Finger Paints - Friend or Foe?

I am perplexed by this question at least weekly. The exchange goes something like this:
Audrey: "Mommy, wanna paint?"
Mom: In a hopeful plea "Water paint Audrey?"
Audrey: "No, no mommy, paint, paint! -outside"
Mom:, "Ugh, alright."
I roll out the butcher paper, get the paint box from the closet and hope for the best.
What follows is one of two scenarios. The Audrey has her way with paints scenario or the mommy is a kill joy scenario. Either way its messy, mommy's flustered, and Audrey is almost always in need of a clothing change and some kind of hosing off.
You see in the Audrey wins scenario I throw all caution to the wind and let her have at it. The free loving mom in me thinks this sort of thing is important. I generally try and look the other way while Audrey has the time of her life painting, with or without brushes, with or without concern for things around her (like Meg) and with utter enjoyment. This lasts until she is so messy she actually asks to be cleaned off or i can't take it anymore and I hose her down. But , as far as I'm concerned, she got to have it "her way" and every now and then I think that's good.
Then there's the mommy kill joy painting scenario in which I try to keep paint off of things I deem difficult to clean, like say, the dog, the front walk way, myself, and Audrey's hair. I personally think that is pretty fair. Audrey however believes it is sheer torture and so unbelievable she often screams at the top of her lungs, "mommy no, no, no....STOP!!!" Its quite embarrassing when your neighbors ask what was going on earlier that morning and the truthful answer is "oh, just some finger paints."
The dilemma will continue undoubtedly for quite some time

In a Nut Shell

August was a crazy month. There was, at one point, 9 people staying in our house - 5 adults and 4 children. It was cozy, but honestly, it was loads of fun. There was never a dull moment, someone was doing something fun most of the time so the kids were never bored. The adults may have wanted some peace and quiet from time to time, but we all did pretty well. Aunt Sandy and the twins flew down from Durango for a nice long stay, uncle Doug meet up with them later in the week so the boys could challenge their manhood and charged up Pikes Peak (some 14, 000 + feet above sea level). They lived to tell about it, and actually thought it was fun, so who knows this may take the place of our annual Imogene pass race. Will keep you posted on that one.

Not to be outdone, Audrey got bit by a spider in the midst of all the company and wound up with an overnight stay in the hospital for IV antibiotics. It all sounds very scary...and at the time it was a bit frightening, but she was tough as nails. It didn't phase her a bit. The funniest part of the whole ordeal was Audrey having to take her oral medicine, which tasted awful. In order to get her to take it we laced it with Hershey's syrup. So every day, three times a day Audrey would remind us that it was time for chocolate medicine. On occasion she would show us her foot and say "my tootsie needs medicine." It was a hoot. I may not feel this way when we get our hospital bill, but she still has all her toes and thats what matters.



Cousin Hope began school last week and loves it, so thats great. We all walk her to school in the mornings I don't have to work and Audrey loves to see all the kids going to class. Uncle Drew starts school later this week, and although hes nervous about being a student again, hes going to have a blast, I know it. Its so different when you get to decide what you study and what courses to take. It makes me want to go shopping for school supplies. I always was a sucker for highlighters, the more colors the better! Oh, and those little stick it notes to flag pages, those were fun too. The only time I see those now are when I forget to sign something at the hospital...they've sort of lost their flare! I am going to try to do a slide show of pictures, a little taste of August if you will...wish me luck!

A Birthday Bash

Who doesn't love Birthdays? Maybe the better question is, "Who doesn't love children's birthdays?" I personally could care less about getting older, but they love it!
We got to celebrate cousin Hope's 6th birthday last week, with balloons, streamers, cake, sparklers...the whole nine yards. It was a righteous celebration. Uncle Drew made his famous lasagna, decorated the house beautifully and organized a quiet get together to celebrate the guest of honor.
Anyone who has a toddler know how difficult it is at birthday parties for your child to grasp the concept of "its not about you, its not for you, no, that present is not yours". As Audrey was the only other child in attendance (baby Ethan doesn't count because he cannot yet scream that awful word - "MINE!" He can however give the evil eye as you shovel ice cream and cake in your mouth...but thats a different story.
Where was I? Right, the toddler in attendance can be seen in the pictures wearing a variety of things, including goggles, too much chap-stick on her cheeks (she never can keep it on the lips) and using the jump rope ends as a hose. These little gifts were her presents, as we thought that would be safest for all involved - primarily Hope.
Hope is the ever excitable one tearing through presents. I think this is a preview of what our holidays are going to look like - a blurr of wrapping paper being tossed about, as we parents try desperately to get a glimpse of what they opened and who it was from. On that point, I ask, in advance, for forgiveness if I thank you for the wrong toy, piece of clothing, book, etc. Its not that I didn't try, its that my child can open presents faster than a tornado can take out a trailer park (no offense meant to those living in trailer parks, but lets be honest, they're the first to go!).
Enjoy the photos...perhaps some day I will figure out how to upload a slide show, until then...