Adventures in Painting with Layne

Room number 1, which will be Abbey and Layne's new room, was stripes.  I sanded, primed, textured, sanded again, textured again, then painted...all in attempt to cover up the stripes.  If you should find yourself trying to cover up stripes on your walls, give me a call.  Room number 2, which will be Landen's new room, had a narrow brown stripe around the room.  I decided to paint over the stripe with another stripe.  Forget the 10 step process above.  I picked a dark blue, taped off a wider area, and went to work.  With my ever-faithful sidekick.

1.  Upstairs:  Blue tape + one coat wall color paint

2.  Heading Downstairs:  This little monster-face worked up an appetite

3.  Heading Upstairs:  A happier little monster with a bowl full of apples

4.  Upstairs:  One coat of the new blue   

5.  Upstairs: Bag of cheese-its in bed...retrieved from another trip downstairs

6.  Upstairs:  Rolling around in a bed with cheese-its, just before heading back downstairs for the
     vacuum

Someday, I'm going to sit around and watch paint dry!

Pirate Peep

The peeps are out.  The bunnies, the chicks.  We love them all.
Layne grabbed this little purple bunny, took a bite, and exclaimed, "it's a pirate!"

And there it is.  The first pirate peep.  Ever. 

70.3

THE ATHLETES:

We don't do stickers on our car.  But if we did, we would have some real winners.  Ironman.  13.1. 70.3.  5150.  And soon to be, 140.6.  We don't want to brag or anything...at least not on the car! The blog, is a different story.  It's made for bragging.  Even if we bloggers don't like to admit it.  Hey, I don't even like to admit I'm a blogger!

Oceanside half-ironman was a blast!  That might be a a bit of a stretch.  But, it was way better than last year, for 2 main reasons.  First, from the athlete's perspective, Royal had a better race.  He was much more comfortable with each portion of the race and the run, which was a little painful last year, went great for him.  Second, from the spectator's perspective, the kids and I brought along some friends.  A few good friends were also competing, so the Dyer family joined us on this excursion.  We had traveling companions, kids to play with, Julie dancing down the sidelines, pizza, and lots of diet coke...a blast!

Greg comes into the turnaround point

Royal heads to the finish line

THE SPECTATORS:

our plot of sand, squished between the parking lot and the race barricades 

bounce house and face painting

The kid's zone was a new thing this year.  We stumbled upon it at the end of the race as we were searching the athlete's tents for the men.  We did get to play a little while the men finished refueling and resting.  A bounce house was set up and Abbey spotted a face painting table and had some whiskers put on just for fun.

finisher smile

(due to parking issues, this is the only shot I have of Royal and his bike...we were lucky we made it to see the run, after parking and walking for MILES!)

Swim. Bike. Run.  My kids know it by heart.  We just take it one bumper sticker at a time.  Just wishing there was a sticker for the driving/parking/spectating/photo shooting/cheering/timing..with 3 little people in tow.  It's no party.  It's a marathon in and of itself.

Cream-Filled Happy Birthday

We had big things to celebrate.  Another birthday, another year older.  But, this is the last year Royal is still safely climbing "the hill" if you know what I mean.  Next year gravestones and black confetti.  This year, bright balloons and cream-filled cupcakes.  

My three little helpers love a good celebration, so we spent the day baking, cooking, and blowing up balloons for our favorite guy.  

Royal goes way back with the Hostess collection of ding dongs, cupcakes, and twinkies.  Do they make something called a snowball?  He loved those too.  He kept a stash somewhere or another for a long time!  I make a lot of desserts in my kitchen, but I don't think I have ever topped those cream-filled packages.  I stopped asking Royal for his taste-test rating when I knew he was just comparing my from-scratch-latest-creation to those processed gas-station delights!  I couldn't beat Hostess, so I jumped on board.  We now proudly make our own cream-filled cupcakes and I know they are better.  And if you ask Royal, he'll admit it too.  If the words don't come out, it's because his mouth is busy with his 4th birthday cupcake.  Then 5th.  Then 6th.  

Happy birthday from your fam.  We love you.  We love Saturday morning doughnut runs with dad, bike rides around the neighborhood, wrestling matches, couch-potato cartoon time, silly made up stories before bedtime, even sillier nicknames, pizza pick-ups, and those darn Hostess cupcakes.  Thanks for bringing all this joy, even with the extra calories, to our home!   

HELP WANTED

An organized, smoothly-run household seeking:

PAINTER

CUPCAKE BAKER

MONKEY SOCK MATCHER

        

DECORATOR

BLUE TAPE REMOVER

      

(or pedicure-ist...look at those toes!)

CHILD CARE:  HIDE AND SEEKER

    

Applicant need not posses all these skills to apply.  Must pass a physical fitness test:  double-time down the stairs to reach the oven before the cupcakes overcook; climb up and down the step-ladder multiple times and maintain balance; toss the 32 pound toddler from bed to bed to avoid wet paint; quickly grab the toddler before she reaches the paint brush, roller, or pan; scoop and fill cupcake liners to get in the oven before the paint roller gets dry; double-time back up the stairs, triple it if you forgot to take the toddler down with you; work fast on any damage done upstairs involving the 2-year-old and the paint.

Make Over

There's nothing a 5 year old boy needs more than a makeover.  Right?

After

Before

After

Make Over.  Little boy to big boy.  Baby face to little dude look.

This handsome guy aged a few years with the snip of the scissors.  

He is a new dude.  He loves it.   

Ghost Guest

We don't have to many guests make it out to stay with us out here in SoCal these days.  It's very exciting when a set of luggage lands on our doorstep.  This week, we saw the luggage, but no guest.  The sofa-bed would open and close.  The blankets and pillows were shuffled around.  The suitcase would change position, ever so slightly.  But my kids weren't sure that someone came with the luggage.

When my brother Ryan comes, it is kind of like a ghost is staying here!  He comes a couple of times a year for a work conference, and it's one busy conference.  He is up and out early, before my kids see him.  And he returns to the house after 10 each night.  If I crash too early at night, I don't even get to see him!

By Saturday, work had finished up, and after an early game of golf, Uncle Ryan appeared!  And my kids knew exactly what to do with him.  They opened up the buckets of Legos, and put him to work!

major building going on

They had a blast building these 2 amazing projects.  Note to Ryan:  we are going to need some instructions to go along with these creations.  They are not quite looking the same as when you finished them!

The middle picture is the house/castle...quite a set-up for the little Lego people.  The winged object is as Landen calls it, a 2-wheeler helicopter.  Anything that is a double or triple, is a 2 or 3 wheeler.  Anything.  Even if it's my 2-sided spatula, Landen calls it a 2-wheeler.  The stroller with 2 seats, is a 2-wheeler stroller.   A triple bunk bed, is a 3-wheeler bed.  It's pretty funny.

We had dinner, and Ryan was off to catch a red-eye back to NYC.  With our families so spread out now, we love that we get a few days with Ryan.  Even if the ghost comes too.