Goodbye Perfectionism

Hello, Friends!
It's been a while because I've been doing a LOT of work on my home. We are in the midst of a complete remodel. I made the mistake of buying an AMAZING new sectional at IKEA back in April.

That, in turn, got me in the mood to pull up the "we've had six kids in 10 years" carpet. After a weekend of tack strips and the most disgusting dust you've ever seen, we were carpet free!

My nasty finds under the carpet on the stairs.

Manly doing his "we just pulled up the carpet" dance. Yeah, be jealous!

Then I decided to paint. Turns out they were having a buy one get one free sale on paint at Ace(who in my opinion is the best place to buy paint in our little town). We went back SEVERAL times over the weekend to get all the paint we needed. 22 paint cans later we were SET.

Manly finishing up the scary high wall on the stairs. When I tried to lean over and paint it made me dizzy.

Next comes the sanding, removal of wall paper, and taking down cabinets and drawers. Needless to say, every waking moment that isn't spent loving on the kids, changing diapers, or cooking meals is spent trying to keep this project in motion.

A barricade I made to keep tiny tot out of the kitchen while the paint was drying. I finished this up at naptime, and didn't want him to get in there. Again. It worked for about 2 seconds.

Here is proof of the little turkey being present in the kitchen. Don't worry, it's dust from sanding, not paint spots.

Manly does all the tight spot painting. I come behind him with a roller and brush.

One of our first after pictures. I love how they look. They'll be open cabinets and look so nice once they're loaded with pretty dishes.

The boys LOVE to help their dad. I walked into the bathroom where Manly was working only to find this sweet little hammer amidst Dad's tools.

This is my crazy paint face. Only see this one after 10pm.

Of course the end of the school year has brought with it lots of activities for the big girls. We've been to award assemblies, a talent show, taken part of a fund raiser, toured the (GASP!) Middle School, and gone on several field trips. Due to the crazy cold winter we had with lots of snow, our kids still have a few days left of school, but they are SO ready for SUMMER!!

KK with her three awards. The other two girls have their award assemblies next week

The crazy poses I got when they told me they wanted to take a picture with an Indian...I have NO idea!

 

At the Memphis Zoo. They LOVE that place. It's WAY better than our local zoo.

Silly KK walking like an Egyptian.

Jonesy and Momma. He loves his momma. Poor boy doesn't get to leave the house much thanks to his immunity issues. We're hoping after a few more months of good health he'll be stronger and able to fight off more sicknesses.

The "big kids."

Addi with her friend from school having a playdate.

Livi and her friend from school after they sang together in the talent show.

The girls went to see Snow White the ballet at the Children's Theatre with Aunt Em.

Lulu did a presentation on volcanos for Addi's class. The little kids and I came to watch. Here she is with her volcano.

Here she is right before her presentation.

Our "we're crazy for remodeling our entire house with six kids under ten" pose.

 

With all that's been going on I'm learning to let go of a LOT of things that I used to really work hard to keep. It feels good to not be so worried about if the kids have on matching clothes, the house is in perfect order, or the dinner is ready right on time. I'm learning to say goodbye to perfection. I say learning, because I'm not fully there yet. There are still things I like to have done. For instance, it still makes me glitchy if the bed isn't made. Ha! There are a few things that I still try to keep up with because it's the way I like them, but it's been pretty freeing to be able to loosen up a little more in the last few weeks and let my house be covered in dust from the remodel without going nuts.

Stay with me, things are about to get fun around here!