The new living room

We've almost finished our living room makeover (doesn't that sound fancy?) so I thought I'd post some pictures. Since I know my readership (if you can call it that!) we'll start with the sleepyhead boys that came into the living room as I was taking pictures this morning.


Alex with a shaft of sunlight across his face, but an impish smile:

Without the sunlight or the smile:

Ethan pretending to sleep:

A shot that shows the furniture and floor, as well as the boys:

From the other direction:

And finally, one with no one on the couch:

We're pretty happy with the way it turned out. Luke is working on our end tables yet - he carefully took each of the old school desks off the runners, and he is going to make runners for each one. We'll then be able to set them around individually. The furniture arrangement may change when we have those finished, too ... we'll have to see!

Is it bedtime yet?

Benny was up a dozen times or so last night - he has a cold and isn't sleeping well.

He has shared his cold with me. It's only fair, though, since Alex shared it with him.

The dog pooped on the floor during the night, and I ended up cleaning it up at 5:00 this morning. Out of carpet. After he kicked it around trying to bury it.

Alex and Ethan were up shortly after 6:00.

Alex spilled an entire pitcher of juice on the floor.

We had company this morning that brought my boys lots of leftover Easter chocolate. (Very nice of them - also messy and sugar-buzz-inducing.)

Luke is painting and putting new flooring in for me (he's a great guy!), but right now I have my refrigerator in the mudroom and the dining room table and chairs in the living room. I can't find anything and nothing is where it's supposed to be.

Benny got into the candy coloring as I was working on making colored white chocolate duckies for my cousin's baby shower cake. He has it smeared all over his hands and face and shirt. I got most of it off ... it was blue. Can you see it in the picture? The worst part is I was right there next to him! I just didn't see him until he had a mess made. I should've taken a picture then, but I was more concerned with getting it off.

Some days bedtime can't come soon enough!

Ethan and April Fool's Day

Ethan really doesn't care much about Valentine's Day. Too much mushy stuff. St. Patrick's Day? Meh, he can take it or leave it. But April Fool's Day? An entire day devoted to tricking people? Now that he can get into! He recently asked me if he could decorate some cupcakes, so we decided to make a delicious April Fool's trick - spaghetti and meatball cupcakes!


He did most of the decorating himself; I just showed him how to work the piping bag. The meatballs are hazelnut truffles, and the sauce is strawberry jam. He even got to serve it to Dad for supper!

Alex figured out by looking at his messy fingers that chocolate cupcake crumbs look like beard stubble - or "pokeys", as he calls it. So he rubbed some on his face and said, "Look Mama! Me have pokeys too. Mmm, me eat my pokeys."

New Floors!

Luke and Ethan spent the day putting new laminate wood flooring in our living room; they'll be doing the kitchen/dining area and the hallway one of these days. Ethan was a big help to Luke - he fetched and carried boards and also held the back down as Luke tapped it into place. That's what he's doing here in this first picture.



Benny and Alex were supposed to help by staying out of the living room. Benny decided he'd rather help by making a mess of the boxes that were blocking the doorway.


Alex decided he'd like to be outside and carry off Luke's tools. In an effort to keep him inside and occupied, I decided to let him lick the beater from the chocolate cake I was making.


It worked for a while, anyway!