Long Weekend Plans

Jerry and I have the house to ourselves right now, which feels weird. Even though we've been away from the boys before (up to a week), it still feels a bit nerve racking when they are gone for so long. This morning, they went up north to my sister's "camp"--the place we went last year for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary--and they'll be there for a long weekend, coming home Monday.

Noah and Eli have been planning this trip since last year, which was when I let them go on their own as well. It may sound crazy, letting them drive 10 hours when Noah was 17 years old, but he's a more responsible driver than any adult I know, that's for sure! Eli is 16 right now.

With Noah turning 18 this next month, I really wanted the boys to have this trip together--who knows how much longer they'll be able to? Noah's girlfriend Claire is going, as is Eli's girlfriend McKenzie (both are super nice girls!) and I'm sure they'll have fun. They plan to hike, tube down a river, go fishing, and enjoy Lake Superior. Jeanie and Shawn will be there, too ;) 

I have big plans for this whole weekend and I really hope that everything goes well! Remember when the boys went to Hilton Head a few years ago and Jerry and I completely redid their bedrooms? We even knocked out part of a wall in Eli's room to expand the opening to his closet.

Noah's been asking to remake his bedroom for a while but whenever I mention it, he gets overwhelmed by the prep work (i.e. cleaning) he'll have to do to get ready for it. I want him to come home to a room that he's been describing. (Mom or Jeanie or whoever may be reading this that knows Noah, please don't mention this to him!)

So, I plan to take everything out (which is easy since he has no bed! He insisted on switching to a Japanese-style mattress that lies on the floor that gets put away in the morning. Then I'll prep the walls, paint, organize his stuff, and *hopefully* get his shelves finished and hung on the walls.

When I'm done with that, I'd like to deep clean Eli's room. Joey spends 90% of his time in Eli's room and I smell dog every time I walk in there. It doesn't seem to bother Eli, but I'd like for him to come home to something nice, too.

This are SO MUCH easier to clean when the boys don't come in like a tornado and throw their stuff everywhere! I'm really excited about getting everything clean and organized. The kids always like it when it's like that, but they hate doing the work for it. I don't do it often for them, but when they are away from home, it's the perfect opportunity. Jerry is working much of the time, so this will be a great project for me to do.

I'd better go get started! Hopefully have some progress pictures to update this weekend :)