When The Cat Is Away, The Mice Will Play

Maybe the phrase should really be......

When the husband is away, the wife will redecorate!

As I have mentioned, Casey and Corbin went on a little "adventure" this week. We had been at Casey's parents over the weekend and when we returned home on monday Casey found out we wasn't going to be working all week. He decided it would be a good idea to go back up north and bring Corbin with him. I thought this was a great idea. It gave each of us a little break from being with all three kids and it allowed Corbin and Silas to have one on one time with mom and dad.

All that being said, I also thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get a few things done around the house that Casey may or may not have wanted to participate in.

On my list of things to do:
1. Purchase, cut and install pegboard in laundry room. (Just one wall, not the whole thing.)
2. Pick out a new paint color for the living room. The color we had just didn't work with our newer furniture.
3. Have all of the cushions remade. (This was most definitely professionally done)

On my mom's list of things to do:
1. All of the above mentioned
2. Fix up the guest room
3. Organize anything and everything she could get her hands on
4. Figure out a good place for the boys winter jackets
5. Figure out where my mail should go

I eventually cut off her list, I'm pretty sure it would have kept going and going. Don't get me wrong, sometimes my mom's obsessive-compulsive organizing it a great thing and sometimes I just want to take a nap. ;)

Here are the pictures of all that was accomplished on Friday and Saturday. Yes, we left all the actual work until two days before the boys were to come home.

The living room has always been yellow. I love yellow as a paint color. However, my previous yellow was called "lightening bolt" and this is now "macadamia nut". It was a tad bit on the electric side and a little too lemony-green. Now it is warm, calm, and soothing(I'm praying the paint calms my children.)

We didn't do a lot to our "guest room". We raised the bed because it used to be really low to the ground, added a dust ruffle, a new table and lamp. Just a little more finished until it is really "finished".

Much needed pegboard for storing our suitcases.

Added hooks to the back door. Now the boys can hang up their own jackets!!

My new mail holder and our wine crate shoe bin.

The mail holder

And now my finally sleeping baby

I am so excited that all of this was accomplished. I am hopeful that my sweet hubby will like it too, especially since he didn't have to do any of it. And I will say, none of this would have happened with out massive amounts of help from my parents. Thank you both, it was a great birthday present.

You are so lucky......

Let me start by saying that I LOVE birthdays. I think they are fun. Celebrating the life of a loved one is special. It is one day out of the year where you take time to focus on someone else and just how special they are to you.

However, I have come to dread my own birthday. I used to love it. It was always an amazing and special day. I don't dread getting older, because I don't feel older. I may look older and more worn out but I still feel like I should just be 20! The years have not been so kind to me physically, but when are they when you give birth three times in less than three years. I am learning to love myself for who I am at this place in my life. It is not easy. I am by far the most judgmental of myself. My husband is sweet and loves me just the way I am. So do my little ones.

The reason I have come to dread my birthday is quite simple. Life doesn't stop for your day. You still have all the nitty-gritty aspects of being a mom and a wife. And while these things are great and I love them, sometimes you just need a day off. As a mom, I feel like I am giving of myself all day (and in the middle of the night), it doesn't end. I have started to feel less important, less special and less appreciated. Disappointment sets in easily these days. Primarily disappointment with myself but sometimes others as well. Why do I look to others for appreciation, love, importance and contentment? Why am I not more satisfied in my heart? I know the answers and I know how to work on it. I will continually be a work in progress.

So, this year on my birthday, it was no different. Disappointment abounds even when expectations are truly not there. It is something I am truly working on.

After a long day, packing in the morning, traveling in the afternoon, unpacking and baths for the boys when we arrived home and grocery shopping in the evening, Corbin reminded me of the most wonderful thing, "You are so lucky mom". I asked him why. "Because you have all of us!" He is right. I am "lucky", I am blessed to have 4 amazing men in my life everyday.

Lilys from Casey for my birthday