Paint in My Hair

Lily's Painting

Should I ignore the thumping upstairs?  I'm pretty sure that crashing sound was Legos being dumped out. The thumping is a mystery, but they are definitely getting along.  The question is--Are they united in some devious or, as Luke would say, "snakey" activity or just throwing toys around? More crashing. I'd better investigate...

All is well.  According to Luke they are playing giants, and they are bad guys, and they have lots of pets, and they are killing pets.  A little gruesome, but I guess boys will be boys.  

I've been wanting to post a closeup of the painting I did for Lily's room.  The light isn't great in there and I was having a hard time getting a good picture of it. Today is sunny and gorgeous so I took it outside.

I'd better go.   They need me to get down their robot building toys so they can build a good guy to fight.  That poor good guy is in for a rough time with all those "killing pets" around.

 

Just the Right White

I finally got around to photographing these.  They've actually been almost finished for a while, but I ran out of the white and tried to do some touching up with a different white.  Yikes, that didn't work.  It took me a while to get the right white.  Who would've thought?

I love these colors together. They make me want to redecorate.  Argh!  My redecorating drive is just way too powerful.

No joke, Luke just came up to me and said that he liked these paintings.  Then he said, "I'm so proud for you.  You always do beautiful paintings."  Oh my goodness!!!  Can I just bottle that up and keep it in my pocket?  This is why four is my favorite age.  

Lil's New Look

As promised, here is Lily with her new glasses.  I know--the bangs, the glasses--definitely my mini-me.  I swear it's all her own choosing.  I cannot believe how old she is getting.  She has changed so much over the last six months.  But she is still the sweetest little girl I've ever known.  Lily likes everyone and always sees the best in people.  

Last night I was really losing my patience with everyone.  I even refused to sit down at dinner with the family.  After a few minutes of sulking in my room I did join them, but kept the scowl.  Dave said, "Why don't we go for a walk."  I didn't want to, but knew (as he did) it was just what I needed.  Then in a moment of inspiration I said, "Lily, I'll pay you $5 if the boys are in bed when we come home."  The best $5 I ever spent. Came home and chatted with my sister while I cleaned the kitchen (without anyone tearing up pieces of bread, crayons, or play-dough to scatter on the kitchen floor.)  

More From Garden Wall

Here it is--my new look.  I do love giving the blog a face lift every once in a while.  It's been tricky to finish between diaper changes, feeding everyone, and desperately trying to catch up on laundry.  But like I've said before, it's so nice to finish something that isn't going to be eaten or messed up by the end of the day.  

My new line will be arriving in stores shortly.  This print, Wee Spring, is a favorite of mine.  I paint most of my designs with acrylics.  But I used watercolors for this one.  I can't wait to get my hands on the Olive and Pink versions.  I haven't received any yardage of those, but will soon.

This is my friend London's adorable daughter, Evie. Could she be any cuter?  I was babysitting her and asked if she wanted to be a model for me and boy did she.  She loved wearing her pretty new shirt and getting her picture taken.

The amazing Pam Mathews from Del Ray Fabrics made the shirt.  She used the Paddington Station pattern from Poppy Patterns.  We don't sell the patterns retail.  (Check out your local shop or online to find them.)  But shop owners can get them wholesale from Poppy Patterns, Michael Miller, or United Notions. 

 

"I Busy!"

I've really been trying to involve the kids more in my daily routine.  It's so tempting to put a show on for them while I clean or cook. (Sooooo tempting.)  My friend, London, said she usually lets her kids cook with her once a day.  I thought, well if London can do it every day I should be able to do it more than once a month.  So, this week Luke and I made bread and Grant "washed" the dishes.

Man, Grant really got into the dishwashing.  I couldn't pull him away.  I'd try to lure him away with food or fun.  He would reply in a serious voice, "No.  I busy.  I working."  Hmmmm.  I wonder where he picked that up. :-)

Speaking of Grant-- When I  picked him up at preschool last week his teacher told me that he had spent some time in timeout.  Apparently, while they were saying the prayer for snack time he chanted under his breath, "Poop.  Poop.  Poop.  Poop."  His teachers thought it was pretty funny, but didn't let him know that.  He was appropriately scolded and lectured.  

When I picked him up the next time his teacher said that he was an angel during the prayer and seemed to have learned his lesson.  This made me think, "What?!  That child can sit still during a prayer?"  This possibility had never even occurred to me before.  So today, I gave him a lecture of my own.  Usually he climbs all over everybody and makes animal noises during family prayer.  (He has never chanted poop at home.)  After my lecture he did a little better.  A little better.  

Speaking of Grant, again--He has zero interest in potty training right now, so I'm not pushing it.  He is also the most articulate 2 1/2 year old we've had the pleasure of raising.  Let me just say, it's a bit disconcerting to have him say, as I'm changing his diaper, "Mom, be soft!  Be gentle!", or "Mom, put some cream on it."  Maybe it's time to push the potty training.

 

Annapolis

I have crazy insomnia tonight.  I'm working on a new look for my blog and the ideas are keeping me up (the green font in my sidebar that I accidentally published is just a taste of things to come :-) ).  Luckily my sweet friend Amy sent me a box of chocolates to keep me company.  How nice is that.  She sent it to thank me for letting her help pack up my house when we moved.  It's about time she said thank you!!  Ha ha ha.  Anyways, the chocolates were unwarranted and unexpected AND much appreciated.

I just imported these pics from my phone and thought I'd share.  We went to Annapolis on Saturday.  The weather was amazing.  What a pretty town!  There was one boat giving tours and we  thought we had missed the last tour.  I swear I could actually see Luke's heart breaking.  He LOVES going on a boat.  Luckily there was one more tour left.  Doesn't he look so happy?

One of the highlights of the day was stumbling into THE COOLEST toy store I have ever seen.  It just opened--"Fun For all! Toys".  They had all kinds of old school toys, japanese toys, retro toys, etc.  And the prices were reasonable. If we hadn't just reached our toy quota around here I would have stocked up.  Maybe I'll go back before birthday season.

I don't tink that spell check is working because it keeps saying "no misspellings found," which seems highly unlikely.  But I'm going to post this sucker anyways and go try to sleep.

Quack Quack

Lily got this cupcake book for Christmas.  Her BFF, Lindsey, has made the most amazing creations and Lily has been dying to get her hands on the book.  Yesterday she got serious and made her fisrt cupcakes.  I did not help her one bit.  But Grant did.  He ran off with the rubber spatula twice (yum) and actually stuck his fist in the batter while she was pouring it out of the bowl.  Such a patient girl.

Here's her first creation.  Cool eh?  It's marshmallows.  We froze half of the cupcakes so she can try a new decorating technique without making a new batch of cupcakes. We will, of course, keep you posted on her progress.  

 

Ooooh...Scary...

Luke was much quieter than usual at church today.  We didn't have to take him out once.  I looked over and he and Lily were busily passing crayons back and forth.

Luke had an idea for a "scary book."  He would dictate to Lily and she would write it down.  I think they make a great team and have a promising career ahead of them.   

Probably not in children's books though, because as Luke says, it's a really scary book.  This part about the slime monster is, according to Luke, the scariest part.  I hope I can sleep tonight.

Grant was quieter than usual at church too.  Although he did yell out, "Help! Help!  Ayudame!" for no apparent reason.  (Thank you Dora the Explorer.)  He was only taken out once at the end.  Progress?  We'll see.

 

The Red Coat

I just wanted to show my friend Jen P. how great Grant looks in Willy's old coat. Whenever we get out the red coat we think of chubby little Willy at church-- jumping up in the middle of the nursery lesson, declaring "I gotta run!!!" and running around the room at full speed.  

Luke is making a weird face in this picture.  But hey, if I get two out of three kids not making a weird face I think it's a pretty good picture.

 

Face the corner!

Do you have days like this?  Yep, both in time out...again.