Well, I'm going to start off by wishing Aussie a happy third birthday! He is such a good little guy, and we are so blessed too have him in our family :).


It is a tradition in our family, that when they turn 3, they get their own bike. It is also a tradition (not my favorite, mind you), that they practice learning how to petal, in the kitchen....It's not so bad, i guess...I can keep better track of them this way :)


This week, being Spring break and all, I have had the urge to not only spring clean, but to get some projects done around the house. And, if you know me, I love, love, LOVE to paint! Our house is an eclectic array of colors, and I just love it! Having 5 young kids, it is almost impossible to not only find the time to paint, but to do it without kids all over me. It doesn't help matters, when, as soon as I get the paint stuff out, all of them ask if they can help. So...I have found a fun solution to this problem, and here it is...

I give them each their own sponge paintbrush (30 cents at Wal-Mart), and their own bowl of paint (empty cottage cheese containers work well). I, then give them something large, that they can paint. Make sure that it's something you don't care about. I have given them old wood scraps, boxes...today, I found some large bulletin boards that I wasn't using anymore. I let them paint those, while I did my projects.
Even though they were done before I was, it satisfied their need to paint, and then they were perfectly content to play outside, while I finished up...and yes, it was messy...but that's all part of the fun...and it is exactly what bathtubs were invented for :). Fun, fun day :)



Here is the wall I painted in the preschool/ play room. I found an old picture frame, down in the basement, and I painted it a cream color, then sprayed it with some high gloss, clear finish. I, then taped off a square, and used some of my left-over chalk paint, and painted it on the wall. While that was drying, I painted the outside of the green, a red color (as you can see :) ). I found this metal star, that I inherited from my mother-in-law. I spray-painted it gold.
I will use this wall as my "Star of the Week" wall in preschool, where we will write things about the Star of the Week...A little Christmas-y, I know...but who doesn't love Christmas?!
I can't wait to use it!...

Finally, I found another empty frame, and did the same thing as I did in the preschool, but just on a smaller scale, and put it in the kitchen. The chair, below, I also painted. I like how it turned out :)

I am looking forward to the summer to do more fun projects around the house...