Still here.

Honest. ;) Sorry about going missing there. Been both busy and distracted. I'm sure you know how it goes, lol. Because I'm behind and because I really need to get back to sorting out the other room, here's what's what in bullet format:

- We had a lovely and quiet Thanksgiving here. Just us, my brother and my niece. Boys played Wii with their uncle and we managed to have a nice meal. Not like mom makes, but not horrible, lol.

- The next day, though we've generally avoided Black Friday in the past, we ventured out and spent the day shopping. We decided it was finally time to do something in the way of furniture and resolved to make at least one room in our home closer to how we want it (as opposed to continuing to wait before doing anything...as we have been doing since moving in more than five years ago). (Yes, aside from beds, we've not purchased a single piece of furniture since moving in...seem to always be waiting for boys to get older or for fewer bills demanding our attention or for the ability to do everything at once, which, we now admit, is unlikely to happen.) Anyhow, we found some great stuff. Went home exhausted but happy.

- The day after that, we decided to paint an accent wall. Just one. For those who aren't familiar with our house, the main level is very open, with high vaulted ceilings that makes painting quite the chore. We'd not done anything about painting the main level because of that...all the walls tend to run together plus they're way tall, such that it seemed to us to be one of those things we'd eventually hire someone else to do and just do it all at once. But. We decided it was time and that painting a single wall in the family room would go a ways toward making it more homey and was cheaper than new flooring (which we'll wait on for now). So, we rented a big ol' extension ladder, got some paint and spent the day painting. It took pretty much all day, as we were out of practice. :)

- Sunday, then, we went crazy and decided as long as we had the ladder (had to rent it for the whole weekend) we might as well paint the other big wall in the front of the house. It's like 300 square feet and spans two rooms. Yeah. On the plus side, we were in the groove, so it didn't take as long. :) While we were high on paint fumes, we decided to paint the little wall adjoining that first wall we'd painted with this new second color. 

- Monday, after the boys went to Options and all, we painted that little wall and then realized we didn't like the two colors adjoining like that. So, we're going to repaint but haven't gotten to that yet. Also got the last few items out of the family room...items that we gave away to make room for the new stuff. It was nice to be able to find homes for that stuff. 

- Tuesday the new furniture arrived! Yay! And with the start of December, we brought out the Lego advent calendar and our Elf on the Shelf tradition. The boys LOVE both these things! Also started our annual holiday bedtime book routine. :)

- Wednesday and Thursday we shuffled things around and tried to re-capture our mojo to keep the family room project going. The boys also had their weekly indoor soccer sessions.

- Friday we had our second annual Ornament Afternoon with our homeschool group. The boys had a blast! (This is the second year I've organized this...we have tables set up (5 for each session) and kids sign up and get to come make an ornament at each table. We had two sessions this year and also decorated bags for Meals on Wheels and took a collection for the local food bank. I particularly love helping all the kids make their ornaments and seeing their big smiles. All in all, great fun!)

- Saturday (we're at December 5 now) the DirectTV guy came to set stuff up for the new HDtv Nathan picked out on Black Friday. Micah and I went out to do some Christmas shopping and find a birthday gift for a friend. 

- Sunday, I took Noah to a playdate and then had a hair appointment (just a trim...still growing it out for Locks of Love). Simultaneously, Nathan and Asher dropped Micah off at a birthday party (Micah's quite the social butterfly...this is the second party he's been invited to in a month and he's got another at the end of December). Oh, and did I mention that Saturday night it snowed?! Yeah. Plenty of snow. It continued through Sunday. Nathan, over the weekend, worked on building a rig to mount that new tv...we'll be setting it up on the mantle of the fireplace we don't use.

- Monday, Noah went to Options (Asher wasn't feeling well but is fine now) and then both boys had their holiday program that night. It was fabulous! Both boys sang with their classes. 

- Yesterday, Noah had his 9 year well check (got rescheduled from November due to the doctor being sick). He's healthy and growing just fine. Considering that he's been to the doctor I think once (at about age 22 months) beyond well checks, we're feeling pretty blessed. 

Whew. So that's what we've been up to here. Also been finishing up Christmas shopping and projects aplenty. I had grand plans for how December was going to go and all (and had hoped to have more projects to share), but this whole redoing the family room and then deciding to paint the other rooms and thus rearranging all the stuff in those three rooms (stuff that remains shoved to the middle of the room and really must get cleared up today so that we can get a tree at some point) has kind of put a kink in that. I'm going to just go with it. :) One of these days, I'll get around to sharing pictures, too. :)

Comments

[slammie]

Holy moly, you guys have been busy. Haven't even painted. Or contemplated painting. Too much work and I'm lazy like that!