Continuing the Journey

Coffee Mugs, Purple Pancakes, and a Bit of "Wine"...

A couple of Saturdays ago, Meggie and I got together with two of my sisters-in-law, some nieces, and my older sister and we worked on the invitations to my youngest sister's wedding shower. (She's getting married at the end of May.) After working our fingers to the bone for a few hours, we all headed out to dinner and then to a paint-your-own-pottery studio. My niece, Courtney, works at this particular studio and she reserved the party room for us. It was so much fun!

Carson was initially QUITE interested...he enjoyed choosing his piece, picking colors, and deciding how many paint brushes he would need. He decided to decorate a mug with a puppy on it for himself...and then Meggie talked me into decorating the kitten mug for Molly.

Carson jumped right in...
...and so did the ever artistic Meggie...
...while Courtney (standing) explained some helpful hints to (from left to right) Brooke, Lauren, and Tara.
Carson's idea of painting was to glob a ton of paint in one place on the mug, then to immediately get more paint...
...and Meggie was all too happy to record my exasperated reaction to the mess he was making! Eventually, he allowed me to help him smooth out the paint.
...but about 10 minutes after THAT point, he was bored. In fact, he decided he was done! Well, this studio had a sign (I wish I had taken a picture of it) that said "Unattended Children will be Given an Espresso and a Puppy" -- we're lucky we didn't go home with a dog and a caffeine headache, lemme tell ya!

Courtney was so sweet...she walked him around and let him look at all the pieces on the shelves. But then he was bored with THAT! (Why did I think a 5-year-old boy who can barely hold a pencil would sit still for two hours of tedious and intricate painting? Am I NEW?!?!)

Thankfully, Carson found the camera and decided he would take pictures while we painted. I was painting SO quickly trying to finish both of these mugs while Meggie made her pieces. So he wouldn't break the camera, Carson decided to leave the camera on the table and take his pictures from that vantage point.

So, we have Lauren (leaning over, of course)...
...the water bowl on the table in front of him (he took about 27 pictures of this)...
...Meggie (leaning over, of course)...
...the wall (he took about 13 pictures of this)...
...and Mommy and Meggie frantically trying to finish up before the studio closed.
Once I completed the mugs for Carson and Molly (I'm no artist, so my standards really weren't that high!), I decided to take a few pics of the girls...
...until Carson stole the camera back to take a self-portrait with Aunt Michelle.
Wanna see the finished products? We got them back today. Here are the mugs Meggie decorated (she did the striped one for me, the dotted one for herself)......and here are the masterpieces Carson and I made.
I thought it was so cute that they had the back of the animals on the back of the mugs! We did a pretty good job, considering. Most importantly, though, we had fun! Can't wait to go back and do that again!

This morning, Meggie woke up wanting something hot for breakfast and decided to make pancakes for all of us before we left for her dance competition. Since Meggie is artistic, though, regular pancakes just won't do...
...so she and Carson made purple pancakes! Since her dance team's colors are purple and white, I guess it was symbolic or good luck or something...the dancers did great at the competition and earned Platinum awards for all three dances! (That is the highest award, for those who don't understand the competitive dance world.)

We've got the coffee mugs, we've got the purple pancakes...so now for the "wine" portion of this breakfast...
...LOL! Fooled ya! No wine here, but tons of whine!

We don't call it the "time out chair" anymore...it has become the "whiney chair"! Pretty much whatever we say to Carson...put your toys away, come eat dinner, go wash your hands, it's bath time...will result in the dreaded sound. You know it...the "Awwwwwwww, come onnnnnnn" that is like fingernails-on-a-chalkboard to me! Ugghhhh!!! I can't STAND whiners!! (OK, those who know me will say that I am a whiner...but don't believe 'em!)

When Daddy placed the "whiney chair" near the wall and told Carson he had to sit there this morning, he actually said, "Awwwwwww, come onnnnnnnn, I want the RED chair!"

Now I think I'm gonna start whining...