It's a Rainbow Down Here!

Well, once again, it has been a while since I last blogged!  Which goes to show how extremely boring my life has become.  I'm ok with that...I love my boring life, because as I am living it, it really doesn't seem that boring.  How could it be with the eccentric kids that I have created!  They really keep me on my toes. 

The rainbow that I speak of in the title is our basement walls.  Oh yes, the painting process has begun and is actually almost finished.  The walls have gone from bland white to almost every hue or shade of color there is!  That is what happens when you are painting kids rooms, and you let a very creative little young lady help with choosing the colors.  I was glad to let Ashlyn help with this process because I am just as nervous as she is about her and Truitt moving to the basement once this little project is complete.  So anything that can help her feel more at home down there is welcomed! 

So, I suppose you want me to be quiet and let you see the colors!  Here they are...

Ashlyn's room.  Don't mind the freezer, we don't have any other place we can put it at this time :)

Truitt's room.  We went pretty bold in here, so feel free to give your honest opinion on it!  I have to say this is going to be one of our favorite rooms down there.  We chose to paint an orange accent wall, then continued it around the door opening and on the wall that shares space with the living room closet, under that piece of ceiling over the door.

The bathroom.  This picture is a little dark, so it looks just like plain old brown.  It is actually called "cork tile" and it really looks like copper, or a dull penny color.  I think this is going to look amazing once the tile is in on the floor and in the shower!  I am really excited for this, and to pick out accessories for it.  I took this picture so that you all can see the shelves that Adam and Darin framed in here.  Those beasts made a lot of work for Adam when he was taping and mudding!

Lastly, the living room.  The true test of these colors that we picked will be when the space is furnished and the fireplace stonework is complete.  I can't wait!!  We chose a yellow accent wall, which at the last minute decided to continue this color on the small section that covers the duct work near the ceiling.  The rest of the wall space is a grey tone.  Adam fears that it looks purple, however I think that the reason for this is because we don't have doors yet, and Ashlyn's pink and purple room reflects out to the rest of the place!  I still think I am going to love this color choice.  I plan to make pillows for our couch that have shades of yellow, grey, black and white.  I thought this would tie the room together nicely.  Also, for those of you who have been to our home, we plan to move the couches that we have upstairs to the basement, and the couches that used to be stored in the basement will be moved to the upstairs living room.  Both will match their new spaces better!  The bottom picture is of the fireplace area.  Eventually there will be wooden shelving and cabinetry around the fireplace and the flat screen TV mounted above the fireplace.  Not to mention, the actual stone around the fireplace.  Can't wait!!  

So, now that you have seen the place...what do you think??  We are pretty darn excited to have paint of the walls.  It is starting to feel like a place we can eventually hang out in.  Really looking forward to making memories down here.

Thanks for checking the place out!

Jaime

Slowly but Surely!

Well, it has been a while since I told you all what is going on in our lives...quite frankly, that is because nothing eventful has taken place!  The biggest event in our lives going on right now is the basement project, in case you haven't heard.  Slowly, but surely, progress is being made.  Adam has been working on the mudding and taping which is time consuming to say the least.  Not to mention I am growing very impatient with the whole process, and just want it DONE! 

This first picture is kind of dark, but it shows the bathroom.  It is mudded, taped and primed!  The picture shows the shelves that Adam framed in.  Very excited about those!!

These are the paint colors that I am interested in for the bathroom.  I am looking to go with either a couple of different rust tones, or one rusty looking tone.  Not sure how light or dark we want to go, but we are holding off to decide until we choose the tile to the floors and shower.



This is Ashlyn's room, which is also mudded, taped and primed!  She is really excited about having a new bedroom of her own, except for the fact that she will be sleeping in it alone.  We are working on getting over that fear, but I think she will do just fine once we get the paint on the walls and decorate it for her.  She will feel right at home!

Speaking of paint colors, these are the colors that she likes.  Pink, yellow and purple of course!  Not sure if her dad will agree to 3 different colors, but she thought it was worth a try.  We'll see what happens.



This next mudded, taped and primed wall stands between the living room and Ashlyn's bedroom.  I am really thinking that I would like to paint this a shade of yellow.  I have been seeing some home decor magazines with a grey/black/yellow color scheme and I love the colors together.  So that is what I am hoping for with this room...not completely sure that Adam has bought into this yet!  I also had the idea of moving our couch upstairs down to the basement, because it will match these colors better than our other couch, plus the recliners will be downstairs where we will be spending our nights as soon as this project has been completed!!  So excited for that day...if it ever comes.



Here are the greys and yellows that I am considering...again, not sure how dark or light I would like to go.  However, I don't want my basement to feel like a dark cave, so I am trying to lighten up the room as much as possible.



Although Truitt's new bedroom has yet to be sanded, the taping and mudding has been completed...except for the touch ups that might be needed.  I do have some colors that I am contemplating for his room.  Awhile ago I had purchased a bright classic green colored quilt for him with some sporty sheets to match.  Below are the colors that I am thinking about for his room.  I definitely know that I would like to have one orange wall as an accent.  Not sure why, but I just think it will be awesome!  I think that the brown will match the quilt more, but I am thinking that it might need to be a lighter shade.  Love the blue color though, such a boyish bold color (very fitting for little Truitt)!  I also thought that if we do not paint the living room grey, that grey would also go well with the orange.  Lots of thoughts that I am having, but a hard decision to make!!  So I am going to need some opinions from others...that's where you all come in.

So, all in all there is progress happening in the basement.  I have to continue to remind myself of this, as my impatience can be a little overbearing at times.  I hear that after the mudding and taping that everything else happens pretty fast...I am hoping this is true! 

Anyone have opinions on my paint colors?

How do you choose the right paint color when you paint a room?

Does anyone just want to come finish this project for us so that it can be done with?  O.K.  I knew that was a stretch!

Thanks for reading!

Jaime...Queen of the house (Its Mother's Day, so I thought I would go big with that one).

A Paukert Style Easter

Easter Sunday...a day that requires much preparation.  Our preparations started on Friday since the kids had been home sick since Wednesday.  The first preparation was getting the kids well enough to be able to partake in all of the festivities ahead of us!  We, luckily, were able to check that off the list Friday for Ashlyn and Saturday for Truitt.  So we decided to color some eggs Friday night.

Truitt had to take a backseat on this one and just observe, because let's face it, had he gotten his hands on any of this we would have had no eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide.  He was trying so hard to grab ahold of that newspaper and ruin this experience for his big sister, but low and behold, that booster seat strap holds him in there pretty securly!  

Then after all was said and done and we got all of the eggs colored to perfection, the darn "eggtoos" don't work for crap!  I found this out after 3 tries, with 3 different "eggtoos", while rubbing each of them with the tiny popcycle stick provided, only to find out that after so much rubbing they are just no longer sticky.  So, this is Ashlyn coloring her eggs with crayola markers, rather than the using the "eggtoos." 

The next day was the St. Olaf Easter Egg Hunt.  We have no pictures, because we missed it.  After my chosing to run, and the husband's choice to sleep in, we were unable to get there until 2 minutes to starting time.  We got everyone out of the car and heard people talking about it being over already.  Luckily some nice ladies gave the kids some of the extra bags of Jelly Beans.  So, we decided to catch the Dundas Egg Hunt.  We were able to make this one in plenty of time, so all was great...until it started pouring down rain!  Luckily, by the time the hunt started the rain had lightened up.  Adam went with Truitt to the 0-2 year old hunt, and I went with Ashlyn to the 3-4 year old hunt.  SO.MUCH.FUN!  Sadly, after finding all of the eggs you must return them to the people who put on the egg hunt and after digging in the cold, wet, grass for those eggs the kids were quite cranky seeing as how their fingers were cold and numb.  Again, I wish I would have gotten the camera out for this, but the rain threw me off, and let's face it, I forget to get my camera out often.  I miss a lot of good photo moments :(

So after a very fun and exciting Saturday, the kids were off to bed awaiting the arrival of the infamous Easter Bunny to come with their Easter Baskets and hide their beautiful eggs!  We left some carrots and milk for the Bunny himself...and I'm pretty sure that he enjoyed them because they were all gone this morning!!  When the kids woke up they found all the eggs...well Ashlyn found all but one.  Truitt found the other one while playing with the Barbie car.  There was also some other fun things waiting for them...

 

Looks like fun right??





This was the basket he left for Ashlyn.

...And this was the basket he left for Truitt!  He went for the ball first, of course!

This was what I made the kids for breakfast.  It looks more complicated than it was...all I had time for was the frozen pancakes that you put in the microwave for about a minute, a few chocolate chips, a couple bananas (which my kids LOVE) and a couple strawberries (which are on sale right now at Cub for $1.88.  For those of you that know my husband, know that he loves to find a good deal, and these strawberries were a good deal).  Viola!!



Then before getting ready for the Easter festivities, the kids wanted to eat some candy and play with their toys!

This year we went to two Easter celebrations.  One at Adam's sister Theresa house, and one at my Aunt Sue's.  Of course, I neglected to bust out the camera at either of these gatherings to get the kids' pictures in their fancy Easter duds.  So, I had to settle for pictures once we got home.  Let me tell you, this went over about as well as a loud person in a library!  Here is the result of those pictures...

 

As you can see, someone was a little tired and crabby after having fun playing outside and missing out on a quality nap!

I was able to coax one cute smile out of her!  Loved her dress this year and I found this sweater on clearance for about $4!  Love her!!

This was about as god as it got in regards to taking a quality picture of Mr. Truitt's Easter outfit.  You get the idea...

Couldn't get him to wear this tie at all today...so this was him saying "screw this tie MOM!"  He is way too smart for his own good, and he's not even 2 yet!!

Even though we had tons of set backs and mishaps this Easter, things still worked out.  The kids had fun, the parents had fun, everyone just had fun.  Sometimes all the preparing and planning just isn't necessary...sometimes the best fun comes when you "shoot from the hip!" 

Does anyone else have these issues with planning and preparing?? 

Do your kids drive you bonkers when they are overly tired??

Can you get your 1 year old to wear a darn tie?!?

Happy Easter everyone...hope yours was as fun as ours!

Sincerely,

Jaime (Head Easter Bunny) Paukert



This thing we call a basement!

So for those of you who know a lot about our life, know how important this project of finishing our basement has been to me this year.  First of all, there are 4 of us, 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom...I'm sure you can do the math there.  IT'S CROWDED IN HERE!!  Thankfully enough, over the winter while being laid off, my loving husband got started with this very large project with the help of his delightful brother Darin and our Brother-In-Law Aric (for the electric work).  In the beginning, Adam thought that he was getting into something bigger than he could handle.  I must say I am SO pleased with the progress that he has been making regardless of how slow this process can be, at times.

Today I thought I would share with you all the parts of the basement that are the furthest. 

First on the list are the closets! Yes!! I am finally going to have closest space, besides the kind that clothes go in!!!

This will be Truitt's closet...needless to say, he won't really realize much of the benefits of having his own closet yet, but I can't wait until he has more room to himself!  I think in the long run he will really appreciate it.

This closest will be Ashlyn's.  Let me tell you, she is SUPER excited to have a closet all to herself again.  We like to call it a "Big Girl" closet...that way it gives her more incentive to want to move downstairs to the basement.  She is also very excited to pick out paint colors and has done so on multiple occassions during Menard's trips!

Last, but most certainly not least, is the closet that will be in my living room.  We will probably place things like blankets, extra pillows, etc. in here.  This is something that our house currently lacks, and we have had no place but an empty basement to store them.  Now they will have their own "place!"

The next MAJOR development in the basement has been this fireplace idea that I talked Adam into.  Originally, he was against it.  However, I batted my eyelashes enough and got my way.  The actual floor plan and ideas that we had going into this house have definitley changed, because there was supposed to be a bar down here too...but with age and a growing family we decided against the bar and went with a fireplace.  I think in the long run we will like the fireplace much more than the bar.  Who needs a bar when you have something as cool as this fireplace anyway?? 



Pretty cool, huh?  I know, not a complete project yet...but envision the flat screen tv above it and all kinds of pretty stone work around it.  Also, he will be purchasing a beautiful slab of rock to be the mantle.  I can't wait to able to enjoy this part of our new basement!!  Ashlyn is pretty excited too.  She is already planning a campfire themed sleep over and has invited Grandma Mary over to sleep in front of it with her.  So, I can't wait until we pull out that Princess tent, put in a good movie (we will also have surround sound also...installation already in the works), and have a good 'ol fashioned slumber party with the girls.

Well, that's your first sneak peak into the new addition to the House of Paukert!  What did you think??

Sincerely,

Jaime...House of Paukert President (we really have to keep this between you all and me)!



First try at blogging!

Ok.  I have been contemplating starting a blog for a really long time.  Sounds like a really cool idea, but has always seemed like it would be a lot of work!  Since I work in a prison I find it hard to tell the world what kinds of things are going on in my life, but recently I figured out that I am really not that big of a deal.  So more than likely those that follow the blog will be loved ones and friends anyway...why not let everyone know how completely chaotic our life is! 

Anyway, for those that have not closely followed my facebook page, I thought it would be fitting to introduce you to my family...my pride and joys!

 
Here is my spitting image...AKA the 1st little monster that I created!  Ashlyn.  Life truely changed when we were blessed with her.

Here is my second little monster...Truitt.  Accompanying him is the love of my life, one true love, soul mate...however you would like to describe it...Adam. 

And last, but certainly not the least me! 

Adjusting to family life has been amazing so far.  We couldn't have mapped out our life any better than this!  I read a lot of other people's blogs and I love learning from others trials and tribulations, so I figured...what the hell!  Maybe someone can learn something from mine.  So here goes nothing...

Sincerely,

Jaime...head of the "House of Paukert" (that is our little secret, because I am sure that Adam thinks that he holds that title).