Spring Painting

The transition from winter to spring typically means the projects move from inside to outside, but this past weekend we actually had one last blast of snow so we had that last opportunity to finish our inside painting. And by we, I mean Joe. I am incredibly bad at painting. I get paint all over myself before I have even opened up the paint can. Joe could paint in a suit and tie and not get a bit of paint anywhere. He doesn’t even use a drip cloth. He is a truly talented man, that guy; however, I digress. While he was at the task of finishing painting the boys’ room, I set the kids to painting flower pots in the kitchen so they didn't get the bright idea of joining Daddy upstairs to paint.

Painting flower pots was a perfect way to remember spring was still on its way despite the snow and to keep all the eager helpers downstairs out of the way. Even Squeakers was given some finger paint of her own. Of course, she had to taste it. It’s ok though, it was nontoxic stuff and she looked cute in a mutant smurfish kind of way.

Smoosh eventually got paint all over himself and had to go upstairs to change. I caught him halfway up the ladder with his Daddy trying to help out. I am so good at predicting that these things are going to happen. And while I wanted to protest about him being up there because of future fingerprints on the walls, he was really cute up there with Joe. This was probably one of those things most moms would think is a bad thing for some kind of bizarre safety reason, but, me being me, I went and found my camera. I then had him reclimb up so I could get a picture of him being cute with his dad.

The room is finally completed, the pots are painted and ready for plants, and we are now done with all winter projects inside and ready for the outdoor projects to begin.

We've Loosened Up A Bit

We gave Squeakers a bowl of whip cream tonight to have for dessert because it was bath night and we thought it would be fun to watch her play with it. Having a 4th baby is fun.

The Creative Wave

Since my 4th little one was born, I have been hit by this insane wave of creativity. I have embraced every kind of creative process there is....ok, maybe that is a bit of a stretch, but I have picked up knitting, crafting, and sewing with a fervor that I have not done before. While I used to do these things before, it was when I was maybe 10 and really dabbled in it back and forth in between the years. Now, I think I have become very engrossed with it because my kids love doing and creating with me. It was with combined self-loathing and pure excitement that I found Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafting at the local library and checked it out. I actually think I let out a little squeal of delight, then made some sort of noise of disgruntlement at myself for being so excited. Obviously, I have not come to full terms with myself for enjoying Martha Stewart yet. However, this wave of creativity is flowing through everyone in my family. I caught Otter reading the book and when I actually decided to purchase it, he was the first one flipping through to the crafts he wanted to make (soap and candle making). I then purchased 2 more sewing books and found that Beanie and I were taking turns lying in the library reading through the projects and trying to decide what to make first.

One of the joys of this new found love is seeing the kids receive handmade creations from fabrics or yarns they have picked out. Beanie designed and colored her very own scarf and voila, had it made for her! Otter was amazed to have a camouflage bag made for his birthday and is now designing a camo quiver for his "arrows." Smoosh just wants something yellow. Squeakers even gets her own little adventure bags to put little things she finds around the house into. Bean has her own sewing machine and knitting needles that she loves to use. She has her own yarns and can sit and hand knit for hours with me. There really are not any kind of toys out there on the market these days that can match that kind of joy. Smoosh also loves to just cut fabrics and play with yarn. He has even sat and made his own bag with me at the sewing machine. And happily, I caught Squeakers yesterday playing in the yarn basket yesterday with the needles in and out of yarn balls. Yeah! She is on her way to becoming our next little artist in the house.

While it is still very easy to tell what is homemade vs. store bought around here as my talents do not quite match my enthusiasm, I would much rather spend my time and money getting fabrics and creating with the kiddos then doing just about anything else. Except maybe sleeping every once in awhile:)

For the Birds

Spring is in the air and so are the birds again! Yeah! We found a great idea to use our fabric scraps and make a "nest scrap bag" for them. Smoosh of course thought the birds would love everything yellow. Otter wanted to use camouflage for their nests, and Beans hunted out the pink and flower scraps. Squeaks just tried to taste everything, so we put her down for a nap.

SuperHeros Abound

Now introducing.....SuperRia and SuperParker.....

I think Parker is trying to wink in this one ------->






She's so strong----->

lollipop, lollipop

She's the fourth baby, so, thanks to her siblings, she's earned the right to discover things at her own pace without Mommy yanking them out of her hands quicker than you can sneeze. Today, Indie discovered a lollipop, complete in its wrapping and untouched by any other kiddos. She unwrapped it, played with it, and eventually it found its way into her mouth. It then found its way back into her hands, onto the floor, onto the sofa, into the dog bowl, onto the dogs' backs, and into the dogs' mouths. She took her time running around the kitchen with the lollipop, pulling out dishes and banging on them with the lollipop, stirring imaginary things in bowls with it, and hitting the cups with the lollipop. At that point, it was aimed for her mouth again, but Mommy grabbed it then. She was not happy that her magical toy had been taken away, but she did have a fun time up until then with the lollipop.

Last Night at Dinner

When it comes to dinnertime and food, Daddy becomes a very focused man on one thing - eating. He is a little unfocused on the kids and table manners when it comes to dinner, so the job of teaching Parker manners and how to sit and eat properly fell on me. Once Parker moved out of the high chair and into the booster seat, he was sat next to me so I could teach him the way civilized adults behave at a table. Everything was going smashingly well; at least as smashingly as it can go with a 3-year-old named Parker, until he developed a recent inability to keep his tongue, food, or own saliva in his mouth. He is constantly sticking his tongue out onto his chin to lick some invisible substance there. I have this inability to deal with the mouth noises that accompany this tongue wagging and just the tongue thing in general. Its like some large amphibian-reptile grossness. Something inside of me snaps and I become a maniac, truly crazy. I think I see red, but I am not sure because I cannot remember what happens afterwards. I just recall something about "why your tongue?" and "napkins" and "this is not how civilized people behave." Obviously, mommy does not do a good job being a role model for civilized behavior all the time either. BUT she can admit when she is defeated and she knows her weaknesses very well. I gave up. Last night, I decided it was causing too much of a distraction for us to enjoy dinner any more with me flipping out about the insanity of Parker's tongue not wanting to stay in his mouth. His seat was put next to Daddy's seat last night with the promise that Daddy would pay attention to him, help him eat, and most of all, help him sit and behave. Here is what happened:





But don't worry folks, because sitting right to the right of the young, dancing Parker, who please note his salad was not touched, was his daddy, still eating happily away, not even noticing the dancing man next to him. His siblings all noticed though:




I guess if I really want to eat with civilized people in this house I will need to eat alone and I really don't think that would be much fun at all.