Paint, Paint, Paint the House

LAST week, while I was feverishly sewing, Aunt Mindy came to visit and paint the family room and our bedroom/bathroom including trim.  It was really nice having her here for pretty much a week.  She came in on the Thursday before Memorial Day, went home Saturday evening, came back Monday morning and then left again Thursday. 

She was amazingly laid back about it and worked around our family schedule very well.  And she was VERY patient with me hemming and hawing over what color to choose.  The first color that I had chosen (and purchased) for the family room looked mint green when it got on the wall.  Mindy had spent about an hour “cutting in” (doing brushwork up close to the trim) before I managed to look at it.  Mindy reminded me that I had originally chosen a darker color but was nervous about putting it on the wall.  She went back to Home Depot for me to have them darken what we had.  Unfortunately, the darker color uses a different base, so adding color to the paint we had just made it darker and more yellow and, well, just as bad but in a different way.  She encouraged me to go get my first choice while she watched the kids.  She didn’t seem the least bit unhappy that she had just spent so much time painting a color I had chosen and then rejected.  Thankfully, that was the ONLY time I changed my mind about it.

She even took Thomas under her wing and taught him better roller technique than I have.  He was in charge of painting everything from the middle of the wall down, and Mindy took care of everything above that.

I’m not sure how well you can tell from the picture, but the walls went from dark beige to leaf green in the family room.  The bedroom/bathroom is similar but a little darker and more sage looking.  The color matches well with the quilt Mom made and is called “restful.”  I didn’t have to change my mind on that one though!  I chose well from the beginning. 

By now the family room is pretty much reassembled and much tidier than it was before.  We are still missing the picture over the mantle, but I’m sure it won’t take but a few minutes to re-hang it once we think about it when we have the time to do so.

The bedroom is slowly but surely getting back into shape.  We’ve been sleeping with the bed in the center of the room like an island with all of our furniture surrounding it.  It just goes to show how big our bedroom is that we could still get in and out of bed and walk around our island of furniture.   Every day Michael puts one more piece of furniture back where it belongs.  Every morning Gloria comes in and tells us, “Put bed a wall.”  I think that the bed is the last thing that still needs to be moved at this point, but Gloria has been nagging her daddy about it.  She must be practicing for when she gets married.

Mindy is gone now.  I miss having her around.  She’s really a neat person and I wish I had more time to just visit with her and talk.  If you ever need your house painted, I highly recommend hiring her.  She prices fairly and does good work.  She’ll even travel to do it.  Now if only I could pick out a good color for the hall…

After she spent all that time sewing…

Daniel spent some time destroying the playroom and then:

He took a nap. 

Today’s Project: Bib Pants and Scaling the Stairs

  So the laundry’s not done and the floor still needs mopping, but I made DANIEL something today.  Gloria always gets cute little dresses and the like while I cringe at the thought of all the pieces to make a boy’s outfit.  I pulled out my Kwik Sew: Sewing For Toddlers book and got seriously busy with some fabric I had on hand.  It wasn’t quite as difficult as I had feared.  I may even attempt button holes tomorrow.

You’ll have to look past the giant diaper pins I used to secure it to him.  I felt the need to check the size on him before I went to the trouble of buttons or snaps.

First a sweet picture.

This one shows the outfit pretty well.

This one shows it even better, but Daniel doesn’t look too thrilled about modeling it. 

This one is not so much about the outfit though.

This next one made me remember another picture I once took.

The one on the left is Daniel.  The one on the right is Gloria!

Then Daniel decided to scale the stairs for the first time.  All of them!

A quick break at the top and then he was off again!

My babies are just growing up so fast!  I’d better cut out that pattern in the next size up.

Indiana Jones, er, Thomas’ 7th Birthday!

Today was my handsome guy’s birthday party!  The theme was Indiana Jones and Thomas dressed to play the part of the ruggedly handsome hero-minus the scruffy whiskers.  The shirt is one of Michael’s.  Thomas found the hat in the woods a few weeks ago.  I made the bag-plus one like it for each of the other guests.  We didn’t have any pants dark enough so I dipped some old khaki ones in some coffee, spun them out, and dried them in the drier.  He smelled yummy!

Even though the party started at 10, the guests trickled in slowly.  They spent the first 30 minutes in the front yard with their magnifying glasses (from the bags) looking for “clues.”  In this case, bugs.

Then we started some music (via the xbox) and Thomas/Indy explained that he was on a search for stolen treasure and passed out the first clue.

The first clue led them to the “Mummy Gallery.”

There they had to wrap each other up in toilet paper to find the next clue, which was skillfully hidden INSIDE the rolls of paper.  They were a little shy about it at first, but they really got going with it.  Even Gloria got in on the wrapping.

The next clue told them to go to the “snake pit!”  This was designed and built by Indy/Thomas himself.  The snakes were also artistically placed by the little man.

The adventurers got busy finding the clues and snake wrestling.

The rolled up clues, under the snakes, told them to go to the “crocodile creek” for their next clue.

I added more leaves and debris between the above pictures and the party.  At first the kids had no clue as to how to go about their task.

Soon enough, they began reaching in to feel around…

…until their fearless leader saved the day and found the first clue!  (He even read most of them since he’s such an awesome reader.)

This clue sent them to “Pankot Palace Banquet”…

where they had to feel around inside some gross food to find the next clue…

…and then assemble the three pieces so they could read it!

Their final clue told them to go to the “airport hanger” where they found the treasure…

…and made short work of stashing it away in their bags.

All of this only took 20 minutes!  Hours and hours of preparation and it only took 20 minutes.  It was sprinkling off and on, so that made things move along faster.  I was still amazed at how quickly they accomplished their mission.  I guess hunting for treasure gets kids motivated.

While Michael grilled the burgers and dogs, the kids made up their own adventures out in the back.

The rain started to pour down and put a damper on that.  Thankfully, the food was almost done by that time.  Michael set up a card table in the kitchen, so we had 12 seats over tile for the messy kids to have lunch! 

Then it was time for THE CAKE. (That I had soooooooooo much fun doing!)

We all sang “Happy Birthday” (much to Gloria’s unhappiness!)

There was NO question about it.  The kids ALL wanted to eat the boulder for some reason, even after I explained that it was cake crumbs smashed into a ball shape.

It got as quiet as it ever was during this adventure after the cake was passed out!

Then the guests all went home and the four Phillips passed out themselves.

What happens in Vegas…

Will be posted on the blog.    At least, anything that might be interesting. 

So far, I got here with a major headache.  Probably should have had some coffee before I left and maybe eaten a little something.  I did finally eat lunch at 4:30 Birmingham time, which was only 2:30 here.  Then I went and registered for the conference, took the “goodie bag” back up to my room, and went and bought a camera.   I bought a Canon A590.  It is nice and small, and I have a Canon at home that I like.  It wasn’t a bad price either.

I am staying at the Venetian, which is a very nice Hotel and Casino.  One of the nicest in Vegas as a matter of fact.  It should be noted though, that when the lady at the check-in desk says “it is in the more secluded area of the hotel” that is code for “it is a REALLY long walk to get anywhere”.  I think that would be the case anyway, but still..

The first year I was here I had a view of the Treasure Bay casino, and they have a pirate show they do a couple of times a day.  that was  a really nice view.  My view this time:

  Better luck next year?

I did make it to the Expo this evening.  Basically, it is where you walk around and let salesmen (and women) try to sell you software products.  It was a little crowded:

I didn’t really talk to anyone yet.  Hard to hear with that many people all talking at once…

Happy Birthday!

On Friday Gloria turned 2.  On Sunday Thomas turned 7.  So on Saturday we had a family celebration where we celebrated BOTH birthdays, but mostly Gloria’s since Thomas will have his Indiana Jones birthday party with his friends NEXT Saturday.  Here are some pictures I managed to catch.  There were other cameras present, so I may come back and add more.

First, “the cake.”  I did the baking and frosting, Mom did most of the decorating, and Michael artistically placed the fairies and candles.

The princess was NOT happy about us singing “Happy Birthday” to her-at all.

But she did like blowing out her candles!

And EATING the cake

And playing with her brother

Then Daniel got really, really tired…and passed out on Cousin Gilah.

The expression on Gilah’s face is just priceless here.  And I love how all the colors (hair and skin tone) all just go together.

Then the gift opening began!  Gloria actually got the idea this time.

Hmmmm…What’s this?

It’s Dora!

A camera!

Dishes?  Gee, thanks, Mommy.

Another camera.  This one says “You’re beautiful!”

“Big Tinkerbell!”

“Open it, Daddy!  Open it right now!”

An absolutely gorgeous smile from Daddy.  (That’s the smile I see a lot, but can’t get on camera!)

Daddy demonstrates how to love on a doll.

But Gloria wanted to look at her instead.  “No hug Tinkerbell.”

Meanwhile, Thomas opens his OWN presents

Hmm.  This looks pretty cool.

A transformer!

Then Michael told Thomas he needed some help finding something outside.

He found it!

He was a little intimidated by the idea of the hills in our neighborhood, so Michael stuck right next to him to give him confidence.

He promised he wouldn’t let go, and he didn’t!

We had much fun.  NEXT week, we will have MORE!

Proof Daniel Smiles!

This is the face I see most often when I look at Daniel, but I have many pictures to share that prove he CAN and DOES smile!

Tell me if YOU have a favorite because I just can’t choose!

Aldridge Gardens

Since  the power was out, school was out, and Thomas asked, we went to Aldridge Gardens for a good old fashioned picnic complete with a quilt and the day after Easter egg and tuna sandwiches.  I brought along my camera and got busy taking pictures of the moving targets.  Here are some of the better ones.

Running around the picnic area:

On the bridge:

On a rock:

On some steps:

(Hey, they were both holding still and looking the same direction!)  

Then we got the idea to put them all on here:

The light was fading and my camera decided to flash, so the babies look whiter than they already are.  Even with them captive, we STILL couldn’t get them to all look the same direction at the same time, but as you can see, Daniel was having a blast.

Easter Photoganza

Happy Easter!  With the kids all dressed up, I took the opportunity to snap a few (dozen) pictures.  Here are just some of my favorites.

At home before church:

Thomas and Gloria

Thomas and Daniel

How’s this for a smile?

Mommy and her grinning boys

Michael and Thomas  (They really do love each other-just not holding still and smiling for the camera)

I made Gloria some bloomers to go with that dress LOL

At church, Gloria got to go on an Easter egg hunt with the other preschoolers:

Is there one under here?

I’ll put this one in my basket.

Why is this picture so sweet?

Can you tell she was thrilled about the house?

Mommy, open it!!!

Investigating Thomas’ findings on his egg hunt

Now how does this work, Daddy?

Daniel tries an egg

You see, son, you’re supposed to open it and eat the candy inside.

Who needs candy?  These eggs taste great!

Silly baby!

Relaxing in the nursery after church

Here we all are after church-still happy, pretty and only slightly sticky!

Gloria’s Woolies by Grandma

So for anyone who doesn’t yet know, my mother (aka Grandma) crochets some lovely wool diaper covers for both of  my babies.  I had a photo-shoot with Gloria earlier today and got 3 different capris captured.  As I take more pictures, I will add them here as well as make Daniel his own special post.

Raspberry Ruffles

Watermelon wonderfulness (I dyed the yarn!)

Remember that Rainbow yarn I dyed? 

Here it is all worked up!