benefits of being the favorite

(I was going to put this at the end, but I figured I should say it now before I get any nasty phone calls from siblings - Just kidding about the title. We all know Ben's the favorite.)

My mom came and stayed with us for two weeks after Oliver was born. She's done this with each of my babies. Yes, it's ok for you to hate me a little bit for this. I'm very lucky.

While she was here she had quite the to-do list and she was knocking things off of it like they were nothing. Things that we've been meaning to do for a looooong time. Yes, we had projects here awaiting her arrival. And I think (so she tells me) that she was pretty excited about it. I don't know if I could list everything she did without missing something. The changes she made in our house are epic. It feels like a new house. And she did all this in addition to keeping up with the dishes, laundry, chasing the boys, and making us all feel totally spoiled.

Here are pictures (since my sisters have been hounding me for them) of some of the big things she did for us:

Painted the back door. And then went ahead and painted the back wall and trim (minus the crown molding) so that when I look at that back wall from the living room is appears as though the whole kitchen is finished. HALLELUJAH!

All the paint is Behr brand paint (after having enough run-ins with different brands, we have vowed to take my parents advice and only use Behr from here on out). The door color is called "Caribe" and the wall is called "Dolphin Fin". The white is a color match from our hardware store. I cannot wait to paint the rest of the kitchen. That wall looks so fresh and pretty it's all I can do to keep myself from just sitting and staring at it.

She also put together this set of hooks that I've had since Easter:

I love it so much. It's perfect. And it's awesome having a place to keep the boys coats and shoes (although I wouldn't necessarily hang the shoes like Quinn did. Funny guy). The prints in the frame above the hooks (and the one by the back door) are by Brian Andreas. He's one of mine and Zach's favorite artists.

And lastly, she hung this painting for us (I'm noticing now how weird I lined up this picture. it's making my eyes hurt. but I'm pretty sure I had a kid pulling on my leg while I was taking this, so it could've been worse):

This is a painting that hung in my mom's house when she was little, and then hung in our house most of my life. It was painted for my grandpa by a blind woman in his congragation (he was a Lutheran minister). It's hard to explain the whole painting without being about to point it out, but it's a profile of Christs face in the middle, and him on the cross in the top left, a white dove in the middle, a woman kneeling on the bottom to the left, and a man praying on the bottom right. I'm sure there's more to it, but we'll probably never know. I've always loved it. Mom said it was up for grabs a few years ago and I knew I wanted it, but figured we'd never be able to get it out here. But Mom got brave one day and took it off of it's frame, rolled it up, and sent it with my sister Juli when she came out here about a year ago. It's been sitting, still rolled up, in my sewing room ever since. But Mom put it all back together for us and hung it up. I don't think I can explain how happy it makes me feel to have something in our home that's been in my family for so long, that I grew up looking at, and that now our boys will grow up looking at.

Here's a picture of that whole wall - I think it's so pretty all put together now (oh, and Quinn being a big nerd):

Like I said, I wish I could list everything else Mom did while she was here, but I know I'd forget so much of it. I'll have to ask her if she still has her list that she made that we were working through. All I know is the house looks awesome, and I don't feel like I have quite so much hanging over my head anymore. Thank you, Mom!! And we'll have another list for you and Dad when you come out at Christmas! ;)

(Kidding!)

(Kind of...)