Surprise trip

On Monday morning, we surprised the children with a special trip to Disneyland. They had no idea. We wrote a note sealed in an envelope for them to find in the morning. It was about 6:00 a.m. when I heard Nate, so I grabbed the camera. Here is the end of that video with the "final reveal":

The full (very long, six-minute, includes-fussy-naked-child) video is here:

http://youtu.be/WKhfUNJmTpU

We had a really great day. We arrived at Disneyland soon after it opened, so we got on a few rides very quickly (the teacups, Small World). The boys and I went on Autopia together while Lucy went on a "scarier" fast ride (Matterhorn) with Jon. The whole day went smoothly, and we all had fun pretty much the whole time. What a great surprise!

Dining chairs

I've been working on updating our dining chairs for the past couple of weeks. We had four original chairs and have always used mismatched chairs for the final two. I painted the original four grey.

I really like how they turned out. I kind of don't want the kids to sit on them--hello! Not the point!

Then I found three of these chairs on craigslist; they are wood with caning and upholstered seats, and they needed some love. (And actually, one needed so much love I ended up not using it--but I needed only two anyway.)

I sanded, painted, sealed, and reupholstered them.

The upholstery isn't perfect--this was my first time doing something like this--but I really love how these turned out. The fabric is going to go very well with the curtains Mama made (they arrived yesterday! Thank you, Mama!).

Next up is painting the dining table. :)

Happy 4th birthday, Levi

Happy birthday to our funny, not-at-all shy, car-loving, all-boy boy!

I love how cute DJ looks in this picture:

Two updated rooms

I painted the walls and ceiling in the master bathroom last week. It looks so fresh now!

I sewed long shower "curtains" in the guest/kids' bathroom and also put some fabric inside that small cabinet. I painted the vanity and added those colorful knobs. We got the round mirror at Ikea. I would like to put a shelf or something on the blank wall between the mirror and the shower, and I'd like to get a new faucet. I love the mint/aqua and coral combination! It's pretty much exactly what I was going for.