The Nester Christmas Tour Of Homes

Today I’m on tour with The Nester Christmas Tour of Homes and showing you a few pictures from our humble abode a la Christmas.  You won’t find these splashed on the cover of Southern Living Magazine, but nevertheless it’s our “Home for the Holidays”.

Speaking of “Home”, How cute is this advent house?  It’s new to us this year (a last year Target clearance find), and it’s been interesting to see what treasure we can fit 4 of in each door. It’s been something the boys look forward to doing each day, “Mama, wanna do the house!”

 

Stockings are my absolute favorite things to pull out of the Christmas boxes.  This year the boys know who’s is who’s and can point to and name each others.   Not sure what I’m going to put in them yet…any ideas that won’t cost a fortune x4?

Our new 9 ft. tree!  (Yet another 75% off Target end of the year steal!) Squeeeee!  I LOVE it.  I couldn’t picture how it would look inside our house, but it’s perfect.  Of course like any other tree it looks even better in the dark.  Don’t you love how a Christmas tree lights a room at night? I think all it needs is a little package love for the tree skirt. =)  Guess I should get on that, huh?  Maybe I should finish my little bit of shopping first! =)

I scored these little frames a year or two ago at Michael’s for $3 a piece.  Are you catching a theme here?  Usually I have candles hanging from this rack, but I replaced them with these little wooden signs for the season.

The boys got one Christmas gift a tad early, once I found this Little People Christmas Story Nativity* over 1/2 off, (thanks to a tip from Keeping the Kingdom First).  I really wanted a nativity scene for the boys that would remind them early on of the true meaning of Christmas. It’s so sweet to watch them play with the characters and sing “Away in the Manger” while they play.  (*Affiliate Link)

 

These are a few of my favorite Christmas decor items in our home.  I’d love to hear about your own styles and favorite trimmings. If you’d like to show the lovely interweb some of your festive Christmas decor, head over to The Nester and add your link.  (And leave me a comment so I know who’s to be sure to click on…there will be hundreds of participants in this yearly tour of blogs.)

****For those of you visiting from The Nester, please feel welcome to join us on our adventures in raising quadruplets.  We’d love for you to make yourself at HOME with us!

Keep on Decking Your Halls (and Trees and Mantles, and Doors, and Rooftops, And You Get the POINT)! =)

When It’s Time to Change, You’ve Got to Rearrange

Tell me you love the Brady Bunch half as much as I do! 

I grew up on afterschool Brady Bunch reruns, and I could probably beat any of you (minus my brother, but he’s probably not reading anyway) in a Brady Bunch Trivia showdown. 

If you’re not familiar with the Brady’s, “Here’s the Story” on this clip.  Greg wanted to make a “record” (it’s the prehistoric way people used to listen to music) with his 5 siblings. However, Peter's voice begins to change, so they had to improvise.

Peter Brady, we identify with you.  There’s been lots of CHANGING, REARRANGING, and IMPROVIZING in our lives lately!

The boys are settled in their new room that your valued input helped inspire.  The colors turned out so well!  We ended up using a handful of the storybook frames on the wall, and saving the rest for a future reading corner. There’s a few finishing touches to be made, but it’s functional! 

So did you notice there are a couple of cribs missing from this picture? 

Yep.  It’s true.  We separated them temporarily.  Change is hard, but often necessary. 

Our boys have sooooo much fun together in their cribs, but the “so much fun” turned into TOO MUCH FUN, in the form of a nap revolt for nearly a week.  I know that many kids stop taking naps around this age, but I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet.  Besides, mamas know their own children, and I know that my boys NEED their mid-day naps on a regular basis.  Sometimes there are exceptions, and I’m thankful that there is some flexibility with this stage, but the week long absence led to a very difficult week of fighting, whining, disobedience, and discontentment. This left me stressed, worn down, and grumpy to say the least.

Needless to say, it was time for a change.  Our intention was to move all 4 boys into the freshly painted room, but this called for improvising.  Isaac and Henry moved over to the new digs (their cribs were the easiest to disassemble) and Clark and Brooks stayed put for now. When they outgrow the cribs, we hope to put them back together again.

My heart was sad to see them in two separate rooms for the first time since the NICU, but it’s fixed the nap issue. So the benefits are far outweighing the costs. Oh and it’s super precious to see them run into each others rooms in the morning to “wake" each other up.  They run, jump, wave, and scream like they haven’t seen each other in years!

So for now the “Bunch” will sleep 2 by 2, because….

When It’s Time to Change, You’ve Got to Rearrange!  

Sha Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na Na, Sha Na Na Na Na,

5 Minutes…

First off, let me compliment you for all of your FABULOUS ideas for decorating the boys’ room!  I wish I could somehow incorporate them all, but I’m thinking it would not be an eye-pleasing result!  Seriously, if you have not read the comments on this post, you really should take a look. Thank you for your links, pictures, paint color suggestions, techniques, and ideas! I think Better Homes and Gardens needs to hire all of you!

I think we’ve narrowed down our 4 billion choices into a combination of 2 of these colors from Restoration Hardware.  (I’ll have a local paint store computer match the paint swatch to save a little $$$.)

We’re going to do the main part of the wall in “Atmosphere Blue” and a large top stripe in “Dusk”, separated by a narrow white chair rail. (Do they still call it chair rail when it’s near the ceiling? Asking the experts!)  I ended up taking your suggestions to heart about the aqua color.  Although I LOVE that color, it would be hard to eventually find bedding to match and with these two colors we’ll have a variety of options. 

Before I head out to the paint store, I HAD to share this video with you.  While we were at BlogHer the very talented ladies of 5minutesformom interviewed me about our blog and life with quadruplets.  It was an HONOR to meet Janice and Susan (who are identical twins).  They’re creativity and energy is contagious and I had such a great time getting to know them a little better.  I must say the BOYS did a better job in this interview than their mommy!  Enjoy, and check out www.5minutesformom.com , it’s a fantastic resource! (PS They also interviewed Pioneer Woman, which is posted today.  LOVE Her!)

 

You're the Inspiration...

…."No one needs you more than I need you”.

And I need your humble opinion(s)...

Be My Inspiration! 

So if you've been reading 4tunate for a while, you know that we moved just a little over a year ago.  We LOVE it here.  Love our location. Love our neighbors. Love our fenced-in backyard. Love that if God allows this will be our home for many years.

However, it's taken us quite some time to make it our own.  You know, decorate, personalize, add your own touches, etc. We've "completed" 3 rooms total (completed meaning mostly just painted) and after a long hiatus we are starting the boys' new room.  It's not going to be an all out make-over by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm going for a fresh look. 

Brad's been working on sanding and priming the walls, so next comes MY important job of picking a paint color.

 

Goodness gracious! Have you been to a home improvement store lately?  What happened to Crayola discovering 64 colors and leaving it at that? 

So I'm currently leaning towards an aqua color.  Not too bold, but yet cheery and bright.  Suggestions? 

Since the boys are still in cribs (and will be until they reach age 14, *Snicker, Snicker*) I don't have any bedding to go along with the paint color. (We just use random crib sheets.) And once you cram 4 cribs into an already tight space, you don't have room for a lot of decorating. 

I did have a cute valance at one time, but it seems to be MIA since the move.  So my only other decoration for the room is the frames we put together before the boys were born.  They are matted prints of some of my all time favorite children's books: Curious George, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Hungry Caterpillar, Green Eggs and Ham, and the Kissing Hand to name a few. 

Here's 6 out of the dozen or so of them:

Here's a better look, so you can get the idea....

I haven't decided for certain whether to keep these in the boys' bedroom or to create a little reading corner on our landing and display them there, so again, HELP!

I enjoy a classic look, but I like FUN colors too.  If the boys would happen to graduate out of cribs before the age of 14, here are some room decor/bedding looks that I’m fond of…(Although in 12 years who knows what will be in style! *Giggle*)

Most of these selections would not meet the “quad budget”, but it’s fun to look and steal ideas.  And just in case your not on a quad budget, I’ll sight the source for the sake of your own pocketbook.  You’re welcome very much.

     

Pottery Barn Kids Twin Quilt $124.00                       Overstock.com Twin Quilt Set  82.99

             

Ebay (by Ikea) Sheet and Duvet Set 14.99                      Amazon (Eric Carle) (Currently Out of Stock)

So there’s a little taste of my taste. 

Now it’s your turn.  Where do you find your inspiration?  What are some of your favorite color combinations?  What’s your taste? Do you have any favorite kid decorating sites?  Please share. “Now Don’t Get Caught Watching the Paint (Primer) Dry!”  (Bonus Points for naming that movie.)

I’ll be anxiously awaiting your wealth of information!