Wilson Family: Dave did it! Before and Afters

On Monday Dave took the dreaded GRE (grad school entrance exam )! He aced it of course and then he came home and worked on prepping the kitchen to paint. We all helped out for a few hours when it became evident that the kids and I were not very productive help. The kids were so excited and willing to help but it was being harder than it needed to be so Dave suggested that I take the kids for a sleepover to Mommer and Papa's house and he would finish prepping/ painting the Kitchen. So the kids and I packed our bags for a fun night at Mommers. The kids had a great time up there. It was uncle Nay-nee's last night home before going off to Kiev Ukraine to teach English until Christmas. We were extra blessed to spend more time with him before he left, we will miss him tons! Poor Nathan- I think Carter was literally attached to him (in one form or another) the entire night!

The kids each picked a movie at the redbox, stayed up super late (almost 10pm-- which to them might as well be 2 am because they are in bed and asleep by 7:30pm 99% of the time) and ate lots of Mommers yummy pizza, soda and snacks. We adults had fun playing 'Ticket to Ride' and laughing about everything and nothing into the wee hours. It was really a fun time.

In the morning my pregnant body rebelled though! All the junk food and staying up late came back to haunt me all the following day. (My kids definately go to bed 'on-time' for a reason and I was very keenly reminded of that all the next day as well. They tried to be good of course but they were so very very tired and cranky! ).

Dave called us when he had finished all the painting and I cried. I was so happy to hear those words! We came back after it had dried for a while to see it and I cried some more. I am so grateful to Dave for working so hard for our family! We cleaned up all day and set up the table and chairs that night and I think everyone was happy when it was finally bedtime. What a productive day! The Kitchen is completely painted and the new dining room set is actually being put to use (instead of just holding up the wall in our room and stubbing our toes), Hooray hooray! We did it!

Dining area with new table and chairs

Another view of the dining area/ table set

I guess I didn't take an after-shot of the far end of the kitchen but it looks great too.
We obviously still have our work cut out for us-- we need to do trim and touchups/ paint doors etc, but I honestly couldn't be happier with the progress we've made thus far and the way it's turned out.