4 Miles

I'm embarrassed to put the before pictures up. I will say, in my defense, I took the pictures before I'd do a normal clean up–I wanted the WORST possible to make the after look that much better!

Before, on the left, we have where the crib was, and once it broke, the sad little crib mattress (note the tote of Winter clothes he was using as a bedside toy table). On the right is the messy corner where some of the toys are supposed to go (plus the closet full of clothes I need to sort & put away or get ready to give back to family members). I liked how we had boxes for things on the shelf, but we had a number of larger toys (like the truck you might see in all the mess) that would just stay on the floor. 

After, once we had the bunk bed and could put away the crib mattress. We moved all the toys OUT of the playroom/office/guestroom and back into the boys room. I was thrilled with the white shelf you'll see below because it's a place to put the big toys so they're off the floor. In the future, it can be used as a bookshelf, or we can get more canvas totes to put more small toys that I'd like to hide if we need to.  (Hmmm…like how I switched ways I took the pictures here?)
   

And on the right you see how the book shelf normally looks when picked up. The closet door is closed because I have not organize that yet–that will happen after this trip. I may take a picture later just to prove to you I did it! (I HAVE to, most of those clothes are going back to their owners in July–consider yourselves warned, Shari and Tessa!)

The boys like the room. They know where toys are supposed to go, and so far are doing a pretty good job putting them back. Granted, we haven't been home much! 

Finally–yes, Alex can climb to the top bunk:

Last night we found him asleep in bed with Will. Guess the thunder scared him. He later woke up, climbed down and came out to me fussing about a bad dream. Two and a-half and STILL waking me up at night!

I meant to come up with a few more ('cause there were a bunch of funny ones) but saved this in drafts and forgot about it. So you're getting it a week later with some of the really funny ones forgotten and not included.   

We got to Teri & Rachel's and one of the first thing Alex says is "Mommy, where are deir doys?" (Where are their toys?). Um, sorry bud, that's why we brought our own–unless you want to play with dog toys!

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Will: Freeways are called Freeways because you're FREE to go FAST on them, there are no stop lights. You can go fast unless there's road construction, the you have to slow down.

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Alex has taken to calling his blanket "Blankie Miles".

Friday we went up to stay with my parents. This was an effort to make Saturday easier (we needed to be up there rather early) but I think the boys stayed up late enough & woke us up enough that it didn't really matter.  But Saturday was still a fun day. James got to go golfing. I got to scrapbook. And the boys got to play with a friend of theirs–Fun for everyone! 

We came home Saturday night and it was nice to still have one more day in our weekend.  Sunday we celebrated Fathers Day by "letting" James take us out to lunch (that was the boys idea, I promise!) and then letting him watch his race. His gifts didn't come until today (though I got a small stand in, some "beers of the world" for him to try. He enjoyed one during the US Open).  He got a book and a game from the boys.

Last week I said this week would be even crazier than last–and it is with the start of VBS–or Kids Camp. This year they're doing a science theme that is REALLY cool. I'm sad we only get to be here for the first two days of it. (So is my partner in the craft room. I figure if I'm going to take the kids out there, I might as well stay and help out. Last year and this I have loved working in the craft room with a friend from our Sunday School class–my best VBS experience yet!)  The boys both enjoyed their morning at church.   Wednesday the boys are going to Grandma's house while James and I go off for a retreat with our Kenya Team for our January Mission Trip. The retreat is the weekend, we're going a few days early for our anniversary.  After this, our schedule kind-of settles down, and I think we'll be enjoying our lazy days of summer. (I say kind-of because I remembered we'll have a visit from GrandmaLo and Grandpa Miles and a summer wedding to look forward to in July!)