Spring Photos!

I know they are cheesy and not always the best quality, but school photos are still a record so I always flip for them. It's so interesting to see how much the girls change in the course of a school year. I rather enjoy choosing a background with the girls- they give such thoughtful input! Without further ado, here are Liesel and Ireland surrounded by (fake) flora and fauna.

Ireland's Room Makeover

There was so much ado surrounding Liesel's baptism, I didn't want Ireland's birthday two weeks earlier to get lost in the shuffle. After watching one too many episodes of Fixer Upper, I decided to tackle her bedroom. Brigitta and Ireland share the bedroom above the garage and was by far the ugliest place in the whole house. 

The horribly color-blocked walls were done with an unsteady hand and made it boxy and awkward. There wasn't one inch of wall they didn't nail a hole into and the patch job was just awful. They had clearly smeared Spackle, then just painted over it without sanding or smoothing. Where we had situated Ireland's bed was particularly cold in the winter and at night it just felt creepy. It was time to give this room some serious love, starting with a fresh coat of paint.

Ha, ha, ha! On Fixer Upper when the Gaineses show clients these dilapidated homes Joanna breezily says, "We'll give this room a fresh coat of paint, really lighten up the walls..." as if it's that simple. Oh my friends, it's not simple at all, especially when the walls look like this:

Please don't ever treat your walls like this! They deserve better! They keep you warm and help hold the roof over your head! I'm convinced the previous owner's son had a bad breakup and then went to town on these walls with a nail gun. No lie, I patched at least 1,000 holes. I sanded off the painted over Spackle until I could get down to the actual wall, and then I repaired some more. Finally I washed down the walls to prepare for priming. The room needed a fresh start so I wanted to go completely white and there was just a lot of color... BAD color that needed to be covered. I figured I would be thorough and do two coats of primer. Well, this is what two coats of primer looked like:

That paint just ate up the primer and it looked like I had taken a giant piece of chalk and shaded the walls a bit. In the end it took FOUR coats to completely cover all that horrible color! Not to toot my own horn, but I primed those walls but good. In the process, all those holes and patches started to blend and then disappear all together.

Just when I was about to move onto paint, I noticed the ceiling was a distinct shade of yellow compared to that raw primer.

I was going for a cool white on the walls and that yellow ceiling just wouldn't look right, so now I needed to prime and paint the ceiling. Hat's off to Michelangelo... priming and painting the ceiling was probably the most physically taxing two days of this whole project. Going up and down ladders and then bending backwards, reaching every which direction, and occasionally getting a splatter right in my eye... yeah, I won't miss that. Truly it had to happen though, and I'm much happier with the ceiling.

Turns out there are pretty much a million shades of white. I spent hours and hours looking at options. I knew I wanted to go with Benjamin Moore paint so I was on their website quite a bit. When I clicked on "Decorator's White" and saw the colors they suggested to use to coordinate, I knew I found my color. Two shades lighter was "Super White" which would be my ceiling and baseboards. It was finally time to start painting!!! This was the fun part.

The room went from this:

To this:

I fell in love with my paint choice because it positively glows. At dusk the rosy hues come into the window and it feels clean and cozy--just what I'd been hoping for. The room looks bigger, fresher, and just HAPPIER!!! No more boxy, patchy, cheap colors. The clean palate that was so desperately needed breathed new life into those walls.

Even with the setbacks, I'd given myself ample time to finish this for Ireland's birthday and I was right on schedule when I put the last coat on the baseboards. However, a major leak in the laundry closet turned this room into temporary storage for the washer and dryer. After living with a hole in the kitchen ceiling and walking around on sub-flooring upstairs for weeks on end, it felt like I'd never be able to put Ireland's room together. Eventually and all at once, it happened. We'd never planned on new carpet but the original was so badly damaged it had to be replaced.

I worked my tail off while the girls were at school to get the room back into livable shape. Liesel and Ireland had been sleeping in the dining room and I begged Brent to help me get the beds upstairs. Slicked in sweat, we were able to take care of it before he left for work. I washed sheets and ironed bed skirts and put together the green chair Ireland had picked out from World Market over a month before. My concept for a headboard ended up taking a lot longer than I thought it would and after calculating and recalculating and then confirming my measurements with Brent, I had to drag the two little girls to Home Depot to get it right. Despite all my efforts, the room just wasn't ready when Ireland came home from school. I commanded her to stay downstairs while I put the finishing touches in place and after a couple of hours, it was finally ready.

The coldest, creepiest corner of the house was now preciously girly and comfortable.

Ireland immediately did what I'd been dying to do, which is just cuddle into that bed covered with the fluffiest of duvets. That sucker is going to keep her toasty warm even on the coldest Chicago winter night. I wanted to do something with the slanted ceiling to accentuate the bed, and I adore how the canopy turned out! It adds visual interest when laying in bed and draws the eye upward making the room feel taller. Just opposite the bed is the mirrored sliding doors to the closet which reflects this adorable spot where my darling girl slumbers.

Personally I think this nook is the sweetest corner of the whole house. Ireland picked out the chair and I just love that it is green! The baby quilt was made by Katrina and ties in all the colors I wanted to use in the room. The photo is one Reagan took of her playing in my wedding dress with her striped purple pajamas showing underneath. It's the perfect picture to have right next to the closet. The brand-new carpets are thick and soft, which adds to the warmth of the room.

Eventually we will need to expand the closet-- one side of it has an odd angle taking up valuable space. I have my eye on some wrought iron beds to really anchor all the frilly girlishness going on. I threw away the horrid curtains and those really need to be replaced. The window is pretty hashed as is the door. Oh how I yearn for solid oak doors! I'd love to split the HVAC in our bedroom to put floor vents by Ireland's bed so it gets the air flow it really needs. I want to get matching desks and vanity chairs by the window where the girls can get ready in the morning and do their homework at night. Eventually, the room will be completely completed. But for now, this is enough and I couldn't be more thrilled with the results!

Sydney's Room Makeover

Knowing the carpets were going to be replaced on the entire 2nd floor motivated me to tackle a couple of projects. First was our sleigh bed. Back when Brent and I were young and foolish, we used to drape our wet towels over the footboard. It wasn't until the varnish was ruined from all the moisture, we realized that was probably not the best idea. Moving from rental to rental, it always bugged me but I just didn't have the time or means to fix it. Now I did.

Initially I asked BJ for help in just moving the mattress and box spring. Being an avid DIYer himself, he stuck around to help me with the sanding, staining, and finishing. I think the whole thing took 30 minutes start to finish. It went from this:

To this:

And this:

To this:

It looks brand-new again! The spatters of stain on the carpet were actually leftover from the previous owners. Back when we bought the house and did our final walk-through, all the furniture was gone but there was a rug right in the middle of the room. Our savvy realtor rolled that up right away. On the one hand I was curious who would varnish over carpet, on the other I was thoroughly bothered they'd tried to hide it from us. Anyway, when our claim adjuster told me we'd be getting all new carpet upstairs, my mind went directly to the varnish stains under that ugly rug.

Painting Brigitta and Ireland's room was such an ordeal, I wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to pull out the paint brushes again. Don't get me wrong, I planned to repaint many a room, but I'd always assumed that could only happen once all the kids were in school full-time. Knowing I could paint and not have to worry about dripping on the carpet really motivated me to take on another room or two. Like Brigitta and Ireland's room, Sydney's room was color-blocked, but hers was in an awful blue and chocolate brown combination.

WHAT were they thinking? Although Sydney has the smallest bedroom in the house, it's still a decent size and was clearly built to be a nursery. Unfortunately, it was hard to appreciate the charm of the room with all the choppiness and soul-sucking darkness going on in there.

I believe it was the day we moved in that Brigitta got into my GlamGlow and spread it all over her legs... and the carpet. The carpet in Sydney's room was the nicest in the house and we could not get that stuff out. Over time the stains just deepened so again, I was elated to find out the whole upstairs was getting new carpet.

That's $69 worth of product folks (and a gift). If memory serves, I actually cried over that one because I'd only used it once and it was just gone. Brigitta's legs and hands were ultra-hydrated and silky smooth for days though!

As if the walls of the room weren't bad enough, the inside of the closet was the same horrid blue. Even the ceiling wasn't spared. Personally I think closet interiors should be pure white- it's the best way to clearly see what you have!

As luck would have it, Jim and Vanessa were in town for a visit. They insisted they just wanted to hang out; Jim had a business trip and Vanessa would be doing plenty of sight-seeing in the days to come, so they really had no agenda. Vanessa asked me what I wanted to do and I cringed when I told her I just wanted to get Sydney's room primed and painted. She didn't even hesitate- she just grabbed a brush and away we went.

Jim and Vanessa worked like galley slaves and in 1 day we accomplished what would have taken me 5 on my own. They didn't exactly bring work clothes, but didn't worry or complain that their regular clothes were getting splattered.  I'm forever grateful for Brent and Jim who had to get HIGH on that ladder to prime the vaulted ceiling. With brothers on either side, they had it done lickety split. It was hard to see because of the chocolate brown on the walls, but the ceiling was actually a pretty dark tan. 

I had to laugh when I saw the message Vanessa left on our chalkboard. For the record, I didn't make her paint, she volunteered. She'd been struggling with serious back pain and there she was, painting any part of the wall she could reach from her spot on the floor. It almost became her project too and she wanted to see it finished, but we needed to leave some drying time. She kept me company while I braved that ladder to paint the ceiling. Every time I look at that ceiling I'll remember how she chatted away, held the ladder steady, and encouraged me while I worked. Sometimes you just need someone to be there, ya know?

By the time Jim and Vanessa headed out, I was confident I could finish by Friday, which is when the carpet guys were coming. On Tuesday afternoon I received a call from our Project Manager and--SURPRISE-- they wanted to start laying carpet at 8 AM the next morning. Wasn't it great they were ready to go early? Aye de mi! I called Brent at work and begged him to come home early. Then I contacted my counselors and asked them to handle Mutual without me. Brent and I worked like fiends until midnight.

I was so exhausted, achy, and bruised from climbing up and down that ladder, I just wanted to quit. But the most important part of the whole room simply had to be painted last- the baseboards. I'd learned from doing Brigitta and Sydney's room how it would be nigh impossible to do a good job on the baseboards without ruining new carpet. Brent and I continued working and our conversation turned into that nonsensical kind when you are operating beyond exhaustion. We finally ran out of painter's tape, and had to quit for the night.

The next morning I was that crazy lady fogging up the glass on the front doors of Home Depot at 6 AM. I bought the last of the painter's tape we needed and raced home to finish. Brent went in to work a tad later so he could help with the girls, and I finished up just as the carpet guys arrived. We shut the door, turned on the fan and hung a sign instructing them to carpet Sydney's room last. I still can't believe we did it- and it never would have happened if Jim and Vanessa hadn't been there.

Sydney's room went from this:

To this:

The closet went from this:

To this:

As with Brigitta and Ireland's room, it looks bigger, happier, and the color (Benjamin Moore's Just Peachy) absolutely glows any time of the day or night. It coordinates beautifully with either a blue-based pink or a yellow-based pink. When the girls saw the new color, they oohed and aahed. Logically I know a pink room is not the best for resale, but having 4 daughters gives me the right to one pink room! The fresh, white ceiling makes a huge difference as the room suddenly feels clean and light.

We threw open the windows to air everything out but there's still a hint of fresh paint and that new carpet smell. It has gone from the room Sydney sleeps in, to the room I don't mind spending some time in, because it's so pretty and inviting. Initially I'd hoped to finish Sydney's room mid-week and quickly paint the hallway, but I was out of time and out of energy. Someday I'll take care of that- probably when all the kids are in school full-time!

Liesel's Baptism

As a perfectionist, I wanted Liesel's baptism to be, well, perfect. We started reading the Book of Mormon with her when she turned 7 and it pretty much took us the whole year to figure out a groove when it comes to family scripture study. There were some intense months at the start of this year, but we all cheered when we finished on April 1, the day before Liesel's birthday.

I'm an avid follower of the blog 71 Toes and talked to Brent about having The Big Talk with Liesel when she turned 8. We took her to a quiet restaurant where we could talk privately and I have to say it was the most entertaining discussion we've ever had with her. The sad fact is that these days age 8 is about the time kids are starting to get exposed to porn. Brent and I wanted to be ahead of that and talk to Liesel proactively, not as an awkward conversation after she's seen something she wasn't ready to see. We used the book Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle. It starts simply and then builds up and I'll never forget Liesel excitedly exclaiming, "I know what a penis is! I know what a penis is!" just as the pizza was delivered to our table.

On occasion, when Liesel has been particularly disrespectful, I remind her that I nearly died giving birth to her and she should not talk back to me. As we went through the book, she kept asking if this was the part where that happened. Near the end, she discovered that the baby comes out of a mom's vagina when she's born, and Liesel's eyes popped open. She immediately insisted she didn't want to have babies. Despite my attempts to calm her with the knowledge that it's really only a day and then you have this wonderful creature for the rest of eternity, she told us she wanted to adopt. After a minute of silence she perked up and said, "Annie and Jeremy adopted! I'll just ask them how to get a baby!" 

More than anything, we wanted to make sure Liesel knew the difference between private and secret. We didn't want to have The Big Talk and then walk away to let her fill in the blanks, we are hoping to check in with her and keep the discussion open. Maybe we won't do it perfectly, but at least we are going to try. 

Liesel had the missionary discussions multiple times, with multiple companionships. Brent and I prepped her as much as we could, but it's always good to get it from another source and our fabulous missionaries were happy to teach her. Her last lesson was with Elder Fuchigami and Elder Swallow. 

Brent was able to sit in on her interview with Bishop. Her Sunday School teacher took one of their lessons to bring the kids into the Bishop's office so they'd be familiar with it when the time came. Brilliant! She was SO ready to go!

 Reagan did the invitation:

There were a few glitches just before the program started: the DVD we burned didn't work, Brent forgot a couple of things and we were scrambling to make sure he was set, and the battery on Reagan's fancy schmancy camera was dead. In the end we played the video off of our phone which was projected onto the screen, Brent was squared away and we only had to start about 5 minutes late, and the photos turned out beautifully:

Our dear friend Annie made the crown for Liesel; the perfect little touch.

Katrina created the most amazing program (in pink!):

No kidding, people asked if I bought a special computer program or hired a professional. 

The welcome gift from the Primary Presidency was fabulous:

I was able to wrap Liesel up in this right when she came out of the water. It came with a sweet message. Oh how I love the Primary in our ward! They work so hard to make the kids feel loved.

One of my friends told me the most special moment for her was when Brent and Liesel were standing in the font, and even though there was a crowd there, he just took a moment to review what was about to happen and make sure she felt safe and comfortable. Surrounded by people, they had their own private moment.

I helped Liesel change into her dress and braided her wet hair lickety split so we could get back for the rest of the program.

I was impressed with how intently and soberly Liesel listened to the speakers. She really tried to soak everything in.

The whole family and some friends helped with simple refreshments. The rolls rose during the program and Mom popped them in the oven at the very end. As the closing prayer was said, the wonderful smell wafted into the air.

It's no surprise the CTR sugar cookies were a big hit among the kids.

People came from both coasts to be there for this special event. Liesel's grandparents flew in from San Francisco and Reagan came with her family from Maryland. My parents drove from Iowa City and Julie was there from Provo.

Nielsen Grandparents:

Wuehler Grandparents:

I'm so grateful they could all be there! 

The sweetest moment for me came during her confirmation. Just before going to the front, I told Liesel it would be appropriate to shake everyone in the circle's hand and then give her father a hug. She started shaking hands but when she came to our dear friend Jeremy, he got down on one knee and gave her the sweetest hug. 

We don't deserve the amazing friends we have.

Lots of cute kids came to support Liesel. 

I almost cried when Liesel's 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Taylor arrived. We had invited her but weren't sure if she'd make it. The beginning of the school year was pretty rough, and Mrs. Taylor was so patient with Liesel while she went through that stage of life.

In the end we were able to make a pretty display of the baptismal collage given to Liesel as a gift, Annie's crown, another collage of her professional photos, and then the framed picture with everyone's well-wishes on the mat. This is opposite her bed so she gets to wake up to all those happy memories every day!

I've watched the video Reagan put together many, many times and I get teary every time. For some reason, the one of her at The Bean really gets me.

We weren't allowed to play this during the program so we saved it for after during the refreshments. Just for fun, we also threw in some home videos of Liesel throughout her life and the kids really enjoyed watching them: