When Mark left for Iraq, I kept pretty busy. Not only did I paint a whole bunch of paintings, I painted almost every room in our house! I redecorated, ripped out walls, rebuilt things and replaced things (major things)!

We bought this house about 9 years and 5 months ago. I was pregnant with Caitlin so all I could do when we moved in was pick the colors. Everyone else painted my house! I remember how I chose the color scheme for her room, it was based on the box of a pair of shoes I bought at Payless. Lavender, purple and green. Mark thought I was nuts of course, but I went along and marked what should be painted which color and left for fresher air. He trusted me (like a good man should!) and loved how her room turned out.

For 9 years and 5 months, it’s the only room in the house that never changed. Personally, I think it has a lot to do with not wanting to let the girls grow up, especially now that both the girls are in the same room.

This week though, things have changed. Our baby girl turned 9. Then our littlest one decided that she was finally ready to grow up a little more too, fully potty training herself. New white mates beds were delivered (for free! I like free!), bunk beds came down, and now they are getting a young girls room. Sigh. They picked the color. Okay, sortof. They sortof picked the color. Okay I PICKED THE COLOR. You got me. I just let them think they picked the color. So, ssssh. It’s our little secret.

Today we’ll finish painting, and we’ll build beds, and we’ll decorate, and it will be pretty by bedtime tonight, even if bedtime ends up being midnight. Again.

It’s a great color, and they do love it. I’m not going to go spoiling the before and after pics, so I’ll show you this, which is precious anyway, because she will not take no for an answer to “Mommy can I have the brush please?” and “Mommy can you put more paint on my brush?”