More of this

All day. Every day. 

Safety first

If it requires protective eyewear....it's going to be a masterpiece.

Nothing a little Youtube can't fix

I mastered the boy cut long ago. Of course, that's making the assumption that the boys will ever only want their hair to be cut in the ONE WAY that I know. 

So far, so good. 

But girl's hair is a little more complicated. Layers are a thing. 

So I looked up a YouTube video on how to give and a-line cut with some stacked layers in the back and we went to it. Is there anything I won't do to save 14.99?

Maybe not!

Picking up one end of the stick

Sometimes I have these brilliant ideas to play fun family games out in the yard and we put cups on the tops of our shoes and fill them with popcorn and we try to see how much popcorn we can get all the way to the other side and fill up a bucket and what we really end up with is a yard full of popcorn.

Everywhere.

Choices have consequences.

Laney turns 7!

Good morning, Laney!!! It's your birthday! You're seven years old! Wait...why is it so dark? It's Saturday and we should be sleeping in. You should snuggle down in your covers and take advantage of every second of sleep you have. That would be a great way to start off a birthday. If you were 40. Which you are not. You still need 33 years to appreciate how precious a gift sleep truly is. 

But for now you are up and ready to turn 7!

It's friend year! Everyone gets to have a real honest-to-goodness party with friends and games and cake and presents.

Which means my friends get to go help pick up doggy poop so the kiddies don't get an extra gift to take home on the bottom of their shoes.

That's true blue, right there.

When all the kids arrived, we started out with some silly games to get everybody laughing and having a fun time.

The tissue box ping pong ball game:

Musical hula hoop smash:

Megan made an excellent dj:

And everybody's favorite....the no-hands donut munch.

And just to make sure everyone had PLENTY of sugar before we sent them home, we decorated cupcakes!

And opened presents. I loved knowing that she was feeling like the center of attention. That's pretty rare in a family of eight.

Later that night we celebrated as a family with her favorite dinner of apple pork chops, cous cous and cornbread.

She loves to ham it up while we sing 'Happy Birthday'.

And blow out the candles!!

I think she likes her presents. She doesn't have a future as a poker player, but she may have a real talent for theater!

Happy Birthday, Laneybug! We love you so much!

Forgiven

Facetime apologies.

Everyone should have a sorry dance.

Chalkboard love

The board is cured. It will never be as gorgeously black and clean as it was before I chalked it up... and a little part of me want to wash it all down and protect it from the kids. Maybe just use it for a super inconvenient message board/menu planner? 

Nah. Let's put magnets on it.

All the magnets.

Let's practice our adorable flower gardens.

And I'll do over-the-top Pinterest tutorial banners for our marble run.

CARPET!!

Heavenly, heavenly carpet. It's so soft and it's new and no one has ever peed or barfed on it. 

Not yet, anyway.

The window seat is up! And I love it. It's the perfect place to read and play and take a little peak out at our fairy village.

The rest of the room is unfurnished, so it seemed like the perfect time to have a dance party!

Basement progress - Giant chalkboard success and Playroom

The painting is done, the ceilings are done and the trim (hallelujah!) is all done. 

Now for the fun stuff.

I want a giant chalkboard and I want it to be magnetic and I want it to be awesome.

I found a company downtown to cut me this giant sheet of galvanized steel. I only dented it in two spots on the way home. I called Julia to come over and help me get it up on the wall.

Then I started with the primer coats.

Then it needed about 8 layers of chalkboard paint. It looked streaky for a long time....

But then it looked flat and black! I scrounged through the baseboard scraps and found a couple usable pieces for the border, then picked up the rest at Home Depot.

I tell you what. I love it! It's exactly how I pictured it in my mind... and that never happens. I will use the flat side of a piece of chalk to cure it and then we are ready to go. Can't wait to get our marble run up on this bad boy.

In other news... the playroom is done.

After 10 stressful minutes at Home Depot trying to figure out what house number to put up...1234? 525 (Payson shoutout)? 1999 (wedding)? It occured to me that we should put our ACTUAL house number up.

duh.

Looks cute!

Now all I need to be happy is a flower box and a welcome mat.

Carpet. Carpet would be nice.