Ladies' Night

My friend, April, has started to coordinate a ladies night with some church ladies. This last time she suggested that we do a craft project. There were a few different ideas, but we decided to paint. I took a canvas that I already owned, and painted all the color on the canvas at the gathering.  Then, not knowing what to do after that, I took it home to think and wait.  Got back from traveling with little Mn and decided to finish it off with a design.  Some of the others had chosen to apply letter stickers, paint over and remove the stickers to reveal a saying.

I used my typical random way of being creative instead of a chevron pattern that I had seen on someone else's post. 

The girls and I were out shopping for spray paint and other art supplies and Kj pointed out the glow in the dark spray paint.  I thought that would be interesting, as I wanted white and had decided that this would be the first and only decor for the kids' bathroom.  Well, it turns out that it doesn't actually spray out white spray paint as the label implies.  Therefore, I had to find some white semi-gloss paint that we had leftover from bathrooms and closets and sponge that on.  Then, spray some more. 

Took off all the tape strips and here is the final outcome.  Next time:  don't rush so much you can't go out and buy white spray paint...lines will be cleaner!

Just Bits

• On the adoption front: We are currently researching "other" countries (including our own) for adopting. We will probably let little M go as the adoptions are currently closed in SL and we're not sure about the process length etc. Democratic Republic of Congo is what we are doing most of our research about right now.
  

• Painting: Ah, I got to paint my way through last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It was quite enjoyable, as it was a change of pace for me. My mom was here to take care of the girls and paint shutters at naptime. We got a lot accomplished. On Thursday, I was realizing that I was a sporadic painter. I had to finish up a bit of priming before starting with the true house color. So, I was here and there and everywhere, and then as I started the true color, I did the same as I had to paint the dry spots. It kept me interested. :) Friday, I was a little more organized. Saturday, I lost my momentum as Kevin was back from his conference and was doing most of the painting. I'll have to get back to it in a couple weeks. It's my turn again. He finished up the peaks and now I have to do the second coat down below.

• Daycare: It's going well. The kids are getting along great and Kj takes good care of E when I am out of the room. They are good for entertaining each other and I am getting a taste of parenting 3. But...our time with E is almost over...it seems. Two weeks remaining. We'll see in October if I get more done or less done throughout the day!

• New season: You would think that with no kids in school one season would just run into the next with little to no change, besides the wardrobe! Well, tomorrow the girls and I start up BSF and Kevin starts clubs at church while I sit with the couch ladies and get our girlfriend time! I'm really looking forward to these things. Something really nice about our Wednesday church night is that they provide a meal. So, instead of Kevin rushing in the door, changing, gobbling down supper, packing the family in the car and heading to church. Kevin gets home. He hugs us all. He changes. We pack in the car. We drive a couple miles. We go through the line to get supper. We find friends to eat with and then we carry on with the nights activities. Marvelous idea!

• L: She is hilarious! My friend described her as a little mime. She runs around doing, doing, doing things and back and forth and all around, and so animated. She cracks herself up sometimes too. Which in turn cracks us up!! I asked my friend if Kj and Z were this funny at this age. She said yes! I don't remember. I LOVE THAT GIRL! We went out to eat tonight and she waves at everyone going by our table and when she was done eating we set her on the floor to look at a couple tables and she peaked at people and got them to wave back.
  

• Kj: She's a thinker. My friend didn't eat her crusts and Kj asked why not. My friend told her that she had very old bread and that it was all dry. So, Kj stores this new excuse in her mind for a later date. She kind of looked at me and pointed to her crust...No, I shake my head, that's not going to work for you! At one time she found out that my mom couldn't eat dairy products, because "her body didn't like it." She's tried that line before. So funny! This evening when I needed to hold E to give him a bottle or hold L because she was hungry, Kj requested that I hold her and snuggle her while we walked. She's getting too big for that, but I am glad that she can tell us what she needs. She is such a "big girl". I LOVE THIS GIRL!

• Bedtime: It's getting earlier and earlier. Kevin, a while ago, was falling asleep on the couch. He is now up and moving around, but I know he's still ready. Me too!! Another big day tomorrow. Better get the rest while we can! Take care all!!
  

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Getting Ready for a Rummage

I have been going through and through our house lately trying to find anything to put on our rummage sale. I keep going through the same closets and drawers and still find more. I guess I will be doing it until the day the sale ends.

My neighbor across the street mentioned a couple months ago that she is planning to have a rummage sale this summer. I kept asking, "When? When? When?" And finally a date. A few weeks from now. I decided to go with one plain and simple price: 50 cents. Also, a cause: our adoption. :) So, unintentionally at first, but now deliberately, I have been taking other peoples' thrift store items and piling the boxes in our garage.

How much do you think I could make? Probably not that much, but hopefully a little to offset the cost of an $800 adoption class coming up next month.

I read something that inspired me to find more...something asking what could I do without now to bring home a child. It kind of makes me want to find big things and sell for more, but I am going to keep the price what it is and if there are big things, I might just be crazy and sell them for 50 cents as well. :)

Also, update from my last post...I have an itching to prime some more, but didn't have any new trim ready, so I painted our bunnies. We have a set of 3 cement bunnies in our front yard and they were a little chippy, so I took out all my supplies that were patiently waiting for me in the fridge and painted the bunnies white. Not sure if I will paint another coat or not, or if tomorrow I'll paint the swan or the "urn". I never thought I would be into this sort of lawn ornamentation, but they have really grown on me in the 2+ years we have lived in our house. Why not care for them too! Below is a picture of the lawn decor.

Head Start

I decided that instead of a solo vacation I would paint the house. We already had Curl Grandma coming for a couple days to be with the girls, she's also good with painting. Why not!? This morning Kevin decided to start scraping the trim. I followed with some priming and we are a month ahead of schedule. We know we are switching the trim to white, and now we have to pick the main house color...

Trying to find a picture of our house, but this is what I came up with Kj and Buddy W - last summer. Enjoy!
Found one...the old look of our backyard...maybe one new window included, I can't tell.