I Have a Chandelier in my Room!

It's not even summer yet, and I already feel overwhelmed (in a great way) with all of our plans. I'm also overwhelmed with this big ol' belly getting in the way! Today I mistakenly wrote on my stomach three different times, and while in the computer lab I accidentally rested it on a girl's shoulder while helping edit her paper. Embarrassing. If this belly doubles in size (which it might since I'm only 6 months), I'm going to have to wear bright orange to warn people of my impending girth! Here I am-->

Recently, Corey and I spent one of our last free weekends of the spring/summer painting our spare bedroom into a BIG GIRL room for Gwen. We asked her if she'd like to keep her current room, or switch and get new paint/re-decorate, and without hesitation she decided she needed a BIG girl room. She chose pink and aqua marine for her walls, and one weekend when she was gone, we painted the spare room, added a glitter overlay (from Walmart's Disney paint collection--it was wonderful!) to the pink wall, and assembled and hung a chandelier. The chandelier was Corey's idea, and I'm so glad we went with it because it literally makes the room and it is all Gwen wants to talk about. I also created a little "reading nook" next to her bookshelf since she loves to read. It took me forever to decide how I wanted to do it. I wanted it to be comfortable, but without a lot of pattern (since her bedspread is pretty busy). I went between a bean bag chair, kid-sized papasan chair, and a ton of huge pillows, and nothing quite worked. Finally, I got the idea to use a dog bed for the bottom since it's so soft, and found a perfect plain gray one. I then found some pretty gray, slightly patterned pillows to go with it. It turned out so nicely, but I felt kind of sheepish that I used a dog bed. Corey and I both thought it didn't really matter because she wouldn't even know it was a dog bed (it doesn't look like it). The FIRST thing she said when she went in the room was, "I HAVE A DOG BED!" with great delight. Haha, fail! But she loves it, so that worked out well. Here's a picture of the reading nook (in the left corner), her bookshelves, and Gwen's "maternity pants." By the way, it's a new dog bed--not used!

On Wednesday of last week I moved Gwen's dress-up closet that Corey made and assembled her new bookshelves in her room. My back was killing me after that, so I had to wait until Corey could help to do anything else. Yesterday he took apart her bed and moved it into the new room, and last night was her first night sleeping in it. This morning she told me that she tried so hard not to stare at her chandelier at bed time, but couldn't help it. It was so cute. I told her she was welcome to stare at it, because it was all hers! She is such a great sleeper, and crashed really hard last night. We're hoping to get her pictures on the wall and do some final touches tonight and tomorrow, so I'll post another entry with some before and after pictures so you get the full picture. Let's rewind a little bit to Friday. This weekend my mom and Russ got married. It was such a fun occasion and great to celebrate with them. We love both of them incredibly, and got to see a lot of family. Corey and my brother played golf all day on Friday, while Gwen and I hung out with my mom, sister-in-law Angie, and nephews Titan, Jett, and Colt. Since my mom and Russ live right on the golf course, we got to see the boys go by a few times and even got to root for them on the hole behind my mom's house. Here are Corey and Gwen getting their golf on :)

Colt even had to get in on the golf action (in his PJ's!)

The kids had a great time playing in Grandma's back yard and racing bikes around the fire-pit. Even cranky Jett Thomas cracked a smile! They had fun hanging with one another, and especially with Grandma Sonya.

We ended that first night with a bonfire before the big day! My Aunt and Uncle from Ohio made the trip down, so seeing them was especially exciting. Gwen immediately decided my Aunt Marcia was her new best friend. At the wedding, they played chalk and bubbles, and Gwen is thrilled that the zebra painting my aunt did for me will now be in her big girl room. She's an incredible artist and is currently working on a piece for the baby's room! Here is a picture of my brother, mom and Aunt Marcia.

And here are just a few more (I didn't have time to take too many, but I'm sure more photos will surface as time goes on).

We made it home around 8:00 and put the kids to bed while we spent a little more time chatting. I'm pretty sure I was the first of the adults to head to bed, and I'm glad because Gwen and I were both up at 6:00 AM! We hung out a little bit more that morning, and got back to Des Moines around 12:30. Corey and Gwen went downtown to check out the bicycle art show we missed, and they got ice cream, played at a park, and spotted a chandelier the gazed at for a while :)

We had a lot of fun celebrating my mom and Russ, and feel so fortunate to have such a great family support system. Next weekend we are headed to Prairie Du Chien to go camping with Corey's Mom and step-dad. We went last year, too, and it was so beautiful that we had to invite ourselves to go again! :) Corey's excited to ride his bike, Gwen can't wait to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa, and I'm excited to do whatever everyone else wants to do!