Remember how I told you that I bought some painted peacocks at a flea market? I am now prepared to reveal where those peacocks went to live. But first, an explanation…
Around Christmas time, my anonymous friend C suggested that I let her help me decorate the master bedroom. She and her husband, The Chef, come over most Monday nights for dinner, so we had lots of opportunities to discuss our plans. In other words, we had months and months to argue over paint colors, bedding, and design aesthetic. Oh, and we ate a lot. (This picture was taken when we celebrated our shared birthday week. She insisted on anonymity.)
Sometime around June, we committed ourselves to a paint color and my room actually began its transformation. Here’s a before shot, which actually makes my bedroom look a lot prettier than it did.
Here’s the after:
Now let me explain. Our room is pretty big. But we haven’t got any furniture besides a bed and bedside tables. In order to fill the space, we pulled the bed out into the middle of the room. Then we hung up the giant peacock screen (I can’t tell you exactly how Andrew attached it to the ceiling with fishing wire, but I remember that it involves duct tape, pvc pipe, and some MacGyver magic) to divide the space. Back behind the bird screen, we have a little sitting area. Because of all the doors at the other end of the room, there was no place for a sitting area if the bed was against a wall. So we took the bed off the wall. This isn’t really finished yet and I certainly didn’t pick up properly, but this might help you imagine the view behind our bed.
It’s cozy and totally hidden from view. Perfect for hiding from the kids meditation and relaxation.
I had originally planned to cover the bird screen with fabric, but when I got it in the room it matched so perfectly we didn’t have the heart to cover it up. A happy accident.
C took the fabric we had intended for the screen and put it into tiny little frames on the wall. And I finally bought the giant mirror from Ikea that I’ve been eyeballing for an entire decade. (Not kidding, I first laid eyes on it in 2000.)
Here’s a close-up of the fabric squares.
This serene, slightly funky decor suits us just fine and we’re really enjoying it. C and I argued non-stop, but we had a total blast. (We’ve been friends since grade school. Arguing is our love language.) And I admit, I’m a tough client. It’s hard to design a room for someone who insists on having dark bedding so that she can “eat chocolate during naptime and not worry about getting it everywhere.”
Overall, we make a pretty good design team I think. But would you want these people to design your next room?
We seem to have survived the stomach bug only to catch colds. Because God has a sense of humor or because Ian must have licked every chair in the doctor’s office on Monday.
But lest you be concerned, life is still very much rolling along as usual. For instance, ever since I went fall shopping for the kids at the consignment sale, Ellen has been obsessed with her new shoes. Today, she lined them up in the window and guarded them like a mother bear.
Not all of those shoes fit her, but she’s playing house and it involves wearing a pink princess dress and lining up her shoes. She didn’t get her version of playing house from MY life, apparently.
Meanwhile, Willa did her own dress-up game, only she never bothered getting OUT of the dress-up box.
This picture was taken AFTER lunch, of course, because her before-lunch-look involved much more snot and whining. Which looked suspiciously like my after-lunch-pre-nap-look.
You all should come visit.
No, really. You bring the chocolate and I’ll put on my pink princess dress…
Willa has a new hobby. She fancies herself a mountain goat. I can’t tell you how many times a day I pull her off the dining room table. I don’t have a picture of it, because I refuse to let her know how cute she is. But she also takes great pride in being able to climb onto any piece of furniture, no matter how tall, so that she can be included in whatever fun is being had.
When she’s not climbing, she’s honing her fashion skills, working on how to properly accessorize with red ruby slippers.
Or she’s mocking her sister and “boinket,” by pretending to suck her thumb and dragging her own blanket behind her.
I don’t recall seeing a baby this young with the ability to mock her siblings with such panache. She’s got a flair for the funny, that one. (To understand how funny this is, you need to understand that Willa isn’t attached to her blanket at all. She just followed Ellen around for twenty minutes, making fun of her, mimicking every mannerism of Ellen’s.)
Finally, Willa’s latest accomplishment is spending an entire service in Big Church.
I was very surprised when she made it through the hour and a half service, and even more surprised when she did it again this week. Sit Time has magic powers, y’all.
You may not know this, but next week is kind of important. Next week will be the five year anniversary of this little ol’ blog. That’s right, some of you have been reading my drivel for five long years.
Also, I have a birthday next week. So it seems like a good week to do some celebrating, you know?
I’ve got a little giveaway planned, and maybe a bit of reminiscing. I also wondered if there was something you all wanted to hear about. It’s hard to believe I haven’t over-shared every detail of our lives with y’all already, but do you have any questions, any posts you want me to write? Something I promised and never delivered on? Remind me. Ask me.
We’re waiting on the edge of our seats to hear from you.
Last Friday, we had a little “Celebration” to commemorate the ending of our first Tapestry unit. The idea is to serve some authentic food, dress the kids up, set all the projects we did out for viewing, and let the kids practice their presentation skills. Despite the wounds incurred during prep, the evening was a success.
We served a giant pot of lentil soup, challah (I taught the kids to say it like “Holl-aaaah” which always makes me giggle), and matzo. I set the table with all of the clay pyramids, booklets, and drawings the kids did. About half an hour before our guests arrived, I took the kids back to my room and pulled various scarves and jewelry from my closet to complete their ensembles. And I don’t think they turned out half bad…
Sam was the Great Sphinx.
Ian was a sad little Pharaoh boy.
Adam was Joseph, wearing his technicolor coat.
Ellen wanted to be a “princess.” I turned her into Pharaoh’s daughter. But I don’t think she really got the concept…
In case you couldn’t hear her, when Andrew asked the Princess where she was from, she answered, “Um, from Mommy’s closet.”
And if you’re wondering, Willa was around, but I chose not to wrestle her into a costume. She preferred hanging out with our guests.
At one point, Ian plopped onto the couch and said, “Mommy, this isn’t as fun as I thought it would be.”
And then Grandpaw and the Uncles arrived and I didn’t see the poor, pitiful Pharaoh for several hours. Turns out, he had more fun than he thought he would.
If you’re up for it, here’s what I had the kids present (several times) to our various and sundry guests over the weekend. I’m hoping now that they memorized the Ten Commandments we won’t have to worry about them becoming axe murderers…
So Adam had a birthday. And we partied all day long. But first, let’s talk about cake.
Ellen very sweetly helped me clean the bowl of hazelnut cream cheese filling that I used to fill in the giant crater on top of the cake. Then I covered the cake with fondant (store bought, I cheated, sue me) and then sweated a few bullets and lost a few hours of my life decorating the cake.
Adam approved, which, in the end, is all that matters.
Speaking of the birthday boy, by noon he was covered in a combination of dirt, silly string, spray chalk, and icing. Which is pretty perfect for a FIVE year old boy.
Later, we filled the house with loved ones and did the requisite singing. Adam always looks the cutest when we sing to him because my poor middle child is just soaking up all the attention.
There were several fun water toys given as gifts, but the big hit came from Nana and Great-Daddy: A slip’n slide. Or, as Ellen dubbed it, “The Sloppy Slop.”
I have no explanation for the goggles. They were deemed necessary… in two inches of water.
Willa didn’t bother slipping and sliding, she was content to splash in the puddle at the end of the slide and scream at her brothers if they slid too close to her. The kids slipped for hours while the grown-ups played corn-hole in the front yard. We finished off the evening with some cartoons for the kids and a rousing round of Nerts for the big kids.
It was some very sleepy, very happy kids we put to bed that night. And the grown-ups were pretty happy, too. Thanks to everybody who came and sent love. It was one of those magical days that just floated by, full of pleasantness and happy things.
Although he may have been the Happiest Thing of all.
As always, if you feel the need to don and kerchief and sing, “Sunrise, Sunset” with me, you can go relive Adam’s crazy birth story here.
One of my favorite perks of my brother’s wedding was the fact that we got to see family we hadn’t seen in awhile. Despite not having many memories of these lovely people, I think my kids took pretty well to everybody.
Willa assessed the new faces and made a decision: These are good people.
She decided to wear my Uncle Jon for the duration of our visit.
She was just as chummy with my Uncle Chris, but I got that love fest on video instead of in photos. I think you get the idea, though.
The uncles weren’t the only popular relatives.
My aunt was deemed an acceptable place to lay one’s head.
And that’s about the highest compliment a baby can give, y’all.
Updated to add: My Uncle Jon reminded me that his resume as “mule” goes waaaay back, gulp, thirty years or so back. (Hint: I’m the blonde in the middle.)
This was another case of Ellen getting so wrapped up in something that she simply had to get closer. Fortunately, these kind sister/musicians didn’t mind.
Willa had never met my cousin Isaac before, but, as is the norm with Isaac, she found him charming.
(Love how Sam is guarding his chocolate cake from his sister. Wise move, buddy.)
(Holla!!! to all the new blog stalkers I met at the wedding! Willa decided this member of the W. family was hers and hers alone.)
See my sassy shoes I got at the thrift store? $1.50, baby!!
My brothers can sleep anywhere. Literally.
Three generations of Roses sharing a laugh. It was a top secret “Rose” joke that I couldn’t understand.
One of my sisters catching the bouquet. And she didn’t even have to knock anybody down for it!
I hear the bride and groom have made it safely home from the honeymoon, so I really should shut up about the wedding. But we so rarely leave the house, it’s important to document such an event…
When we went south for the wedding, we were excited about the prospect of all being together. What we didn’t take into consideration was that Andrew was a groomsman with responsibilities, the girls were flower girls with places to be, and my boys and I were along for the ride. Which meant that, essentially, it was me and five kids experiencing all of this “togetherness” we were hoping for.
And we had a great time. Seriously.
First off, our hotel was fantastic. The beds were nice, the people were sweet, and, well, we made quite a stir wandering the lobby, which meant we got spoiled a bit.
Our first morning there, Andrew left early and I made the classy decision to take the kids down to breakfast in their pajamas. A wise mother would have done it because she was worried about her kids getting messy over their meal. I did it because I knew I couldn’t get them all bathed and dressed before they quit serving breakfast downstairs.
There was a waffle maker at breakfast, which meant my kids thought we’d gone to Disney World. They also loved being shown how to operate the juice machine (I didn’t show them, the nice serving lady did) so they could get their own sugar water juice without me knowing it. Once I managed to get enough food in front of my little birds, it was actually fun to sit there with them at breakfast and know that I could just relax and not worry about having to clean up after them. It was… peaceful.
Until somebody asked for more waffles and Willa dumped her bacon on the floor.
We managed to sleep our little brood very comfortably all in one room. The first night was not so fun, because Sam was a restless sleeper and kept wiggling, which made the sheets rustle, which kept us all up. Eventually, Andrew picked him up and tossed him on a blanket on the floor. We slept great until MeMe called my phone at 7am. I didn’t move my lips, but I believe I grunted agreement to whatever it was she wanted.
That afternoon, I took the girls back to the hotel for a nap. I got smart and turned the water on in the bathroom like I did when we were in San Francisco. Voila! Instant Coma!
We brought Ellen’s pink sleeping bag with us, so Andrew made her a very comfy pallet underneath the desk. I like to think of it as an upgrade from the closet, where I usually sleep my children.
I’ve still got more random pics for you, just because they make me happy, but I can assure you, none of them are the “action shots” you’re wanting of the bride and groom. That’s not what “we” do here, people. If you want anything more than mediocre photography of minor people and events, then you’ll need to go elsewhere.
My sister is showing some pics over on the family blog, although I haven’t really seen her get to the actual wedding yet, so you’ll have to keep checking. My aunt has pics up on her blog. And you can always check out the Mortons’ blog for updates, too.
Meanwhile, come back here often for the normal drivel and mediocrity.
I think the official tally of flower girls numbered 12. It was all just a tad overwhelming for my girls.
But they sure looked sweet, didn’t they?
With all the noise and the unfamiliar faces, seeing people they recognized was helpful. Aunt Bob walked by at a crucial moment for Willa and Willa responded with a cuddle so long I got jealous.
Ellen sought comfort in her familiar sidekick, “Boinket.”
I tried to cheer her up by letting her see her picture as we took it.
But in the end, I had to resort to my usual weapon against the Blues: a silly face.
When it was time for pictures, I felt some apprehension at the idea of getting all those little wiggly bodies to stand still and pose. I love this next shot of everyone doing their own thing. It looks like someone just yelled, “HIT THE DECK!” and half the girls are jumping away.
The funny thing is, once Willa realized there was a camera on her, she stood still and smiled sweetly.
Ellen just stood still.
While we waited for the wedding to start, I let Willa try on my Audrey Hepburn hat that I brought to shield my delicate skin from the sun.
She can make anything look good.
When I said yes to the girls being flower girls, I didn’t put much thought into how much waiting or keeping clean there would be. Fortunately, the wedding was very relaxed and it was totally okay that Ellen kept her blanket wrapped around her shoulders the whole time or that Willa got poop on her dress 15 minutes before the wedding started. (So, I didn’t really tell anyone about the poop, but I’m assuming since no one said anything, we got away with it.)
It was a bit strange for me, doing the girly side of a wedding. When the boys were in a wedding last year, I was more concerned about wrestling matches and wild ringing of bells. This time, it was cuddles and flowers and bobby pins and white dresses… oh my. But it was good. It was sweet.
