Benjamin is 3

Warning...picture overload

The day before his party I made Benjamin's birthday cake. I got the idea off of Pinterest but didn't have the smaller circle pans so the dimensions are off a bit.  Benjamin didn't care, he was excited about his cake. He couldn't go to bed and got up early. I had put his cake in the fridge in the garage and he woke up bright and early telling me his cake was cold. We took it out to warm up for him.

We had a small party and included some painting.

Yes, that is a bite mark.

I loved this party. Benjamin was old enough to know that we were celebrating him. He was so happy all day and behaved so well. He loved everything about his day.

Yes, he is eating out of a doggie dish. 

It was new and he ate breakfast out of it today, he cleaned it himself.

He got a few gifts and loved all of them. I think that his favorite was a camera. Vaida helped him with the unwrapping and he shared some of his toys with her. I love their relationship.

Marshall got into the cake and ice cream.

Benjamin's painting. There are paint brushes stuck to it, we left them.

Larissa took a very long time on hers and she did a great job.

Noah slept through most of the celebration but he did enjoy eating out afterwards. He is an eater!

It is hard to believe that our little short term placement baby is now 3, he is growing up so fast.

If you call my house, he most likely will answer the phone. 

Happy birthday to my little sweet one.

Failed Fire Inspection

Well, we failed the fire inspection. It was our fault, we had moved a bed into the room over the garage. Anthony wants to bunk in there and we are letting him. However, that room didn't have a fire alarm in it. Also, the door is at the bottom of the stairs and it had been removed long ago. Plus, we had a broken outlet cover. The door is back on, the outlet cover has been replaced and a fire alarm has been ordered.

We couldn't find our interconnected, battery operated alarm in any of the local stores so we had to order it online. The worse part is going to be figuring out how to get the new alarm how to talk to the existing alarms. It was a real pain to set up in the first place.Folks, I have so many fire alarms in my home it isn't even funny.  The fire marshal gave me a heads up and said that soon our wired alarms (yes we have those too) will have to be able to talk with our interconnected system. That makes no sense, the wired alarm is sitting right next to the new system we had to get.

I also found out that if you buy the fire extinguishers with a plastic handle then they are only good for 6 years. Well, they are still good but you can'g get them inspected past 6 years so they are worthless for what we have to have it for. If you look on the bottom of the extinguisher it gives the year it was made.

Also, we were given notice that our numbers on our mailbox were not big enough. She wasn't going to fail us on that because there were numbers on both sides of the mailbox and they were very noticeable, but she warned me that the next person might fail us for that, the numbers have to be 4 inches tall, the ones we have are 3 inches tall.

We could have just taken the bed out of the FROG and replaced the light cover and we would have been fine.  However, we have decided to keep that as a bedroom and are currently painting it the color that Anthony picked. Anthony wants to stay there and it is a good place for him....away from Michelle. Those two do not get along at all and separation is a good thing.

The fire inspection was on the same day that we had to be out of my shop. It was a stressful weekend! We got the shop cleared out but didn't pass the inspection. We will reschedule the fire inspection and carry on. I just wonder how long it will take for them to get back out here!

Going out with a Blast

Today is the last day my business will be open and we are going out with a blast. Between last night and today I expect at least a hundred kids will come through our doors to paint. 

I had one party last night and three birthday parties today as well as an open paint tonight.

All the canvases for the parties have been prepped.

I am excited to be able to teach this painting to some girls this afternoon. It was so much fun to paint.

I admit, I am going to miss it. I have had so many people in the community come up to me upset that I am closing. Last night they tipped me $90. I told her she didn't have to, she said it was because I fit her in a brought the glitter. We are not closing for financial reasons. We have gotten so busy, that is not the issue. Perhaps the opposite is true, we have gotten so busy and Tasha retired. She is coming out of retirement for today though! I haven't been able to find anyone to help and wouldn't really care to deal with the business aspect of hiring someone anyways. I have had some moms volunteer to help but I don't want to go down that route either. Besides, right now the home front needs me full time. I have one child I am struggling with and the promise of more.

I have to clear out the shop by the 1st and we also have the fire inspection on the 28th. But first, we have to paint and celebrate!

Distractions

I get easily distracted. I have been working on our attached garage. Purging the unattached garage was easy. Stuff that had been stuffed in there had been sitting there a very long time. Stuff in the attached garage is more recent and more likely stuff that I don't want to get rid of.

Then comes along a distraction. We got a new kitty. It has been a while since Pooky Bear passed away and I was ready for a baby. We seem to do so much better with cats. She is already litter box trained. We still haven't named her, we aren't even she it is a her. Any name suggestions?

Another distraction, keeping that grandbaby fed. He loves to eat.

Tuesday and Wednesdays we have Vaida. She sure is a character and we all love her to bits.

What could be cuter, toddlers and kittens.

Orthodontist appointments keep me going. They want to put braces on Emma and back on Michelle. Honestly, I am making payments on two sets of braces now (already paid for phase one of Michelle's) and am not prepared for 4 orthodontist bills at this time.

I am still running the shop. Next weekend with be the last. I have a lot of people who are not happy with me. This last Saturday we had parties from 10:30 am to 9:30 pm. This coming weekend the parties start on Friday night and we are double booked for several party times. I have had to bring Tasha out of retirement for the final day. As I am decluttering the garage, I am trying to take down my shop. A challenge.

Saturday after painting all day I came home to the garage. I am trying to make a sewing/painting/playing area. My garage just isn't big enough. Then it came to me, make a small elevated play area for Benjamin. His toys are different than the older kids stuff. I went to sleep with the idea and woke up Sunday with it still brewing. By Monday it had totally fermented. John and I had a date planned so we did lunch and a movie. Then comes the big distraction, when we got home I went to Lowe's.

John helped me cut the pieces of wood. Normally he stays out of the way as he knows once I get an idea I don't stop. However, this time he helped.

After a few hours we had this built. Yes, the railing goes all the way up. It will prevent problems with climbers and kids throwing stuff down.

I remembered I had some lights in the garage pile and went to bed with this loft area built.

This morning I got going early for a doctors appointment and stopped at Lowe's on the way home (I went to Lowe's for various projects 6 times in 3 days).

I needed to design a ladder that was toddler safe but didn't take too much room. You can see this space from the kitchen and dining room table.

I have some fine tuning to do before it is completely done. He loves it. Actually, all the kids do, I have caught all of them up there playing with cars. Today I brought home some pieces from the shop, not everything will fit but I am using what I can.

The purge continues....with a few distractions.

In the News

The local news station that wanted to do a story on adoption/foster care contacted us about rescheduling our story. We agreed to try again for Monday. They came out and interviewed us.

I think that they did a good job editing the story. Seriously it could have gone two ways, the positive story they did or a story about why you would never want to have any children at all. Vaida was fussing, Noah was fussing, lots of noise and chaos.

Regardless, if you are curious, the story is here

What do you do for you?

Sometimes when life gets busy the first thing that caregivers/moms give up is things that they do for themselves. However, it is important to do things for yourself, something that gives you joy.

I have always enjoyed reading and creating. I enjoy a good book but also enjoy reading blogs and such on the internet. I don't typically have time to commit to a novel so I surf the web. However, lately I have taken to reading novels again. For me to be creative means many things. I could be painting an octopus in the laundry room, repainting a room, designing a costume or many other things. I find that when I am not creating I feel stagnant. That is why I have enjoyed my shop immensely. 

The other day I was painting and talking to a friend on the phone. She said that she couldn't paint the feathers so as I was talking (I have a house phone because we get poor cell phone reception at the house.) I taped a little bit of me painting. I have never taped myself painting before.

So, I am curious as to what everyone else does. Let me know who is still reading along with my blog, what do you do that is for you and where are you from.

The Purge of 2017

I feel as though I have been trying to declutter for years. I don't ever get very far with it. I was trying to declutter the house and realized that I couldn't even get to the stairs to the upstairs storage area in the other garage. Literally, you couldn't walk through it. I decided that it was time for the purge.

I got Jason to come to town and a friend with a truck. I purged that garage. Many truck loads went to the dump.

We went from so stuffed you couldn't walk through it to being able to park a car on one side and the movers on the other. Now we are working on the other garage and house. I am serious about this purge.

I am trying to get more organized for several reasons. One a local news agency called and said that they wanted to come by Monday at 4 to do a story on foster care. They wanted the kids there and everything. OK, John took vacation time, Tasha took a personal day, Jason was already here. We got all the kids to come. One hour before they were to come they cancelled for another story and want to come next week. Uh, I don't think so.

While that went bust we are still waiting on the fire inspector. We have been waiting since October, crazy. We also got a call from USAA saying that our insurance company wanted pictures of all rooms of the house. Uhh, never did that before. Still working on getting the house presentable for that.

Since we had everyone here we decided to reshoot an old photo (actually I made everyone do it)....

We have had some growth.

We shared a nice meal together.

The weather here has been crazy. Not sure if it is hot or cold. (John dressed him that day)

Noah is growing so fast. I will have to post some first birthday pictures later.

We have Vaida on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. She plays well with Benjamin.

Black history project....

I have been taking Benjamin to the shop so he can paint. He likes to blow dry his art. I am going to miss the place.

Vaida sporting a yellow hat....

Her mom many years ago at the same age sporting a yellow Easter basket.