Bathroom Breaks and Creatures of the Night

Before signing up to be a parent, I knew that there were going to be some interesting stories and situations that should arise due to having children.  Growing up I tortured my siblings at times and them me.  My parents have an endless array of stories of when I was young and mercilessly taunted and teased them and just in general did things that made no sense to the adult mind.

Listening to my parents tell stories of my siblings and I from when we were younger, it makes me think of the great stories I will have to tell when my kids are adults.  To share with possible future spouses, or just to bring up good memories around the dinner table with them.

This is one of those stories...

My son, since day one, has always been a character.  He is so sweet and sensitive, but sometimes just does the most random things, particularly during the middle of the night.  Since he was little, he has had night terrors and frequent bad dreams.  He actually still frequently sleeps in my bed when he is scared.

The other day was no exception to this.  It was probably about midnight when Ashton woke me up because he said he had to go to the bathroom.  While normally he doesn't wake me up for something as minor as a midnight bathroom break, he indicated he was scared and requested that I accompany him to the door of the bathroom (for those who don't know me personally, the bathroom is literally across the hallway from the bedroom).  So I got up, walked him the 4 or 5 footsteps to the bathroom, and opened the door for him.  I then asked if he needed me to wait for him and he said no, he was good do go.  So I returned to bed and went back to sleep.

The next sound I hear is one of tortured desperation pleading for me to return to the bathroom.  The fear was thick in his voice as he tearfully begged for me to return to my post in the hallway.  Since I had already made myself comfortable in bed, I hollered across the hallway asking what he needed.  He said that there was a spider the size of his big toe and he couldn't make it back to bed.  I told him to jump over it to the bedroom.  Much to my dismay, his insistence that I help him only increased.  So I got up and walked over to the bathroom and looked up to see one of the funniest sights I have seen in awhile.

My eight year old son, who had chosen to wear footie pajamas to bed that night, was standing on top of the toilet, hunching his body in on itself as though he was terrified for his life.  It reminded me of those ladies you see on television standing on a chair, just scared as can be, because of a mouse running around on the ground.  His legs were squeezed together with his arms holding himself. 

I immediately looked on the floor of the bathroom to see this mega spider that threatened my sons well-being.  Surprisingly, I couldn't find it.  My son points down at my foot and there it is.... The spider of all spiders.  Glaring up at me with it's eight ugly eyes. 

The spider was located in the hallway.  At least three full footsteps from the toilet where my son quivered in fear of a nickel (possibly even dime sized) creature.  I quickly grabbed a shoe from the hallways closet and swiftly dealt justice to the beast that would threaten my son's toes (toes that were covered with pj footies).

Ashton insisted I carried him back to bed in case there were more soldiers awaiting him in the hallway.  So I picked up my 65 lb. son, red faced and teary eyed, and put him back into my bed.

He slept with one eye open the rest of the night.

Time to Begin Again

Normally, I wouldn't condone airing personal business on a blog where people you might actually know may actually read it and then have knowledge of all of your personal "dirty laundry."  And I'm not exactly going to air all of mine out as you may have assumed by reading the first line of this post.  So what exactly am I even talking about?  I am talking about new beginnings and change.

The fall is about to start (I know it is still technically three weeks-ish away but that is relatively close) and autumn always feels like the beginning of a new period to me.  The beginning of school, the beginning of the fiscal year (for those who start it in October), the beginning of a series of holidays that revolve around food (hello Halloween Candy, Thanksgiving Turkey, and Christmas Cookies) and this year, for me, the beginning of a new life.  What exactly does that mean?

I am no longer married.

This statement in and of itself sounds foreign coming from my lips.  Over this past summer, my ex-spouse and I went through a divorce.  I'm not going to air the details, as that's what I mean about not airing my dirty laundry; simply rest assured that my ex and I are working diligently to be successful co-parents to our children and that included in that is getting along amicably and handling the situation as adults.  Now is the time for me to remember who I am and remind myself of how amazing a person I am, with or without someone else standing by my side.

As part of my new beginning, I may start blogging again.  I say may, because I am going to do what feels right to me in the moment and what I have time for.  So if I have to choose between reading one more book to one of my kids before bedtime, or typing out a blog post, there really no competition on which one will happen... (for those who weren't sure though, of course the book with my child).  But if I have a few spare minutes or if the mood strikes me, then I would like to think that even if no one reads the post, what I have to say and think are important enough to record in a written form.  Even if it is sporadic and may have no entertainment value at all.

Blogging of course is not the only new beginning I plan on undertaking this autumn, I do have a few other things that I am attempting to undertake:

-This autumn I am working on remodeling the master bedroom of my home.  A popcorn ceiling is being removed, walls are being painted, and carpet is being ripped out replaced with laminate flooring.  This project has already been going on for a couple of months, but I am not mechanically inclined and am doing the project by myself (with the exception of minor help and advice from my dad).  I am looking forward to how amazing this room will look when it is completed, even if it may take forever to actually get done.

-I've joined the gym again.  The last time I actually was a member of the gym was about three years ago.  While I am not a huge fan of getting sweaty and lifting weights, I know that for me to be the best me I can be for my kids, I need to take care of my own health.  While I'm not looking to lose weight and become a professional body builder... I do want to be able to keep up with my kids as well as be able to actually manage the minor tasks around my house that require a little bit of heavy lifting.  I figure what better way to stay health than to make it a goal to physically stay active a few times a week at least.  Especially since I lead a fairly sedentary lifestyle due to my job.

-I plan on reading more books and trying more recipes.  This seems a little like a silly goal, but reading and cooking are two things that I really enjoy that I haven't made time for lately.  Keeping them in the front of my to do in my spare time hasn't happened and it something that should. 

I'm sure there are other things that are beginning again this fall for me and my family, but this is just a starting list.

I love autumn.  The changing of leaves, the crisp autumn air, the beginning of so many new and wonderful things.  The autumn is really just a transitioning period for the weather and so many other things; and for me this year:

It's a time to begin again.

A Star is Born, the Musical Debut

I feel like my children are growing up too fast.  It was only four short years ago my daughter was just born.  My son was still in diapers.  I still had bottles in the cupboard and binkies in every room of the house.  Those days are long gone now.

My daughter is in preschool.  My son is in first grade.  While I miss the good ole' days of them being completely dependent on my for pretty much everything, ranging from me feeding their faces to wiping their tushes, I am so proud of the bright little people they are becoming.  They both have such amazing futures ahead of them.

This last Thursday, my son's first grade class put on a musical for the parents.  They've been studying nursery rhymes, so the music teacher put the nursery rhymes to music and added some dance motions to it. 

It was pretty spectacular.

Afterwards to celebrate Ashton's musical debut, we hit Dairy Queen.  They both celebrated Ashton's performace with a healthy dose of ice cream.

 

Watch out world, the Diaz kids are coming.

Teaching Thankfulness

With Thanksgiving coming up later this month, I have noticed quite a few people who are posting on their facebook pages daily about what they are thankful for.  I think this is a great idea, it reminds us that while we may have wants* (don't we all), there is so much that we have already that we can be thankful to God for.

One of the hardest things I've come to find around the holidays, particularly Thanksgiving and Easter, is to find ways to teach my children why we celebrate them.

When you think about it, what does a bunny have to do with Christ being risen from the dead?  Or what does a turkey have to do with being thankful to God for what we have been given?

The things that have come to represent these holidays don't always have to do with the actual reasoning behind the holiday, and the separation of the commercialization and truth behind the commercialization doesn't always translate exactly when talking to little ones.  They see the flashy lights and glitter that society has come to associate with the holidays.

In order to attempt to reinforce the idea of Thanksgiving being a celebration of all the things we have to be thankful for, I have decided that for everyday leading up to Thanksgiving, I'll have the kids, on a cut-out of their own hands, write something that they are thankful for.  So far (on Day 4), it seems to have gone pretty well.  Not only have I remembered to do this everyday, but the kids have listed some really great things to be thankful for.

 

Today, Ashton decided to put down that he is thankful for his family.

 

 

Sydney decided that she was thankful for Ashton today (It's nice to see this one in writing, since usually she doesn't act like she is so thankful for him ☺)

 

So far, I've just been basically taping these hands to the wall.  I was thinking it would be neat to put up a paper tree so the hand prints look like leaves, or even turkey bodies so they could be like feathers (although floating turkey bodies may be a little weird, particularly the ones that don't have 'feathers' yet.... it would be like a large plucked bird just staring at you as you walked in the house).

 

Here's how it looks so far:

 

So far this month, Ashton has been thankful for his family, Halloween, Valentine's Day, and his birthday (he's slowly working his way through the holidays).  Sydney has been thankful for Ashton, hugs and kisses, Christmas, and Santa Clause (she also is very thankful for holidays).

So what about your family?  How do you teach the importance and reasoning behind holidays and their celebrations to your kids?  Do you have any special traditions that keep these 'reasons for the season' more prominent than if you didn't practice these traditions?

 

 

Constipation and Night Terrors

Every once in awhile, Ashton wakes up at night screaming or crying because of bad dreams.  He is inconsolable usual for several minutes and eventually calms down and falls asleep.  Last night it happened again.  We (my husband and me) have a difference of opinion on how they should be handled.

ME:  Ashton woke up crying again last night

HIM:  Did you tell him to knock it off and go to bed.  Just tell him to stop crying.

ME:  No, he was upset.  I sat with him and told him it was OK.  It's okay for him to cry.

HIM:  He's a boy.  He doesn't need to cry all the time.

ME:  Do you want him to grow up to be emotionally constipated?

HIM:  Emotionally constipated?

ME:  Yes, emotionally constipated.  His emotions will be backed up so much until his emotional colon is so full it explodes.  Then, there will be shit everywhere.

HIM:  (silence)

I think I won this one.

So You Had a Bad Day

Have you ever had a day where everything sucks, you kids are driving you insane, and you really just want to crawl into a closet and shut the door, possibly while chugging a bottle of wine straight from the bottle?

No, oh, well me neither.... not.

Yesterday was a tough day.

Everything started off like the normal Saturday.  The kids woke me up at the crack of dawn to feed them breakfast (I literally had to drag myself to the kitchen after the repeatedly poked me in the back stating they were starving), I started to do my weekly clean everything in the entire house routine (after several cups of coffee), and then the kids were sent outside to play while things in the house were taken care of.  It's funny how life gives you the sense of normalcy before it lays the smack down on you.

Not even 10 minutes after the kids had been sent outside it started.  In, out, in, out.  The kids just kept going in and out and in and out.

Ashton:  "Mom, Doodles (Sydney's nickname) hit me"

Me:  "Doodles, don't hit or your going to come inside"

Sydney:  "I didn't hit him."

5 minutes later

Ashton:  "Mom, Jaycob is being mean to me"

Me:  "How is he being mean to you"

Ashton:  "He threw the ball at me"

Me:  "Jaycob, did you throw the ball at him?"

Jaycob:  "Well yeah, we're playing football"

On and on this went until an hour or two until I just called it quits and told them to play in their rooms for awhile.  The normal sibling  bickering and fighting of course ensued.

Fast forward to about 2 o'clock.

I was just finally sitting down from cleaning up the house and the doorbell rings.  When I opened the door there was a woman selling a cleaning concentrate that supposedly cleans pretty much anything.  Normally, I am pretty good about just telling solicitors that I am just not interested, whether they are the Mormon witnesses, Door-to-door cleaner salesman, Schwann's, or the Jehovah Witnesses, I just tell them no, and just shut the door; but not today.

This young lady was dressed in skin tight white distressed skinny jeans, a loose purple shirt, with a huge backpack and a cleaning rag and bottle of cleaner in her hand.  She was pretty tough looking, and she talked with an accent.

She of course went on and on about her amazing cleaning product.  I'm not sure exactly what she said it does, but I caught her saying 'Gurl' a few times, she mentioned the streets of Seattle, and also mentioned her partner who apparently drives a white van without windows and is bald.  She even mentioned he looks like one of those guys who picks up little kids with candy.  Then, of course, she asked me if I would use something as amazing as whatever cleaner she was selling.  I said well sure, if it works (translation: If agreeing gets you to leave).

The young woman then said, "Well if you would use it why don't you buy it?"

In my head,  I heard, "Buy it, or I will cut you and have my partner pick up your children."

Needless to say, that $40 bottle of cleaner better work, because otherwise I paid the woman $40 just to get her to leave my front door.

After the cleaner lady incident, it was nice and calm for a good hour or two, sort of like the eye of the hurricane or the calm before the storm.

After Sydney woke up from her afternoon nap, I had to pick up some hamburger buns for dinner.  We were having sloppy joes, so of course I was missing the most important part of a sloppy joe, the buns.

Ashton decided he wanted  to come to the store with me and Sydney to pick up the buns.  On the way there, he mentioned that he was sad that I no longer have a gym membership, and subsequently how he doesn't get to go the the play area at the gym anymore.  He then said. "I guess now you're going to get fat."  He also was dragging his feet in the store and just in general was in a bad mood.  By the time we got to the parking lot to leave, I was pretty fed up with his attitude.

Sydney then proceeded to get in the car first.  Then as Ashton walked towards the car door so he could get in, Sydney pushed the door open more so the door handle hit him in the chest as he was walking towards it.  He then started crying (I'm sure it hurt, there was a pink mark on his chest) for a good 5 minutes before he calmed himself down enough to get into his car seat.  Sydney then started bawling because I told her it was her fault he was crying because she hurt him and she needed to apologize.

By time we got home, it was about 5:00pm and I had already made 2 out of 3 kids cry.  I certainly felt like I was winning parent of the year at this point (not).

While getting dinner started, the kids started to play with their toy guns.  At this point, Jaycob and Sydney were playing together while successfully excluding Ashton from the mix (this normally is Jaycob and Ashton excluding Sydney).  Ashton then asked me to help him write a letter to his brother.  His letter read, "Dear Jaycob, I have decided that Sean (Sean is his cousin) is now my best friend, not you, because you are so mean.  From Ashton"

After getting his letter all written out, he tried repeatedly to give it to Jaycob, but Jaycob kept waving him off.  Finally I told him Jaycob to just take to note and read it since his brother had taken the time to write it for him.

Jaycob proceeded to take the letter from his little brother, look at it like he was going to read it, and say "Blah, blah, blah, blah."

At this point, I had no patience for disrespect or just bullshit in general.  I immediately told Jaycob to go to his room and sit on his bed until I was ready to talk to him.

When I finally got to a point in the whole cooking dinner thing that I could go take a few minutes to speak with Jaycob, went in to his room and sat on his bed.

I asked him what his issue was.  I asked him how he would feel if his dad or I did to him what he had done to his brother, who is 5 years younger than him and looks up to him.  I explained that he has to take in to account that his brother is so much younger than him and so has a different maturity level and different ability to handle some situation than he does and that his actions have an effect on his brother and that he really hurt his brothers feelings.  By the time I was done and left the room, child number 3 was crying.

Needless to say, bedtimes were early yesterday.

The moral of the story?  If you are going to do something, (such as making your children cry) do it completely?  Or maybe if someone comes to your door trying to sell you something, be careful about telling them no, you never know when their partner may drive a windowless van?

Whatever the moral is, I sure hope a day like this doesn't repeat anytime soon.

Preschool Identity Crisis

Monday was the first day of preschool for my four year old daughter Sydney.  While I never truly doubted that there would be a lack of excitement stemming from this very event, it still never ceases to entertain me when I later hear about her schenanigans. 

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Dropping Sydney off at school felt so different from dropping Ashton off.  Ashton is my quiet reserved child while Sydney has always been so independent and outgoing.  While she didn't want me to leave at first, she was ready to be there and explore the new surroundings and meet all the new people. 

As soon as Sydney got home from school (her dad picked her up), she called me at work.  She was so excited!  She said that her first day was awesome and that a boy hit her.  She asked her dad to beat him up, but of course my husband said that wouldn't be very nice.  She also said that there was another girl who wouldn't share her crayons.  After that, Sydney started speaking so quickly that it pretty much became unintelligible wookie talk.

My husband then got on the phone and said that Sydney told him that she was disappointed because while they were working on learning everyones names, they refused to call her Princess Ladybug, they insisted on calling her Sydney.

After coming home from work, Sydney told me that her name wasn't Sydney, that her name was Isabella and that she wanted to be like the girl Isabella in her class.  All night, and I mean ALL night, she kept insisting she was Isabella and not Sydney. 

Apparently, I don't even know who my own daughter.  And I thought I'd have to wait until the teenage years for that to happen.

Assessing Sydney

Today Sydney had an assessment to determine whether or not she would be accepted into the preschool class at the local elementary school.

Rewind a minute here, the local school recently received a grant to start a preschool class.  Unfortunately, the class is going to be limited in size.  Due to this, they are planning on taking the children who need the most help, or who would benefit most from being in a preschool class.  To determine which kids will be in the class, they are doing assessments to see where each kid is developmentally.

Sydney arrived today ready for her assessment.

They had three teachers set up with stations to test different skill sets.  One teacher tested speech skills and basic things such as if the child new their name, their alphabet, etc.

There was another teacher who testing for fine motor skills.  She had Sydney stand on one leg, throw a little bean bag at a target, hop on one foot, use scissors, as well as draw different shapes.

The last teacher asked questions regarding shapes, numbers, and different things such as being able to identify emotions in a picture.

When all was said and done, Sydney was not ready to leave.  She enjoyed being in the classroom and looking at all the different things they had there.  One of the teachers even asked her if she was Ashton's sister (She said she looks just like her brother who she sees on recess duty).

One of my biggest worries before going into the assessment was waiting afterwards on if she was going to be one of the lucky few who get to go to preschool this year.  Luckily for me and my little patience, they were pretty immediate with their answer.  Drum roll please.....

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**She got in!!!**

While it may seem I'm excited about her being possibly mediocre, that is completely not the case.  Turns out, only 10 students are signed up for preschool, so everyone gets to go to school who signed up this year, regardless of how absolutely brilliant they may be (I'm completely not biased her at all ☺).  Sydney gets to start school next week.  She will be in a class of 10 students (2 boys and 8 girls including herself).  She is so stoked.  I am so happy for her, although it is weird to think that all of my kids are in school (even if it is only 1/2 day for Sydney).

Her only real concern after the assessment was that she didn't have a backpack yet for school and that she didn't get to eat lunch.

At least the girl has her priorities.

First Day of School

The first day of school has come to be a bittersweet experience for me.  While I rejoice in the fact that my little boy is growing up to be such a caring and wonderful person full of integrity, deep down my heart aches that he is already becoming such a big little person.

Today there while dropping Ashton off, there was a parent teacher meeting type session the first hour of school.  I met his teacher (Mrs. Stewart - she seemed really sweet), and she let us know what she expects of the kiddos and the whole discipline system (sorta like the whole pirate black spot thing, except they death is not the sentence...at least not at the hands of the school), if they get multiple warnings (yellow and red card) and if they get to the black card, the parents are called.

Mrs. Stewart also went over the homework expectations and the general things that they will be working on.  She also let us know lunch is at 11:30 everyday for the rascals.  (On a side note, I'm going to be keeping a picture journal of Ashton's lunches, in an effort to keep them varied, and in case I run out of ideas ☺.  You can find them here)  Here's Ashton's first ever school lunch:

The classic PB&J, blueberries, honey wheat crackers, sugar cookies, and juice

Unfortunately, Ashton's sandwich was in a separate pocket from the rest of his food.  He didn't realize that there were two pockets on his lunch box, so he thought he only had crackers, cookies, and blueberries.  Luckily another child in his class was nice enough to share his sandwich with him.  Poor kid, he asked his dad when he got him if I was mad at him.  I think we will have to pack his lunch together next time☺.

After this, she read "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn.

If you haven't read this book, it is very cute.  It is basically about the little raccoon having to go to school so the mama raccoon kisses his hand so he'll always have her/her love with him, even while he's not with her. 

 

 

Then it was time to say good-bye to the kids so they can finish their day.  The kids lined up outside where the parents can pick them up after school.  Then Ashton kissed my palm, and told me he loves me. 

 

 

Why is it that even when you know it's not good-bye forever (only a few hours), it still is hard to say good-bye?  Maybe it has to do with the whole feeling of saying good-bye to the little pre-school portion of Ashton that has me wishing I could hang on a little longer.  The fact that he is at school all day this year really just makes him getting older hit home.

 

They grow up so fast. 

Rash Whipped Cream

Have you ever been at the grocery store checking out, and one of your children says something to the checker that makes you want to cringe and laugh out loud at the same time?

Let's rewind shall we?

My four year old was taking a bath Saturday and when I asked her to wash body, she stated she couldn't because her pee pee hurt.  Without getting all detailed and what not, it is clear she has a rash (probably since she is only an apprentice at the fine art of wiping after going pee).

I went to see if we had diaper rash cream to help a sister out, and of course we don't have any.  My daughter then decides that since we're bringing stuff up, it really hurts her, and she needs a solution immediately.  No patience at all, I wonder where she gets that from...

It's only ten in the evening, no big deal to go to the store right?  Piling her and her brother in the car, we went down to the nearest supermarket.  We walked inside, grabbed a tube of cream, and head over to the one check stand that's still open. 

The checker this evening was a teenage girl.  My daughter immediately strikes up a conversation with her.  She proudly declared that the whipped cream we were buying (it was diaper rash cream) was for her. She then loudly says, I need it because I have a rash.

I wasn't sure if I should be terribly embarrassed or proud, as a parent, because my daughter is so truthful. 

The checker laughed, and gave up our 'whipped cream' so we could head out.

Ashton's words when we got home, "Man, I'm glad I'm not a girl.  You guys sure have a lot of bathroom stuff to do."

Ashton, you have no idea.

I'm Mary Poppins

Last weekend, my two youngest children (Sydney and Ashton) insisted that we rent Mary Poppins.  So Friday evening, we settled down to watch it.  When I mean settle down, I mean Sydney was running up and down the hallways, Ashton was wandering aimlessly from room to room, all the while the movie was on the television with no one in front of it.  Needless to say, I was surprised at the things I heard when I walked in my house this evening:

Sydney, at the top of her lungs, was doing a mirror-breaking rendition of this:

Jaycob (my oldest) then recounted the following conversation he had with Ashton while playing with their army men:

Jaycob:  Hey, your guys can't fly.  They're not even on the buildings.

Ashton:  Yes he can.  (In his pretend army man voice) "I'm Mary Poppins"

Ashton then had the army man float from one building to another as though he was carrying an umbrella and carpet bag.

This just disproves my theory that they really weren't paying attention to the movie.  As well as enforces the idea that with a carpet bag and an umbrella, pretty much anyone can fly.

As Pretty As She Is

Yesterday, my daughter sweetly told my hubby that once her bed and dresser are delievered, her room will be as pretty as she is.  Today is the day that her furniture was delievered.

As admirable as the thought is, and as much as I wish that had been true, I walked into a room that looked like a hurricane had been through it when I got home today. 

While the bed, dresser, and nightstand that had been delievered looked fantastic, all of Sydney's clothes were strewn in the drawers of her dresser, her doll house was tipped sideways, and her barbie dolls were all jumbled in a pile like they had been having a wild party.  (I didn't quite capture the mess with the photos, as it mostly isn't in the shot, but trust me... It was horrific)

It was time to buckle down and get to work on getting her room to look, as Sydney so eloquently put it, as pretty as she is.

After probably three hours of rearranging, sorting, and arguing with a four year old about whether a candy wrapper was garbage or a special treasure, her room is finally finished.

It is finished. 



 

I'm happy her room is clean.  She is happy she has her room set up like a "big girl" room.  And she went to bed in her own room, and her own bed, without any bribery of any sort.

Boom.  Mission accomplished.

Zookeeping like a Boss

I have a confession to make.  Ever since I first joined Pinterest, I have had a distinctive urge to pin crafty projects that I never actually make.  It is addicting, and I cannot help it, I do not have the time or motivation to actually make all the neat things on the site, but I pin them anyways thinking someday, somehow, perhaps I'll actually take the initiative and do one of the projects.

Well my friends, today is that day.

Recently, my husband and I ordered a bedroom set for my four year old daughter's room.  We decided the fact that she's an amazon woman for her age (she would be in the 97% percentile, if she were five.  Again, she is only 4), necessitated an actual bed, instead of a the one she had which really is only suitable for one of Snow White's seven dwarfs.

Due to the fact that we no longer will have the same amount of space to store her toys underneath her bed as we did before, I decided we needed to come up with a storage solution for the cascading mountains of stuffed animals that are currently so unceremoniously shoved underneath her bed. 

Browsing Pinterest, I decided I finally was going to use one of the many items I'd pinned for a 'future' project.  So began the epic adventure of Sydney's Zoo.

For those of you who don't really know me, I am absolutely mechanically impaired and klutzy.  I have little patience for things that don't work right the first time.  This important fact about myself combined with the fact that we only own a screwdriver, a measuring tape, and a hammer really should have been a big warning sign to myself that maybe it wasn't a great idea to build something that didn't come out of a box and have instructions with it.

The first thing I did was of course go to Home Depot.  This was the logical spot to pick up wood, nails, latex tubing and pretty much everything else I assumed I would need for this haphazard experiment.

The employees at Home Depot were surprisingly really helpful.  They cut the wood to the size I needed and even explained what steps I needed to take to correctly stain the wood and seal it so it would be a nice finished product.  I ended up leaving Home Depot with six 20" pieces of wood, six 10" pieces of wood, four 60" pieces of wood, latex tubing, a piece of plywood, 1 1/2" wood screws, a one step stain/polyurethane, and some little brush things to put the stain on the wood with.

First things first, I decided that I needed to build the basic shape of the "zoo" before I worried about building any height into the thing.
I screwed two of the 20" pieces of wood to two of the 10" pieces of wood.  I used the 1 1/2" nails to hold them together, pre-drilling the holes for them so the wood didn't splinter or split.

From there, I added the 60" pieces of wood to add some height to the thing.  This was a little bit of a challenge.  Trying to hold the wood in place while drilling holes that were deep enough, but not so deep it went all the way through the boards was certainly a challenge.  Luckily I had a little help from my son.  He was pretty excited to be such a "big helper."  Especially since for the most part, I banned him and his sister from the garage while I was working on this endeavor.  From there, I continued on to make another of the square shaped frames and attached them to the stilted legs sticking up from the original rectangle shaped frame.  I attached them about mid way up from the first one, at probably about 28" on the 60" legs.  At this point, it actually started resembling something that may work out.  I was really beginning to think that this would end up an Epic Pinterest Win.

Plugging along from this point, I added the last few pieces of wood to the top to finish off the frame of the new zoo for animals.  The next step in the process was adding a stain to finish the wood.

I chose to use a stain/polyurethane combo.  This saved a few steps, as I only needed to use one product instead of two.  I picked a black satin stain, since the furniture going into the room would also be a black satin color.  I added a coat of the stain to the frame and to the plywood board and then had to call it quits for the night so that it could dry.

The next day, I sanded down the wood so that all of the edges were smooth.  After sanding all of the surfaces, adding another coat of stain to the wood was the next step.  Again, I had to call it quits after this since the stain had to be completely dry before I could do anything else to it.

The next day, I added the words Sydney's Zoo to the top of the frame.  I really debated about whether it should say Sydney's Zoo or The Zoo; in the end it seemed more personal to put Sydney's Zoo.  It was painted on in a purple acrylic paint, and then glitter paint was added to accent the lettering.  After this was dry, a clear coat of polyurethane was added to ensure that the lettering would stay put, even after the inevitable abuse they would see once the piece is placed in it's future home.

The following evening, the latex tubing and the plywood was added to the creation to finish off the project.  Tying knots in the latex tubing and then using a metal piece to screw it on was the way that it was secured to the wood.  The latex tubing is attached to all three sections of 20" wood, to ensure that it doesn't snap out of place when animals are being transported in and out of the zoo.

Screwing the plywood board to the bottom of the zoo was the last step to complete this project. 

Testing out to see if this "zoo" would actually function was something I really looked forward to.  I have never actually built something from nothing before, only pre-done kits before, so I was excited to see if it stood up to the task it was made for.

It holds all of Sydney's animals exactly how I saw it in my head!  The latex tubing works perfectly, the animals are locked down, until zookeeper Sydney lets their wild selves out.  It seems pretty stable (We'll see how it stands to Sydney's crazy antics in due time), and it looks pretty cute (IMHO).

Sydney loves her new animal cage and she already has them on lock down with occasional yard time.

What have you created from Pinterest lately?  Are you a pinner or a doer?

The Wild One...

Look at this girl.  I love her.  She stole my heart the day she was born. She is kind, smart, and beautiful.  She has a smile that lights up the room and really can be a sweetie when she is in the mood.  The key words of course... when she is in the mood.

My daughter Sydney, also known as Doodlebug, is hell on wheels.  She is such a tomboy, loves to bully her brother's and is known to instigate trouble at the drop of a hat; and she's only 4.

While some memories of her bullying and general misbehaviors are really quite funny (Walking into the house with her sitting on Ashton's head screaming at him to tapout always comes to mind), there are other times she really is exhausting.

Yesterday was one of those exhausting days.  While cleaning up after dinner, I announced to Sydney and Ashton that they needed to find the Scooby Doo movie they had chosen to rent from the movie store, since it wasn't in the case.  Since neither Sydney nor Ashton knew where it was (of course), I asked them to go look.

After a few minutes of quiet, I heard a thundering crash in the bedroom down the hall.  I ran down the hallway to see what had happened.

My lovely daughter had climbed the below pictured dresser and managed to get it to tip completely over onto the ground, along with the television, dvd player, all the clothes, and the movie's that had been on top of it.

I immediately freaked out and sent her to her room so I could calm down from realizing she nearly crushed herself, as well as pick up the dresser and the accompanying junk that she had managed to strew all over the bedroom floor. 

She managed to break the tracking on one of the drawers, as well as completely jack up the dvd player.  (If you can't tell, the front piece is no longer attached to the body of the player, it still will eject the disc, but it looks pretty beat up)

She profusely apologized, and explained that her little monkey self needed to get to the top of the dresser to see if the movie was on top. Completely logical I suppose, but considering she's a fifty pound child, she probably should avoid climbing onto objects that possibly could fall on her. 

She cried, said she never would climb again, and swore up and down that she was not the only one to blame for the dresser falling.  Her epiphany that she really is not invincible was of epic proportions.  Of course she's forgiven but....
Walking in the front door tonight, looking in the living room, I see Sydney climbing the back of the couch. 

What am I going to do with that wild child...