Imprisoned

I spent the day confined to my bedroom with four young children. Hiding away in one's bedroom for a day sounds like a treat until you add in four children then it becomes an endurance test. How is that I found myself in that predicament? Today was day two of having the interior of our home painted. The painters worked on the ceilings on all three floors.

A crew of four showed up by 9AM and proceeded to drape the entire downstairs in plastic so they could spray and roll the ceiling. We had expected them to work on the main floor so we retreated to our bedrooms. Mom was downstairs in her bedroom. Kara (who has a horrible head cold) was with Evan in her bedroom. That left me with the other four children in the master bedroom. Our bedroom is quite large, but being confined to one room with four children six and under is not easy, especially since I didn't properly prepare because I didn't know all the details. I thought the painters would stay on the main floor, but as the day progressed the painters invaded the downstairs taping mom into her bedroom (I had to go rescue her) and then they came upstairs taping us into our bedrooms, too.

What do you do with four young children in one room for endless hours? First I let them play on the iPad. Then I did phonics and math with Jake and Viva while Bentley did some of his schoolwork. Then I pulled out a new Lego set! Wasn't that brilliant? That kept the boys occupied for a few hours, but Viva lost interest after an hour. She spent her time reading a series of Harold and the Purple Crayon stories. After the Lego set was completed it was back to the iPad.

Lincoln was the hardest one to keep happy. He was good in the morning, but after his nap he got a little wild. He kept attacking his siblings, Bentley in particular. His siblings tried to ignore him when they were using the iPads, but he's a smart little kid and he'd start whacking the iPad which always gets a response.

The good news is the ceilings are finished. The walls still have to be painted, but the children don't have to stay in one room all day to accomplish that. We have to keep a close eye on Lincoln since the outlet plates have been removed from most of the outlets in the house.

The house is going to look fantastic when the painters are finished (and the new carpet is in). I've wanted to repaint the walls since the day we moved in. The last owner had someone do a quick job on the walls before we moved in, but unfortunately they did such a lousy job that every fix stood out. We've stayed with the original paint color throughout most of the house because it is a nice color that all of us like. Matt and Kara are changing the color of their room which is a very intense pink-coral not only in the bedroom, but the bathroom and closet as well. Bentley, Jake and Viva are having their room painted green--a vibrant shade that would go well with the outgoing pink-coral room. We are having the downstairs family room painted a teal-turquoise on three walls. A little change is good.