The Pitter-Patter of Little Feet

Lauryn promises, she has no idea how those footprints got on the coffee table ...

Really, I walked into the living room to find my little pink nightgown-clad angel standing there. And she has a bandage on her arm, but only because she was feeling left out: Joe had a mishap on his bike yesterday when one of the pedals came off, resulting in bandages on both elbows and wrists. Lauryn was fascinated by me doctoring him up, and she kept holding her arm out for a bandage of her own. Big sister Kaity relented and gave her one.

Kaity the Elf

The home school co-op in which we participate voted for superlatives here at the end of the year. Our Kaity was voted Most Likely To Be in the Fellowship of the Ring! She actually tied with another girl for that and for Most Likely To Be President, but she chose to join the Fellowship rather than become leader of the free world.

Today was the day they took pictures for the yearbook of some of the superlatives, so Kaity dressed accordingly as an elf. These pictures are ones I took in our side-yard.

She made elf ears using scotch tape and a little make-up.

Kaity made her Fellowship leaf-shaped pin using construction paper and a silver paint pen.

Lovely Little Lauryn

Naturally, my children are always adorable. This morning, however, something about Lauryn just really struck me. She seems to have grown so much lately! Her hair is getting long, she's talking more, and her personality is really shining. We had a quick photo shoot and here are the results.

A reluctant subject at first ...

Nope. Not lookin' at you.

A pensive moment.

Look at that face! Absolutely precious.

LEGO Candy Dispenser

Because I needed them to make a special snack for my co-op class, I recently acquired a big bag of M&Ms. The children thought it was Christmas, since we never have just a bag of candy sitting around the house. To celebrate, the kids quickly built a LEGO candy dispenser.

Pigtails!

Little Lauryn's hair is finally long enough for tiny pigtails! Melt my heart.

She loves that necklace!

Bonus Picture: Earlier in the morning, Selah was doing yoga on Wii Fit and Lauryn was "helping". (I wish I had pictures of her "helping" me do yoga today! The other children gathered helpfully around the two of us and laughed their heads off at her.)

Kaity's Lair

After the carpeted areas upstairs, we made Kaity's room a priority. (The rest of the downstairs has still largely been untouched, other than repairing and stocking bookshelves.) Today, Kaity and I finally got her little bathroom painted. Yesterday I had her clean up the bathroom, remove any accessories, and prep the walls. After I showed her what to do, Kaity handled the spackling and sanding herself. Then I was sidelined by a headache, so we stopped there and actually did the painting today.

Here are the before pictures:

It was a pale yellow, and there's no natural light in the room at all.

It didn't take long at all to paint, but it took some time to dry in between coats. I did the rolling and Kaity handled all the cutting-in. I could get used to that! The rolling is the easy part!

And now for the after shots!

Don't you love how we perfectly color-matched the walls to the blue in the shower curtain? Well, we totally didn't! This is the same paint from our "dalek shelf". My parents bought the paint SEVEN years ago and then decided to go with something different. I've been holding on to this paint forever!

The mirror was Nana Grace's and hung in her breakfast nook. We've had it by our front door for years.

Hey, y'all! Only the one wall is blue, the rest are the same creamy color from my bathroom - Bermuda Sand.

These pictures also show that I have yet to paint the trim. It will be white, but I was tired.

Shower curtain: Tar-jay.

Tiny girl in a nightgown, ready for bed!

Family Portrait Flashback

Last summer - NINE months ago, we got all dressed up and had our picture taken for our church directory. I'm so glad we went ahead and took pictures at home, too, because we didn't receive the 8x10 we were supposed to get until today. I had completely forgotten about it!

Snapshots

Lauryn loves to pretend to play on the Wii:

That cheesy grin! I can't even.

Joe's fresh ink by future tattoo artist Kaity:

If he's going to get a tattoo, at least it says "Mom".

Selah loves to dress up!

"Spaghetti is delicious, Mommy!"

Apparently Thing has moved in.

Nope, just Joe! Kaity thought it would be funny to encase him in luggage. She was right.