A Finished House

Some of you may remember the post where I showed pictures the girls' "new" room. The goal was to have the entire house organized, rearranged, painted, carpeted, etc. and so forth before the baby was born.

*insert belly laugh here.

The good news, however, is that it's finally done! Yes, baby is just about 3 months old, but I learned something very wise and good and true throughout this process: WHO. CARES. Honestly, I never realized how okay it is to just keep plugging along towards a goal instead of finishing it quickly. I mean, at least we finished, right? At least it happened, right? Life sidetracked us for a bit, but that's what life does on a regular basis.

Anyway, how did we finish? It was miraculous, really. And all it took was for Brandon to get as fed up with the whole house as I was --he executed his fatherly role and told the kids they were grounded until everything was finished. Instead of being upset, I was thrilled! Since Saturday, the kids have been grounded from friends, TV, video games, etc. and aside from Church, piano lessons, and family activities, we've been working. And working hard.

The following photos might not mean much to you, dear reader, but to me, they are a testament to my awesome kids and my happiness at making our modest home function with 8 people living in it.

First off! Family Room, Play Room, and Library (the library is just that corner of books with the table in the family room). This is in the basement. Notice the lighting changes the color of the wall and the carpet. It was just the flash on my phone:

Next! #5 and #6's bedroom, which is upstairs (the main floor):

Then we have the office/craft room. It's still a work in progress (needing filing and hanging of photos and such), but it's a lovely color, don't you think? This room is upstairs, too.

Next is the boys' room! (#3 and #4). They wanted their wall to be BYU blue, and after 3 coats of the stuff, Brandon and I deemed it good enough. Their room isn't super clean (we hadn't made their beds before I took photos), but it works. This room is also in the basement, through the jack-and-jill bathroom from the girls' room. (Oh, and #2 wanted to be in the picture.)

And there you have it! A "finished" house. The kids worked really hard to also clean out the game cupboard, the storage room, and the backyard/porch. I'm so proud of them! The goal now: TO KEEP IT ORGANIZED AND CLEAN.

Think we can do it???