I ski, you ski...

Ski lessons have been big on "the list" this year. I grew up in Vermont racing at Sugarbush, but I don't even have a memory of learning how to ski in the first place, so it must have been early! Almost positive I was dangled from the end of a rope at Mad River with my dad holding me back.

Anyway, Ashton is more than half way to being 5, and so far he can't ski, bike, or swim. Yikes. (He does ride with training wheels and loves to swim with a float, but on his own - not yet.) We need to get on this stuff. Skiing is a hard one to tackle because the lessons are 45 minutes away and kept getting pushed off (by the mountain, not us) due to school vacation, cold weather, etc. Also Alex really can't come so it has to work with our schedule. Jason stayed home this time.

Finally, last Sunday at 1:30 pm, he was Nashoba's newest mighty mite! It was a gorgeous day - I was basking in the sun watching Ashton in his mini group. It was an hour lesson. Overall review: it was kind of a zoo but somehow, not much happened. At all. A few times the kids were moved 3 degrees uphill by holding on to a hula hoop so they could "ski" back "down", but mostly it was just them getting used to having these funny boards on their feet. Ashton fell over a lot and crossed his skis several times, but by the end he seemed to think that was it because he said, "Great Mommy! Can I go on the big hill now?" and pointed to the chairlift.

Uh, no, you can't. Sorry sweetie. And then he got legitimately mad and threw a fit! I was shocked, he got super whiny and almost cried he was so upset. We talked about how he had more lessons and he seemed to perk up, but sheesh.

I'd post one of the thousand videos I took, but the truth is a snail could ski faster and you'd fall asleep instantly.

Nashoba called yesterday and said this weekend would be the last of the lessons. There is simply not going to continue to be enough snow! So that really stinks. Ashton doesn't know yet.

I'm on skis!

Look I can lift up my leg with them on!

Whoops, whoa, whoaaaa....

BOOM!

But still smiling, which is one of the best things about Ashton. No matter what he is doing, if he falls he gets back up, determined to do it better the next time. [File that under: things we can learn from our kids.]

Watch me DIY!

By DIY in this case I mean paint. Here is what happened.

The other night Jason and I were sitting on the couch going over the last pieces of the mudroom project. He said, "And then on Monday when you get home I'll paint the ceiling." I said, "You know what, I don't think so. I'LL paint the ceiling - YOU can take the boys around the block on their bikes, feed them dinner, do the dishes, pick up all the toys, put the laundry in and give them their bath and I'LL peacefully paint away in the next room, listening to music and thinking about all the compliments I am going to get."

Because that's how our projects typically go. Jason has all the fun with the tools and I get stuck with all the regular chores plus the boys. It's just not fair and I was taking action. I could paint a ceiling, right? How hard could it be? Yep I was doing it. I believe Jason's exact words were "I can't WAIT to see you paint the ceiling. Oh, this is going to be so great. I guarantee this makes more work for me in the end, but I totally can't WAIT to see this."

He thought I was going to quit, or royally mess it up, or both, which of course made me more determined than ever. I told him there hasn't been a ceiling like this since the Sistine Chapel, you just wait!

So there I was. The ceiling is 6 big squares and then a few small ones, all separated off by the beams. We had put sample color blocks in a few spots to try and figure out if we should do it at 25% or 50% of the wall color (50% was the winner - the color is Shagreen by SW) but other than that, it was a blank slate. I started by trying to cut in using just the brush and my impeccable skill, but after roughly 45 seconds I realized I needed the painters tape and I needed it bad. Is that cheating? Oh well. I took a break to tape the moldings and beams off. (And yes, I absolutely made Jason take my picture! This was history happening.)

Darkness fell but I pressed on! Jason brought me a Coors Light and at that point I knew I had joined the ranks of the real painters. Michelangelo who?

Overall, for someone who has never painted a thing, I was very proud. I used the brush for all the edges and a mini roller for the main areas. Sure there were a couple glops and a few lines but the ceiling wasn't perfect to begin with. I emerged triumphant from the mudroom, sore and with a crook in my neck, but after 2.5 hours I was finished! I kissed the boys' heads, danced around the kitchen and said wait until you see what Mommy did! 

Until Jason, naysayer that he is, said, "Wait, you're not done! What about the second coat?" 

"What?! No no, it's perfect."

"Babe, you definitely need to do a second coat."

"Really? My arm hurts though."

"Yes!!"

"Fine I will, but I can't right now because it's not dry yet."

"I guarantee that the section you started with is!"

"No I'm sure it's not."

"IT IS!"

Sigh.

Siiiiiigh.

You can maybe guess what happened. Jason finished it.

But I had already done ALL the work basically. I'll save the final reveal sans tape for the complete mudroom post, but look at this beauty!

Whoops, heh heh. Wrong one ;)

How I: designed our new photo wall

Notice I did not title this post "How To". I presume there are a lot of different ways to do this but this is how I happened to accomplish it and thought you might want to know.

Step 1. Figure out where you want to put it. Quite an obvious Step 1 and for me, this was easy. We have a big long wall that separates the old part of the house from the new part of the house. It goes under the stairs and it is just dead space. Frame wall, here I come!

Step 2. Get your frames together. I've made one of these before, so I basically was all set in this area to start. But if you haven't, ask yourself: Are you eclectic and/or artsy? I'm not, so all my frames needed to match. Lots of people make walls with all kinds of mediums and do not limit themselves to photos only, but let's be serious, I need the limits. So I had previously chose some different white Pottery Barn frames, those Target Room Essentials frames, and a couple of sets of these to make my wall. The whites all match and the frames are varying thicknesses so it looks good. But I have no idea how to tell you how many frames you'll need - depends on how many bigs and smalls you've got :-/

Step 3a. Using your trusty tinfoil, make molds of each frame that you have.

Step 3b. Use Post-it's to number them as you go. I didn't have any so I just improvised, but make sure to come up with some kind of tracking system so you know which frame goes with which "mold".

 * Helpful hint: Use your sharpie to draw a rough estimate of the photo opening on the foil. Some of my frames have large mats, some small, some have 2 or 3 pictures per frame, so it's good to know how to distribute those elements evenly as you go along. I forgot to do this until the end.

Step 4. Put your frames in a safe place, and try not to pile them on top of each other because they'll chip or get dinged somehow. Been there.

Step 5. The design part. Gather all your foil squares and some painter's tape and start sticking.

Not quite sure why I look so fat in that picture. Unless it's true that art imitates life in which case...lol.

Anyway, it's a lot of trial and error, I'm not going to lie. You want to have all your shapes evenly distributed, with not too much space variance between all the frames. The painters tape really comes in handy here. I knew there was no way I was going to get all of these in a perfect block, so I decided that some jagged edges in the overall design were ok in the end.

Step 6. Finally tell your husband it's time to hang the frames. Make sure it is 5 pm on Superbowl Sunday. Assure him there is a hard 6:30 pm stop time and he's allowed to drink beer while he does it. Work down the line and replace each foil square according to the matching frame number. Rocket science, this is not.

See that posture? It says, "I'm not thrilled right now." When picture-hangers display this kind of negative attitude, send in children to slow things down. Heh heh.

This is accomplished by:
* having to explain what he is doing
* having to explain why he is doing it
* children then wanting their own tools and belts
* using said tools to bang obnoxiously on the walls and the floors
* leading imaginary repairs on the step stool.

We got about half way through before kick off. The next set of installations went similarly, and in fact, if you want to know why things take 150% longer when you have kids, watch this video. "Your drill is going there, brotha!" I was dying laughing.

Step 7. All my frames were pre-filled from my last photo wall, but I do have some new ones to switch out and a big 11x14 print coming for the middle. So get yourself some 4x6's, 5x7's, and 8x10's  (I use mpix.com - not the cheapest out there but the quality is awesome, in my opinion) and get yourself one of these picture hanging tools from Home Depot. It will help immensely.

Step 8. Admire your before and after!

It's not perfect but it's perfect enough. That blue dotted tape line marks the top of the chair rail/board and batten/wainscoting/whatever I eventually decide on for the bottom section of the wall. It's going to go around the whole room and up the stairs. Someday! Jason's sort of busy ;)

February Blues

This blog gets pretty skinny this time of year. Not a lot of things to report, you know, besides winter. I have been focusing on small things around the house, the mudroom walls are painted, the bench cushions are being made, and in another couple of weeks it will be considered ★ finished! ★ Also, the photo wall is up so I can do a post on that pretty soon, and I finally found some window treatments for our family room. Of course, they were in TJ Maxx, and I needed five pairs, so the great "call around to every store in the greater Boston area trying to track them down" project commenced. Finding these were an obsession. I actually ventured out in the storm during the snow day this past Monday to buy some that were *only* going to be on hold for me until the end of that day. So I had to go there. In the end, I found 5 pairs in 3 stores = success. But because I can't do anything that is easy, they all have to be hemmed and cut to various widths, which will definitely cost more than the panels themselves. Ahhh the irony. But they are worth it. I had previously picked out a fabric from a fabric store and the quote to have them made and installed was $6,000. That's, six.thousand.dollars. They would have been gorgeous but, not in my budget right now, so the $34.99 ones from TJ's looked pretty good, even if it's another $50 to alter them (which, uh, it is). I'll post a picture when they are up, probably in about a year because now I need to pick rods and finials and who knows how long that will take.

So overall, as you can see, things are quite boring. And predictable: we have been getting some snow and people have been getting sick. Last Friday, for some terrible reason, both Bentley and Belmont did not close like the rest of the state, which means I had work and Ashton had school. After I dropped Ashton off, I only stayed at work for a few hours before deciding we really needed to get home. So I picked him up and we basically slid back to Natick, the roads were so dangerous, the snow was super heavy too so there were tons of big branches down. But after the snowstorm passed around 4:30 and right as Jason finished snowblowing, the sun came out and it was simply gorgeous. The light touched the tops of all the trees in our neighborhood and everything was glistening white, it was honestly breathtaking - something I totally could not capture but I tried.

(See the sunroom on the left side of the house? That's the new mudroom - the windows have blue painters tape on them because Jason sprayed all the mullions, sills, etc. white. Also see how low the power lines were?? The snow was that heavy!)

We took a walk around the block with the boys and that's when the sky started to turn pink, which reflected off the snow, so the whole world seemed to have a blush hue.

And then the sunset.

No filters on any of those! Beautiful.

What was not beautiful was Alex. The next day, Saturday, marked the 4th day Alex had been sick. He just walked around the house crying and spent long periods of time sleeping on me :(

Which NEVER happens. So Saturday morning I finally took him to the pediatrician. His cold was so bad he had mucous oozing out of the corners of his eyes. He would wake up with his whole face crusted over practically - yuck, TMI, sorry. But turns out he had a double ear infection and he's been on antibiotics since.

We survived until Monday which was another snowstorm and official snow day. That one was kind of blustery and not so pretty at the end. I didn't take any pictures.

Wednesday, yesterday, Ashton was finally back to school. We geared up for a regular day, I drove him to school, walked him into his class, hung up his coat and...he puked right there on the floor. So, I unhooked his coat, walked him back to the car, and drove him home. Sigh. But he was actually totally fine after that, he ate normally and played all day and even constructed this masterpiece.

While Alex snacked on snowballs.

So who knows.

Whaaaaat else. Brae Burn's three week shut down officially ends tomorrow, so Jason will be leaving me to go back to work and I won't see him again until this time next year (haha). It's been so nice to have him home at night and on the weekends and I know the boys have loved it too. Ashton was supposed to have his first ski lesson this coming Sunday but it is supposed to be A degree. Like, one. Uno. Single. Not sure what I'll do there.

That wraps it up for mid-February. I have to finish Ashton's class valentines tonight, I get to go see new Baby Hugh on Saturday, and next week is school vacation week and Jen is away (yikes). But I'll worry about that when I have to.

Choo-choo! This train just keeps on chugging ;)

Friday thoughts

This post, as I start to write it, has no clear theme. It will basically be just some random content that has materialized over the last couple of weeks.

First, I have to address the video of Alex from the last post. I got several concerned comments! Please know that if Ashton isn't being the bad guy, Alex is, and Alex bites, so look out. The bottom line is two-fold: they are just brothers, plain and simple, and not only that, they are brothers under the age of 5 which means their little brains have no concept of anything besides themselves. They don't get sharing, they don't get "be gentle". They only understand "ME". Ashton is of course more in tune with how his actions may affect others, but it doesn't usually stop him when it comes to Alex. These boys steal from each other, hit each other, the works. Jason and I talk to them, try to reason with them, sometimes yell at them, sigh. I am reading Siblings Without Rivalry. All this is to say though, while situations like that video do exist, more often than not they play and laugh. They both have pretty high rebound rates anyway. After the "steal", Alex came over to me and I gave him a big hug, wiped his tears, and he ran back for more :)

Secondly, we are surviving the winter just fine so far (knock on wood!!). Having accumulated less than 8 inches of snow helps immensely. The one snowstorm we did get was an excuse to use the shovels ;)

Although a closer look at Alex...

HAHA. He could barely move I bundled him up so much.

Just putting on boots and stomping around in the leftover snowbanks and mud puddles has been quite sufficient since then. March 13 is not that far away (clocks spring forward!), but we are definitely already seeing longer days. Even though jackets are required, we still scooter and hit the playground!

Being outside after work when it isn't pitch dark has been heaven. What is ALSO heaven is this little indoor spray park in Norwood. Honestly, the most random spot. It's a kid's splash pad, but it's in a gym, but you don't have to be a member. I found out about it on the Natick Mom's facebook group (which by the way, is the best resource probably ever. Best place for kids haircuts, electrician recommendations, summer camp feedback, school registration info, road closures, birthday party spots, town events and the list goes ON, but all specific to Natick- the community of moms is amazing). Anyway I saw someone mention Ships Ahoy in the Rama Athletic Club as a "beat the winter blues" idea. I could not get the boys into their swimsuits fast enough. It was $10 per kid, I brought some buckets and toys, the water was warm, and there was a parent sitting area. The boys were in their glory which meant so was I.

Talk about a hidden gem! We will definitely be going back.

Lastly, I've been marinating all week on the idea of selling LulaRoe. You probably haven't heard of it - it's a new clothing line only sold through consultants and their leggings are completely awesome. Super soft and REALLY fun prints. Like bye-bye boring black. They sell for $25 at parties and pop-up shops but are very popular on eBay. My hairdresser sells them and is obsessed, as most sales consultants tend to be. She's all over Facebook about it and on the one hand, selling them where I work, at a university, would be like shooting fish in a barrel. But on the other, it's a multi-level-marketing thing, a pyramid scheme, and after learning more I'm just not going there. I know a lot of people that sell a lot of things as a direct sales consultant and the strategies are not for me. That being said, if you need a color statement this winter, try and get a pair of these leggings. I have zero stock whatsoever in these, so check out eBay maybe. Unless you have a consultant near you which, I have no idea if you do haha. They are OS (one size - fits all), and they even have a TC (tall and curvy) size. I am definitely a customer. If you decide you are the direct sales type, you might check them out as a possibility. Anyway just sharing my latest and greatest fashion find :)

Have a great weekend all!

Ashtonisms

Ahhhhh Ashton. Our curious, enthusiastic 4 year old who talks ALL.THE.TIME. I mean I get it, I'm a blogger, there is lots to say! But lately he's been a treasure trove of gems. Perhaps Jason and I are the only ones who would consider them to be priceless, but I'll share some of the latest and greatest and you can be the judge.

***
Overheard saying to Jason: "When I grow up, I can be a daddy. And when you grow down, you can be a boy."

***
After loudly clearing his throat, he announced "Don't worry! I'm just starting my engine."

***
Ashton's big boy bed is the worst thing to ever happen to me, even 1.5 years later. I put him to bed and on average, I have to re-tuck him back in 1-3 times before it sticks.
Me: "Ok, it's really time to fall asleep!"
Ashton: "But Mommy, it's so hard to close my eyes, they just want to pop back open!"

***
While we are on him getting out of bed, here are a few of the reasons he is up in the middle of the night and comes in to our room:
- He would like more pizza.
- His knee feels sharp.
- Could I please share the details of his next birthday party and when is it?
- He can't find his pillow (even though, it was right there).
- His ______ [insert any body part] is itchy.
- There's a hole in his tongue.
- If he were to go fishing, is it easy to catch a killer whale? Would it eat him? No? They just like fish? Why are they called killers then?
- He picked a scab off his knuckle and wanted to ask me why he did that.
- His blankets are out of order.
- He has a hangnail.
- There was some concern about bad seagulls flying around.
- He wasn't sure where he had left Lightning McQueen.
- Someone is going "tap tap tap" on his head.
- Someone is whispering Asssshhhhttttooonnnnnn.

Now admittedly, those last two...

Kids have active imaginations but can also say downright creepy things. Seriously, google "creepy things kids say" and there are LOTS of results. Actually I'll save you the trouble. Try this, this and this. I had a hard time falling back asleep after those particular claims.

Also, just last night: I had tucked Ashton into bed after going through the usual routine of shutting his closet doors, checking under the bed, assuring him the windows were locked, etc. (he is insistent every night that I make sure no one comes into his room). Everything was nice and neat, I kissed him goodnight and went downstairs.
Five minutes later, he was up and fetching me. He said, "I have to show you something." And led me back to his dark room, where the closet doors were wide open and the pile of books that had been on the side table were strewn across the floor. He proceeded to tell me, in between gasps for air and stutters, how something came out of the closet and knocked all of his books everywhere! He was so upset, waving his arms all around, so I clarified: "Something came out of your closet and did this?" And he said "YES! I was just lying in my bed Mommy!" "Really?" "YES!" My blood ran cold, I am not even kidding. There was a significant moment of silence. I looked at him again and said, "You're kidding Ashton. Really?"
And his expression completely changed and a wide grin spread across his face.

"No, Mommy, not really. I did it."

I nearly had a heart attack. 

***

After school one day he said, "Hey Mommy, I love myself just the way I am." I said "Well that's great honey. I love you just the way you are too!" And then he said, "Yeah, I learned that at yoga today. Mommy, you know what, you can just say that to yourself sometimes when you are driving in the car! Practice right now! Say: 'I love myself just the way I am.'" And I did and he told me he was proud of me. He then randomly repeated it at dinner and in the bathtub. That's some strong pre-k yoga going on.

***
Looking through the photo album of our wedding: "These pictures are beautiful. Where is me? I don't see me."
"Well, you were not born yet."
"So? I want to be in these pictures! How do you get in them?"

***
After having a bad dream: "I don't like thinking when I sleep!"

***
"Did you know that when grapes die they become raisins? Yep they do! That's what happens."

***

He needed to use the nebulizer (which we call a tube), which is a mask over his mouth. "I can't do a tube because I am having a snack and I need my face to eat."

***
"Mommy I'm not a baby like Alex. I don't poop in diapers anymore because I'm a BIG boy. Yeah, I growed up."

***
"I found a skeleton head!" (He meant a skull - and it wasn't, but I played along.)

***

"Mommy I love you, to the top of daddy's head! No no, to the top of a TOWER!"

"Wow. Well I love you to the moon!"

"Ooooo! Thanks!! But I love you to the SUN! AND to the top of the sky!"

***
"I have lots of kisses and they are all for you."

***
"What are you going to do with those boobs Mommy?"

"Uh, what do you mean?"
"I mean, why do you still have them when you don't have a baby?"

***
Overall, Ashton can be a very sweet big brother. He can also be a very mean one - he has secret toy stashes that he guards fiercely and, in the presence of his father, will do just about anything to "win". Doesn't it look like he is doing a victory dance? Congrats Ashton, it's super hard to steal a football from a 22 month old. Sigh. Never a dull moment!

Before and After: Switching out those, er, switches!

It's been nearly 4 (!!!) months since we moved into our new house. Projects abound and while several things are in progress, nothing can actually be considered "done". We are a family of list-checker-offers so this is really annoying. I guess we did get an exterior door cut to turn the sunroom into a mudroom, but I'm not going to post about that yet because the mudroom as a whole is incomplete. Right now Jason is building out the benches and as of yesterday, things look like this.

Which means our foyer looks like this.

Due to all the junk that we used to hide in the sunroom but now we can't because it's becoming a mudroom. See how that works.

When Kari and Ben came to visit when we first moved. Ben taught Jason how to change light switches and outlets. Some of the existing fixtures were yellowed, the outlet plates were cracked, and the style was very basic. And we are not basic! No, we are not. I wanted dimmers! And wide toggles! And illumination when it is dark! And those outlets that have a USB port built in! All of those exclamatory features. I was willing to work for it too.

HAHA just kidding that is totally staged. Jason let me snap on one cover of one outlet and that was it.

But now, 90% of the switches and outlets in our house have been upgraded. We have one-ways, two-ways, three-ways, dimmers, backlit switches, decorative plates, the works!

The outlets have gotten a refresher as well.

Our house is very amply wired. There are outlets and switches all over the place so this was no small job. I'll tell you what also won't be a small job: the door hardware. Because, this:

The hinges don't match the locking piece that don't match the front doorknob that don't match the back doorknob. Pretty much everywhere. Also, because some of our house is new, the hardware is new. Because some of our house is old, well, it's like this post of yore. I really don't want to spray paint again. The point is that the doors and knobs are messy and I don't like messy. This is on my master project list and it is not even close to being checked off. Things just take awhile, especially when you have two full time working parents and two kids. Also when your list is 7 pages long and includes small things like "Complete Kitchen Renovation" and "Re-do downstairs bathroom - full gut to install glass shower instead of tub". 

Anyway, I've been wanting to post some sort of evidence that we are working on our house projects... voila! I'm not far from sharing our new photo wall, and shortly after that...our new mudroom...see you soon!