Rumpus: The Chronicles of Max and Henry: June 2011

It finally feels like summer around here! The weather has warmed up and we were able to get out of town to enjoy a fantastic camping trip with the Luton family. We stayed in Big Basin State Park up in the Santa Cruz mountains. It was kid heaven up there -- tons of space to roam, tree "caves" galore, banana slugs, s'mores, a cozy tent for sleeping. What more do you need?

All the kids on top of a redwood stump

Max in a tree "cave"

Emily and Michael

A REALLY BIG redwood tree

Cuties among the trees

Max Gerber AKA Spiderman

Dappled kids by the falls

Hiking

Gotta love the name of this tree!

Taking a break

Listening to the ranger (sort of)

In the roots of a fallen tree

The Luton Family

Sempervirens Falls

A couple weeks ago we came home and found a note stuffed in our mailbox. "Our design team loves your home," it said, "and we think we can give it that little something extra to make it really shine." The note was from one of the producers of HGTV's Curb Appeal: The Block, a show that I have watched and enjoyed for years. I was beside myself with excitement and immediately fired off an email from to the producer. We spoke several times over the next few days and eventually they chose our house for one of the neighborhood "mini" makeovers.

This week they were finally ready to focus on our house after spending considerable time on the main makeover house around the corner. On Monday evening they arrived to shoot the intro scene. I had just walked across the street to leave the boys with my friend Emily, and as I left her yard I saw two of the hosts of the show, John Gidding and Kim Lacy, standing in my driveway talking and pointing at my house while two cameras filmed them.

"Crap!" I thought. "I'm supposed to be inside the house now so they can knock on the door and surprise me with the big news!" I crept around behind the crew so I wouldn't get in the shot and talked to a woman who looked like she was in charge.

"You're Danielle? Great. Let's put this mike on you and you can walk right into the scene," she said.

Ack! I've never been on a TV show before, obviously, and I was pretty nervous. So nervous, in fact, that I had rushed out that morning to buy two new shirts. You can't go on TV wearing the ratty old T-shirt you wear when taking the kids to the park, right?!

In any case, I walked right into the scene and introduced myself to John and Kim. We talked for a few minutes about the house and John told me how much he liked the paint color of the house (hallelujiah!) and that mustard is difficult to pull off (no kidding. I just about had a nervous breakdown choosing the color). For all of you Curb Appeal fans, I just have to tell you that John is even more gorgeous in person! That guy can work on my house any time (sorry, Scott).

After that scene wrapped up, they did an interview with me where I had to parrot back some of the phrases the producer fed to me. No doubt you will eventually hear me saying silly things like "This makeover will really be the icing on the cake for our house" and "Curb appeal is especially important to us because we live on a busy street."

On Tuesday morning a huge crew showed up early and Kim took the lead. Alas, no more John... They filmed me all morning long watching Kim unload the truck, helping Kim paint pots, Ooohing and Aaahing over every detail. I was surprised how much work Kim actually did. She installed our new porch light by herself and it must have taken her 45 minutes. She also did some planting. There were four other people there working on the various projects along with two camera guys, one sound guy, and a producer or two. Crazy!

After a few hours of this, they sent me inside while they finished up. I was grateful to my neighbor Emily who sent me texts to keep me informed about how things were looking out there! Shortly before three they were ready for the big reveal. The producer wanted Max and Henry in the shot. Poor Henry was just up from his nap and he was sweaty and sleepy looking. Neither boy was enthusiastic about the idea and I had to bribe them with animal cookies. Good parenting there, right?!

They brought us outside and had us walk up to the house as though we were just returning home. I had to oooh and aaah some more and they had me talk about how much I loved the shutters at least three or four times. There was one more post-makeover interview scene with me and then they were done.

All told, it was a great experience. I really love much of what they did -- the house numbers, the front planting bed and some of the smaller details. The pots on the shelves will look great on TV, but they are not practical. I can't water them without soaking the painted shelf and I can't open our windows while they are there. We'll have to make some creative adjustments! Everyone was super friendly, even the "stars." It was such a fun experience and I feel so grateful that our yard has been professionally landscaped and I don't have to pay for it!!!

The show will air sometime in the fall. I'll keep everyone posted about the date and time. Until then, enjoy the photos...