A little change does the body good...

We've been going room by room at a snail's pace...or maybe slower than a snail...trying to freshen them up. We've lived in this house almost 7 years and sometimes a new coat of paint or a furniture rearrangement can bring new life to the 4 walls that tend to close in on us.

I had a vision for the big kids' room. It's called, "I'm over it." That was my vision. ha! I wanted toys gone and clean walls and every single item had to have a place or it was trashed! It was a DARK navy with a fat white stripe through the middle. My only "before" pick was as the nursery for Buster but the walls never changed.

The red bunks were a hand-me-down and pretty bold, so I just always had a red/navy/white theme...and frankly, navy started to wear on my nerves. So we exchanged it for white - my new fave.

 

The curtains are the original white ones that were already there. I bought a gray flat sheet from Walmart for about $6, cut it up and did some stitch witchery to secure on the stripes. A time-heavy and cuss-worthy project but it turned out exactly as I'd hoped. 

The following little bad boy had a makeover before it became Big Sis' dresser 7 years ago (as it was originally the Husb's grandmother's). Then Buster acquired it and we were too lazy to make it boy-ish. Now, I wanted a more neutral, kid-ish, easy-handles-to-open dresser. 

Before...

 

After...

I think it's my favorite piece of furniture in the whole house. 

Next was the GREAT WALL OF DOOM. It stared at me daily in all it's blankness. So I went big and obnoxious to match the big and obnoxiousness of the space.

Before...

After...

Huge pics blown up at Staples for $3 each and then spray adhered to underlayment wood we already had. And by huge I mean HUGE. The desk (my grandmother's) just got very tiny! Take that you wall of doom! Ampersand in the middle was made by this awesome shop I know. :)

We took the doors off the closet and made it much more user friendly. Since the kids are getting bigger, so are their clothes (amazing, I know) so we had to do lots of rearranging to make it work and for each of them to have their own space (we're past the point of sharing drawers).

Before...

                                         

After...

And finally, the bedding. They were so excited to have their own sheets and comforters as they have been using their Daddy's from when he was a kid. Yes, 30 years overdue. :) These cute red stars add a nice pop with all the gray surrounding.

Nary a toy exists in this room except the train table tucked underneath the bunks on rollers. Otherwise, NADA toys. And only chapter books allowed. It was either that or in my rage against the stubbed toes, I'd send every single toy to the dump. But lo, we have a playroom downstairs which gets to house all 500 million toys and 75 million torn up books. So I'm not that mean. I just have a snap gene that requires toys to stay out of my sight. In a perfect world, our house would be on the beach so we could store beach toys on the deck and have the ocean as our playground. And the house would be all white, floor to ceiling windows, a maid, a chef, an assistant...

WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!

At least for now, I can enjoy my non-beach house in all it's white/red/gray freshness!

MLB watch out!

T-Ball was a short-lived but momentous season for a little five year old I know.

He learned how to hit a ball. 

He learned how to run the bases in the correct order.

He learned to stick his tongue out when concentrating.

He learned to take great pride in crossing home plate. 

He learned the proper technique to uniform wearing. 

And he learned that the equipment he uses needs to compliment his talent.

But most importantly, he learned how to be a teammate and that's a life lesson that can only be learned on the ball field with 9 adorable little boys, 4 brave little girls and some fantastic men who see the importance of instilling these life lessons in these munchkins.

It's not just T-ball. It's spring training for the Atlanta Braves 2027 team.

District 14: Sanibel

I could stand another week...or year...of waking up to this sight.  I found the perfect spot in this lanai to enjoy my coffee and the Hunger Games. The fam knew not to mess with me while I was in the depths of the games or I would go all Katniss on them and peg 'em with some arrows.  Thankfully that didn't happen often.

This Handsomeness (who, depending on what book I was on in the trilogy, was referred to as Peeta or Gale most of the week) treated me to the best week for our 9th anniversary.

And it just so happened we had some chaperones. The Chaperones lived in the pool unless we forced them to go the beach. Poor poor pitiful things.

We would bring the lovies out about mid-afternoon and at the first scent, they were out...mmmm, smell that slobbery freshness...zzzzzzzzzzzz

 

We made sure to catch the sunset at Captiva one night. One of the most beautiful places on earth. 

Proof that they do get along on occasion. 

Tiny Miss wanted her picture taken all week. Of 300+ photos, about 200 were of this goober batting her eyelashes and then wanting to see it immediately.  Good thing she's cute.

Couldn't raise these hooligans without the help of the rockin' Big Sis...

 

Throw a mustache and some short shorts and we've got a little Tom Selleck on our hands. Either that or Justin Beiber.  Same diff.

Gotcha! Wild Man gives about 1 free smile a week and I captured it - booyah, boyeeeeeee! Just set the camera to speed shooting and I'm bound to outsmart him...

I am Katniss, ya know.