Ramsey's New Bedroom

In December 2015, Ramsey had graduated from his toddler bed (er.... truthfully... sleeping with Eric and me) to Connor's Lambourghini bed.  We had played "Musical Beds", just before Christmas.

But, with Connor no longer living with us, it was time to move Ramsey across the hall to the larger of the boys' bedrooms.  The bigger room obviously provides more room to play.  But, moreover, in case there is a fire, there is a large window there as a form of egress.  (I have always been paranoid about a fire route for Ramsey's existing room!)   

Because the racecar bed was kind of a stinker to reassemble in Ramsey's room, Eric said we wouldn't be moving it again into the new bedroom.  Not being the greatest guest bed (my Mom could never get in and out of it - and this is when she was very mobile!), it was time to find another home for it... for another little boy who would love it as much as our two did.  

I had ordered Ramsey a new platform bed with four roll-out storage drawers for the new room.  And, I sold the racecar bed.  ...not gonna lie, when I was taking it apart, I cried.  Not because it was a difficult disassembly (it wasn't exactly a picnic, but I digress), but because Ramsey loved the bed.  And, because Bumpa made it when Connor was just teeny - and Connor had loved the bed (until he was 14!).  It held a lot of memories of the boys, especially sleeping with Ramsey when he was little or reading the boys books every night before bed.   I loved the bed.

Ramsey was sad too.  But, he found it fun to play with for a bit (the pieces were stashed in the downstairs family room for a few days) and actually smiled in a picture for me.

Connor had everything he needed for furniture at his new townhouse.  He didn't need anything from his room.  So, the Vikings headboard that I made for him in 2016, plus the bedding and such were given to one of Eric's friends' little boy, who is a year younger than Ramsey. He LOVES the Vikings!

When the new bed arrived, it came in a huge heavy box.   The box had nearly been destroyed in shipping, so I took the components downstairs, bit by bit.  It worked out well and it didn't kill my back.

But, after all of the pieces were laid out, I wonderered to myself, "what the heck was I thinking?!?"

I love puzzles and I love putting things together though.  That was my answer, I guess. 

I came to realize, though, after just a mere hour on the floor (of which there were MANY MORE YET TO COME), that my body was not exactly thrilled to work on a hard floor.  I now knew why my parents would tell me, years ago, they could not (or would not!) get on the floor anymore.  Ugh!

Eric and I scoured the Internet looking for bedding and decor for the new room.  The initial idea was to be a WWII fighter plane theme, since this is an obsession with Ramsey.  But, whilst throughout this process, Ramsey watched the movie "Top Gun: Maverick".  He is NOT a movie-watcher, but this... this, he deemed to be the most amazing movie ever created.  His room needed to have a general fighter plane theme, dedicated to all planes, not just WWII.  We ordered a Maverick bedspread.  But, when it came, it was an ugly purple duvet.  Bleh.  So, I ordered a comfty red comforter to give some

After a lot of trial and error and returns (include a CHINESE RMA), lots of sweat and effort, this is Ramsey's new bedroom (sans the "Maverick" bedspread that is on its way back to Asia).  

It did end up being more of a vintage airplane room, especially with the large P40 Warhawk decal I found for his wall.  That was a treat to put up!!  ha!   But... it's cool. ;-)

Ramsey is still a kid and wanted to keep a lot of his other stuff, so he still has his racecar light and all of his big Star Wars guys placed here and there.   And, he wanted to keep Connor's Star Wars and other Lego sets that he had created.  And, a Vikings helmet.  

Ramsey has a LOT of books, so he has two shelves.   I actually sorted through his books and donated quite a few that Ramsey hadn't been too attached to.  Others, I put away in his baby keepsake box to be passed down to his kids.

Grandpa Mike had given Ramsey some die cast planes, so there's a new shelf just for these, plus other chotchkies.  On this, I found a  spot for the ceramic airplane that Eric and Connor gave me in the hospital after I had Ramsey (it had a little plant in it).

The second reading area has an old blue shelf that we'd kept around for years, for no particular reason (it just got in the way a lot!).  It now serves a purpose as both a bookshelf and a place to keep some of his best toy and collectible airplanes.

And, one of my personal favorite family historical items is my Grandpa Kant's WWII army photo and honorable discharge papers.   I placed them on the top shelf, along with a little [rather tacky but useful] tupperware container that stores a small vial of sand from Iwo Jima and his dog tags.

Ramsey misses his racecar bed that Bumpa made, but he does love his new room.

I'm happy he has.  And, I'm happy he has a large window to jump out of in case of a fire!  :-)

"TINY BIT" OBSESSED With Guns

 To say that this child is a "tiny bit" obsessed with guns is an understatement!  He loves HISTORY of guns; learning their names, who invented them, when they were used, etc.

Eric is searching for the perfect encyclopedia of guns for this child.

The information Ramsey spews forth about some of these guns is absolutely incredible.  His mind is a little sponge!    He's not into "real guns" yet.  For now, he is happy with Nerf guns, plus "realistic toy guns".  :-)

Family Photos

 Because Connor would be moving (probably permanently!) out of the house and would be gone, only to visit during holidays and little getaways (*insert very sad face here*), it was definitely time to have a family photo session.  

We had a new photographer this year and she was wonderful!  I like to spread the love when it comes to using photographers, but she will be getting more calls back from us.

When the photographer sent the set back, she sent them in color and also black & white.   There were hundreds of photos and I knew that she hadn't sent a tenth of what she took.  I was surpised, as the package we chose stated we'd get 25 photos and ended up with over 200!  Between the color and colorless photos, I couldn't decide which I liked best, so here are a small mix of both, interspersed throughout. 

This one of the boys is definitely one of my faves!!!

And... my favorites of the boys...    If there's a tree around during family photos, Connor finds it... and climbs it like a monkey.    It's like a tradition now to get pictures of his climbing escapades!

Love this bunch so much.  😍😘🥰💕💖💝