Painting

When we moved into this house a year ago, something we knew we wanted to change right away (give or take a year . . .) was the paint.  The living room and dining room were brick red.  I like red in moderation, but this was too much for me.  I couldn't find any "before" pictures except this one that shows the piano in front of this half-wall.  The main reason I didn't like the red was that my cherry wood furniture was just swallowed into the wall.  And it made the dining room feel like a cave.

Here are the kids helping me prime the wall.  This lasted only about five minutes before I nearly had a heart attack.  They were dripping that stuff everywhere!!!  Finally I just said, "Okay, you guys go play outside and I'll finish."  It took me a couple of weeks in one and two hour increments to finish priming just the dining room.  

So our awesome friends Steve & Erin came to the rescue one Friday and helped us get everything taped, primed and painted.  They left at 10 p.m. but it was done! 

 Thanks a million Steve & Erin!

Here are some pictures to show you how my beautiful piano pops out against the new gray color we decided on.  It's amazing what color can do.  One of my piano students said last week, "It feels a lot calmer in here!"  

I love that!

Pansies & Brownies

1.  Pansies in my favorite Vase

This is my favorite vase.  Whenever my kids bring me flowers, this is the vase they go in because it's perfect for those flowers who've been picked clean off their stems.  I don't know about your kids, but my kids are really good at picking flowers with no stems on them.  Dallin supplied me with these pansies today to go in my vase.  True to form, there were no stems on them.  And that's why this vase is a perfect mom vase.

2.  Sean & Brownies

Sean:  Mom?  Can I have another brownie?

Me:  Another brownie?  Um, I don't think so.

Sean:  Please?

Me:  If you go potty on the toilet you can have another brownie.

Sean:  I not go potty on the toilet. 

Sean:  (after a moment's pause) Mom?  You go upstairs and read a book?

Me:  You want to go read a book with me?

Sean:  No, YOU go upstairs and read a book.

Me:  (laughing.)  Ah, you want me to go upstairs and read a book so you can sneak into the brownies?

Sean:  Okay!

Gotta love that kid.  And what a push-over am I?  His sneaky logic won him another small brownie.

Variety Show

This past weekend, Daphne participated in the Hubert Humphrey Elementary Variety Show. She sang a song  called, "To Share" with Kirra & Megan, two of her friends from our ward.  They were adorable.  Now, not to be mean, but there's a reason they call it "Variety" show instead of "Talent" show.  (There were a lot of acts that took no talent whatever, and were really lacking in taste.)   Judging on talent, these cute little kindergartners were (in my estimation) in the top five of all the acts.  If you're judging on cuteness, then they were definitely #1.  (I'm not biased or anything, though.)  They looked so small up there on that stage, but they sang out beautifully and got a big "awwwww" from the crowd at the end.  

  

Got Milk?

Think Inside the Box

We recently got a new couch and loveseat for our family room. (That story could be a blog in and of itself . . . but I'll save that for another time.)  Anyway, as any child could tell you,  the best thing about anything new is the box.  There are many different ways to play with a box.  To be honest, my kids came up with a way I hadn't thought of before. 

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt, right?  Luckily, none of their injuries were bad enough to warrant medical attention.  As you can imagine, the box didn't hold its shape very long with this game, and soon collapsed on itself.  But Daphne optimistically told me, "Mom, it's like a challenge!  You try to climb through the box before it smashes you!"

nice.

Budding Photographers

My kids like nothing better than getting ahold of the camera and taking hundreds of pictures. Every time I download pics from my camera, there are inevitably way more than I remember taking. That would be because Sean has gone on a photo shoot. Sometimes the other kids take a few, but Sean is the main culprit.    Thank goodness for digital!  Here is a smattering of their work:

Daphne's favorite subjects are her brothers.  She calls this one, "Monkey Face"

Daphne- "Cutie Hayden"

Daphne-- "Sean being a bad guy."

Sean- "It's Me!" (this boy is really into self-portraits.  I think he takes after his Aunt Melanie.  We love you Aunt Mel!  and all your beautiful self portraits!)

Dallin- "Friends"

Dallin- "Indiana Jones & the Dangerous Nazis"

"The Nazi's are "incriminal" with Japan."

 I asked Dallin what "incriminal" means and he told me it means that they are bad guys who are friends.

Sean--"A tree"

Sean- "Car"

Sean- "Daphne"

Sean- "Uncle Monkey"

Sean- "Bassa Ball"