Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Playing Hookie

Last week was pretty intense as my friend and I spent hours prepping and painting our bedroom, all while juggling our four little ones. But we finished painting, and it looks great! We still need to hang crown molding, finish our head board, recover some pillows, possibly paint our furniture, and make some Roman shades, but I'm feeling pleased with the progress we've made. It instantly feels so much cozier. By Friday, I was pretty burnt out and Benjamin was a little out of sorts, so I was not especially thrilled when disaster clean-up in southern Missouri took Paul away all day Saturday. Not that I didn't think their problems were bigger than ours or that he shouldn't help, but you know. I'm needy. Yesterday was the Saturday we never had and more. Paul sensed my frustration and took the day off to play a little hookie with us.

After a nice leisurely breakfast and some time in the garden, he whisked Benjamin off to the music store (this was the bribe hanging over his head all week to help him remember to be good) to look at violins. Lately, Benjamin talks about how he wants to play the violin. I wish I had a picture, but the ones that are his size are SO tiny and cute. I don't think we'll start him playing the violin this early, but I am still toying with the idea of signing him up for classes or lessons instead of regular preschool (at least this year).

Anyways, while they were having some quality father-son time, I was able to keep my momentum going and painted Peter's room (pictures to come) while Peter hung out with his toys. Once I was done painting, Paul and I cut out our headboard. It was kind of fun working with power tools again! It's been too long.

Then yesterday afternoon, we took a nice long drive to pick up a small table and chairs set I found on Craig's List for a great deal for Benjamin's birthday. Luckily, Benjamin and Peter fell asleep on the way, so Paul and I had a nice quiet drive together, and the present remained a surprise. Then we finished the day at a cute new Mexican place near our house. It was mostly yummy (at least mine was good), but it was the perfect ending to a very satisfying day.

I just wanted to show this Van Gogh painting that I love. I'm kind of drawing inspiration for our room from its color palette. I'm not going for quite the intensity of these colors, but I love the restful feeling it has.

So what do you think about the grandma furniture? Should we paint it black? White? Yellow? (just kidding about the yellow) ...or should we just switch up the hardware? I don't mind the wood so much anymore now that the walls are a different color.

And a few random pictures I thought I'd post of the past few weeks:


Benjamin admiring the elephants. He loved watching them squirt water into their mouths with their trunks.

The zoo is free everyday, and so is the carousel during the first hour. Benjamin loved racing with Dad!
Just checking out the creepy chimpanzee for a minute before hurrying on to better things.
The tigers were where it was at. There were five one-year old cubs, and they were pretty active for zoo animals. And of course Benjamin still refers to himself as a tiger, so this was a highlight.
Haha...this was so creepy. The legless lizards were doing a snake dance up against the glass. Peter loved them! Here he is standing up on his own.

One afternoon, Benjamin decided to rescue his kitty from various trees in our yard with his fire engine.

Benjamin insisted that Peter wear his hat when he decided it was too small for him.
Benjamin with a "face mask" playing baseball.

And last, but certainly not least, check out these beauties! We had our first strawberry harvest of the season today, and they were oh so yummy.

8 comments:

Karen said...

Wow, Sarah, you sure can get a lot done in one day! I'm not sure you were playing much hookie! The pix were great and your boys are, as usual, just adorable!! Love the Van Gogh print too.

Nicole said...

Good job with all the DIY stuff. It looks great.

I am so jealous that you have tiger cubs at your zoo. Tigers are my favorite and I would love to just sit and watch the cubs.

Marc and Miriam Deru said...

Your bedroom does look cozy with that wall color! Wow, good work! You are amazing, Sarah. You are so good at accomplishing things that you want to do in a reasonable (or even quick!) amount of time. Way to go. I love the color palette you've chosen from the painting and I can't wait to see what you do with the rest of your room. Hmm, about the "grandma furniture"-- I think painting it a creamy white would be cool, perhaps with different hardware like you said. That would be a really fun project, too. Your headboard is going to be AWESOME.

Melanie said...

I have a couple of grandma pieces of furniture as well, they are definitely going to be black. I sort of have a soft spot for gigantic pieces of black furniture though. I would say if the space in your room is tight paint it white (the creamy kind that Miriam suggested) but if you have space to spare go black. Although as I type this I think, "Uh, I haven't even finished (-coughcough- started) painted the walls in my house, much less the furniture." Maybe you had better leave color choices to someone more qualified.

Michelle Lowe said...

I love your dresser! And I really even like the wood finish it has now! I don't think you need to paint it, although a cream or black would be nice as well.

alexandra said...

Way to go, Sarah! I am sure it all looks so great. Yo uare so good at creating loveliness out of thin air.

Andrew played a note on a tiny violin that my friend had for her little 5 year old. All the kids in the "class" got to try it and it was very very cute. How wonderful if little B learned how!

Mirien said...

The line that hit me was "I painted Peter's bedroom while Peter hung out with his toys." Obviously he's way more independent than Hayley. Oh, sure, I could paint her room, too, if I could get it done in 5 minutes. More likely, I'd be painting with one hand and holding her in the other. Wow--you are getting so much done. That must feel great!

Also, I think your idea about lessons instead of preschool sounds great. I never responded to your preschool dilemma post, but I composed several paragraphs to you in my head. I have lots of opinions about preschool that I'd love to share with you if you ever want more info. Let's just say that my first 4 children never went to a formal preschool and they have transitioned beautifully into kindergarten. I think it's a shame that everyone assumes preschool is necessary.

The Dahle Family said...

Sarah, I've been thinking of putting Xander into a music class instead of preschool. My old roommate Tara majored in piano and now teaches this program that she raves about called Let's Play Music. Here's the link http://letsplaymusicsite.com/ She said it's so fun to give real piano lessons to kids who have had this foundation.