re-hab desk

once upon a time, i found this awesome desk in the middle of the sidewalk as i was taking afton to school... and there it sat for three more days til that wednesday when it occured to me that trash pick-up is thursday morning. all of the sudden i wanted a new desk, so i made paul drive over with me that night (after the kids were supposed to be in bed, but weren't), and look at it. he said it looked like a lot of work, but if i wanted it, i could do it. then we had to go back home and umload the kids (and put them to bed) so he could move some seats around and load this treasure into the back of the van. (same night we also collected a dresser, but that's a whole different story).

 it was a little nicked up, but i didn't think it was too bad for redemption. the broken drawer even had the front piece sitting on the side, so a little glue should have been able to fix that up...


top view, clearly in need of a little tlc

well, i fixed it up, sanded it down, cleaned it out and painted it, and here it is! (unfortunately, the drawer front somehow ended up in the alley and it got run over. i haven't quite figured that out, but in the meantime, i actually moved it to the left side of the desk and i put the phone in it so the cord isn't dragged across the desk anymore, and the phone is a little more out of sight, which is good for malachi--he has no internal phone-resistance)

yes, orange, i couldn't resist, i like it for now, and if i ever decide i don't, it should be easy enough to repaint :)



can you see the texture there? it was a little more expensive than i'd hoped, but i think i like how that turned out especially.

it's crackle-paint. the entire project ended up costing about $20.

all about hair

i know, not a most promising title... but it's really just a few cute pics, so that's okay, right? thought so... here's a couple cinderellas on their way to the ball library, they're even bringing prince charking with them :)

 this next one kinda makes me sad. rayna's rather obsessed with her hair, usually more specifically with making it 'flat' which bothers me a bit. i love her curls, and i wouldn't blame her if she hated them because of the snarls and sadness of brushing her hair or some such thing... but she doesn't even mind that, she brushes her hair herself multiple times a day even, all in the effort to make it straight. she asked me to take this picture one day, after all her best efforts:

 malachi still won't let me cut his hair (he thinks it hurts--it's acutally really cute, he makes a really sad face and says pitifully 'ow... ow... ow' til i give in and don't try to do too much (if i get too close, he screams and runs/flails a LOT but the rest is cute). i love how he wrinkles his nose too!

 yeah, i'm cool. spiky hair boy...

arboretum 3-3-12

so about three weeks ago, paul took a day off and we played :). we love it when daddy's home, because it seems more often thank not, he's not. that morning i did my first long run (i posted on fb, for those of you that saw it there)--9.3 miles (go me!), and then in the afternoon we went to the arboretum to enjoy some spring flowers. we had a blast, and paul took a bunch of pictures:

tons of tulips

dandy daffodils



pretty pansys (EVERY color imaginable!)



this is a new little stream lined with japanese maples, it's not quite in bloom, but still pretty



notice how i casually mentioned the run before, i circumnavigated white rock lake, which is right by the arboretum, it was a nice reminder as we walked past that i'm amazing ;)

we had lots of time for playing on the grass, and wandering/rolling/crawling/dancing/etc... around. i'm pretty sure we all had a blast!

rayna rolling on the grass



afton even sat still long enough for a picture



mischevious malachi loves being in pictures! (can you see the reflection in his eyes?)



we were playing rapunzel



i looked out the window and what did i see?
POPCORN popping on the tree! (i don't think this is apricot, but i'm not sure what it is either we didn't take a close look)



the kids love playing in the pioneer village, and i loved rayna's smile here



magnificant magnolias



hundreds of hyacinths



oh yeah, we were there too :)



one sunday

i just love this picture of my kids being so sweet, and posing so nicely too!

PTA mtg and "LOVE"

afton's class performe at the last pts meeting, and i thought it was pretty cute. they did nat king cole's LOVE, and afton was O (the little boy next to her, V is a good friend too, which was nice). i'm having a hard time getting the video to upload, i think the file's too big, but if it does work, i thought it was cute :).

suffice it to say, the video was cute... and it'll probably never upload.

baby dolls

clearly we love babies around here. one of rayna and afton's favorite games is "mom and dad" usually involving something up rayna's shirt that eventually comes out, and then they pose for pictures:

(sometimes i oblige with the camera)

and malachi also loves all the babies in the world. he has two or four that he specifically loves, though if he can steal rayna's that's clearly better, but they are all forgotten if there's a real baby around. he's actually really good with our friends' babies, very gentle, and sweet. it's kind of surprising sometimes... here he is with three of his favorites, and of course pooh, also beloved (though generally in movie form, not this one...)

a little rayna...

cause that's a face that HAS to make you smile!

i can't believe how rayna's growing and maturing. she's very responsible and observant. she's finally starting to show a little interest in letters (she'd like to be able to read, but she's refused to learn any letters so far, they're boring you see... i think she wants to read like mommy and not have to sound things out like afton). she LOVES babies, and she's pretty good about taking care of them too, when holding a friend's baby last week she said, "it's okay if she needs to cry, i don't mind" --rather a different perspective than most kids. she's also very helpful with malachi. they love to run ahead of the stroller on our walks, and usually rayna makes sure he'll stop at the street or she'll hold his hand as they run together. we're getting ready to sign her up for pre-k for the fall. i think she'll really enjoy it. rayna's the best in the family at sitting still for quiet time or church, which i particularly love!!! and she's good in sunbeam class too :). here's a really quick video of her latest favorite skill (you may need to turn the volume up):