a picture i love... and a sneak peek (have i mentioned i like to paint)

this would be the picture I love...

and this would be the sneak peak... the master bathroom is in progress.

keeping it real....

 sometimes chores don't always get completed... homework, piano lessons, ballet, sports and year end school projects get in the way.  this is real life, people!  luckily, the downstairs and our room is clean and that's what counts (at least that's what i tell myself).

this girl loves taking pictures.  thankfully she took the pictures above on mother's day, because I did not pick up my camera.  it's a blessed life and i am thankful.

strawberry pickin'

  look momma, strawberry grapes!

  smile buddy... you know you want to!

   

 she's telling the strawberry that it's time is up. 

 the girls wanted pony rides.

we had a fun morning strawberry picking.  about ten minutes after left the heavens unloaded with torrential rains ~ great timing!  we went to chick-fil-a for lunch (somehow the children talked daddy into milkshakes ~ which is an important fact for something that happened later in the day).

 

little man and m1 were playing outside with some neighborhood children a few hours later.  the ice cream truck came around and a dad a few doors down offered to buy all the children playing some ice cream.  when john david went down to get the children for dinner, the dad retold the story of his ice cream offer.  both of our children declined because in their words, they had already had dessert earlier.  proud of their honesty when we are not around.   

4th grade wax museum

 hey, it's daniel boone! he's working to get his *fire* under control before the other classes walk through.  the past few months, each student in the 4th grade has been working on a report about a non-living (why can't they say dead?) historical American.  today, was the culmination of that hard work.  they dressed up, had props and speeches memorized so that when their button was pushed they could come to life and tell about who they were.  all of the children did a great job!  below, daniel boone is telling his nana who he is and why he is famous.  the chair held his button and name plate... somehow it became his security too! 

 

 jackie robinson and annie oakley 

 pocahontas and neil armstrong 

 daniel's not so excited here, since his sister and her friends rushed to his station first. 

 orville and wilbur wright

 shel silverstein and rosa parks 

 lucille ball and robert e. lee

 

one additional story: during this project, little man has been creating things out of the twigs we collected ~ sling shots, arrows, guns ~ and his momma has allowed him to use a knife at times (he already uses one to help on his nights in the kitchen with tomatoes, cucumbers and various fruits).  last night he came in from outside, asked for a Band-Aid and then passed out on the floor.  i saw a stream of blood from the door to the kitchen, as well as some smeared on the fridge and dishwasher.  i picked him up and got him to the sink so i could rinse his hand off to see how bad it was and he passed out again (hitting his head hard).  i took a rag of cold water and threw it on his face.  asking him his abc's, he was able to get to W before saying he did not know what came next.  on a positive note, he was able to repeat his daniel boone speech word for word!  the cut was not very deep, i think he was reacting to seeing a large amount of blood spurt from his body.  after a little while he was feeling better, but his hand was mighty sore.  talk about exciting!

3rd grade pet day

 m1 and holly ~ since we don't have a pet, she borrowed one of her teacher's dogs.  another classmate borrowed the other. 

 each class walks around and pets the animals, some tolerate it better than others.  holly seemed to like the attention. 

 this picture makes me cringe... the only non-fury pet of the group.

after the classes walk through, each student give a short speech about his/her animal that includes how they came to live with the family, a funny story and what they like about their pet. 



i won!

my facebook status shortly after this picture:

"i just won the world's longest game of chutes and ladders ever."

 

she kept coloring on walls and i was raiding the cookie jar ~ yep, sounds pretty true to life!  actually, she does not color on walls, but on every scrap of paper she can find, recipe cards, mail, tax documents, etc.  it's not like we don't have a closet full of craft paper! 

well, that's not good!

luckily with this much hair it's only noticeable to her mommy!

my painting pants (and being known)

these pants get a lot of wear!  the past few weeks i have had them on lots!  the white ceiling in the master bedroom had been bugging me, so i painted it about 14 days ago.  the color was okay, but not what i really envisioned ~ it was just not bold enough and i could not bring myself to continue the color into the bathroom.  out came the trusted sherwin williams paint wheel.  btw, the employees at sherwin know my name ~ some people are known at restaurants or grocery stores, i am known at the paint store. 

as dark as the first color appeared initially, this was even more so! 

the last of the old color going away. 

the new color is sherwin williams tempe star and i think it is stunning. 



all I need now is for a deep discount to occur on a white comforter that I have been looking at for about a year.  yes, a year.  go on sale already!