This past week we have had the exterior of our house painted. Before the work began, a walk through was done between the painters and my husband.
He is not the sentimental sort—any of the boys’ schoolwork or treasured baby clothes, our love letters and cards and basically any collection of special things exist due to my documentation.
However, this past week he did point out to the painters that this section of the garage trim was not to be touched. The painting is complete and here is what we have on the trim of our garage door:
Why did I not realize that four years ago when we moved here that one day we would repaint? I am so glad I did not have to trace over the past four years of boys’ growth onto a scrap of paper.
UPDATE: I meant to note on this post that I wrote on July 6th about an idea on how to document kids' growth the smart way in case you ever move or as in the case of some friends whose 13 year old is now bumping up against some shelves on their wall. It never even occurred to me that the house exterior painting we'd do in the future could put our growth chart in jeopardy. So, as mentioned in that post--for those of you with little ones--start now with a 2 x4 that can be mounted vertically and then removed. I should paint some and market them!
17 comments:
Very sweet.
We have this at my Dad's house (which was his Dad's house) and I'm sad that some of it has been smudged away. Make sure you shellac over it or something!
We have parents, grandparents, kids, grandkids, cousins, and even dogs (stood upright on hind legs of course)on it.
You've got a valuable treasure there!
Pull the trim off and replace it - then you can always keep the original??
I still haven't removed the markings on my sons closet door jamb that the prior owners of my house made when their daughters were growing up. I told the family that they could always come back and see it.
Love it! My in-laws have a similar post in their basement with all of the grandkids measured a couple of times a year.
This is food for thought. We have started marking on a door frame in our kitchen, but I could easily see needing to repaint. So where to do it?
LOVE it! My parents had a wall in their laundry room that has both me and my brother and my three kids. Hopefully there will also be a niece or nephew of mine soon too.
Sweet Daddy!!
My mother still laments that she did not take the piece of wood in our back hall closet. It also happened to be where the pencil sharpener was - tradition to leave a nice note to someone after sharpening.
I don't even think she took a picture of it, which is quite shocking, since she pretty much kept everything from our childhood, besides our first soiled diapers.
I meant to include this in my post:
UPDATE: I meant to note on this post that I wrote on July 6th about an idea on how to document kids' growth the smart way in case you ever move or as in the case of some friends whose 13 year old is now bumping up against some shelves on their wall. It never even occurred to me that the house exterior painting we'd do in the future could put our growth chart in jeopardy. So, as mentioned in that post--for those of you with little ones--start now with a 2 x4 that can be mounted vertically and then removed. I should paint some and market them!
That's a smart idea! We could just paint one white to match our trim.
Those markings are hallowed grounds. I would have said it takes one mother to another to realize that, but your husband knew it too. Wonderful.
We did this too until my six-year-old decided she would surprise me and be "helpful" and clean the walls and somehow got a hold of the magic eraser and...well...you can figure out the rest. :-(
These are some great stories! It is looking smudged so I think I will shellac it or start over on 1/1/10 on a new piece of board to use solely for this, or as Jen states I can remove it and put in new molding.
Sara--never heard of charting the dogs--that is hilarious.
In a previous house I marked their growth on a playroom wall. When we moved I traced the lines and date info onto some paper. I have no idea where it is now as some boxes were lost in our move over 4 years ago.
Em--cute idea about the notes on wall.
LM--It is curious that Hubs thought the heights were important--baby clothes and paper momentos not so much.
Michele--aren't kids supposed to dirty the walls and not clean them? :)
"for those of you with little ones--start now with a 2 x4 that can be mounted vertically and then removed."
Absolutely, but make it 6 1/2 feet tall as before you know it, all that time will have passed.
I will need a T A L L wall. I measured my 5th grader last night and he was 5 foot 3 inches already!
Holy smokes they grow soooo fast. Fun reminder to document it forever. I had 10 kids in my family and we measured off in the hallway closet (weird I know), such a fun memory to always go in and see if we have grown or how we compare at ages..
We have a door,in the utility room, the back side of which demonstrates both the Goth's stoppage and Stretch's, well, stretch.
If we ever move, I take the door with.
This is a great story, that is so sweet, thanks for sharing.
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