Summer Projects

 My parents have been visiting this week.  I can’t believe the week is almost over!  The sweet corn was ready, so we had our yearly corn husking “party” with my in-laws and nephews coming over.  I had taken the kids shoe shopping the day before.  Knut thought it would be too much for me, so he came along.  It turns out it was still too much, because on corn husking day, I had to sit most of it out.  Fortunately my mom pretty much took over my duties of cutting corn off the cob, and getting it freezer ready for the winter.

 Elias and his twin cousins played pirates during the husking.  That is important too.

Ingrid was surprisingly content in the pack n play, and out of the mess.

Solveig and her little cousin, Leif, both ate cob after cob of raw corn as we husked.  Yum, fresh corn is good!

Then Knut and my Papa went to work on finishing up the boys’ room.  Knut ended up hiring a contractor to finish up the taping and texturing of their room so that we would be ready to paint the week that my parents are here.

It has been constant mess upstairs in our house for quite some time!  David wanted to be involved in all of it, and helped wet mop, and then steam the floor before all of  the furniture was ready to be moved in.

The hallway was jam packed with “stuff” from the kids’ rooms.  I’m so much looking forward to getting this space back!

 The colors I chose for the boys’ room were tan for the walls (“Oat Straw” to be exact) with navy, red, and white accents.  We got some vintage-feel superhero posters, as well as some sports posters, and a map Elias picked out.

 All the furniture was from their old room.  We put by the window Knut’s grandfather’s old desk.  David was so excited to have a desk in his room, that he wanted to do his schoolwork up there at the first opportunity.

The room is pretty simple.  The boys really can’t handle toys in their room yet.  Most of our toys are in the basement “toy room” of the house, and that makes bedtime that much easier.  It really feels plain and simple, but we all love it.  It’s so peaceful.

It fits with our current de-clutter/simplify mission that I’ve been on this year.  I am always surprised how happily my kids react to simplicity.  They never ask for it.  They hate the process.  They love the finished product!

For those who may remember, this was formally the girls’ room which I did last year.  I was trying to make the best of pink wallpaper surrounding the room even covering the ceiling that was bowing in the middle.  Now the girls are being transplanted to the bigger bedroom that the boys used to occupy since they outnumber the boys and could use the space.

We’ll be taking the last few days we have my parents in town by pushing the projects aside and just enjoying their visit.  Next week Knut will paint the old boys’ room a fresh aqua color for the girls, and all of their stuff will get set up in that space.  That room doesn’t require the walls torn down or re-insulation.  It will be a “simple” paint job.  Thank goodness for that.