Spring Break Room Switcheroo

With no out of town trip to occupy my time I thought a small project around the house would make it worthwhile.  You've seen the results of Spenser's new room and you probably remember his old room, one that Grandpa helped decorate with the construction border.  Spenser's desire to move out of it showed that my little boy is all grown up, sniff sniff, and the removal of the baby boy border only solidified that for me.  There are remnants that remain:  the blue walls, the crib stored in the closet, the few stuffed animals he had as an infant.  My "little baby boy construction worker" is now a "pre-teen video-game-playing drummer," but I'll always remember his patient, adorable face waiting for his mommy or daddy to pick him up out of his crib.  That remnant will never leave me, no matter what changes are made to the room.

 

Sentimentality aside, the process was a messy job.  I went to Home Depot and purchased the required materials (gel spray and a scraper).  Having never done this before, (too bad Grandpa wasn't here), I learned as I went that the more spray - the better. 

 

 

As it started to come off, it revealed the seam from the two colors. 

 

 

I did not plan on painting so I had to come up with a quick and easy fix for the seam.

 

 

 

Off to The Dollar Tree I went and purchased these mariposa wall decals.  Ten bucks later, easy on, easy off, and  - VOILA - seam covered. 

 

 

Now the room has a piece of both my kids.  Here's what it looked like after adding the new butterfly border.

 

One more purchase, a bedding set to pick up the pink of the butterflies.

 

 

I got to reuse some of Sienna's old bedding (sheets, pillowcases, shams) which was a great bonus.  Plus they have guitars and ROCK STAR on them so that's just perfect. 



 

 

 

Sienna really likes the room and considers it hers since it's right next door.  Now she says she has two rooms!

 

 

The only thing it needs now is a t.v.  Once that's there I might use the room too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guard Extras

Here are a couple snippets of the show taken with my camera.  I tried to zoom in a bit closer to get a better look at Sienna's facial expressions.

 

 

 Here's a clip of the middle section, where the black flags and skirts symbolize sadness.

 

 

And a clip of the end of the show when they find their smiles again.

 

 

 

 

My new cell phone actually takes better video than my camera, go figure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rockin' Redo

Spenser has been wanting to switch bedrooms for some time now, and the arrival of spring break brought the right time to do it.  We accomplished quite a bit in our first Saturday of the vacation, with Rob and Spenser pitching in a bit. 

 

Moving did require forethought as I had to shop for and order several items before the move could be made.  I ordered three things on-line:  the cool drumset wall decal, the bedding, and a new desk.  Rob built the desk today with some help from Buddy, and I installed the drum-set - anxiously I might add.  But it turned out great - luckily!

 

His t.v. and table are on the right, but we plan on hanging the t.v. on the wall as part of the redo.  Here's a better view of his bedding, his desk, and the view out the window. 

 

 



 

And there he is - locked in to the all-enthralling computer.

 

 

 

Tonight will be his first night sleeping in the new room.  I think we'll count this as his vacation.  I hope he will remember how nice it is to have it clean and sparse.  Let's hope he keeps it that way!

 

 

 

 

 





Loved and Lost (and Changed)

Here's another pirated video of Sienna's latest performance.  We recorded the whole thing this time.  Shh!  There were several changes in choreography and effects since the last show.  See if you can catch them!



 

 

Did you see Sienna and her graceful gait? 

 

Rob also continued to video so you could see what the break-down of the set looks like. 

 

A great performance earning 2nd place!

 





Loved and Lost

You all know Sienna had an awesome marching band season and she is currently in the middle of her winter guard season.  She wowed us with her marching and clarinet playing, and now she is wowing us with her beauty, grace, movement, and elegance in winter guard.

She's very keen on her parents coming to every event, but not so keen on pictures.  I was able to snap this one, begrudgingly on her part, after her performance at the Casa Grande Invitational.  Make-up, hair done, and a red dress!

 

 

 

One of the most annoying things about the winter guard competitions - they allow ZERO videoing.  So I definitely did not use my camera or video camera, but I did capture some of the show from my phone.  I was trying to not get arrested (or risk disqualification) so I didn't record the entire show.  But at least you can get a sense of the tone of it, and see Sienna in her scarlet glory.

 

 

I had to steal it, but it was worth it.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grizzlies Go Samour

I remember the days when we couldn't get people to come to a party to save our life.  Now it seems we've gone to the other extreme with party attendees in the 50's!  Bash on Bartlett was about 65 and on Saturday we hosted the Greenfield Jr. High Staff Party with 42 guests.  

I moved the dining room chairs into the garage and covered the tables with black tablecloths and created a buffet area.  

It worked great!  Italian meatballs, eggplant rolatini, baked ziti, salad, and rolls were on the menu.  Here are the girls who arrived early to help set up!

Rob was keeping everyone happy with his margaritas.  Good thing racing was cancelled!

A teacher baby photo contest was displayed and fun to look at.

The PA was set up in the front room and yes - dancing did commence.  No party is complete without some Gangnam Style!  

There was even fun to be had in the backyard with badminton!  Thanks Grandpa!

Keener Can!

January brought cold temperatures and the arrival of Grandma, Grandpa, Tara and Lauren from New Jersey.  It's always great when family comes to see you but the real motivation for their visit was Tara's participation in the P.F. Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon.  Lauren's love for long distance running has rubbed off on Tara and she did her first 5 mile run while Lauren had to cheer her on from the sidelines due to injury.

Here she is at the start - looking happy and ready to rock it!

She crafted her own shirt to run in - quite creative and Sun Devil appropriate!

The starting line was right downtown Mill Avenue, the heart of Tempe and ASU.

Here she is after the race, still happy!

What an appropriate sign because YES sometimes starting is the hardest part!

Here are some goodies from the race, a bag and a medal, with her name and time engraved.

Definitely something to be proud of!

Other than the excitement of the race itself, the other time was spent hanging out at the house, enjoying the badminton temps outside.

Spenser was in seventh heaven with so many badminton players in town!  I don't think he even got on his computer the whole time his cousins and grandparents were here.  That is something let me tell you!

Thanks for the visit and hope to see you in April for Samour Sounds next show!