Life is good here in Maple Valley. Life just seems normal, nothing really going on but we're all busy! Kids are doing well in school, and piano lessons are progressing... getting them to practice is challenging as always, but I know from experience that practicing isn't the funnest thing in the world.
Conference weekend was (I thought) going to be the norm, but late Saturday night we discovered this:Kurt and the boys ran outside to try and catch the monsters who did this, but were unable to find them. They did, however, discover a size 11 shoe print at the end of a long trail of shredded paper up the street. The boys were convinced it was their cousins, Harrison, Sean and Scott. Kurt was sure my sister Kelle drove. I tried to remain impartial, almost POSITIVE my loving sister would NEVER do something so mean... and can I tell you how much fun it was to have this junk tracked into my house (and still is???) The kids started cleaning up (I felt like as parents, we should help our beautiful children, Kurt on the other hand convinced me it was their friends, so it's their job, and I came to agree) As they were cleaning they diligently searched for clues. Kenzie found this:

BIG MISTAKE!

Kurt mapped the address and the check did, in fact, come from my sisters neighborhood. Reece then looked closer at the name and declared:

"Cashman is Sean's friends last name!"

Kurt, not wanting to sink to their level, drove the bags of shredded paper the kids collected to Kelle's home and deposited them on the front porch.

We're still brain storming on how to get them back, and waiting for when they least expect it...

This last week I was at Target with Kenzie and I found this pretty plate:

I HAD to have this gorgeous color in my home. So off to get paint we went. I didn't wait to see if it would match... I just went for it. I started painting the moldings and ceiling, then tried out the blue. For about 5 days piano room looked like this: (Milly didn't like it)Since I just went for it without matching...I had to mix and match later. The untouched gallon was first, it's the lighter blue which was too bright. I then added some brown and that turned it green and I have too much green. So I gave up on that gallon and got a new one. This was also a tad too bright, so I added some black and got the grayish blue:

I LOVED this one. It's not exactly like the plate, but it matches my house better. It's so pretty - it's like the sky on a hot summer day. Reece said it's "very inviting" :)

Now I'm thinking about curtains, to hang or not to hang? I'm thinking not right now... we'll see. I'm also looking at the furnishings of this room - I think the piano would look way better all by itself. But where to put all the little trinkets in the corner cabinet? Obviously still a work in progress.