Progress!

We have made huge strides in the visible progress upstairs this past week. I got the colored walls painted, and this afternoon Dada (with a little help from me) got the new windows installed.
In the photo above, looking through the play area outside the kids rooms, the wall to the left is a robin's egg blue.

This is Charlie's room, which I painted a soft green.

From the very beginning of this project I would periodically ask Max what color he wanted his room. Every single time without fail his response was, 'Ohnch!' So he got 2 orange walls in his room. He even helped me pick out the exact paint swatch of orange he wanted!

Very soon this little corner of the play area will be a custom sewing desk all for me! I am so excited about the prospect of not needing to pack up my sewing machine each and every time I am through using it for the day.

What did you say?

Dada likes to tease me that both of the kids have said his name first (although I haven't heard Charlie say it in a verifiable way yet), so at dinner the other night we had this snippet of conversation:
Dada: Max, what was your first word?
Max: Potato!

I love that kid.

Boys Like Digging

A couple of weekends ago while the guys were working on the drywall and Dada didn't need to be up there helping, he built a new sandbox for Max. I wanted something taller so that Max wouldn't sit in the sand and get entirely filthy every time he played in it, so Dada figured out this box made of 2x6's. The sand is only about 5 inches deep, which is plenty for Max's trucks and shovels.

He loves it and only occasionally dumps sand on the grass around the box! The bonus of this system is that we can use it as a buffet table when the plywood cover is on it. Bring on the barbecues! (Well, bring them on when we have the upstairs a little closer to being done and can actually spend time cleaning up the back yard!)

We Have Paint!

I took these pictures yesterday afternoon. Everything has been primed, and the ceilings and the appropriate walls have been painted white.

It looks so different now! I am just thrilled with the results so far.

There is still plenty to do, but it is getting there!

And here is the gear Dada had to wear while tackling the dusty awful job of sanding the mud before the painting began:

He is SO glad that portion of the project is done!!!