Colors of change

We went to Home Depot to get ideas for paint colors and , 24 hours later, had two freshly painted rooms! Even we were impressed by ourselves considering we managed to keep both kids and the dog occupied while one of both of us painted.

Someone asked if we were home sick since these are
Wolverine colors. I commented that these have always been " our
colors" starting with our wedding day

Two crazy drivers touring Home Depot

In less than 10 hours, Mike and I managed to paint 97% of the
two rooms. No one came out of that day clean

Mack was the supervisor and rated Mike and me on
our painting skills. We received mostly high grades.

Painting was very tiring for all of us.

But the end result was well worth it.

Our plan is to have the living room done this week, before Mason's birthday party on Sunday!

Mackenzie-isms

The five year old mind is a fascinating thing! It's so much fun to have conversations with Mackenzie and the glimpses I get into her brain as we chat are both enlightening and funny. Here are a few little gems from the past few days:

Mack:" When I move, I will come visit you all the time, Mom."
Me: " I'm glad to hear that but why are you moving?"
Mack:" Because I have to. There won't be room here for all the babies I'm going to have."

As we walked into school today, Mackenzie noticed the flags were raised only to half staff
Mack: " The flags aren't all the way up. I wonder why?"
Me: " Well, the flags are only halfway up as a way to show respect when something sad has happened. Like if someone dies or when something really sad happens to a big group of people..."
Mack: " Or when someone throws up."
Me: " Ummm...Not quite. Although that is a sad thing"

I'm in the kids bathroom drying my hands  when I noticed that there is no toilet paper . Mack had just left the bathroom so I knew she didn't have any when she went.
Me: " Macky, when you go to the bathroom, if there is no toilet paper, you have to ask for some. You can't just not wipe."
Mack:  " I wiped. I used that towel!"
Me: " THIS one?" (holding up the towel I was using to dry my hands with)
Mack: " Yeah!"
Not only had she used the hand towel in place of toilet paper, she neatly hung it back up for the next person to use.

After a week away from home and having " sleep overs" every night with Grammy in Michigan and with me in the hotel rooms, Mack wasn't excited to go back to sleeping alone. The second night we were back, Mike and I settled in to watch a movie together when Mike heard Mack crying. He went up to settle her down but to no avail and I was paged to the scene. When I came in, I found a tearful Mackenzie who was sad because " You guys are having all the fun and I'm not having any! Waaaaaaaaahhhhhh" Finally, I calmed her down and , through sniffles, she asked if she could sleep in my bed. I asked why she wanted to sleep with me when she usually really likes having her bed to herself.  With protruding lip, she whispered " Because you're so very special to me."  *heartmelt*

Let's be honest....

Mack has started telling little fibs here and there. It started before Christmas and after a few little lies, I had a talk with her and we decided that the best way to remember to always tell the truth is to write the sentence " I will tell the truth" ten times. It's pretty old school but it was effective and curbed the behavior until recently. This week the fibs resurfaced so I sent Mackenzie to her room to come up with , what she thought, was a fair consequence. She thought that writing the sentences again would be helpful. So she did:



Then I told her a revised , updated version of Peter and the Wolf. In this rendition, Peter found it funny to act as though he'd been injured while playing in the yard, calling for help and then laughing as everyone in the house came running ( even the pet Chihuahua ) only to find Peter had played a mean trick on them.  Peter learned his lesson when he really did fall from the tree and needed help but no one believed him. Thank goodness for the postman who heard Peter calling for help as he delivered the days mail.
To be sure the lesson soaked in, I asked Mack if she'd help me draw a cartoon of the story. Here's what we came up with. I'd say it was a lesson learned...for now.

Ramp it up!

 We have had about 12 inches of snow ( though much has melted) over the last two days and have been stuck inside ,so the box that my birthday present came in quickly transformed into a ramp for Mackenzie and Mason to send their cars down! Here's a run down of events:

Mike ( and his helpers) dissect the box

Daddy constructed while Mason pretended to be Godzilla baby. This did not
go over well with Mack , who screamed as the box began to bend under Mason's weight.

Mason's removal from the scene resulted in more tears and screams which,
in turn, resulted in a nap.

Mack enjoyed brotherless play time with the ramp.

Ellie, a smart girl, stayed out of it all.

Happy Birthday, mommy!

We celebrated my birthday yesterday with lunch at Red Robin and pizza for dinner. Mike made the most delicious cheese cake brownies which got an all around Mx4 seal of approval .

THIS is Mike's gift to me! Wow!

And the box was Mike's gift to the kids:

:)

Yum!

 

Tame that child!

Mason laughs at our efforts to contain him. In related news, our new adjustable, extra wide gate should be overnight shipped to us and arrive by tomorrow.

Princess Tiara