The Last Goodbye

I knew this day was coming.

I really did.

I tried to avoid it for as long as I could, but no, it was time.

When we moved into our house 8 1/2 years ago, Paige was 3 and Nate was 1. They were at the age where they'd take baths in the big tub, and it was great....for the most part.

Their least favorite part of bathing was the looking up from whatever fun thing they were playing with so we could rinse their hair without getting the shampoo in their eyes. You'd think we were torturing them with their screams of protest!

So what is an exhausted mom to do?

Paint a mural on the ceiling, of course!

I painted fish of all shapes, colors, and sizes, as well as a turtle, a seahorse, and even an octopus! We'd have the kids look for a yellow fish, find three little fish, or choose a color to paint the next fish. They loved looking up during bath time now; it solved our problem beautifully!

As you can see, I never finished the mural, though. Painting on the ceiling is horrible for my back, and it has sat untouched for about 7 1/2 years. Now that the kids are older, I've been meaning to repaint the ceiling....I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I felt like it was saying goodbye to having little kids for good. I know my kids aren't super grown, but they're not super little anymore, either. We've gotten rid of all their other little kid things (with the exception of storing some things for when littles come to play), so this was going to be the final goodbye.

And now that it's time to sell the house, there's no more putting off the inevitable: it's time to paint the ceiling.

I took advantage of Pete and the kiddos not being home Tuesday afternoon and worked on it. The fish got three coats of paint, and even with a full ceiling coat, the fish were still visible!

Once the paint fully dried, most of them were completely covered. There are a few spots that needed touch ups, but for the most part, it was over.

And we're all sad that they're gone.

Stay tuned for the full bathroom reveal soon; I repainted the walls today, and it looks like a completely different room! We miss the fish, but the new paint makes it look really really pretty :)


For you parents out there, what is the most creative thing you've ever done to help solve a problem one of your kids was having?