Why will my kid not let me buy her a pair of shoes?

I am beyond frustrated with my second child. I have tried three times to buy her some new athletic shoes. Each pair is either ill fitting, ugly (my opinion), or not comfortable (her opinion). She said a pair of chucks was not comfortable because they were "too squishy." I even let her try on a pair of over priced, over bedazzled ones and even they were "not good." This weekend it's going down. Daddy will be attending the next shoe shopping excursion and so help me that child will have shoes of some sort on her feet when that day is finished. In stark contrast my eldest child saw a pair she liked, found her size, tried them on, declared them "perfect" and said she was ready to go. Update: At bathtime I realized the child was covered in hives. Apparently she is allergic to shoes.

Where is my tool belt?

I used a pneumatic nail gun today and I liked it. Now I want one.

In other news Lily's room is now purple. The office has a new photo/book ledge. The family room is 30% painted and the downstairs hallway is 80% painted.

I have spray painted the following items and have a new appreciation for just how wonderful spray paint is.
-Lily's nightstand (purple)
-Four photo frames (black)
-One plant stand (dark grey)

Oh dear God the paint fumes

It's late winter and spring is on the horizon, in my house that means painting.

Last year we painted the foyer in February and the half bath and dining room in March and here we are again back at it. I started the office/library last week while Jer was in TX and it's almost finished. The last coat on the trim will be done tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow night the tape will be down, furniture will be moved back, and wall art back up. Perhaps then my head, eyes, and throat will stop hurting.

Family room next or laundry room that is the question. I want to finish the back half of the house in the next 2 weeks. That means I have a bedroom, family room, full bath, and laundry room to paint and I will be in a paint infused haze until the end of March.

Send a respirator.

How do I love thee

Today the girls brought home a project they made at preschool. It is a silver cupcake liner with a small "chocolate" in the middle. On the chocolate is written the question, "Why do you love your Mom and Dad?" The answer they gave is written on the bottom of the "chocolate."

Ava's answer was "Dad plays 'Epic Mickey' and Mom plays 'Angry Birds' with me.

Lily's answer was "Because Daddy fights with me and Mom cooks Brussels sprouts anytime."

What's black and white and stinky?

I woke up this morning ans walked downstairs and was hit with skunk smell. I turned the light on outside and slowly and noisily opened the door to let Marty out. A minute later I saw a skunk run under the car while Marty chased it out in the yard. Luckily the dog listened to me when I told him to stop and he didn't get sprayed. Still we were left with his eau de le stink wafting in through the back door.

Lily woke up shortly after and came downstairs with a crinkled up nose. This is the conversation that followed.

M: Good morning baby, kinda stinky down here huh?
L: I thought there was a skunk in my room.
M: Well, there was a skunk outside and Marty almost got sprayed. We'll have to tell Grandpa.
L: Well, I thought it was a skunk under my bed, but then I thought that was silly, so I thought it was my stinky socks on my floor.
........
M: Make sure those socks get in the laundry please.

Twins Days here we come!

I am so excited.

I just booked a cabin and we are officially going to Twins Days in Twinsburg, OH. My cousin told me about it and after checking it out I told the ladies about it. They were interested and wanted to see pictures. Watching them see all of those photos of twins...their little faces lit up and they had this moment of....we are not the only ones.

I am so excited for them to feel like the norm for a change. It'll be a great end of the summer vacation before they start kindergarten.

Fancy Party

This is what fancy looks like. You can't tell in the photo but believe you me those fingers are painted a sparkly lilac.

After photos in the foyer there was dancing in the library ( Taylor Swift ) followed by the coloring of castles in the family room.

It's such a fancy life.