Painting Project 2---Kitchen

Since B had Tuesday off from work this week and both children were in school for the morning we decided to start our next painting project. The kitchen! I have dreaded the taking apart of such a central place in our home, but we painted and even managed to get dinner prepared without too much hassle. This is what we had to start with...a sort of taupe color with a ragging faux finish. Not something I cared for much with these colors. I have seen this done in other colors and liked it very much. These color choices did not appeal to me. My hubby may not be too happy with this picture of him in his "muscle" shirt.

We have achieved primer. Getting the primer on went pretty quickly. Paint was another matter. The color I chose was rather light so it required several coats for decent coverage.

This is what my color will look like. I have not completed this project yet as I am needing to do some touch up work as well as get the ceiling painted. I will work on this some more this weekend I hope. I just love this yellow and have convinced myself to paint the cabinets and trim a lighter color as well. Talk about taking apart my kitchen.

Next post: Ainsley graduates from 3 year old preschool!

Remembering our Soldiers, Memorial Day 2009

This photo sums Memorial Day up for me. The saddled horse with no rider. Why is it that remembering our soldiers always makes me weepy?

My little man was in the parade again this year. This time he marched with his new scout pack. Poor man was tired at the end.

Another rare and elusive photo of me. This one is actually not too bad. You can kind of even see the red my hair used to be in this lighting. I like it when Miss Ainsley looks like she is my daughter. I don't see much of me in her except for maybe her skin coloring, but my hair was much closer to her color when I was her age. I digress. She was scared of the noises some of the motorcycles were making so I think that is when my hubby snapped this one. I hope everyone else had a nice holiday weekend.

This week has been a busy one for us. First, I was totally thrown off my Monday being a holiday and that my hubs was also off on Tuesday. Second, Aidan had a big dentist appointment this week as he was having some sealant put on his molars. We were there waiting for him for almost 2 hours and they gave him some extra prizes for being a model patient. Third, Ainsley graduated from 3 year old preschool. What a big day! I have some cute pictures to share, but they are still on my camera. I will download those this weekend. B has inventory so it will be a late night and a working Saturday which stinks. Mostly because I had to cancel my hair appointment and I really wanted to get in before heading South. I will have to call tomorrow and see if I can reschedule my appointment before I leave. Our schedule will be slowing down a bit in the next few weeks I am going to be loving that! Have a great weekend everyone!

Ainsley's Last Field Trip

Even though we live in a fairly small town, we are very blessed to have a small local zoo. Best of all it is free! They do however accept donations so we donate when we can as we visit often in the summer. The kiddos ended up having a very nice day for their field trip and my Ainsley girl's favorite exhibit was the prairie dogs as seen below. They also got to listen to one of the zoo keepers who allowed them to pet many of the animals. Ainsley's favorite was a chinchila which is not yet in an exhibit. He had been someone's pet and was surrendered to the local humane society. Below, the kids are checking out the wolf exhibit.

By the time we reached the gazebo where the cranes are, all the children were getting tired and hungry.

Then, we headed over to the next portion of the field trip to visit the local Pizza Hut. The children were able to tour the kitchen to see where the pizzas are made and then, with the help of some very patient staff members, they had the chance to make their own pizza. Ainsley chose cheese only of course! It was a very nice tour and considering the early hour, about 10:30 in the morning, they had the restaurant to themselves. I have been so happy to get to chaperone so many of her field trips this year!

Painting Project---Aidan's Room

I have tons of pictures to post and things to tell you all about but I am going to try to go in some sort of chronological order. I have started some big projects around here in an effort to get some things worked on before the kids are out of school for the summer. I could have started these things ages ago, but I have been waiting for warmer weather so I can open windows while I am working. Painting has been taking me a long time since I can only devote an hour or two a day, but sometimes slow and steady wins the race. I decided to paint Aidan's room first as B had patched a wall that had some damage earlier this year. When I started removing switch plates and items of this nature I noticed how badly the previous paint job had been. I took the radiator cover off (easy to remove) and I see pink paint. This pink so bright to me it makes my head hurt. I can't imagine sleeping in a room painted this pink. Ainsley's room was previously this color as well. I have seen the evidence.

Cutting in! I am committed to completing now.

My finished product with most of Aidan's things in place. I am still working on the closet doors and radiator cover. The trim was previously beige or maybe it was white at one point. It is a little difficult to tell. Anyway, this weekend B had a few days off and was able to paint the ceiling for me as I already had it cut in. I haven't done the ceiling myself before and he was more than willing to help there. I love the green that Aidan and I picked. Very boyish and it matches his quilt nicely. I can also switch out to his heavy comforter without worries as well. He is happy and I am happy so all is good.

Coming up later this week...Ainsley's last school Field trip, and Memorial Day Parade! Later taters!

Great Nail Polish Incident of 2009

Yesterday as usual, I put Ainsley down for her nap. Lately, she doesn't always nap, but sometimes she does so I always put her to bed. She was so quiet yesterday I made the assumption that she was asleep. After getting my chores done, I laid down for a bit myself to do some reading and hopefully rest. As I am dozing, I hear Ainsley go to her door and say Mommy come see. I asked her to come to my room and she comes in with a handful of her dolls and a bottle of nail polish. She knows she is not supposed to have the bottle of nail polish, much less use it on her dolls, and her jeans and her bed spread etc. Hence the extra laundry yesterday. Even with non-acetone nail polish remover I have not been able to do anything but lessen the stains. At least the bedspread only had a small area of pink polish, so it is not something I need to replace. I originally made her put the dolls in the trash and then thought better of it and put them back as a reminder of what she is not supposed to do. She has been banned from having her nails painted again until she is much older and we did throw her bottle of polish into the trash. It is typically in the bathroom so I really have no idea when it ended up in her room. She wanted me to toss mine as well, but I did not as I told her I am responsible with my use of polish. What had me so heartbroken was that she painted the face of her favorite baby doll...her American Girl Bitty Baby, Pilly. Needless to say, she was sent away today to the doll hospital for repair because I just couldn't leave her like that. I love Pilly almost as much as Ainsley does. Anyway, that was the cause of my breakdown yesterday. After a long week of struggling with children who have not been using listening ears, I just feel to pieces because she knows better. My children are struggling with listening specifically to Mom these days and I know it will pass. Thanks for the prayers my friends.

On another note, my sweet hubby rented some movies so that he and I could have a date night at home tonight after the kids go to bed. Gotta love early bedtimes. Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone.

Rough week...

B has been out all week entertaining. Thankfully he is starting the holiday weekend early and has off tomorrow. He is planning on doing some work in the upstairs bathroom. I am not completely sure what that is going to entail really, but we will see. This weekend Aidan has off from soccer, but our new scout pack is participating in the Memorial Day parade in town on Monday. We also are headed up to a nearby campsite to meet up with some friends on Sunday. I think I am going to try to escape a bit tomorrow evening and sit in a coffee shop for a while. I may call a girlfriend of mine if it looks as if I may actually get to escape and hopefully have a chat. I don't even want to go into all of the reasons why this week has been so difficult because I fell apart a bit today and it is all too fresh. B says that this is something I will look back on and laugh. I hope so because today I am not laughing! I have lots of pictures I have taken from activities this week so hopefully I will get them up here this weekend. Well, I am off to shuffle a bit of extra laundry this week as a result of our incident earlier today. Now doesn't that leave you wondering what happened...

Pictures Finally

This is just a quik peek at what has been going on around here. Above is Ainsley's preschool program that was last night.

B finally bought Aidan an inexpensive set of golf clubs. Here he is breaking them in. The child is obsessed with golf really. I will try to post some more tomorrow, but tonight B took Aidan to soccer so I have been playing with Ainsley and trying to catch up on photos. I get so behind! Later guys!

I'm still here...

but I have been busy making my daily lists and sticking to them. Today's list is already partially complete, but looks like this...
-clean baths
-load of laundry
-dishes
-paint

I am still working on the trim. I should finish the primer today and get started on the actual paint. I am hoping I can work on this some tomorrow as well, but we wil see. Allergy season has kicked into high gear for me so I am a bit scratchy and have a bit of my low voice, but I am still getting things done. Yesterday afternoon was a busy one. Ainsley had her preschool end of the year program, and the 3 year old class (Ainsley's) sang all the songs they learned this year. The 4 year old class did a musical version of Little Red Hen. Hilarious I tell you! They videotaped it so all the parents will be getting copies by the end of school. I am going to miss her little school next year as we head into the public school arena with her as well. The non church member tuition is just a bit high for us especially considering we would have 2 students. I don't want to go into debt for private school, but I do appreciate that the option is there if we need it.

Tonight is soccer practice as well so another busy evening, maybe I can get B to take Aidan again. That way we are not in such a rush at bed time. Ahh well, I will get pictures up from last night later today hopefully. Later taters!

Not to be left out...

This is the little note I recieved from Ainsley for Mother's Day as dictated to her teacher. After a rough week dealing with her newfound sassiness, it was wonderful to read. I love my sweet little girl and sweet little boy!

Mom through the eyes of my son...

Height 5 ft, well he was close there actually 5'1". Weight 75 lbs, not even on a good day anymore. Not even when I married the hubs and I was at my lowest adult weight of a shocking 85 lbs. Stress I tell you! Age...45! Are you kidding me! I had to laugh out loud and corrected him on that one. It is funny to see what he thinks of me. Dislikes...cucumbers and spicy chicken wings...where does he get this stuff! My little man gave me a good laugh today. Isn't that what Mother's Day is about? Hope all you Mom's out there had a great day!

Armor of God...

has been coming up in many places for me lately. I wonder why that is? Anyway, I love those verses in Ephesians! I came across this on the blog of my Pastor at my old church in Arlington and just had to share as I thought it was so important.


"Prayer is how we wear the armor of God [Ephesians 6:10-20]. Prayer is turning to God, talking to God and trusting in God."---David Daniels

Accountability...

this is something I so desperately need. The busier I get the more I procrastinate. I have been spending too much time tooting around on the computer as well. It is one thing to catch up on news and your friends, but another to sit around wasting time simply because you don't know where to start with your mess. I have started once again making my task list in the morning. It really seems to help guide my day. Anything that I get done that is beyond what is on my list is just gravy, one less thing for me to do later in the week. So today as I am beginning a big project I am going to share my list.

-clean baths
-prep Aidan's room for paint
-laundry
-get started on paint

I have to quit about 11 to go pick up my little one, but I can sure make a dent if I just get myself started.


Prayer time in the mornings on the way to school is going well. It is mostly me doing the talking but lately Ainsley has wanted to add her comments in. It is so cute to hear her say in her little pixie voice, "Dear God..." I think Aidan is going to be like his Mom and not be comfortable praying out loud which is totally fine. At least he knows that we are putting things in God's hands and the rest will come later. Outside of my comfort zone to pray with the kids like that, but I really think it is working and helping us with the school day issues. Well, that is it for now. Later taters!

Arthritic?

Oh now my hand hurts! The middle and pointer finger knuckles especially. I don't think I injured them in any way, but they are throbbing. It is difficult to type and write very much.

We had a busy weekend even though I had tried to schedule it so that it wasn't. Saturday was soccer, then B decided to recruit Aidan to work on the yard which Aidan did happily because Dad was going to take him to play golf. I think we have been able to secure Aidan some lessons. B talked with someone at the golf place and they usually don't start lessons until they are 8, but since it is Aidan that is interested and not Dad saying that Aidan is interested they are willing to start him early. Maybe that is something that we can work on for him this summer.

Sunday we had a company dinner out which ended up being very fun. I got to see B in work mode for a bit as it was a thank you dinner for the planning committee that organizes the company picnic and other activities. Their budget has been slashed tremendously due to the economy but I am hoping they will still be able to have the company picnic this summer. The employees seem to really enjoy it.

My parents are headed to PR this week and bring my grandmother back with them. I have my plane tickets purchased for June so that I will get a chance to see her. I still have to spend a week with my inlaws by myself with the kids so that should be interesting. Pray for patience and peace. More later my friends as I am off to bible study brunch...no lunch for me today!