Little Samson Gets Shorn

Not sure what the ladies are going to thing, but we woke up like this:

That's his "why is this camera in my face pre-Honey Nut Cheerios" look.

Went and had a great time in the train room at Pigtails and Crewcuts:

"Not sure what we're doing here, but these trains are fantastic.  Can I get some trains.  I'd really like some trains.  Hey, why are you picking me up?  Traaaaaaaaaains!!!!!"

"Oh, Police Car? Not a bad swap."

""Wait a minute. Wait. A. Minute. What the heck? Why do I feel weaker?"

"No doubt the chicks are going to dig this.  The hair, not the banana."



It's Good To Have Goals

The 100th day of school came and went this week.  They actually celebrate it.  This is a new concept for me. 

Anyway, like I said, celebration.  Lots of learning activities involving the number 100.  Several of the finished products came home in Ellie's folder today. 

Here's the first:

Here's the translation:  Win [When] I am 100 years old I wil[l] we[a]r erenges [earrings].  Win I am 100 I wil have rencls [wrinkles]. 

I think she's showing amazing patience and delirious optimism at the same time.

Here's another 100 day project:

If I had $100, I would buy lannd.

Now, before we dismiss this as evidence that a nearly six year old has no concept of the value of money, I'd like to direct your attention to the illustration.  Very clearly, that is a brunette child (with fabulous flowing locks, of course) standing near a buck-a deer to those of you from the city.  Her Daddy, Uncle Chad and Big Daddy just bought a piece of property in Ideal, Georgia.  The sole purpose of that property is for the killing and subsequent eating of local fauna (and auspiciously the harvesting of timber but I will believe that when I see it).  I can buy her theory that $100 can get you an acre or two in Ideal. 

Plus, I admire her pluckiness.  Reminds me of someone I once knew...

She's Crafty

Been wanting a kitchen chalkboard for years, so I made one.  Started with the side panel next to the fridge:

(Okay, so that's the panel next to the oven but I forgot to take a "before" before I started painting.  They're iiiiii-dentical though.)

Bought these:

Both are made by Rust-Oleum.  I researched the heck out of this and Rust-Oleum's chalk board paint is allegedly not the best, but I wanted to be sure it would work with the magnetic primer so I figured I'd sacrifice quality for knowing there wouldn't been a large scale disaster.

The magnetic primer runs about $25.  The chalk board paint is less than ten.  They come in quarts.  I used all the primer, but I have a ton of chalk board paint left over.  I'm turn everything into chalk boards.  Jars, glasses, Wes's forehead.  Everything.

I had them shake the snot out of the primer at Home Depot.  It's paint with metal particles in it, so they all settle to the bottom.  The can is heavy too.  I stirred, stirred, stirred between coats to keep it mixed up.

It took six, count them, six coats of magnetic primer.  Only 30 minutes of drying time between each coat, and then we had to wait 3 hours before putting the chalk board paint on top.  To be honest, it's still not all that magnetic.  Fridge magnets and alphabet magnets stick great, but that Leap Frog animal sound think will not stay. 

Just two coats of chalk board.  The tutorials I found on the intrawebs told me not to do more than that because then you'd lose something on the magneticism and you wouldn't want that.  An hour of drying time between coats.  Overnight to dry, but NO WRITING ON IT FOR 3 DAYS!

Here's what it looked like in process (the primer is pretty much black too):

I realized the top-top would not get used much.  Carrie came up with the idea of putting a "welcome" saying or quote up there and just leaving it.  So, I stole one:

Here's Carrie writing it up there.  My handwriting is atrocious, good thing we keep her around.

And, here's the finished product:

The "quote" is off Local Three's menu, "Sit Deep, Stay Long."  No idea if it's a quote from someone famous (other than the Local Three guys, they're sort of famous here in Atlanta), but I like it.  I think it embodies our home pretty well. 

Anyway, pretty crafty for me.  Yay, weekend projects.

Proceed to Party

Really, this needs no commentary

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together.

I have a new found obsession with Pinterest.  Better than Facebook, way more useful than Twitter.  It's at least inspiring me to get organized and fancy the place up a bit.  Plus, I love sticking recipes all in one place. 

How awesome is it, then, that one of the first things I pinned, some of the prints from Old Try, this fabulous huband/wife team of Southern ex-pats up in Massachusetts, have finally ended up in my home?

The first print is self explanatory.  The second is the coordinates for the Mason Dixon line.  They have an accurate depiction of a Southerner's perspective of the line on their website.  The last is the Georgia flag superimposed over an outline of the state. 

Anyway, just happy to be putting my pins into action.  Thanks D&Y for the perfect Christmas gift.  Thanks Old Try for making such great prints.  You can check out other pieces (pretty Alabama and North Carolina heavy due to their roots, would love the yellow hammer if I'd more of an affinity for my law school alma mater) at http://theoldtry.com.



Head. Pants. Now.

I feel like there should be a child training service similar to those available for gun dogs.  You know, where you hand the kid off for a few months and they come back knowing an important skill.  With dogs, they come back knowing how to retrieve ducks, dove, quail, small children, etc. without being gun shy, barking or turning the boat over.  With kids, they could learn to drink from a cup, clean their rooms, or, most importantly, tee-tee and poop in the potty.  My guess is this service exists, but it is only for the fabulously wealthy or those that don't care if others shun them for not raising their own children. 

Anyhow, here's how we're dealing with the lack of proper potty training professionals:

Naked little boy butt.  Seriously cute, but potentially problematic (and before you ask, yes, his hand is where you think it is...he is a boy, afterall, oh, and that's the Georgia/Michigan State game on the TV, things were going well at this point, but that's for a different blog).

Here's how a potty epiphany happens in our house-

Me (or Wes):  Harry, do you have to go tee tee in the potty.
Harry: Noooo.
Me: You sure?
Harry:  Ok, tee tee in da pah-tee, ok.  Yay! (arms over head)
Me:  Yay! (arms also over head or this whole thing will get derailed)
Harry:  (running to potty) tee tee in pah-tee, tee tee in pah-tee, ok.
(miraculously, tee tee in potty)
Harry: Yay!
Me (and everyone that has come into the bathroom to witness this miraculous event):  Yay!
Harry:  Flush da pah-tee, Yay!
Me:  Yay!
Harry:  Hey (to everyone in ear shot) Hawwy tee tee in da pah-tee, YAY!
Everyone:  Yay!
Harry:  Yay!

Repeat 15 times in one day. 

This does not work for the poop.  He steadfastly refuses to do THAT in the potty.  Instead he brings us a diaper over and over until we finally relent out of fear of him developing some horrifying intestinal ailment and put it on him where he finally takes care of business.  Fabulous. 

Baby steps.  But, at least his butt is cute.