Some of you have asked for more pics of the rooms in the house.

Ryan and Emma's aren't totally unpacked yet. Em and I just picked out two shades of pink to paint her room...we'll start on that within the next few days. It doesn't make sense to unpack Ryan's room and then pack it up again to paint, so it's still got quite a few boxes in it.

I finally got rid of the last box in our room today. Everything's put away...it's put away in both closets so well that it looks very empty!

(The view from the bedroom door)

The room had been recently painted an almost-minty green. Not a color that I would choose...however it will probably be the last room to be repainted. It has really dark brown carpet...again, not something I'd choose because it shows every little piece of fuzz, lint, whatever. I haven't hung any pictures up yet because nothing I have matches it. In the future, I see maybe palm trees or a pale blue to go with the brown carpet. For now, it's almost-minty green! :)

(My closet)

This is the dresser that we bought from a high school classmate that

we discovered lived just a few houses down. She has since moved to CA, but we were lucky that she was unloading furniture. Our room is a bit hard to work with since we have to work around the bedroom door, the bathroom door, two full closets and the heating vent. This was the only space for a dresser. The dresser holds both my clothes and Bob's and was the exact measurement for width and comes just to the bottom of the light switch. :)

It's solid wood and the lower drawer is cedar...and she gave it to us for $40!

(the door into the hallway and Bob's closet; the door on the

left is to the master bath)

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Someday...I can't wait to make this into the bedroom I've always wanted. Now, I just need to figure out what that is! :)

Thirfting

My patience paid off. I've been looking for another side table to go next to the chair in the living room. A month ago, I found this one (near the end of linked post) at Goodwill. It needed to be fairly large to fill the space. I wanted a smaller one for the other spot, and I found it today! Perfect condition...perfect size...perfect price ($9.99). I also found something for the kids, still shrink wrapped, that they've already enjoyed. More on that later...

In the backyard, along the side fence, we have several lilacs (my favorite!),

a cherry tree, and this thing. It's a viney thing that's pulling the lilacs over and pulling the cherry tree branches down. If you look on the left side of the tree where it's lighter brown all of the way to the top? That's the vine. It's about two feet thick on top of the fence and full of dead leaves. I honestly couldn't care how beautiful it might be in the summer...I've reached the point where it has to go. It's taking over everything that's growing near it and is entrenching into the neighbor's yard. So, I started the job yesterday of pulling it out. I worked on it for an hour and fifteen minutes and I'm about half way done. It's hard work because the branches wrap around each other, the other trees, the fence, anything it comes in contact with.

This is where I ended up yesterday. I discovered that there are several bird house bases on the partial wood fence. I have a huge pile of brush (and no idea how to get rid of it in town!) and a lot of work still to do. I can't wait until it's done, though. It looks so much nicer already. I can envision the bed along the fence overflowing with flowers! And lilacs!

Scouts - Blue and Gold

This past Saturday we attended Ryan's Blue and Gold Ceremony for Scouts.

This is our first year, so we're still learning how it all works. Essentially, he

completed all of the requirements to achieve his Bear badge. They had a dinner, a pretty good magician, games for the kids and then the ceremony.

Looks pretty innocent, doesn't she?

A rare photo of Bob and I, courtesy of Emmalee.

Ryan's den painted the "pond" for the fishing game.

Bob thinks Emma's eyes look a tad bit, um, psycho here.

We didn't know that Ryan would get his face painted!

His leader painted his face, with each color symbolizing something.

It was pretty serious until someone "accidently" popped a balloon. Then, of course,

all of the boys got the giggles.