Something Old....Something New...

Okay, so if you look at my sidebar, I listed my goals, and part of those was getting my kids rooms painted and decorated....this was their Christmas present from us this past Christmas....!!  I got Oakley's room done...well, as much done as "I" can, still waiting on a chair rail promised by Brian, and hopefully that will happen soon...and as soon as it does, I will post pictures!!


I started the boys room this week.  When I was little I had these two dressers.  They were bought sometime in the 70's, and my plan was to repaint them and sell them on craigslist...they were a little "sad", and a whole lot outdated...!!  Check out the fabulous hardware....

Makes me laugh...

Well, I decided to change my plans...and refinish them for my boys.  I have had them since I can remember...in fact they were probably one of my sisters' before they were mine...!!  So I wasn't really ready to part with them....


I am super excited about the finished product!!  I didn't take a before picture of the small one, but it looked just as "nice" as it's sibling below!!! (Ignore the mess...)

BEFORE

AFTER!!!

I have to say that this picture doesn't do it justice.  I painted it red, but then took a black stain and rubbed it in to give it a darker wood grain texture....it looks so neat in person...i wish the picture would have shown it!!!  Oh well, I get to enjoy the fruits of my labor!!!

Just when you Thought...

Well, this could have been one of those days where blogland got me in trouble, but NO, I was working on a talk that I have to give in church tomorrow (GULP).  The kids were upstairs playing, so I took the opportunity to sit down...for the seventeenth time...to work on/finish typing my talk...yes, I have to spell it out word for word on paper, get up to the pulpit, and HOPE that I don't have to stare at my paper the whole time...

ANYWAYS....Blazer had come down while I was lost in my train of thought.  He was happily playing (which should have been a red flag...), and soon came running over to my chair with a handfull of shiny red easter egg grass type stuff that I use as tissue paper in NON-kids presents (for obvious reasons you will soon see).  I looked down to see a shiny red MESSY trail leading around the corner...I gasped and said "NAUGHTIES!!!" ...and he took off running.  I grabbed the camera that was ever so conveniently waiting for me on the desk and chased him down....

look at his innocent face...

Look at the disaster of a mess this "INNOCENT" face made...

LUCKILY, for some reason, when the kids came down, it was such a cool mess that they WANTED to help clean it up, and within ten minutes my nightmare of a clean-up was rescued!!!  Who would have thought....??  It took Oakley six days to clean her room...meaning, she didn't get ANY snacks, didn't get to play ANY games, didn't get to do any EXTRA activities until her room was clean, but hey, throw some shiny red crap on the floor, and VIOLA!!!!  It's clean...

Go figure...

Moral of the story is:  Babies think they are funny and innovative, and if the mess is bad enough, maybe you won't have to actually clean it up!!!

I just can't hide it...!!!

I'm So "excited"...I just can't hide it...!!

Well, one of the blogs that I like to frequent is I ♥ faces.  They do a weekly contest of photos taken by ameteurs (like myself) and professionals, and then pick winners.  I like to enter every once in a while when I think I have a picture that will fit the theme.

This weeks theme is "EXCITED."  They said that we should feature a person young or old that is "clearly excited and enthusiastic about something."  They also stated that it should be easily conveyed when viewing the photo...I don't know...what do you think...???

CLEARLY he is excited about something...which would be his MOST favoritest Auntie taking his picture...!!  I absolutely think my little nephew Dante has a grin that can kill!!  When he is excited...EVERYONE knows about it!! 

Love you "CHEEKIES!!!!"

An apple a day...

I have a NEW and not neccessarily IMPROVED ending to this modern proverb...here it is...


An apple a day...chases friends away!!


Once upon a time I got up early as I do most mornings to get the kids off to school.  We went through our normal routine of getting dressed, hair done, shoes on, double-checking homework, etc.  As I got Oakley's jacket on, and lifted her backpack to put it on her, I realized it was WAY TOO HEAVY!!  My first thought was CRAP, she has bee taking toys to school.  I begin the search opening the main pocket...EMPTY...continue to the second biggest pocket...EMPTY, and finally unzip the only other pocket that could hold such weight to unveil a pile of...

APPLES...

What??!! 

ME: "Oakley, why do you have apples in your backpack??!!"


OAKLEY: "Cause I like to save 'em."


ME: "Where did you get these??"


OAKLEY:  "At school."


ME: "Why don't you just eat them at school??"


OAKLEY:  "I just am not that hungry.."


seemed simple enough...to her...


I took them out of her backpack to find that some of them had been there....a while...!! 

EWWWWW...SEE???

I told her that she can't save apples from school, because they were rotting.  I held one up and asked her if she really wanted to eat it, and of course she winced in disgust.  What if that morning I hadn't put on her backpack, just like most days...how long would they have sat there decomposing...(shudder)?? 

DOUBLE EWWWW

Moral of the story is:  If you have food that you can't finish, don't put it in your pocket to save for later, soon you will stink and have no friends.

THE END

A Real Piece of Work...

So...many of you know me fairly well...some of you too well...but did you know that I won't be earning the "Mother of the Year" award this year...or in any year to follow I imagine??!!

It isn't that I have done something terribly wrong (I think) it's that for ONCE I actually did something...well, different with my kids.  I let them do a "project."  You see, this is what bothers me...we don't really do projects or crafts around here, unless you count coloring in their coloring books, and playing with

play-doh a serious effort on my part....

ANYWAYS...what it comes down to is that I feel like I am somewhat "lacking" in the mothering role sometimes, and just all too focused on the dictatorship role in the house....

 "Clean your Room..."                                                         
                                                                                        "Wash your Hands..."               

       "Take your bowl to the sink..."

                        "Don't sit on your Brother..."

etc....eTc....ETC

So, on one of these rainy days when the kids were inside all day, I decided to do a "project."  We have some big rolls of poster paper, so I rolled out three extra huge pieces, got out the paints, and told the kids to create masterpieces....whatever they wanted....I don't know that I want to even announce this on the public worldwide internet, but this is the FIRST TIME MY KIDS HAVE PAINTED WITH WATERCOLORS in our home....

AHHHHHHHHH!!!

I know...I told you...I have "issues...."

So here is what they created:

Carter's Masterpiece....

Oakley's Masterpiece...

Parker's Masterpiece...

I went out and got poster sized frames for them, so that I can see a visual reminder that projects are FUN, and that I CAN be one of "THOSE" moms...

Here is what I did with them...