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.