Some more House...

Priming the shelves in the playroom
(what was a storage room I gather)
- aren't you proud of me remembering to
take photos during the process?!

The finished result -
after a week of painting.
Walls left to paint...yellow or blue?
That is the question!

King Arthur getting involved -
a gun safe used to be in this corner,
go figure!

Family bathroom

Boys shared room - Aragorn's side

King Arthur's side -
some glow in the dark planets hanging around!

Our room -
space, and nothing at the end of
our bed - a first!

...and to celebrate all this space each boy is allowed to bring home two boys to play at the same time - so today is King Arthur's turn (Aragorn's next week) - and my nerves are frazzled! (and to think I'm doing this in between birthdays and parties....goodness). As I write they're trying to catch bees! And Belle won't/can't rest which is making me more frazzled....good thing I've planned a late afternoon ride to cleanse the system!

Moved...and Mumps no.2!

Well, it's been a while, to say the least. My fingers have been itching to get back into typing, but moving house has been, shall we say, somewhat time consuming!

Belle helping to move

But here we are ... in our new house, or rather, my mansion....and I am deeply, serenely peaceful. I have desired this for years, longed for it, hoped for it, and now that I have it, I am so thankful. I feel so privileged. I walk around grinning to myself!

Unpacking was just amusing - how did we ever fit so much stuff into such a little house? And the fact that King Arthur then came down with mumps meant that pretty much everyone avoided us as if we had the plague, so we moved with very little help! A few friends were just superb. One packed my kitchen whilst my sick children were at their gran's, and the other two brought me dinner - the best gift to give anyone when they're moving, trust me.

I would post some lovely photos here but Blogger is not co-operating with me and I am losing patience  FAST!

So here's a sneak preview  (let's postpone that shall we?) - I'm pretty sure King Arthur's mumps are on the way out, which means visitors! Oh, and if any of you want to offer us some interior decorating advice, comment away - we've never had so much space in our lives! My kids play ALL day - inside, outside, unprompted by me...so incredibly awesome!

Mooching, Mumps and Moving

Well this week has been a little different. Braveheart and I got bees in our bonnets and decided very swiftly to go on holiday. We needed some R&R, and we needed quality time with the kids too. We found a great mid week special at Montagu Springs, getting two nights for the price of three, and off we went!

We had a great time, as did the kids, and it gave me the head space we needed. The highlight was Aragorn realizing he could float with armbands, a huge breakthrough, and King Arthur spent 5 hours in the pool the one day. Swimming in heated pools makes all the difference in the world to my kids!

We got back ready to move...and Aragorn has mumps. This poor little fellow!
Check out these jowls!

He is being very brave and handling it all well. I had mumps as a kid, but none of the rest of my family has had it yet. Tis a waiting game to see if any of them succumb!

So we aim to move tomorrow, somewhat thwarted by helpers what with the mumps and the threat of sterility in adult help, so we'll see how far we get!

House - to - be Soon - to - be!

Yes, it all seems to be coming together really. We met the landlady again, had another walk around the house which seems to be even bigger and nicer than we remembered. I'm feeling very inspired and motivated to transform this house into our home...although that will be a somewhat slow transition I think!

She's agreed to let us paint the kids rooms which is a huge plus for us, and is fine for me to put in a veggie garden - planning to do raised beds - anyone done this before?

A few nights ago we attempted to bring up the themes for the boys room at dinner time. See, ever since I did Belle's room a while ago, King Arthur has been asking for a black room so he can have 'space'. Literally. He wants to make all the planets and hang them from the ceiling. And wants black walls. And a yellow cupboard. Oh yes, he's got it all worked out in his little mind.

Aragorn on the other hand, had been talking about a Lightning McQueen room. Now, the thing is, (a) we weren't very convinced he actually really wanted that (he's very easy to please), and (b) we weren't sure about the longevity of Lightning and (c) we suspected he'd really like a dinosaur themed room. Now before I go any further, bear in mind that they are sharing the room. And although I would very much like to be as talented as the people on Extreme Makeover (my favourite home decorating show) I am quite frankly not (yet) that gifted!

Aha, so we calmly told Aragorn we'd been thinking about his room, and wanted to suggest a dinosaur room. He was as chuffed as anything, but then King Arthur started sobbing. Truly. So to cut a long dinner time down into a few lines, it appears that they now both want a dinosaur room, which makes my life supremely easy. (Aragron has since whispered in my ear on numerous occasions that he would actually like a space room now- you just can't win!). If I could recount the conversation to you word for word, you would be rolling on the floor. Sadly I can't, my brain has stopped functioning! But needless to say that by the end of it, Brent and I looked  little shell shocked and just had to smile!

I guess I'm apprehensive that King Arthur will regret his decision, and that Aragorn is just trying to make everyhting smoother like he always does. Yes, the decision is ours ultimately, so I just hope we can hear their hearts!