Everything's Funnier in Your Underwear

The boys' room has had the same decorations since we moved back to the States right after Nathan was born.  It was really cute, but 8 years on is looking more than a little well-worn.  They've been talking about what theme they'd like a new bedroom to have, so for Nathan's birthday, we decided to let Nathan pick a theme and get all of the paint, bedding, and decor to give them a "big boy" bedroom. 

He chose an outer space theme, and we picked out some great navy and white star bedding, a planet mobile, some glow-in-the-dark stars for the ceiling, a spaceship for his chest of drawers, and an alien throw-pillow that just really amused Nate for some reason.

Today, we took advantage of a free Saturday and went to pick out paint.  Having picked out three different shades of blue, we came home, and the boys decided that they really needed to be full particpants in what they have dubbed :  Operation Bedroom Redecoration (spoken in dramatic voices, right before they high fived each other). 

I was somewhat dubious about getting a nine-year old and eight-year old involved in any indoor project that involves paint in a carpeted room.  In the end, though, I decided that it was a skill they did need to learn and that it would be a chance to spend some fun, quality time together.  They had fun helping me lay plastic and tape around skirting boards and light fixtures on the test wall.

As we got ready to open the sample jars, I let my nerves get the better of me and insisted that the boy strip down to their skivvies before helping actually apply paint.  This was, apparently, the highlight of their day!  There was much laughter, dancing, and goofy grinning as they stripped down and then helped put up the test samples.  They've been grinning about it ever since.  When I came out to wash up paint brushes, I told their Daddy about it, and he was amused that I didn't automatically know that if you're a boy then everything is automatically funnier if done wearing only your underwear. 

In the end, I didn't take any pictures, as it probably isn't really kosher to post photos of your kids in their underpants on the web.  I'll get some pictures up of the room once we've got it done, though!

So much fun to be Mom to boys, especially these two!