Mural

Well, if you remember, about a year and a half ago we finished the boys' room. It looked so cute! I especially loved the vinyl tree that we purchased from etsy.

Well, the twins figured out how to peel off the vinyl. I was very sad and upset. It was ripped down little by little until only the very top leaves were left.

I felt that they ruined the cutest element of their room.

I had an idea that I would hire someone to paint a tree similar to the one from before on their wall. I was willing to pay someone, but I wanted the tree to look a certain way and I didn't want to have to pay for something that I didn't really like etc.

So after putting it off for a long time, Darin kind of gave me a nudge to just try to paint it by myself, we could always just paint over it if it looked bad, right? We would probably end up saving a lot of money, right?

Well I did it.

I am pleased. I didn't trust myself to add any animals, they can come later if I feel the need to add them.

Self Explanitory

Christmas and New Years 2011

We had a very enjoyable Christmas and New Years this year, except for the fact that everyone got sick!!!!! It all started with Darin and Cameron on Christmas Eve, slowly moved to Dallin during the week, and then struck Luke and I just in time for New Years.

On Christmas Eve after doing our family nativity, we decided to leave Santa a note with the customary cookie plate. Dallin wanted us to write "ABCD!" and something about the "Lord of church." Cameron wanted to write, "Thank you Santa." So cute!

The excitement of Christmas morning helped Darin and Cameron to forget about their colds for a few hours. They really enjoyed opening presents and trying out their Christmas treats. All of the sugary treats came back to haunt us during the one hour of church...

New Years was a little less exciting, but we did get some "champagne" (sparkling pear juice) and all had a toast. We didn't quite stay up until midnight, but that was mostly because of the sicknesses floating around.

Our beautiful REAL balsam fir Christmas tree.

!!!!!!!!!!20 Weeks!!!!!!!!!!

My baby is now 20 weeks old! I feel that 20 weeks is a big milestone. That is when I stop counting by weeks and count only by months.

I tried to take a picture of him every Wednesday so that I could see how much he grew week to week. It is quite interesting.

He is such a sweet baby. He is getting really close to rolling around and sitting unassisted, but I love that he is still immobile. He has been such a calm boy. Happy 20 weeks baby!

Housekeeping Woes

I have never been one of those anal housekeepers. I am more the type of person who does a thorough cleaning about once a week and then tries to maintain things between the deep cleaning sessions.

That worked fine before the kids came along.

Now if I don't do a thorough cleaning once a day things look really bad (and who really has the time or energy for that). Sometimes it really bothers me when there are toys all over the floor, when the windows are all smudged up, and there are milk drips all over the wood floors. And sometimes it seems when things are at their worst, people just happen to drop by.

The other day I read this verse and it has been stuck in my head ever since:

Sweeping and dusting can wait 'til tomorrow
For babies grow up, much to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

When I am old and all of my kids have moved on and my house is spotless I will probably wish that it was messy from sticky little fingers and muddy little feet. Yes. The cleaning can wait til tomorrow.