While daddy is away...

...mommy and the children will play.

Jerald and Kev spent the day chasing birds all over parts of New Jersey while the rest of us held down the fort at home.

Soccer was cancelled because of the weather, so we enjoyed a lazy day.

We watched movies on netflix.

We played webkinz on the computer and/or played the wii.

We ate junk.

We napped (well, mommy napped)

We did chores, but just a few.

Then, I decided to try for Mother of the year...

we got out paint and paint brushes and had a great time.

We started off simple by painting suncatchers.





Then added in drawing and painting on canvas.









From the start, Parker could hardly contain himself at the possibility that I might let him finger paint.

Parker cannot ever get enough of sticky, gooey, messy, slimy, wet, cold stuff running through his fingers. Playdough, mud, paint, glue...he loves it all.

His mama on the other hand, well it's sticky,gooey,messy,slimy,wet,cold stuff...did I mention it's messy? How about gooey and slimy?

Yeah, the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree. Mama has sensory issues too and well, sticky, gooey, messy, slimy, wet, cold stuff is just ick.

To give you an idea how often I allow finger painting, I'll tell you that we are using up the last 1/4 of the bottles of finger paint that I bought when Jerald was a baby. Most of that has been used in the past year.

Jerald HATED finger painting, we did it once and that was once too many times. I brought out paints with Rock and Mag once in a while, but I don't think we did the finger paints.

Along came Aaron and I found the paint when cleaning out the basement. I thought that Jerald HATED finger painting? Well, Aaron hated it a million times more (and still does). So, I put the paints back in the basement and we didn't try again.

A year or so ago someone found the paints and brought them upstairs. I decided to try it again with Aaron and discovered that time and absence had not made the heart grow fonder in his case.

Parker?

Parker was a different story altogether. The boy cannot get enough. We've gotten the paint out a few times since discovering his great love for the stuff. It's been a while though.

So, here we are on Saturday afternoon and I decided to get over myself and my issues with the paint.

The pictures say it all...







He was having so much fun. He invited Aaron to join him and this was Aaron's response.



I intended this picture to capture Parker, but afterwards realized that it captured both boys enjoying themselves in different ways. I love how it shows the contrast between their personalities.


I'm not sure that this secured that mom of the year award...it always seems to be beyond my grasp.

That's okay, because Parker says I'm the best mommy in the world even if I won't let him tickle me with paint covered fingers.

Hearing that and knowing they had a fun day, even if it wasn't anything super extraordinary is worth more than money can buy. Besides, there is always room in my heart to keep these treasures...beats needing space for a trophy anyday!