look, progress!

It's been a long time since we've seen any forward momentum in this house. Most of our home improvement time is spent on things like filling the holes the boys inexplicably love to poke in the plaster walls (and then sanding and painting the walls, only to find the next week that new holes have appeared), or gluing the dining room chairs back together because the boys played with them too roughly when they used them to make a train across the floor, or scouring the internet for a replacement toilet handle because the boys were a little too enthusiastic with their flushing and apparently we have some kind of rare model toilet. You get the picture: It's two steps back, one step up around here -- if we're lucky. But a few weeks ago, Mike and I reached critical frustration level with the spice cabinet (of all things!) and action had to be taken.

So of course, I went online looking for ideas, then developed a plan, then spent a few days talking Mike into going along with the plan. And once the plan was made, it included a trip to Ikea, which conveniently (or, you know, completely intentionally) gave me an excuse to meet up with my friends Val and Debbie to shop and lunch like we are some kind of ladies who lunch. And since no plan in this house can move forward smoothly to reach its logical endpoint, Mike later had to make a trip to Lowe's to get a replacement bit, which led to more delays.

But trust me, all this rambling is going somewhere.

Tonight, the final pieces of the puzzle came together, and the boys and I created labels for our brand-spanking-new spice display! We got magnetic jars with clear lids, and plain brown labels, and we set about transferring the nightmare contents of the spice cabinet to some semblance of order and even beauty. Along the way, the boys smelled every spice (most were declared yucky) and examined every label. And eventually, we had this:

Now maybe someday I will finish the hateful trim project in Max and Henry's bedroom. Check back with us in about five years on that one!

medieval times

Our resolutions this year are pretty much the same as last year: Go on a day trip (minimum) once a month and have a date night once a month. You may remember that these resolutions didn't work out for us so well last year, especially the date night one. But I'm happy to report that despite the obstacles, we've had both a date night and a family trip this month. The date night turned out to be easy because Klaudia volunteered to babysit on a Saturday night. The trip has been a bit more challenging. A couple of weeks ago, it was 55 degrees and sunny on a Saturday in January, and we had big plans to take the boys to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Unfortunately for us, the boys had other plans, namely fighting. So at the last minute we had to call that one off.

This time, we thought we would be smarter. We didn't tell the boys we were going anywhere until right before it was time to get dressed. We hustled them into the car as quickly as we could, and in return we got some (but not nearly as much as our first attempt) attitude but eventually we hit the road. Our destination was Medieval Times in Schaumburg, Illinois. We picked up Klaudia along the way, and the trip itself was pretty uneventful. The boys were pretty excited when they finally saw the big castle at the side of the highway. We got there early (a mistake) and had a few dicey moments while we waited around in the great hall to be let in, but eventually we took our seats, and then the fun began.

It turned out to be perfect for the boys. Horses! Swords! Jousting! Food you eat with your hands! (I did smuggle in some plastic forks just in case.) They sat there oohing and aahing for the whole two hours, and even though they didn't fully understand the (overly) convoluted plot, they loved watching the action. We let them each pick out a souvenir, and Max and Liam picked large jewels, while Henry chose a shield that he still won't let go of. After the show, we had a surprisingly easy drive home, and we even managed to keep them all awake the whole way so they would go to sleep at bedtime. And that, friends, is what I call a success!