Paint

Once upon a time there was sweet little girl who decided to give up television for Lent.  On Sundays, there was a reprieve.  So she got up before seven to let the tv watching begin!  She tiptoed into her parents' room to quietly ask if she could turn on the television.  Why waste a single moment with your music or Barbies when there is a black tv just waiting to bring life into the room?  And so she had her way with the tv.  Until there were more exciting things to do..outside! : )


It was a gorgeous 80 degree day here, and not an ounce of humidity in sight!  Awesome day to be outside.  We started slowly, but ended up being out ALL afternoon!  Ches trimmed all of our monkey grass (big blue liriope, if you are a stickler), and I planted some flowering bushes I bought about a month ago: a new hydrangea and two peony bushes.  Ok, I should really correct.  I bought the little sticks that become these nice plants.
Here is what the peonies should look like:

Yes, they had me at Guaranteed To Grow.

..and this is the hydrangea packaging.  Also Guaranteed To Grow.

Are you really ready?

This little stub (center, kinda to right) is going to be a peony shrub.  Ha, I know.  But maybe when it's big and beautiful, I'll give you some cuttings!

And here is my little hydrangea.  I bought an Endless Summer Hydrangea two years ago, and I really did get summer-long blooms (and it's still alive!), but this one was only $8.  Big Difference.  Let's just see how it does. : )

I also watered all my plants, and let Ethan dig up some of my vinca vine (that stuff grows as crazy as spearmint or kudzu!!) to plant, since I didn't have any flowers for him to place in his little holes, and he was going to pull up these precious pansies to replant:

They are so happy in partial shade-they would cry over in that stupid bark pit.

Anyway, here is Ethan SO proud of his planted vinca, dug and planted personally with his own (snow) shovel:

Proud Gardener (I don't think he can fail with that stuff!)

And then we made pizza, had dinner outside, and proceeded to fill our evening with paint.

I just love to watch her paint.  She's so careful, and so patient.  And then..

she starts flinging water Maestro-style!

Ethan painted too-I love his too because he has no fear of mixing colors, and it always turns out so beautiful.

Very Carefully.

Look at the two for me...I'm so blessed! : )

And then I began to use leftover paper to clean out the black from each of Ethan's paints, and Mary Claire liked it.

..so this is for my girl.  Notice how the paints got cleaner and purer from right to left?  My only complaint..water colors need a white so you can make light colors.  Like Pink.

I tried and tried to get a good picture of Clay, but he's ten.  Much too old to pose or smile for his momma.  I got this as he disappeared; these are the only ones I got today:

pulling his pants up..

and then Gone.

I hope he doesn't stay in this stage forever, I love his beautiful face.

Last funny for today:
Ethan had some Cheetos for snack, and he said he got a toothbrush-shaped one.  I went to get my camera, and when I came back, Mary Claire was brushing his teeth with it!  Yum.

They said the only thing better was if they had Cheeto-flavored toothpaste!

Not Everything Changes

I've been either too busy or tired to write!  We've been cleaning the attic (Still..) and moving furniture! (well, I'm cleaning it off, Ches moves it, I really clean it, then put the stuff back on..)
We still aren't completely done with the attic.  There are still teacher files all over the dining room floor-maybe 6 tubs and 3 or 4 boxes?  I have had real trouble.  I can't part with them.  It was super easy (ok, pretty easy) to let all the manipulatives go.  I think I realize I can always buy more.  But files.  They take years to accumulate.  They are worth more!  It took me forever to put all those units and author studies together.  I am sure if I ever teach again, it'll be totally different, but math doesn't change.  I have tons on math, science (water, energy, etc.), social studies-things that can't change.  We'll always add and subtract, learn about our environment, and have communities and government.  So, after consulting with three different people (for advice, in case I'm hormonally-off-my-rocker), I've decided to keep them.  Ches told me to try again tomorrow.  Ha!  I did, but cried more.  What if something happened to him (please, God, forbid this)?  It's the only degree I currently have (even if I do want to go back to school..), so I'd have to teach.  And I'd need my tools, beginning with my files and books.  So there.  Back to the attic with you, Dusty Things!
We began clearing out the office-soon-to-be-baby-room.  We have successfully moved both desks, hutches, and the in-between-desks thingie.  Maybe a picture would help? (I'd totally give you one, but I can't find the cord to connect the camera to the computer!!  Haven't you been wondering why all my pictures are old?)  I've put all his stuff back on his desk, so his is up and running, but mine is in shambles.  Really.  There are piles all over the office-quite a mess.  And now I'm tired and ready for a nap.  I can only get work done from 8-1ish, and 4-9ish.  Other than that, I'm kaput (bad spelling..but I mean I'm worthless other-time-wise).
I've excited Ches-I told him that Yes! we could get a new tv to go in the back of our room!  Because Heaven knows we need another one in our house!  He likes to watch some tv (sports, news, American Idol, etc.) while he's working-mostly on the computer.  So,  he wants a new tv between our desks in the back of our room-it would be really awkward to turn around to see the one over by the bed.  Confusing, but just believe me.  Again, looking for that camera cord...and I'll show you!
The big kids are at Mom's-which is how we got all this done today!  We did have one mighty strong helper, but he's busy working at taking a nap right now.  He has to protest loudly and strongly to let us know how much he does NOT want a nap, but then he cries himself right to sleep every day!  He's so much nicer to be around after he wakes up.  It's a hard dilemma (nap or no), but he'll need to take one this fall, so we are working on it early.
Ok, back to some cleaning and a nap for me.  There's still so much to do!  I'm busy growing babies! : )  (Thank you, God, for babies to grow and kids to play with!)
ps-Ok, gotta make you laugh.  About a year and a half ago, I painted the office.  I was working alone mostly, so I couldn't move furniture.  Well, now the desks are moved, and you can see how far I could reach behind the desks!  There are big splotches of the green behind where the desks were!  So, yeah, those will have to be painted...  Did I say how much work there still is to do?