The Amazing Works of Matthew!

So, I have this adorable son...  and I love him very much.  He knows his numbers (he recognizes all single digit numbers, he can count to 14, and can count by tens to 100).  He knows some letters (maybe 6 of them or so) and can sing the alphabet.  But his latest accomplishment is drawing.  He has mastered the circle.  And the straight line.  And the not so straight line.  So I figure I would share with you his latest accomplishments...  **NOTE TO READERS: THESE ARE ALL FROM THE SAME DAY**

Beautiful, I tell ya.  At two and a half he is the next Picasso!

Here is a beautiful example of his amazing work.  Look at the detail!  My staircase has never looked better...

Good thing we are painting the staircase any day now...

Though to cover up his beautiful artistic talents with paint seems a travesty.

 But wait! It's okay... we have more of his works memorialized in the newly finished basement!  We call this one "Parent's reaction."  It was made with ball point pen.  It's not going anywhere...

 And in case his sisters feel left out, he personalized their bedroom walls too!

What a thoughtful and caring boy he is... I know Lacey and Lilia appreciate his work. 

It seems here he was just trying to match the rest of the house.  You see, I have painted most of the doors in my house a nice brick red.  This one hasn't been painted yet, so Matthew feels the need to help me out.

We call this piece "Turmoil"  and it can be found on my bathroom wall in a brilliant shade of "permanent marker purple".  No amount of anything will get this one off... believe me, I have tried...

More swirly curly art work from my masterful son...

Just when I thought I found all his art work a few more popped out at me.  This one has been dubbed "ghouly ghosty" by my eldest child...

 Such great shading and use of a crayon.  It's amazing, I tell ya.

 Oh look! He has even adorned my new floors!  What talent!

 His use of color in this one is striking.  (No worries- no striking has happened yet... though it is tempting)

 In case I am in need of portable art work he adorned the bottom of the laundry basket.

And made his signature "mickey mouse" on the inside of the same basket.  He LOVES Mickey, and I must admit, I am seriously impressed by this one.

He even found it in his heart to decorate the bottom of the ping pong table.  

Here he is, the artist himself!  With is "nigh - night" wrapped around him like a scarf he just oozes creativity.

I tell ya, it's a good thing he is cute.  It may be what keeps him alive.

Back to School... and a bit of slacking.

My girls started school about a month ago.  Lilia's first day of 3rd grade, and Lacey's first day of Kindergarten.  And I did take pictures.  Not great ones, but well, they are what they are.

Lilia and Lacey chose their outfits this year (a first for mom... she usually does the back to school shopping herself.  Lilia loved her outfit til she put it on at home.  Then decided she didn't like it so much.  Mean mom made her wear it anyway.  I think she is cute no matter what.

 

A week after Lil's first day of school was Lacey's first day.  And she was very excited.

Jury is still out as to whether school is fun or not for Lacey.  Lilia is finally finding school to be difficult and not always fun, but she does still like it (most days).  Mom isn't thrilled with school times.  Lil is on A track and Lacey is on B track.  Which means, Lil goes to school from 7:55am to 2:15pm, and Lacey goes from 9:10am to 12:08 pm. That would mean 4 drop off and pick up times.  The reason being, Lil's gymnastics practice interferes with B track schooling (9:10 to 3:30) so she has to be A track, and they don't offer Kindergarten on the A track schedule... bummer deal, but it's only a year, right?  I have found some other mom's in similar predicaments and we are carpooling the kids, so life is good.  Looking forward to next year when both girls can be on the same track!

Catching up...

I have gotten behind on my blogging, what with all the stuff going on  around my neck of the woods!  Just a bit of catching up...  First, my kids looked ADORABLE in their Easter clothes. :)

 Matthew refused to pose for me... this is the best I could get...

 Second, Lilia has finally decided it was time to take the plunge and get her hair cut to donate...

Before:

And After:

Third, my son... That boy is at a very interesting stage...  His latest episode worth mentioning was last Sunday.  Lacey had accidentally let the dog (Midge) out of the house off her leash and Lil, knowing our dog would come back on her own, propped the front door open.  I was getting dressed in my room, and upon finishing (took me all of about 3 minutes) I came upon the empty front room with the door open.  My initial thought, "Op! The dog got out!"  My next thought... "MATTHEW!"  Sure enough, I stepped out on my porch JUST in time to watch my 2 year old son run around the corner shouting "Midge! Uh meer (Come here)!"  The real catch here... he was stark naked!  I took off after him (barefoot with a birds nest for hair) and TWO BLOCKS LATER I finally caught up with my nudist son...  ACK!  Those neighbors who were outside sure got a kick out of my not at all shy son.  ::Sigh::  He is gonna be the death of me!  Here he is watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...  

Mickey Mouse ended up being my savior here... Matthew is completely obsessed with Mickey.  I usually purchase the expensive Huggies Little Movers diapers.  I am a diaper snob.  They have the Winnie the Pooh  characters on them.  BUT- I noticed that the significantly cheaper Huggies Snug and Dry have Mickey on them.  So on a whim, I bought them...  Sure enough, as long as he is wear Mickey on his diaper he will gladly keep it on.  But he won't cover Mickey up with pants.  ::sigh:: Diapered with no pants is better than nude!  Though I don't love the cheaper diaper, it is a proven fact that a cheap diaper ON his bum is much more effective than an expensive diaper on the ground.

My kids are so much fun!  The other day I heard Lilia and Lacey arguing.  They were watching one of my favorite kids movies (Anastasia) and were speaking along with the movie.  There is a part where Anya (Anastasia) is being sent to work in the fish factory, and the headmistress of the orphanage is saying, "I feed you, I clothe you, I..." and Anastasia cuts in and says "keep a roof over my head, I know."   Well, Lacey was quoting this part and said "You keep a rooster on my head..."  To which Lil said, "No!  She keeps a fork on her head!"  They continued this fight for a good 5 minutes...  "Rooster!" "Fork!" " Rooster!"  "Fork!" I couldn't tell ya where the fork came from, but Rooster actually does sound almost right!

On Friday Matthew and Lacey got into the Duct Tape.  Matthew comes up to me and says, "Look Ma!  I'm uh oh-fant!" (Elephant)  (And yes, my son calls me Ma, and I love it.)

Matthew has recently found his pockets.  He walked around the other day like this for almost an hour.  :) Such a cutie!

I previously mentioned the projects we are working on at home right now.  Joe has been working  for a few weeks on finishing our basement for good.  The only thing left has been the bathroom.  We had a working sink and toilet, but the shower was unfinished. 

(This picture was taken before any of the bathroom was finished...  I don't have a before of just the tub and walls unfinished) 

We finally got our tile in and found the time to start the installation of it.  We had the tile special ordered because of a cute idea my sister in law and I came up with.  We wanted to put bubbles along the bottom of the tile at the tub's edge!  

 (I helped cut all the tile for the back wall of the tub... so proud!)

 Here is a shot, minus the bubbles...

 And then we added the bubbles, but still no finished plumbing.

And the finished product!  Looks great, huh?!  :)

I jest... here it is with the shower curtain open... granted you can't see the finished plumbing, but take my word for it, it looks awesome!  And we have a completely finished basement now! YAY!

On that note, it is time to move our projects UPSTAIRS!  On a whim we went to a flooring store's liquidation sale a couple weeks ago.  We have been wanting to replace the ruined carpeting upstairs for a few years (it was pretty trashed when we moved in).  We promised ourselves we wouldn't buy anything unless it was EXACTLY what we wanted (wood laminate that is not yellow (oak) or red (cherry wood) and at the right price (under a dollar/sq. ft.).  As we were headed out of the store I came upon some gorgeous pine laminate and we both loved it!  It was .99/sq. ft, so of course, we bought it!  This Saturday we will be installing 730 sq ft of THIS:

Now, before the new flooring is installed I felt the need to rectify a mistake I made nearly 6 years ago.  When we first moved in to our house, the main floor was almost completely lime green.  I am sure the previous renters loved their lime green walls, but it was so not me.  The very first thing I did was paint.  And paint.  And paint...  Unfortunately, I bought 5 gallons of paint based off of a sample that was about 4 square inches...  though the sample looked pretty darn good in the paint store, it looked mighty purple on the walls...  So I am now painting over my purple walls with a much better taupe.  And I LOVE it!

Here are a couple before pics and a sneak peak at the after...

The original before.  That's Lilia at age 2 in the bottom of the picture.

After the green, but before the taupe...

The new color is on the right!

While working on this project, Matthew has found a new game.  Climb to the top of the ladder, realize you are stuck and call for help...  Love this game.  Ugh!  Good thing he is so cute!

 I have a video or two of Lil doing some of her gymnastics...  I sure love watching her do her thing.  :)  She is getting so good!  Forgive my shaking...

Best Giveaway EVER!

So, for those that don't know it, I make jewelry...  yup. 

  I love to create jewelry, especially for kids. 

  WELL- A good friend of mine is hosting a giveaway featuring my Etsy store on her blog. 

  The winner receives one of my necklaces!  

 Go check it out, and show some love!  Maybe you might win! :)

Taylor Joelle Designs: Ginny Lynn Jewelry - GIVEAWAY!!! Ends 4/19

Family Pictures

I don't feel the need to say much about this post.  The pictures totally speak for themselves.  And in case you don't know it yet, my kids are GORGEOUS!