Painting

Today I am going to paint the boys' bedroom.  Maybe I won't even get as far as painting, but I need to repair the walls and get it ready at least.  Paint is awesome.  I have taken on several projects in the past year.  here are the results!  (Facebook friends may have already seen these, sorry guys.)The photo above is the living room before.

Here are the final results.  I found a new rug at Fred Meyer last night.

Here is a hutch that I purchased for $60 on Cragslist.  YES, that is actually a floor heater vent in the center.

Here is the finished result.  We use this every day.  The bottom is stuffed full of dress up clothes for the daycare.

Daycare bathroom before. It was really a hodge podge of furniture that didn't match.

Daycare bathroom after!  Amazing paint, I love you.

Daughters bedroom before.  She had a giant loft bed and brown walls with a strip of horse wall paper around the middle.

Bedroom after.  I wish I had purchased longer curtains.  Maybe that will move to my "to-do" list.  She now has a bed frame also.

Daycare sign-in area before.  So dark!!

Daycare sign-in area after.  Much better in "Country Lane" color.

Part of our bedroom before.  Just white.

After paint, and purchased a chair that now sits in the garage. :(  Here is a link to see a couple of the bedroom photos, and the built in cabinets that my hubby made. Bedroom Photos
 I will be covered in green paint today- and dreaming about what fabric to purchase so the curtains can be made.  Fun fun fun!!

Happy Friday

I'll be honest- Fridays are difficult for me!  By the end of my week, I am so grossed out by the nose wiping and tired of resolving preschooler arguments that I am ready to run screaming.  For some reason, it's the snot that kills me.  I can handle vomit and all other sorts of bodily fluids, but the nose wiping is always a challenge.  I am also ready to just collapse, and thank goodness that most of our preschool schedule has been completed by Friday.  We often times have a "free day".  This could include a movie and popcorn, extra play time, or extra art.  Today I have a visitor who is coming to observe for a while, so we will continue our preschool. 
  Don't get me wrong, I love this job more than any job I have ever had.  It's been the most challenging, for sure.  I need a challenge in order to stay busy and to stimulate my mind.   But thank God for the weekends!   Right now I wish I were on the Bremerton Seattle ferry. (photo above)  But I will go dive into some books and art instead. :)

Ziggy Marley Singing for the Kids

Most kids music drives me crazy. I'll be honest, I do not want "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmitt" running through my head all day. I think I'd rather poke my eye with a toothpick. Music is a HUGE part of our day. We will break out in what we call an "emergency dance party" almost daily. Sometimes it will be to Cindy Lauper, or the awesome Sweet Dreams re-make dance hit, or the Beatles. The kids love it, I love it, we get crazy and express ourselves and I get the chance to blast some music. It brightens our moods on a cloudy or cranky day. One kids CD that I really love, however, is the Ziggy Marley one. The reggae tunes whisk us away to an island in our minds and suddenly everyone loves each other. No annoying childrens CDs, please.
Listen To Family Time CD by Ziggy Marley

Drawing A Blank?

Sometimes my mind goes blank.  After being told that "only men can go to the do nothing box in their mind", I wondered how mine could go so blank when in need of an idea.  Going blank here can spell disaster!  The kids would go crazy- and take me with them quickly.  To avoid going blank, I created my curriculum.  I think it took a couple of months, and on the days I was feeling quite efficient and creative, I would sit and write it all down and plan.  I used several curriculum books for Pre-K, and ideas from blogs, with some of my own as well.

  Here is what my March looks like.  Now I have NO EXCUSE to draw a blank!  This will end for us in the second week of June.  They will have completed a full 10 months of preschool.  Then on to the Summer Science!

We grow pumpkins every summer.  Here are last years baby pumpkin plants.  We tried the jack-O-Lantern variety.  Our cool summer didn't cooperate well- we had 5 pumpkins and they were mostly green.  It was fun, and we learned a lot. :)

Shamrocks

Every year we paint giant shamrocks.  Staple three paper plates together and cut a stem to staple onto the bottom.  The kids paint both sides.

Some art projects are over so quickly that we have too much time on our hands.  Because of the size of these, and the attempt to "cover all of the white", this project is a good time consumer.  That is not always a bad thing! (Wink)  I love when the day goes by fast.

They were moved outside to the art line for mess free drying.  We were lucky that the rain held off just long enough!

They then joined our paper plate spirals in the play room for more 3D decor!  I don't mind ducking the art, it's fun to keep the colors popping for each season.  We are now ready for St. Patricks Day.

Kids Speak

 Children are so full of wisdom.  When they say something hilarious, I write it down in the back of  one of my notebooks to refer to later for a good laugh.  Here are a couple of quotes to brighten your Monday.

 Aiden, age 3. "Mom!  I want my name on it! (Referring to his cup.) I'm sick of you messin' around!"  

Sweet little Olivia, age 3.  My husband Adam asked her one morning,"Olivia?  What are you doing in my house?"  Without missing a beat, she replied, "This isn't your house, it's Miss Nicole's house." 
I hugged her. :)

And the gold medal goes to..... (Drum roll please.......)
Grace, age 5. "My dog got neutered.  My mom wanted my dad to get neutered, but he wouldn't." 

The Amazing Race (Part Two)

I don't know where to begin- this was the neatest thing we have ever taken part in.  It was very smartly put together, even containing time penalties, physical activities, brain activities, and thank goodness for our ability to use a Thomas Guide.  No cameras were allowed, although I don't think I would've thought to stop to take pictures until we were being "held" for five minutes at one of the locations.  Here are just a few of our clues.  There were many more, and we had so much fun!

Here is a clue we received at Snohomish Library- we were perplexed for a while.  It was my favorite one. Finally- after the stress of seeing most of our competitors arriving and thumbing through the other copies of the book we posessed- we figured it out.  477=page number, 13= line, 7= word.  The clue read "Park in memory of Sir it a."  (Sirita)   We just happened to know where that it! Lundeen Park in Lake Stevens.

Here is the clue that my body is remembering the most this morning.  My thighs said "OUCH!" this morning when I rolled out of bed.  Needless to say- I need to become more active.  The bucket we had to use to fill the large tub had HOLES drilled into it.  We had to tag team filling it in the lake, and running it to our tub.  We hit our mark, and received the next clue.  I am stressed out just typing this as if the others are still on our tail. 

I am not a regular Pho eater, but I must say that it was delicious.  "Warmly comfort one another"?  Adam, "Hurry up!  Eat, woman!!"  My mouth full reply, "Stop spilling it everywhere!  We might have to lick it off of the table!"  The whole bowl had to be empty.  The chocolate dessert?  Bugs. I had a chocolate covered larva, Adam braved the locusts.   Everyone was STILL on our trail.   We were on our way again. 

This one was the hardest for us both.  We arrived at Starbucks for a taste test.  Correctly identify  the cups of coffee labeled A, B,C,and D.  This was HARD!  We couldn't tell by tasting.  I tried my hardest.  At least I was getting some caffeine that would prove helpful throughout the race.  What is ridiculous is that my regular coffee blend "Guatemala Antigua"  that I brew every morning at home, was one of them.  I couldn't pick it out of a line up!!  While I feverishly tried to tell the difference, Adam was speed writing all of the possibilities using the process of elimination.  Phew- after FOREVER, and all of our competition there doing the same thing, we were off!
Eventually we were given the clue to drive to the finish line, and the address was located on the back of our first clue. At the address, we were given one final challenge-

We forgot that we were told in the beginning to "Be observant."  We were in such a hurry that we didn't notice the name tags that the volunteers wore at the different locations had one of these characters on them.  We were too busy going as fast as we could!  It was another guessing game for us, just like the coffee.  FINALLY- we guessed it correctly.  The odds were really against us with the guessing game.  But we WON!

Here is our first place prize!  This race has us so excited that we are already planning one to put on again, so the leaders that organized this race for us can take part in the next one.  They said it was as much fun planning it as it must have been for us to participate in.  I believe them, because we are already excited!