Judah's tree house

My husband and I believe in letting the kids have a say in how they want their room decorated because after all it's their room and they have to live in it - like it or not. When it came time for Judah to choose a new big boy room (entering K) he chose a jungle theme equipped with a tree house and a loft bed. It took some doing, but it's complete EXCEPT for the greenery at the top of the tree. Below is a list of things we did to his room.














Scrape the popcorn ceiling and put a flat ceiling in.














Tear up the carpet in a corner where the tree will go.
Build new floor to ceiling shelf unit to represent 1 side of the tree.
For the tree we used an existing bookshelf on 1 side and built shelves on the other. Shelves went from floor to ceiling and now hold all toys. The inside of the tree is big enough for the kids to sleep in.



Install hardwood floor inside the tree.
Install a double switch outlet and 1 plug outlet inside the tree. Installed a wall lamp for light.











Create a door for the tree with a hole in it.














Create a loft for the double bed.














Paint inside of tree 2 shades of brown. The dark brown representing inside of tree. The light brown represents the veins of the tree.
Hung outdoor lighted fireflies inside the top of the tree.
Paint loft.
Get new comforter, sheets, and curtain.
Paint room to match decor. Green on wall, ceiling is Carolina blue with white clouds.
Put plywood around outside of tree to make it round. Secure it so it won't pop out.
Plaster the tree to represent bark.
Prime and paint tree. This was a long process as I had to use 3 coats of paint to represent bark and its edging. The finished effect looks like real bark.



We hope you enjoy a few of our pictures but feel free to check out all pictures and videos at Flickr.com. :)

More 1st for week

I was okay with 1st day of school but to have your 1st loose tooth and 1st permanent tooth at the same time is not cool with the mother. About 1 week ago Judah showed us a loose tooth but it was barely moving so we thought we had time. But oh no this morning what do my wondering eyes appear. A tooth barely hanging on and another one right behind it already poking through. Enough with torturing mommy. I do NOT want to see my baby grow up this fast. I tried to take a picture but can't so I have a video instead that Paul will have to upload.

First Day of School, Mother doesn’t meltdown but Daughter does

Today is Judah’s first day of school. Paul and I feel so blessed that we had these past 5 years at home with the kids. I’ve spent these years pouring out, teaching, shaping and molding our son. This past week he passed all Kindergarten assessments to which his teacher said “Mom, you’ve done a great job!” It’s so nice to hear that all of our hard work has paid off.

Now for those that really want to know…Did I cry? I did a pretty good job of containing myself. Rebekah on the other hand did not. Below are the records for the day.

Records

Time I got up this morning = 5:30am

# of times I’ve seen that time of the morning = ZERO

Time the kids got up this morning = 6:00am

# of times Paul tried to make me cry = too many to count

# of times Paul mocked me for wanting to cry = 45 minutes straight

# of times me wanting to cry in that 45 minutes = too many to count he kept trying to make me cry

# of times I prayed for safety at school = 1 really big long one

# of times I thanked God for allowing me these past 5 years at home with the kids = at least 5 on the way to school

# of pictures I took = 63 including videos

# of minutes I stayed at school = 25

# of things I kept remembering to tell his teacher so I wouldn’t have to leave = too many to count

# of times Judah wanted to leave with us = ZERO

# of times he cared we were leaving = ZERO

# of times I wanted to grab Judah and take him home with me = 1 but Rebekah’s meltdown [see below] began so I was carrying and running away with the younger child.

# of times I swallowed back tears and couldn’t speak from wanting to cry = at least 20

# of times Rebekah looked over at Judah’s empty car seat = at least 12

Finally

# of times tears actually left the eyes and ran down the cheeks = ZERO

# of meltdowns = 1 Rebekah not mommy. Rebekah wanted to stay with Judah and had to be carried out of school crying. That is probably THE only reason I did not cry.

You can click here for some more pictures of this momentous occasion.

Paint + Children = MEEESSSS

Okay I'm working on different house projects and painting Judah's treehouse so I understand that toys are everywhere and nothing is where it should be. In fact the ONLY clean room is my master bath which I refuse to let anyone use in case they mess that up. While I'm working on all these projects my darling children are all over me and hang out in whatever room I'm painting/redecorating. This day (7/25) it was Judah's treehouse. I'm priming it for paint. I am polite and share my space with my kids with 1 rule. Only 1 instruction, only 1 thing to remember. Don't touch or come near the paint or the drop cloth. It's off limits. I'm working along and next thing I see causes me to let out the loudest, shrillest blood curling scream I've ever heard. I didn't know I could do such a thing. I didn't know I'd SEE such a thing. So here it is for the world to see.



What I saw is my daughter covered in paint, the floor, the chair, the dress and THE BODY all in white paint. Everywhere. I pick her up by 1 leg and 1 arm and carry her to my tub. I tell my son to sit on the toilet so he won't get in the mess. I clean up the floor (thank you lord) and the chair. While I'm cleaning up Rebekah, Judah tells me that Rebekah got paint on him. I think that's odd since he wasn't even in the room. I look and sure enough he has paint on his arm and leg, big spots. I look at Rebekah who says with a straight face "Judah told me to do it". I look at Judah who says nothing, my jaw is on the floor. I ask Rebekah what did he say. "Rebekah, step in the paint." I look at Judah and he calmly, politely says "Yes, I said that." They were so sweet and innocent looking and calm that I ran from the room so they wouldn't see me laugh. Judah got Rebekah to step in the paint and took off out of the room before I saw it. Then when I screamed he came in and had said to me "What is it mom?"



What's even funnier is my brother (thanks Nerd) did that to me growing up. He'd come up w/ the craziest stuff and get me to do it with him but would take off before my parents saw it and leave me holding the bag. Both Rebekah and Judah look like my brother and my baby pictures so at time looking at them is like seeing us when we were kids. Man, I'm not sure how my parents held it together with us. I called Paul who's response was "Why do I have to reap what you did to your mom and dad?" Yep what goes around comes around. Read it and weep children; your day is coming.



BTW these pictures are after I spent 30 minutes scrubbing my child. I couldn't get the paint off. I didn't take any of the actual event b/c I was running to clean.

Judah's treehouse

One of our current house projects is re-doing Judah's room. He's 5 and starting school so as a way of celebrating we let him choose a theme and we do the room. He chose a jungle theme so we decided to build a tree and put his bed on stilts or in the air. This is a slow project and thus far we only have the tree constructed.

The tree is from floor to ceiling. On the inside it's has shelves from floor to ceiling to store all the lovely toys that I can't stand to see laying around. The floor is hardwood. The ceiling and part of the shelves are painted dark brown to look like the inside of the tree. We are adding some outlets and 1 lightswitch to run lights (waiting on the electrician to do it). We have lighted dragonflies to hang from the ceiling and a light for the inside. The inside walls will be painted a lighter brown and the edge of the shelves to resemble the veins of a tree. There is enough room inside for 2 kids to sleep inside which is where our kids currently choose to sleep or for adults and kids to play. You can click here for a few pictures. Outside of the tree will eventually be decorated to resemble a tree just haven't had time to do it yet.

BTW at the same time we are constructing Judah's room we are painting the rest of the house. Our 2008 goals will be done if it kills us.

Grandparents here's the swimming lessons....

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins the kids got swimming lessons for their birthdays. This was the first week which went pretty good. Rebekah is like a fish in the water - the first night she ran into to pool and went straight under water. Judah on the other hand thinks swimming involves the behind up in the air and pushing his friends in the water. Ugghhh. Below are pictures.

First Fruits or Vegetable that is.

Here's the first vegetable we've gotten from our HUGE garden. For the record Paul was right (yes I admit it) we had WAAAAY to many plants for such a small space. I've had to prune the garden 2x already. Oh well I just hope we get lots for veggies.











This is how the garden looked 5 days ago. It's tripled the size now.

Fun, Sun, Friends and Gardening what more could a girl want?

This has been a wonderful spring day. After dropping Judah off at preschool Rebekah and I went to a MOPS playdate at a local park. The kids had a wonderful time. Once we came home the kids and I finished our garden and played outside for awhile. Even the cats got involved. My poor flowerbed; I'm just not sure it will survive the 2 cats playing hide and seek.

The garden consists of 4 tomatoe plants, 4 cauliflower, 4 yellow squash, 4 cucumber, and 8 zuchini. I'll try to take more pictures as it continues to grow. If you have any gardening tips let me know. My husband's first tip is to plant less plants next year. We'll see who's right.

Spring Fun outdoors

Our cats Ariel and Anatasia and Anastasia again. Hiding in the flowerbed. Notice how Anastasia is sitting on my lillies so much for that plant.

Here's pictures of the flowerbed - my columbine, star gazers (I think that's what they are called), lillies and a bush. Last year the bush plant (forgot the name) was no bigger than a twig so we kept it up front since it was a lowing plant. This year something made it grow into the biggest thing we've ever seen and it's taking over. It's also the thing that the cats love to hide in.

AND last but not least I need to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brother. SO Happy Birthday Nerd! I'm glad it's been a good one. We love you!

Happy Birthday Son!

To my precious son...

You are growing up faster than I can catch my breath. Your love for the world around you makes me want to look again and see with fresh eyes. Your laughter makes me want to know why you laugh. Your hugs and kisses are the highlight of a mother's heart. You are our precious son and one in whom we feel blessed to have. Years ago when God named you he declared that you would praise him all the days of your life and our only prayer for you is that God's promise is fulfilled soon. May you know and praise the God who gave you to us as a gift for a time for a season. Happy Birthday Judah.
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We took a couple (over 250) pictures at your party. Some of the highlights can be found at Flickr by clicking here. Here's a couple of the pics: