First room in new house-Rileys's room done (mostly)







before 2







before 1



We wanted to complete one room at a time and the kids were first. Two reasons-1. No wall paper and 2. cheap and easy. All we had to do was paint and buy new drapes, bedding and a few decor items. Riley chose the Camille set from Pottery Barn kids which I found on sale a few months back and I tried to entice her to have green or yellowey walls but she asked for pink so she got pink. I refused pink walls in Las Vegas but can't blame a three year old girlie for wanting pink pink pink.

Three of the four walls are pink and the one with the windows is white since she has pink black out drapes. Frankie and I painted it in about 7 hours since it required three coats of the paint with primer. That stuff sucks and is no different than regular paint.

Her closet had just a single shelf across the middle very high up and that just will not do since she cannot reach anything and it really was not enough hanging/organizing space. We took the metal bi fold doors off and bought 6 panel white sliding ones. They are 5/8 of an inch too big WTF! So, her closet is without doors until we figure out how to cut them down to make them fit? I think her room turned out great and she loves it. Its girlie and bright and not overly cluttered. I have one wall by the arm chair that i need to fill up and I will do that this fall now that I have a bunch of photos edited and ready to print. I can't wait to switch her closet over to her fall clothes! I am slowly pulling summer out that are still NWT and she never wore, but I cannot wait to get her into the deep purples and pinks I have for fall :) I really do not know how/why people keep clothes in kids closets that they do not fit into or are the incorrect season? How do you find anything? I know I am a lil anal that the lines stay together and outfits have to be hung together....but why have old sizes or even last fall's stuff still in there?

  

 

Devin's room is next and he picked out Batman as his new theme. Once school starts and he is gone all day I can focus on painted his room. He has a super awesome floral border at the top just like Riley did. God Damn 80's painting ideas. Our room will be after that but we have floral wall paper throughout and I am NOT looking forward to having to take that down. Lamps and paint is all our room needs. Painting is the pits, but I think taking down wall paper in a 16*24 ft room may trump that! At least the two walkins are not wall papered bc our master bath walls and ceiling are. Yes, the ceiling is wallpapered.

Kindergarten and preschool.....

Next Tuesday Riley will start her three year old program at Marlton Christian Academy. She is in the  older 3-younger 4 program on Tuesdays/Thursdays. I steered clear of parochial schools in Las Vegas simply because I felt that if they were only going to school for two and a half hours they really did not need to spend any of that time talking about Jesus. I LOVED Devin's Quaker school in Las Vegas and unfortunately the only one near me here does 5 day a week pre-K which would not work for our family and I wanted her to not have to switch schools for her three and four year programs. After  A LOT of time spent researching preschool programs here we decided on MCA. Its structured, not a day care, not a play room and although it is church based-it seems well run and well organized.

Devin starts Kindergarten next Wednesday. I cannot believe that he is old enough to be going to Kindergarten. He is SO amped up and excited for it. We go this Wed for an open house to meet his teacher and see the classroom. He is very anxious for school to start and get rolling. He has no idea that once it starts, it never stops until he is 22. His program (starting this year) is full day and his bus pick up is 8 am on the dot in front of the house and the bell rings at 8:45. He gets out at 3:10 and is scheduled to be home by 3:25. He is pretty much the first pick up on his route which is why it's so early....but also the first to be dropped off which is nice. I guess they do reverse route on drop off? Its a long ass day for a 5 year old and I am assuming he is going to be cranky for a while in the beginning.

I am a beach girl through and through but I must say that I am happy that fall is slowly coming around. I am over the humidity and the sweaty summer days and looking forward to the cool fall weather and change of colors in my trees. Acorns have already started to drop and pepper my driveway and front walk. I may try and attempt one more beach day before I put the chairs in the attic....but hmm not sure if I have it in me to do it. It has been so nice driving to the park and letting the kids run around there a few times a week.

I still need to get both kids some school shoes and a back pack but I have a week :) It really is amazing how quickly they grow up.

How on top of kids memory items are you?

I used to be SO on top of getting the kids pictures in albums monthly or at least quarterly. Umm that went out the window last fall as I am now a year behind. I have not ordered pictures since mid July last year. Not only am I that behind with kids pictures, but I have not ordered our family vacation books since then either. I make 8*11 photo albums online for our family vacations and still have West Palm (sept 2011), NJ visit (sept 2011) and Williamsburg (May 2012) to do....and Halloween and Christmas Eekkk. I have to edit Riley's 3 year pictures and still take Devin's 5 year pictures (bday was june.) Why am I so far behind?

My thought is that in Las Vegas Devin was in school part time and I could get crap like this done easier. Then I know that once we put the house on the market last Nov/Dec I knew I was not going to be buying and assembling photo albums and then unpacking here and what not lead to August...I now have about 16-1700 pictures to go through and organize and sadly Frank takes the lap top that has all the pics stored in when he goes to Rhode Island every other week and that is when I would do this. At least I am on number 567 with uploading so far this am to Snapfish...thank god to the cool weather because the kids are outside making mud pies and I do not care how dirty they are getting!

I have kept their baby books up to date and I did assemble a scrap book from Devin's 3 year preschool year and just have to finish his 4 year old year scrap book. I know that he would love to see that when get gets a little bit older and I am glad to have it for him. I have it in order of all his crafts and artwork from sept to june in a sleeved 3 ring binder. My goal is to stay on top of things this school year as the year goes on especially since Devin will be full day Kindergarten and Riley is in 2 day 3 year old program. We shall see.

Other than that-Weather recently has been incredible. The cool mornings with the ability to open the windows is awesome. Warmer weather is coming in a few day and back up in the 90's but for now I am loving the 70s! I do LOVE the beach but I also am in serious excitement for my favorite season to come-Autumn! Love fall...love the smells, cool weather, leaves falling, crunching under your feet and of course hoodies and jeans! I know that the leaves are going to be a great challenge but I am looking forward to the work out and chance to be outside doing yardwork in the cooler weather.

I turn 31 tomorrow and am dreading 31 more than 30 I think. I no longer will be 30---I will be 30 "something" and that sucks. Frankie said not to worry about it until I am 35-36...so I guess I have a few years until doomsday. Its fine. kind of.