The Boy's Room

We haven't done anything to Will's room since moving in, except for hanging the bookshelves. We were waiting to find out the gender of this new baby, as that determined which room got the bunk beds.... and once we knew- well, you know us- we've had other projects going on.

Before: 

I really want Will to "play" in his room, as opposed to Amy's- which she wants too. A lot of the toys are in the living room and they just don't play with them- so I'm hoping to gradually transfer those to the boys room as well.

So on the agenda today was bunking the beds. It was actually incredibly easy, and only took 2 short calls to Mom and Dad (only because I had never seen it apart and didn't know what to do). I wanted to get the beds out of the way and create a play area... and of course eventually, there won't be a crib in there- so that will open the room even more (though it is a tiny room).

I saw the greatest idea on Pinterest... a magnet board! It's actually an oil drip pan, $10 from Walmart (in the auto parts section) and is just perfect. Will LOVES magnets and is always playing with them on the fridge. I get so tired of the magnets on the floor, so this proved to be the perfect solution. I just hung it and the basket with screws.

(yes, Amy had to have her dress up magnet Barbie on there too)

So here is the After: 

I still have to hang curtains and a few pictures on the walls. I also want to get one of those rugs with a car track pattern. But other than the 'decorative' type stuff... both kids rooms are done (for the most part!)

Good news, but yet, nothing much else

Will had another EEG yesterday. It was really just a routine one, to make sure his dosage increase was doing it's job. Lee had a test to give, so I had to go without my reinforcement. Then Amy woke up coughing, so she declared she couldn't go to her friend's house because she would get her friend sick. I don't think Amy is sick- I think it's allergy/ this crazy hot then cold weather related. She doesn't have any other symptoms. Anyhow, I kept asking her if she'd go and play at Alida's, but she nearly cried every time, so in the end I just brought her with me.  Lee and I both gave her a huge lecture before going... the goal is to get Will to sleep and I couldn't leave to take her to the potty, give her a snack or anything else. I am proud to say that Amy did really, really well. There were some stuffed animals there and she just rocked them and watched a movie they had playing. Will never fell asleep, unfortunately, but he did lay really still and rest. So that was as good as we could get. The nurse called back today and said it was a good EEG, everything was normal and there wasn't any activity (which is good in the neurology world). So YAY!! This means his medicine is working and is at the right dosage. Double YAY!

When we got home, we got a shipment of diapers! YAY- we needed those! I get mine through Amazon... I really like their subscribe and save program... it's the huge box (like from Sam's) at a lesser cost and once a month automatically shipped right to my door. This was the first time I also got diapers for little Tyler. Figured I should start stocking up! And the 2 boxes of diapers and box of wipes provided a great play area for the kids!

Amy is hiding in the big brown box. :)

Thankfully both of my kids really love books. Here they are in their "reading box." There's nothing like a cardboard box!

That's about it for now. I finally managed to clean the kitchen and the living room.... won't Lee be surprised!! hahaha. He's been gone the past 2 evenings and instead of cleaning- I crafted! hahaha. He actually had the opportunity to see the past Supreme Court Justine, Sandra Day O'Connor speak last night. He said she was a neat, feisty old lady and he loved hearing about some supreme court stuff he didn't know. He got in line 90 mins before the presentation and was number 159.... they only took the first 250. Wow! She was popular! He had a good time though, and I'm glad he went (he wanted to come home and help me out, but I put the kids to bed at 6:30 and told him to stay.) I appreciate him wanting to help me, but I also know he really wanted to see her.

Everything worked out well- and actually Will slept from 6:30 last night to 6am this morning. WOW- THAT was a first!!! Oh AND yesterday marked the first month that Will hasn't had a seizure!! Yesterday was a wonderful day of firsts around here! :)

Thus far....

On Sunday we had a Super Bowl party with some friends. Actually, I invited like 10 families and either people had plans or they got sick. By the time the game started, my friend Emily, and her husband Cole, and Beth, and her 4 girls (her husband was sick) were the only ones that could come. But we all had a great time! And yes, we girls even watched the game! We talked a lot too- and ate! My oh my! We had some yummy food. When everyone left, Lee declared that he had never been more full. Sorry- didn't get any pictures.

The kids didn't sleep well that night.... that's always fun. But I dragged them to Home Depot on Monday morning anyway. I needed some wood to build another shelf for Will's room, 2 smaller ones for Amy's room and some bathroom shelves for us. I'm going to be a building fool! :) 

Amy was a wonderful helper. She'd stand on the end of the cart and hold onto the wood so it wouldn't fall off. Several people asked if they could borrow her. 

She even helped me load the wood in the car. She was so cute! Dad would have been proud! :)  The kids thought that riding with wood next to them was the coolest thing. They each got to hold a piece (they are smaller, thinner ones, not as big as the large boards!) and what could be more fun!?!? 

One the way home I decided to stop by Ross and look for a curtain for Will's room. I didn't find anything, curtain wise, but I DID find something I've been wanting for a long, long time..... 

Converse Sneakers!!!

I have no idea why I've wanted them for so long. It's just one of those things. I happened to see them, in my size, in a 'different' color (as opposed to the black everyone wears) and they were an awesome deal...... so now they have a home. Welcome home Pink Converse. :)

Today has been a day...... Amy woke at 5:30am, which is becoming quite the norm for her, dreadfully! At 6am I let her go watch cartoons and eat a bowl of dry cereal (I prep the night before, cereal ready, water in a cup and the tv on PBS). But I didn't get to sleep much longer, as Will gets up around 6:30am. Amy declared she was sick and has a cough to match it. I knew it was going to be a long day when I made a frozen pizza for lunch, and noticed it was only 10am. To help pass some of the time, I made Amy some playdoh. But in true Sarah fashion- I couldn't just leave it white, or even just one color, no, I had to add glitter too.

She loved it, and it was pretty. Last night I made the dough for some Valentine cookies and this morning, when Will was napping, I decided to bake and decorate them. I don't know what possesses me to do such things.... for some reason, in my mind, I can do it all and have it cleaned up during naptime. WHY do I live in this false sense of reality??

This is my counter.....

This is the other counter.... then I decided I didn't like this particular frosting, so I wanted to try another.

And this is the sink (luckily everything on the left is actually clean, I just didn't put them away yet). I laugh at my "Keep It Simple" sign everyday. I bought it to help remind me to keep things simple, but instead I laugh at it.

Every single piece of silverware was in the dish washer- clean, but waiting to be unloaded. Will woke up at about this time and constructed this....

and when he was bored with that, he either ate an apple.... (I'm sure he ate those missing seeds)

or read a book. Right in the entryway of the kitchen.

Amy has been bugging me and bugging me for WEEKS to buy celery. For some reason she had it in her brain that she wanted to try it and wouldn't let up about it. Today I finally got her some (it's not something I 'normally' buy because we don't use it often) She decided she liked it, but I think she thought it had some magical powers or something because she was quite disappointed that she still felt sick afterwards.

And at the end of all my efforts, here are all the cookies I completed. I kind of feel like there should have been more! Although I am guilty of eating a few.... or more....

Lee is going to the temple tonight and I will be putting the kids to bed early... so I'll get everything cleaned up and then I am SITTING (happy, Aunt Lynn??) and watching tv for the rest of the night. Will has an EEG in the morning (just to make sure his brain waves are 'normal' with the increased dosage of his medication) so it'll be another long day. Gosh, I hope Amy is feeling better! Lee has class and I'm going to hate bringing her to her friends house if she's still coughing. But I think it's just because she's had a few late nights... so hopefully she'll feel better after an early bedtime.

If anyone is curious- I tried a few new recipes this time... the sugar cookie recipe can be found on Our Best Bites here..... it was really good! Originally I tried their royal icing recipe. It tasted good, but was pretty runny and I couldn't get it to thicken just right. So I tried a different recipe from Sweetopia and that ended up being a great flood frosting.

Amy's Room

I mentioned a few days ago about my dilemna on storing all of Amy's stuffed animals. When I googled, "ways to store stuffed animals" this cool thing came up- it's a zoo!

But it was $150. Yeah, no..... Then I thought I could just make one (I'd do it half this size), then I decided I didn't feel like it. But I think I'm going to take that concept and recreate it for the boys room to store their balls..... anyways, I kept searching and I found this Animal Bean Bag from Boon. I don't if you are familiar with Boon products, I wasn't until Aunt Ashley sent us some stuff when I had Will. They have some really neat items! And I loved this!

You just cram all of their animals into it and it's like a bean bag chair! It was a little expensive (I thought $36 was expensive, but I'm really cheap) and I first wondered if I could make it. Which you totally can, but I didn't want to. So I forked out the money. Let me tell you- WELL worth it! 

It's really well made, the zipper and mesh is really solid and the purple part is super soft. Amy loves to sit it it! Which was the point- I wanted her to have a little reading chair under her new shelves. (Yes, a few of the bigger animals didn't fit in, but that's ok. We need to get rid of a few more anyhow). It was the best way (that I found) to store all these animals and save space as well! So if you are in the same predicament that I am- just fork out the money and buy one. :) 

Building her shelves and cleaning out her animals prompted me to rearrange her room. I moved her bed, desk and redid the pictures on her walls. 

We have to keep the desk chair down because Will gets up there, finds a crayon....
and well, I've posted about his 'artwork' before... 

I also started a photo wall for her. No, she will not have my sophomore year picture hanging for very long. I stole some frames from Mom's last time I was there. I figured she didn't have room in her new house for them all. You didn't want them, did you Mom?? (he, he) I'm going to paint the frames (white, I think. But if I do the walls white, I'll make them a color) and then I also have to order prints for them. I'll also add more frames as a buy/steal them. :) 

  

Anyway- Amy's room is looking cuter now. I still want to paint it, but all wall painting projects are waiting until spring. Amy was cute she said, "Wow Mom! It's like I moved to a new room! But Mom, I don't want to move again, I love Tennessee." I told her we didn't plan on moving ANYtime soon. :) 

Will

We've actually had a fairly busy week, with somewhere to be everyday. I like it when things aren't boring, but going out with 2 kids, while pregnant, just wears me out. Luckily we've only had "1" thing to do per day and I've been able to get a nap in.

Will has come into his own this week. He is SO LOUD! Wow! I thought Amy was loud (right now she's singing/screaming at the top of her lungs) and apparently she has taught her brother. He also has his last six teeth coming in, so he's biting up a storm. It drives us nuts- because we are usually the victims.

After I put up Amy's shelves, I went back into her room to get all the tools. The box of screws was empty and I was really baffled as to why. I knew I hadn't used that many. Anyhow- after some searching, I found them. I guess Will preferred them being on the shelf.

Will is our little plate cleaner. For some reason he doesn't like the food on his own plate, he just wants to eat what's on everyone else's (even though it's the same thing). Usually Lee falls victim to that since they sit next to each other. Tonight's dinner was lame, at best. I had bought a stir fry mix and it was awful. Just the smell alone had my stomach churning.  (I usually get one from Aldi's that actually is good). I also made yellow rice, which the kids love, but Amy didn't eat all of her's. So Will had his plate, Amy's plate and then grabbed my salad and was eating the black beans out of it (he LOVES black beans!). Needless to say, there was quite a mess on the table!

After he was done, he was throwing a ball into a box. When he'd get it in, he's jump and say "Yay!" but when he'd miss, he'd say, "Oh man!" I tried to get it on camera, but wasn't able to.

Amy had some testing for school today and afterwards I took the kids to Chick fil A (a rare treat). Will was playing in the play gym and decided he wanted to climb up where Amy was. So Amy, and the friends she met, were helping him. I would hear Amy say, "Ok, everyone, we have to get my brother up. Let's use team work. You pull his hands and I'll push his bottom. Ok, 1, 2, 3, GO!" She was hilarious. Once I heard her say, "Ok, I'm the leader, everyone follow me." I'm not sure if that's "bossy" or just simply "taking control." Probably a little of both. But Will got up in the top and I was afraid I'd never get him down. When he finally did descend, I grabbed him and then had to spend the next 10 minutes getting Amy to come out. One lady saw me struggling to hold Will (so he wouldn't go back in) and then asked how old he was. When I told her she said, "oh wow- you are going to have your hands full!" Yep, I am. That's why trips to Chick Fil A are a rare treat when I don't have another parental reinforcement along.

Anyhow- that's been our week. Amy has to have another round of shots in the morning, so that should be fun. :)