Children's Museum, Finished Floors, & Leprechauns

We're not a construction zone anymore! But we still feel like we haven't moved in yet, because I need to touch up all the baseboards before we move furniture back inside. It's a process :)

They finished the floors on Tuesday, plumbing hooked back up Wednesday, and stairs finished on Thursday. Feeling grateful to have our home feel a little more calm again! The boys are disappointed the new floor isn't "as slippery for chasing" and I guess I did not factor that into my decision making. But other than that we're super happy and grateful to have this done!

This week was Spring Break and you wouldn't have really known that around here... with Hawaii last month and our eclipse trip to Indy next month, we are lying low through Spring Break and just hoped for a quiet week of double call for Michael. Which luckily we had! The boys said, "We're not going to get new floors next Spring Break, are we?" So they were happy to hear that they're not getting new floors around here ever again :) Haha hopefully next year is less construction and more spring break-ness.

We did go to the Children's Museum in Denver for the first time though and the boys had a total blast! Asher and Camden loved the firetruck room and the bubbles, Bennett loved the ball area with the different paths you can manipulate, Westin loved sculpting with clay, everyone loved the cooking class and just being there with the Baileys.

We went swimming with the Whitneys on Saturday and when the boys got home they were intent on making a leprechaun trap. They woke up to snatched gold (yellow paper they left) and a fruity rainbow and yummy treats. Bennett was so set on catching one, cute guy.We had corned beef has for lunch and green eggs and ham for dinner which ended up feeling like 3 breakfasts and it's fine. :)

Found this little square of wallpaper behind our old baseboards,
and I love seeing past stories from my house.

This kid wanted me to hug him for probably a full 20 minutes one morning this week and it was the best.

All boys home from school this week and lots of flooring construction still happening...
we used Grandma and Grandpa's very kind Christmas Chick-Fil-A gift card to help with being out of the house a lot!

Park picnics for dinner as well.

Floors in the laundry room!

Beadboard still going up...

We needed a perfect circle in this template to cut in the beadboard so Michael used his actual geometry tools and I couldn't stop laughing.

Can't argue with the results though haha.

First coat of green going up!

Boys are in a lego phase again, this time all four of them. So cute.

Second coat happening!

This is why you never freak out after the first coat.
Look at the difference in the second!
Also realized I never painted this door even though all the others in my house got a nice couple coats of grey paint haha. This corner just really got neglected after painting everywhere else.

Basement is still chaos while lots of things are down there!

New banister is up! I miss the runner but these fresh stairs sure are feeling nice.

This little pantry (Former coat closet) used to be its very own carpet that was no where else in the house.
I love seeing everything flow now.

Pie day! Quiche for dinner.

First time to the Denver Children's Museum! We had so much fun with the Bailey fam.

The little cooking class there was super cute.

He loved cutting an avocado so much.
Eating it, not the same story.

Successful day :)

That sneaky leprechaun!

He made this face the whole time he ate this powdered donut.
Made me laugh remembering Bennett loving on a Mickey beignet from sweet Emily.

This looks disgusting.
Corned Beef Hash for St. Patrick's Day and I don't know that I'm up for this to be a tradition haha.
The boys liked it though! No one is surprised by this.

Moving! Well, Just New Floors.

We emptied our house this week like we were moving! It was so much work but it's going to feel like ultimate spring cleaning when we wipe everything down and get it all organized again.

New floors have been the top thing on my project list for a long time now. We have carpet and tile and wood all in the main level of our house, and making everything the same is going to feel really peaceful! The bottom line goal of every project I do is to add peace to my environment, because let me tell you, it takes constant effort to create that around here :) So now our garage is full and so is our basement, rooms are empty and they're three days into a hopefully 5-day project. We're doing everything except our bedrooms, so it's a big project. I've been painting new baseboards all week so that we can just toss our old ones when they come down and everything can match now. It's been a while since I spent naps and nights painting. Can't say I miss it but I can say that it's fun to listen to more audiobooks and podcasts than normal!

The highlight of my week was a book club on The Priesthood Power of Women, not necessarily because I liked the book (it was ok), but because I love. the women. around me. Michael had a dinner that night for work (so many lately!) and I ended up using our date night babysitter for the week on that night instead of the weekend because I decided I just really wanted to be there. And for three hours I spent time with women I just love and respect so much talking about the power of God in our lives and what our covenants mean to us and how we can live up to our potential. There has been a lot of pain and confusion in this topic for me ever since I received my endowment. Some parts have cleared up, some have gotten more confusing, some I have shelved and others I feel like I wrestle with weekly. In the end, I just find a comfort and strength in feeling solidarity with sisters who don't have the answers I don't have but have a beautiful faith. What a confusing world it can be sometimes. I'm so grateful to feel like we live in a place with SO many friendships that I learn from and gain strength from. 

Sweet Meg in our ward asked for me to come to her Battle of the Books competition because her mom was out of town and it was so fun to go cheer her on. She is such an angel and I just love her.

Removing this rug.... oh man. Feels like I just put it up!
It was 2.5 years ago, but still.

Banisters about to go.

We had a FREEZING Tuesday which was sad because that's our park day with friends,
but we braved it.

Asher giggled and giggled at this rolling slide.

Putting this runner down while 8.5 months pregnant was hard.
But it was NOTHING compared to how hard it was to take it out.
Painful on a variety of levels!

Mornings with this early riser are often my favorite part of the day.

This view will look different soon!

Four floors here... the old yellowish wood floor on the left, the new floor under Asher, the built up plywood under Michael, the old carpet still under the piano.
Construction zone living!

This view cracked me up.
What if we just left it like that.

They finished the kitchen the first day which was super appreciated.
Life without your main living space is hard, but life without your kitchen is almost impossible!

Imagination day at the library.
They had boxes for the kids to just go wild with.
Camden just wanted me to tell him every letter of every family member's name so he could write them all on his box.

Asher loved sticking every sticker on that he could find.

Lots of hiding out in the basement,
and they had to have a picnic lunch in the little bathroom because I didn't want them eating on the carpet haha.
Like I said, construction zone living is interesting!

Picnic dinners on the new floor while all the furniture is still in the garage!
Felt like the night we moved in. I kind of loved the dance floor more than the regular table and chairs.

Projects are always a domino effect.
Once I saw this closet empty it bothered me that I never got to painting this little area.
So, white it is.

And THEN once I saw my empty laundry room, I thought about how it really was the best time to just do the beadboard I've wanted to get done since we moved in. So I took out all my carseats and went and picked up the supplies at Lowes about 10 minutes before they closed.

Looking much more fresh!

We'll add this board and then trim it out and then paint it green.
Michael was a HUGE huge help with this project.

Um, these are dangerous.

Beadboard going up!

Last piece!
Cutting out holes for all the outlets and hook ups and whatnot is pretty tedious.
But once it's trimmed and caulked and painted it's going to look really cute!
I love this original wallpaper but always wanted this green beadboard to go with it.
It's been in my head since we moved in but just always felt so hard to empty everything out.

Never painted this window like my others either... time for white trim and black frames!