Basement projects

First I assembled my work crew. They dressed for the occasion...it's pretty standard to go barefoot in construction zones, right? 

We are going to sand these two "nightstands" down, paint them off-white and then make them into a window seat. I have the whole thing in my head, and absolutely no experience. Should go perfectly!

The swinging door to the playhouse is up and we're painting it blue!

This beauty is going to be my new sewing table.

Viola!

Things are shaping up!

To die of cuteness

Grandma Jean sent Everly a birthday card in the mail and Everly thinks it's a song book.

My heart!

Sweet Everly turns 2!!

When you are two, a 60 second horsey ride at Price Chopper is the perfect way to start of your special day!

I absolutely love it that Ethan put this paper puppy together for Everly's dinner plate.

She loved it!

For dinner she chose ham slices, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, steamed carrots and sliced french bread. Yummy!

But back to the paper pup....

I cannot believe it has been two years since she was born. How does that happen? She is the sweetest little girl and deserves every single super-expensive-out-of-season strawberry on this fabulous cake!

She got her own ark with lots of little stuffed animals.

It was a hit!

And her very favorite..a singing Elsa doll. She kept a close eye on it even while eating her cake.

Grandma sent her a pull-along chicken that lays eggs while you walk! She loves it!

Happy Birthday Miss Everly. We love you so much!

Everly at two

Oh little Miss Everly.

That thing happened where she woke up one day and suddenly she had ideas and opinions and things she definitely does NOT want to do. It happened to the other five and it has happened to her too.

BUT! She also has a sense of humor and an intense love of Elsa (of Frozen, of course).  We can be walking down any store aisle and if there is any type of Frozen merchandise stashed anywhere, she senses it and starts saying, "UH UH! UH UH!" That's code for: ELSA! When I hear that, I can look up and never-fail there is a Frozen toothbrush stashed in a giant bin of loofahs. It's a talent.

Speaking of "UH UH".....that is definitely her go-to phrase. She says a handful of words: apple, purple, no, Laney, Anna, Mama, Dada, Ee (Ethan), Maymee (Megan), Toe Toe (Cocoa), Peash (Please), yah yah yah (cereal), me me (chocolate in any form), Baby (her word for herself or any small animal), bye-bye, hi, heh-yo (hello), UP!,  wah wah (water), and, ball, ammah (grandma).....I'm sure there might be a couple more....

She will say any of these words. Anytime. But if you ask her to repeat any thing else, she will simply say, "uh uh." or even better, she'll just agree with you.

An example:  "Everly, can you say 'Mathew'?"

"Uh huh"

"Everly, can you say 'go'"?

"Uh huh"

"Everly, can you say 'peaches'"?

"Apple!"

That reminds me. All fruit are apples. She loves peaches and oranges and strawberries and she calls them all apples. What she really doesn't like are apples.

Oh...and blueberries. She doesn't appreciate blueberries in any form.

All colors are purple. Except for red and green. Those are....wait for it.....apple.

She loves Clifford and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Frozen!! Don't forget Frozen!

She has great hair.

She falls to sleep to Kurt Bestor's album "Evening's Angels" every night. And she still holds my hand.

She is frighteningly good at navigating my iphone for games and little kid shows.

She has a special talent for making a mess....

She loves to help stir the eggs and the pancake batter.

She hates poofy coats.

She loves Rice Krispies.

She has become Anna's best friend, worst enemy and all around co-conspirator.

She can sing "Jingle Bells" and "Reverently, Quietly" in their entirety. Using the words, "uh uh", of course.

She is a world-class snuggler and she makes me glad every day that I have her in my life.

Basement progress

It baseboard time.

It's fun to see it transform, but these baseboards are going to be the death of me. They are everywhere....just when you think you are done, you aren't.

But I love these little ladies looking out of their window. They are the sweetest.

Happy yellow playhouse paint!

In kahoots

I love it when they put their heads together to discuss how to bring about maximum chaos and destruction.

Candyland

So, we decided to join in the New Year's fun at On Track and participate in "Candyland".

It's basically a game of torture.

You earn the privilege of playing this nightmare of a game by doing 100 burpees. And if you decided that's too much for you and you put it off, you can't leave the game unless you do 100 burpees at the end. We chose to do ours at the end. Maybe we'll get lucky and die first.

So, every time you roll the dice, you just get more and more hard things to do. Its....so fun!

And if you stick it out, stay alive and trudge through those terrible burpees, you get to write your name on the gameboard.

So there! We did it!