a summer's day

It's way too hot and even more humid here. Everyday we go out and get wet.

Nothing new here, just the usual. We are on countdown. 4 more days until Tyson and my Mom get here. We are all excited!

Kids say the darndest things, and at the darndest times...

Disclaimer: this post contains bum bum stories

Our kids are very sociable and friendly. They wave and talk to everyone around them which is fine I guess because I'm always with them. Stranger safety is another topic for another day.

But I should be writing more frequently the conversations I get to hear or be involved in. I also obviously need to guide my little ones in more appropriate lite conversation.

Last week I took the girls to the Doctor's office. We shared a ride up in the elevator with a nice elderly woman who fell under the charm of our little girls. "You two are just so sweet" said the lady.
To which Saydee replies "I've got medicine on my bum."
Of coarse the lady had to ask "what?"
So Saydee practically shouted "I have medicine on my bum!"
"What?" she says again.
Then I intervened with "She has some desitin on her bottom."
The lady smiled and said "Oh, is that right."
Saydee smiled, "Yep."

ohhh mercy.

Then the other day we were in the store when Elli pokes Saydee in the bum, Saydee whips around and shouts, "Elli only I can touch my bum, because I'm brave."
I can see our talk on respecting and protecting our bodies was a little misinterpreted.

Slowing down

It seems like for us, and probably most people, life comes in waves. It speeds up and slows down. But mostly I think life gets so so busy and days whiz by. I've always been one of those who gets restless and can easily overload myself with many good nonessential things.
These last few weeks I've made more of a conscious effort to slow things down and enjoy this stage in our lives. Not too many pressing engagements, no rushing kids to and from school or activities. Right now I'm just relishing in the lack of things, and it's pretty nice. It seems little kids rarely have to be reminded of that.

Paint

Today I was talking to my sister about paint. Do you paint, not paint, leave it natural, go neutral or be bold.... Actually paint is where I do take a bit of risk. It's fairly cheap, I like change and I like to paint. So why not?

In our family room we painted our fireplace brick white and our wall black, just one mind you. Here are a few pics we had promised my family about a year ago, though it took about that long to decorate, I'm slow...


This room we obviously wanted black, white and bright, I should rephrase, I wanted and Heath was sweet to oblige (or not get in my way ;) He says he likes it, but do guys care much, I don't know. These curtains were my first sewing project. I'm glad you can't examine them too closely.

We made this magnetic chalkboard, light on the magnetic despite the six coats of magnetic paint, which the girls love. Just realized I didn't erase that very visible message. The other day a friend broke in and left Heath a threatening note, not the girls just in case you thought them little geniuses and MT Dew addicts. I did recently find Saydee with her little chair on top of another chair trying to write on the very top. Should have saw that coming. Also the black chalkboard next to the black wall, to little ones means everything is a chalkboard. Luckily it wipes off easy.

So other than this ginormous couch taking up all the space, snug up against the fireplace and still blocking our vent, it works for us.

I only found one before shot.

We spraypainted the gold face with heat resistant black paint and then painted the brick.

I won't go into detail but it was a pain. But it made a big difference. The room is actually quite light what with all the white paint and big windows. We like it. That being said it's been over a year and I'm envisioning a light blue , maybe even a beautiful wallpaper on that black wall. I hope Heath doesn't read this for a while. He's not ready :)

And while this room is filled with high contrasts, the rest of our home is a neutral beige, go figure.

Of late...

So we've been pretty busy lately with this and that. Life. Projects. These kids...
Just enjoying this beautiful weather. But I'm starting to remember the brutal heat and humidity of summers here.

Saydee just finished fer first gymnastics class. She loved the jumping and kicking and rolling around with "all her friends". It was fun but I'm kinda glad to have our Saturday mornings free again.

We built this little picnic table. Got the plans from Ana at Knock off Wood.

The girls love it. They could hardly wait for us to sand it.

Saydee requested purple her favorite, Elli too (that mimic stage). I also used some left over light-grey.

Fascinating tools, now if they only fascinated putting them back. Picture is decieving.

Happy Easter!

A few pics from yesterday.

We don't take many family pictures and for some reason they never turn out well. Trying to get everyone looking decent at the same time. I don't need that kind of stress. I should just bite the bullet and pay a professional.

Our Easter was nice and relaxing. Hope yours was too!

Elliana's First Evaluation

Friday was spent all day at St Louis Children's Hospital. Elliana is part of a study group for sagital synostosis. So once a year for 13 yrs Elli goes through extensive physical and psychological testing. It was a long day for a 1 yr old with no nap scheduled in there.
She was so good. And again we are always impressed with the hospital and their staff.

I didn't bring my camera but caught a few pics with our phone, probably not the best quality. Still she's cute.

Little Elli seems to be doing really well by the way.