Who needs Disney Land when you can go furniture shopping instead

Big transitions will be hitting the household this summer.

Audrey is quite the slob so it is going to be a boot camp summer. With vacations and events sucking up 3 weeks of her 8 week summer break the rest of the weekdays will all begin with big chores. I know she can clean up after herself in school, so she can do it at home. All school year it has been a push and pull with her to clean up after herself and most days I let her mess sit until she got home from school. Using the "get it done or you can't play with your friends" technique she always picked up. But it is time for her to learn to do it out of habit. I think I am going to start with the bathrooms since she is so messy with her toothpaste, and her brothers make a mess in there. She needs to learn to take pride in her work and understand how it feels when someone comes along and messes it up. It is going to be fun!

Kaeden is just amazing. At 2 years old the child can clear his plate into the trash and then put it in the sink. He needs to teach his 7 year old sister this technique.

Bedrooms are changing too. We have decided to close up the loft wall but have not decided when. Due to noise I think it should wait until Kaeden has outgrown his nap routine, so hopefully it will be awhile. Currently we plan to put Kelden and Kaeden in the same bedroom and move Audrey back into her original bedroom where Kaeden is now. This will open Audrey's room as a guest bedroom (and more storage!) again.

The economy here is holding well but I think spending is down. So it seems everyone is having big sales on big ticket items, and we are taking advantage! We had a security front door installed and it looks really pretty. It is so nice to have the breeze from the front of the house now. We also bought two boys bedroom sets. We got two captains beds, two dressers and two nightstands - all matching. The boys are going to share the room and we are probably going to decorate with a train theme. The furniture that doesn't fit in the boys room will probably go in the spare bedroom. I figure eventually they will want their own space and this way they both have enough drawer space and matching furniture. When that happens the loft will be enclosed and will be usable as a spare bedroom!

My other goal for the summer is to install cabinets and a counter top along the short (7 foot wall) in the loft. This will be the location for doing homework, "minor crafting" and the kids computer. And hopefully this will make sure I don't find Audrey's bedroom floor covered in stamping ink again.

When we went to the furniture store to look at the options the kids just went nuts climbing the bunk beds and the loved climbing through the "storage" doors in a lot of the furniture. There is some neat stuff out there and I bet we are going to find our K's hiding inside their captains beds when they are installed. Kaeden loves to hide in the tall cabinet in his diaper changing table. The kids would not calm down, we made sure that Kaeden could get up and down on the captains bed well enough, then Brendan took them out to the van for containment.

We stopped at a restaurant for dinner on the way home and the kids went all ga-ga over a 3 month old baby at the table nearby. They were really sweet blowing her kisses and giving her lots of smiles. The family was very receptive and turned the car seat so the boys could get a clear view too. They all entertained each other for a good while.