Sestra's Room Decorating - Part 4

WARNING - the following blog post uses the color pink, a hue not often previously seen in Morningstar postings. Diligent readers of this blog may want to mentally and emotionally prepare themselves before reading further.

I think that Sestra's room may actually be done! After months of planning and days of painting, I think we've done it!

If you know, well, anything about us at all you'll know that we Morningstars seem to gravitate towards pizazz. Generally that means that if something could be done simply, we find a way to make it ten times harder and very uniquely ours. The crackle paint in our room, the mural in the boys', the rust on the living room walls - it's just how we roll.

Here's the inspiration for Sestra's room - it's a tiny little picture from a magazine that Kristen "borrowed" from her doctor's office last spring. I know, it doesn't look like much, but this is the genesis of all of our plans for Sestra's room's decor. She said that it struck her immediately as "perfectly Morningstar" and I have to agree!

And here's the finished product! Of course, it's impossible to get a good picture of, but I'll post a few angles to try and help you get the idea. I'm so happy with it! It's bright and fresh and cheery and not baby-ish but still just really fun. And, yes, we painted each one of those stupid circles on the wall. I hope that girl likes round shapes!

The rectangles next to the window are a collage frame that I got for photos from Kaz. Right now, they're just filled with scrapbooking paper that matches the room nicely. And the circles above the dresser are a cluster of mirrors that I got at Target.

Here are a few photos of the final phase of room decoration:
Gramma and Mommy hang the canopy

Time to start dotting!

The grandmothers get in on the circle action (many hands make for light(ish) work!)

The circles are done(?)

The super-cool bookshelves that Daddy mounted

We hope you like your room little one - we'll show it to you in person soon!

Deck the Halls!

Since we're planning (hoping and a praying!) to get to Kaz before Christmas, we have decided to move Christmas up a couple of weeks this year. We'll be celebrating on December 13th, making today the eleventh day of Advent! Needless to say, the boys are loving the idea of Early Christmas, especially because they're already almost halfway through their Lego advent calendars.

I have to admit, this is the first time we've gone Christmas tree shopping while wearing our pilgrim thanksgiving hats! The tree was purchased and erected on Wednesday, so we got to enjoy its majesty and piney smell during Thanksgiving dinner. The only problem with Early Christmas is the shortage of trees available the Wednesday before Thanksgiving - as usual we went to Sun River Gardens to get our tree and Steve bought this one sight unseen because most of them were still bundled up from the truck! Maybe we should make getting a mystery tree a tradition, Steve sure picked out a beautiful tree this year!

Sam helps Daddy replace dead bulbs


Sam puts the angel in her proper place


The boys love watching the skaters go round and round


The boys love running the train this year - they're such fun ages!

Happy Birthday Steve!

Yesterday was Steve's 31st birthday. Happy Birthday Darling! We started his birthday in the traditional way - presents of course! Ben and Sam each picked out chocolate treats for Daddy and I got him an Astana Cycling Team t-shirt (that's the Kaz cycling team that Lance Armstrong just joined) and an ear band for skiing that has a hole in the back for his ponytail (it's not quite as effeminate as it sounds). Steve's long hair has opened up worlds of complexity that for the first decade of our marriage only I had to endure - split ends, the need for conditioner, finding the perfect ponytail holder, and now ear bands that ride up because of your ponytail. His recent hair trials have brought us closer together, though - when the going gets tough and all that.

After Gramma and Poppop got home from a day of skiing at Solitude and I picked Grammy up from the airport, we hit Marley's for birthday dinner (that's the restaurant local Harley Davidson dealership - they make our favorite burgers and fries) and then spent a very enjoyable evening at the Nickelcade. No umbrella hats this time, though, Sam and Ben invested their hard earned tickets on foam gliders, giant banana Laffy Taffy, bouncy balls, and Tootsie Rolls.

And the evening ended with a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake, candles, song, and a few more presents! Happy Birthday, Steve!

Happy Thanksgiving

We shared a wonderful Thanksgiving meal this year with Gramma, Poppop, and the Powells. It was fabulous! Delicious food, a low-key evening, some Rock Band, apple dumplings for dessert, dried corn sent especially for us from Maryland (it's a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition), and pilgrim and indian hats courtesy of Sam! It was a perfect Thanksgiving shared with family and friends and a wonderful day set aside to celebrate just how blessed we are.

Sam creates hats for everybody


Time to eat!

Out of the MFA - Christmas in Kaz?!?

Our dossier has emerged from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kazakhstan! And here's the best news - they think that we'll be spending Christmas in Kazakhstan!!! Wahoo!

Of course, nothing's for sure until we get our LOI (Letter of Invitation), so right now WPA (our agency - World Partners Adoption) is just trying to prepare us for what they believe is most likely from their experience. But if things go like they expect, we'll be leaving for Kaz in about three weeks!

Hopefully that LOI comes soon so that we can buy plane tickets and start packing!

Sestra's Room Decorating - Part 3

It's all coming together! The walls are all painted, the dresser is done, the bed is assembled, and the bookshelves are going up as I write this! It's so fun to see the room all coming together - I am so excited for this little girl to come home!

Gramma paints the bottom half of the walls and trim


Mommy and Gramma sand our little hearts out! (note the blurry hand - apparently I can sand faster than the speed of light) It is a boy's dresser no longer!


The finished product! (well, finished for now, there is more accent work to come). I love the ceiling fan, so I just had to include a picture that includes the new fan.


Another view of the dresser, bed, and walls - oh and newly cleaned carpets!


And a little dresser detail - because after all of that antiquing and sanding I had to include a detail pic!

Sestra's Room Decorating - Part 2

I thought I'd post a quick "Sestra's room decorating project" update! The ceiling is painted, a new fan is installed, and the top half of the wall (the celery part) is done. Gramma is optimistic that the bottom half will be done today (Westhighland White) and then the real fun begins - assembling the room and decorating! Oh, and the bureau is primed and painted and we'll finish the antiquing tomorrow. This room is going to be ready for a little princess in no time!

Gramma puts the first coat of white on the dresser


Poppop makes the ceiling shine


Sam assembles the ceiling fan blades


Daddy installs the new fan! (You can see the white ceiling and green wall behind him)

Morningstar ABCs

We finally finished Sestra's ABC book today! I had a free photo book credit on Snapfish (thanks, Kristen!) that expires today, so I edited and uploaded my heart out today and it's done! Of course, it looks nicer in book form, but I thought I'd upload the photos for your perusing pleasure. Enjoy!



Morningstar ABCs


A is for Arches we visit a lot


B is for Ben who loves to Bounce


C is for Camping in the great outdoors


D is for Daddy going Downhill


E is for Elephants at the zoo


F is for Flowers in our garden


G is for Grandparents! Gramma, Poppop, Grammy, and Buddy


H is for our Home so warm and comfy


I is for Ice Cream that we love to eat!


J is for Jumping in autumn leaves


K is for Kite flying in the park


L is for Legos that Sam loves to build


M is for Mommy enjoying the Mountains


N is for Nesbitt who loves tummy rubs


O is for Oregon, so fun to visit


P is for Playing in the Park near our house


Q is for Quiet - there's a moose behind you!


R is for Russian we're learning to speak


S is for Sam Skiing in the Snow


T is for Tubing, so fun in the winter


U is for Utah with beautiful mountains


V is for Vacations to Disney World and beyond!


W is for a Whole family who loves you so much!


X is for Xavier and Abby, cousins in Maryland


Y is for the Yard we play in all year


And Z is for Zebras at the Zoo!