Justin's "Surprises"!

Justin is back from deployment, and it's still very surreal. We got to spend the entire day together as a family, just laughing and having so much fun. I am one lucky girl! Now, he is back at work...They have him working nights for the next 2 weeks during first leave. It's hard to get used to him being here when he is already gone again! Alana almost cried tonight when he left for work. She has been clinging to him so much it's ridiculous! She is definitely a daddy's little girl. She can't get enough...I have been so busy the past week or so getting a few "surprises" ready for Justin. I wanted to post about them, but I also knew if I did he would see them and it wouldn't be a surprise...I suppose it's safe now :)

First of all, when we got back from TN (literally THE DAY we got back from TN), Alana and I redecorated her room. I think it turned out super cute and she LOVES it! She has been sleeping in her room 11-12 hours a night, no fussing, nothing...it's amazing and worth every penny that I spent at Wally World to buy the stuff. As much as I hate going there, they have some pretty awesome stuff!

Here's her new curtains, bedding, and rug...
and polka dot walls!

And more polka dots on the other wall!

We also wanted to work on "Justin's room". It's kind of funny, but we also refer to our spare bedroom as "Justin's room" because he kind of staked a claim on it and likes to escape there. The only problem is that it hasn't really been very functional...I've said it's been more of a storage closet than anything. Well, I changed that this past week. I have the scars to prove it too :) I think a lot of my obsession stemmed from too many lonely nights watching HGTV!!! Alana and I both put our own touches on the room and prayed that Justin would appreciate it as much as we thought he should haha...

Alana painted her feet for a project for him...

An absolute artist!

I am a dork, so I wrote this poem and put it on the door (to his room)
for him to see when he got home...

A new futon!!!

And this super comfy chair!

I hung these curtains myself and used power tools to put up the curtain rod...
Special thanks to my amazing Dad who walked me through the parts of a drill over the phone.
I only drew blood ONCE :)

And you can't tell that great from the picture, but I painted the desk and the bookshelf black to match the rest of the room (they were dark wood)...I had to take them apart in a million pieces and figure out how to put them together, but they look SOOOOO much better!

Here are Alana's finished masterpiece canvas paintings!

We finished the room and then we had to take care of a few more things before Justin got home...

Alana eating the last tootsie roll!!!

Making a sign for Daddy!

Ta-Dum!

And of course, peanut butter w/ reeses peanut butter cup cookies!
Mmmm...

Justin was not only surprised by the room, he loves it! He couldn't believe how much work I had done--and Alana! He said we might have worked even harder than he did...yeah, I doubt that! I do have a lot of cuts and bruises, but it was every bit of worth it!