And the big announcement is...

... we are finished with all our painting projects
... at least for now!

Jimmy's sister Julie is a rockin' sister-in-law. She came over last week and helped me paint the second coat on 6 walls in the kid's rooms. And today she came over for 5 hours and helped me paint the second coat on 5 walls and 2 coats in the laundry room. Isn't that about the nicest ever!

All three of the kid's rooms are finished with 3 walls of tan and 1 accent wall... Hannah's is pretty pink, Abe's is dusty-ish blue, and Max's is a better color of green. The playroom/loft is all tan. The Laundry Room is a Sensible Hue (that really is the name of it). It's a buttercreamish color.

Julie said her favorite room is the laundry room. I think she wants to sleep there when she comes over.

I really like the pink color in Hannah's room. I like the blue and tan in Abe's. I love the Sensible Hue but am hoping it's not too bright for that little room. It's cheerful but hopefully mellow enough and that's what I was going for. I'll share photos soon if you promise to close your eyes to the goobies.

I'm excited to have at least a few colored warm walls. Don't you think colors mellow out a space instead of it being stark white. Perhaps we'll get to the downstairs sometime in the next few months.

Oh - and I spray painted part of the ceiling fan brass a Satin Nickel and I think it's going to look good. Definitely an improvement on the shiny gold.

As for moving ... I think yesterday I said, "I hate moving" about 20 times. I know we shouldn't hate things, but honestly, moving is not much fun. I despise packing boxes. If only they made all books the same size.

And it's practically impossible to get anything packed with a baby around who needs attention, love, bottles, diapers, etc. Hannah and Abe have "helped" pack a few boxes, especially their clothes, but we can't get much done if Max is awake. Jimmy was gracious enough to let me paint all day and he watched the kiddies and tried to get some things taken care of here.

Now... this is my idea of moving...

...with laundry baskets and doing it all slowly so I can organize as I go along. I have taken a few funny loads like this, but the majority will go on Saturday. (sidenote memory: when I was at BYU I kept packing in laundry baskets on my weekend trips home. It just seemed easy enough to throw everything in. But that Christmas my parents got me some lovely luggage. It really is easier to haul things with a zipped up suitcase. Can you imagine sorting through and finding things if you packed for your family vacation in laundry baskets?)

It's good that I'm married to Jimmy who likes to tackle a project and get it done efficiently so we can actually get moved in sometime before the end of the year. He has been very patient with my hauling stuff in the van idea.

Too much chaos (boxes and paper stuffing and disorganization of items) overwhelms me so I hope I survive yet another move. I think this will be our 7th move in 7 1/2 years in 4 different states.

I'm hoping to at least stay put for at least 5 years. We'll see how that plan goes.