Can't wait for all the little finishing touches to be set in place.

Still cold here -- and unlike all of our Illinois friends, we had school on President's Day. To make up for snow days, they are taking away two of our three day weekends. We only had two, and they are taking them away. So sad.