Last night we all hopped in the Suburban to go to Michael’s.  The kids need some modeling clay and set material for stop motion films.  The Michael’s here is big, laid out pretty well.  They carry a lot more interesting products too.  I’m pretty excited they are having a sale on canvasses as I’ve been wanting to start painting.  Oil or Acrylic?  It all seems to be in the eye of the painter.  I’ve painted with acrylic before, I’d really like to set myself up with oils.  I was  also able to replace the tempera paint that froze and clumped during the move.  While the red looked like lumpy paint, the yellow was reminiscent of newborn baby poop.  Definitely in need of new paint.  I can’t ever get out of that store without at least 5 things I didn’t plan on and without spending t least 20 dollars more than I had intended!

JoAnne’s was across the street.  The kids had all fallen asleep so it was just Skylar and I.  I left TJ with the sleeping babes in the car and Skylar and I ventured into fabric heaven to find something new for our chairs.  They are old and dingy and have been through things I don’t even want to mention.  I *will* mention the paint and marker and the food spills and the holes.  It’s time.  They need to be recovered.  I poured over a lot of fabric not really finding what I was looking for.  I’ve been on a green and purple kick for awhile so I sort of wanted something with both colors.  I also wanted something busy so that paint or food spills wouldn’t show up too bad.  Lastly, something bright and happy but not loud!  I think I managed to succeed in everything I was looking for except it doesn’t have purple.  It has pink instead!

When I finally got to the counter with my cut fabric and slip, the cashier said “That will be 5 dollars and 36 cents.”  I just looked at her and said, “Seriously!?”.  I didn’t notice it was on sale, but even so I just bought 4 yards of fabric for 5 dollars and 36 cents.  Score!!!

After we had our party the other day I woke up in the morning to see the mess and said, “Wow!  My house looks happy!”  In the fabric store I described some fabrics as looking “angry” or “loud”.  After I covered the chairs I noticed that they looked “happy” and “inviting”.  This actually brought up an interesting conversation with Skylar.  He didn’t really understand what I was saying.  He says that houses and fabrics and chairs can’t be “happy” or “loud”.  He is an extremely literal child.  In the past I had to be extremely clear with my words to him or he wouldn’t understand me.  This is the first time it came up in a long time and I’m glad it did.  It was fun explaining to him that I thought if the house were alive it would happy that people partied in it!  Also, that if the fabric had a voice, it would be screaming!

Oh and… the chairs really ARE inviting. Shortly after I finished I came into the kitchen and the table looked like this!

After the custard cooled, we added the remaining ingredients. They are each in double ziplocs, to prevent leakage. And leak they did anyway! Good thing I made three.

Large ziplocs with ice and salt.

Milk shakes???

They were delicious anyway. We got a Mcdonald’s milkshake consistency. Not the soft serve we were looking. So they used straws instead of spoons.

http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/thermo/ice_cream/ice_cream.html

Who knew this would be so much fun! Awhile back we discovered Eepybird. They have some of the most elaborate and amzing “soda fountains” EVER! Although our aren’t fancy it was still a lot of fun!

We started by drilling the caps and the Mentos.

The Skylar and I assembled the quick-release caps.

Skylar and TJ assembled the fountains.

Then…

We’ve been keeping busy the last few days. And learning quite a few new things! We finished up watching the last Planet Earth disc in HD-DVD in our room above the garage. Really great series. Really spectacular photography (or is that cinematography?). I certainly enjoyed almost every minute of it.

That room has nearly the space of our old house. It’s huge. I guess you could call it the recreation, media, music, art, office, storage, game and party room. One big corner is the kids art space. They are free to draw or paint, even on the walls. Since it’s spring, we decided that a new beginning was in order. We primed the walls to get ready for some new artwork. First things first. Fingerpaints on the wall bleed through primer a lot. Second, dry erase markers on the wall bleed through primer the MOST. As if we didn’t even paint over them! It took some creative “smearing” to get rid of that. Anyway… it isn’t pretty, but its primed and ready for color again! Oh… and contrary to popular belief, falling down a flight of stairs because you are in a rush to wash paintbrushes, does not put one into labor. It just plain old hurts.

We finally got to the garden today! The kids were so much more involved this year than last year! We went up to this great market about 30 minutes away. I’m always pleased with their plants. They are always healthy and fruitful. We do start seeds each year. I do it mostly so the kids can watch the seedlings sprout. Unfortunately, I do not have a good growing space to start our own veggies so our plants usually go to waste as they are not hardy enough to survive.

Well all you southerners who are already reaping the benefits of your gardens can giggle at me. It will be WEEKS before anything happens at all in here! But at least I can say its planted (are running about a week behind schedule). The kids got more involved this year which really made me happy. They really liked picking out plants and Skylar is happy to be planting his own flower garden tomorrow. He picked out a beautiful peony as his favorite, which he affectionately named a “pee-on-me”. We also got some nasturtiums. Milo picked them out. I read on someone’s blog that the flowers were edible. Anyone know?

Skylar had a soccer game during this weekends heat wave. It was 95 or so. The dandelion seeds were blowing in the air so thick, that it looked like snow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen before. It was strange, and somewhat annoying. I tried taking photos, but the little fuzzies wouldn’t show up in a picture.

Later on we finished up the garden, the fence (we have lots of critters around here) and picking up our mess. The kids watered the garden. And themselves.

I’ve sort of over done it today. I’ve had 3753993 Braxton hicks contractions. But no real ones. I’m going to spend the next 4 weeks driving myself nuts. I’m really excited, nervous, freaking out, impatient, ready to meet our baby!