New Room

This is LONG overdue. But every time I thought to take pictures it was nap time. So, if you don't know already, I decided to paint Annora's bed turquoise, and decided shortly after that to put the girls in the same room. Which meant I had to paint some in Maddie's room, which turned out perfect. I've been long needing to put a border of some sort at the top of the wall, and the yellow scallops were quick and added a great whimsical touch. My Mom then found the perfect bed linens, a turquoise chenille and a patchwork in all the colors in the room. I'm in love. And the girls love their room too. Actually, Maddie gets pretty upset when she can't take her nap in there. She isn't quite beyond naps, but most days she rests for 20 minutes and then starts playing, sometimes screaming, "Annora, Annora!" because she really wants her to wake up so she can have a playmate. So the nursery turned playroom now has a bed in it for "Mom's sanity hour".

Speaking of Mom's sanity...my kids do stuff like this:What's that in the bathtub you ask? You don't want to know, but I'm going to tell you anyway. It's poop. Annora crawled in the tub after bath time and pooped in the tub. Maddie thought it was hilarious.

I've decided that all kids are like that. My kids are not unique in their quest to find new crayon canvas, unusual ways to eat food, and explorations of all kinds. But when these things happen, us parents can't imagine why a person would do such a thing, and they don't envision other kids doing the thing their child just did. But around the block Bobby Jo is using chocolate milk to paint smiley faces on the sliding glass door too. I'm just glad these things make me laugh. It makes my life richer.

In my past post of vaseline queen it reminded our parents and Ryan's grandma their own vaseline queen moments. There was a gallon jar of honey, peanut butter (on shag carpet nonetheless) and a container of Comet.

Life makes me smile.

Come Over and Play!

Ryan worked for two full Saturdays and various hours throughout the last 2 weeks to accomplish my vision of a play structure with playhouse. We still have the play areas underneath to finish and we need a swing, but I think she's a beaut. Three cheers for Ryan!

Vaseline Queen

Yesterday Ryan and I were busy building this:



Which meant the girls spent a lot of time playing inside and watching movies to keep them entertained and out of harms way. Annora took an early nap, which was nice, and Maddie let her out of her room when she woke up, so, I didn't see her till lunch...
and this is how I found her :Yes, encased in a thick layer of vaseline. I quickly plunked her down at the table with some food and ran upstairs to see the damage. Not bad actually all things considering since she was doing this :
This being combing her hair with vaseline if you can't tell from the picture. I have no idea why. But why do kids play with poop and eat rocks? Experimentation I suppose. Trying out life for the first time. I was so mad and so giggly at the same time!

I tried to document the process of getting the vaseline out of her hair. I read all the tips and tricks online. I washed her hair with Dr. Bronner's thinking "it takes care of everything!"...but no such luck. Then I used the cornstarch trick. Which I think helped...but it was hard to tell. I did the cornstarch twice, then baby powder (which is essentially the same thing) and then cornstarch 2 more times, using a comb to get out clumps and washing with regular shampoo and sometimes rinsing with rubbing alcohol (alcohol is how they say to get it out of the carpet...I thought it might help in hair too). In the end, after 6 cornstarch shampoos and various rinses (including the "krud kutter" rinse) Her hair was minus slime but still stand on end greasy. The girls played outside by the new play set a bit later...where they dug in the dirt...and of course...Annora put dirt on her head, because that's where all the cool kids are putting their dirt these days. So, after dinner I took the girls to Walmart. Honestly I really didn't want any of the public to see the disgusting mess on my child's head. It looked like a nest, or a burrow of some wild animal. But for it to look better, I had to buy some other stuff to try out. I plunked her in the tub once home and first tried the RC Cola. I bought RC, because it said RC. I'm sure it's the same as other cola's...but I wasn't taking any risks. Then I washed her hair with Dawn detergent. Some more baby powder. 2 more dawn washes and RC rinses and we were "good enough". Her hair still stands on end, but is no longer sticky. I figure another 10 goes at it and her hair will either be back to normal or will have started to fall out.













First Wash


Second Wash


















Third Wash All I Will Remember.

Turnoff Week

Did you know that this week was National Turnoff Week? Ryan and I decided that it didn't apply to us...but we DID make some time for some board games even though we did keep up with our favorite shows.

This week was a week when I would have let the kids watch more TV than they should. We all had runny noses, Annora's teeth are making her cranky, and I have 101 things I SHOULD do and 201 things I WANT to do. These last 2 days I have been busy drawing plans for our swing set and playhouse. Which I am very excited about, but at the same time I just lost 2 days of my life I can't get back.

Anyway, our kids aren't allowed a lot of TV during the weekdays, except on weeks like these. But I thought since it was turnoff week, I should give it a go. I like TV. Sometimes I love TV. But there is something to be said about doing things like corn printing instead.

A Trip for Mr. Worm

Maddie found a worm in the garden today. She played with him till he died. Poor worm. I made her give him a bath in the sink because I thought he was looking a little dry. I had to fish him out of the drain. She came inside and asked me if I could get him out of the train...she said he was done taking his nap. I caught her coming down the stairs with it...worm play is supposed to stay outside. Apparently she was showing him to Annora. At least she brought him back downstairs.