New Things

It was decided that we needed to separate Rachel and Samantha. They have shared a room since Samantha was born, and well, she's now nine. The hope is that putting Rachel with an older sibling will cause her to mature rather than her current M.O. of regressing down to Samantha's level. Here is Samantha's room which she now shares with Nathalie:

And as with most of my ideas and plans, this one has so far been a bust, as Samantha and Rachel now both hang out in Samantha's room. Rachel and Hannah now share the downstairs room and since they are both slobs, I didn't take a picture of it...

Here is Abby's new room which she now doesn't have to share. She bought these cute wooden filing things for all of her paperwork (4H, School, Scholarship stuff). She painted them to match her new room:

And here's her room:

And because the strap on my purse broke beyond repair (the girls informed me that the duct tape just didn't look cool), I splurged and bought a new purse:

Hannah's New Bedroom

We finished Hannah's room today. Well, all except the bulletin board that Sam is going to make as soon as his back is better.

Here are two pictures of, what was the schoolroom, before any work was done.

And here are the pictures with painted walls and trim, bunk bed, new curtains on the window, and new curtains on the closet.

Hannah picked the wall and trim color on her own. She did a great job of matching it to her quilt! She chose the fabric for her curtains too. She wanted something sophisticated and without flowers. I think she definitely achieved "sophisticated." The room came together really nicely.

Light Duty

Sam had his follow-up doctor appointment today. He is going to be put on light duty status. This means he is home for the next seven days, at which time he will be re-evaluated. He also starts physical therapy 3 times per week.

The doctor pulled Sam's old records to check to see if there had been any previous injury. He found that in 2006, when Sam had a kidney stone, the cat scan showed two hernias. No one had ever mentioned these to us. I have a suspicion that they occured when he had his omentum surgery. The way Sam was put back together on the outside, I don't doubt he was poorly put back together on the inside.

Samantha is at the Rodger's house for a sleepover. Mr. Johnson finished painting Hannah's room and the master bedroom. He'll be back on Saturday to paint the master bathroom. I took pictures of what the rooms looked like before we started working on them. I'll take pictures when everything is done too.

VBS, Camp, and Cousins! Oh My!

It's VBS (Vacation Bible School) week here. The younger four are attending and Abby is a helper. VBS meets at 6:30PM and goes until 9PM. The theme this year is Dinosaurs! Samantha is loving it. I think Rachel is liking it, and Abby, Nathalie and Hannah are having fun since they get to basically be out late with their friends every night this week.

On Thursday, Samantha gets dropped off at Clover Camp. I have yet to even look over the list of what she needs packed. But that's okay, 'cause I doubt Clover camp is ready for Samantha! She is to be picked up on Saturday. Thankfully, the Rodgers girls are going to Clover camp too. I am judging a goat show in Rhode Island and so Mrs. Rodgers will picking Samantha up for me.

On Sunday afternoon, the four older girls will be dropped at 4H Camp. I know they will have a good time. While they are gone we will be rearranging, (sadly, I will be losing my school room! It was fun while it lasted!) painting and refinishing floors in nearly all the rooms. Hannah has decided on the paint for her room and Abby and Nathalie have managed to agree on curtain fabric for their room. It's not International Harvester red, but brown with pink instead. A much better choice should Abby ever outgrow this phase.

I still need to pick a color for our bedroom. Our furniture is a yellow-ish pine color and the tile in the bathroom is a brown (Regular price: $2.50 per sq foot; Clearance price: $.19 per sq foot!!! It could have been orange and I would have made it work for that price!). I am thinking the walls should be in the browns/beiges/tans. Sam says I can pick any color but pinks. I really like the look of a dark brown with navy accents. And I'll need a dark color to cover all those stripes!

We will be very busy the next three weeks! As soon as the girls are home from camp the cousins from Kansas will be arriving and then all the fairs start! I will try and remember to take lots of pictures!