Project Central

Well, I won't lie, the forced-to-stay-at-home status does have its perks!  It honestly gives you the luxury of time.  Its been a wild realization.  When the kids ask if we have time to do something and my response is unequivocally, "Yep, we have all the time in the world."  Its equal parts wonderful and hard, but I am determined to make this time of stillness productive.  

And our house has become project central!  I have been wanting to make another medal board for all of our racing for a while.  I have put it off because of my injury and feeling like I may never again put a medal up on it.  We all know now terrible that attitude is and since getting back on my feet I decided it was time to add more space to the wall.  I have races to do!  This year I have been taking part in virtual runs and am honestly working towards compiling some great bling during this time of social distancing.  So grateful that I CAN RUN!

These boards truly make me happy.  So much life and history is written in between these medals.  

The other thing I have been hankering to do but just can't justify the time and energy until now is puzzling.  I bought Bob 2 more Star Wars puzzles for Christmas this year, and decided it was time to put them together.   I was the main labor for both of these which was really fun and challenging.  Bob and the girls helped when I was frustrated or just needed help over a hump.

I was worried that the puzzle above was going to be super challenging with the massive amount of white, but it was a BLAST.  I finished this puzzle in a quick 2 days and loved every second of it.

This one below......wow.

Took me a full week and a half with several moments of, "This puzzle is so hard!"  Thankfully Bob was able to step in and put some pieces in when I was about ready to throw in the towel.  I didn't think it would be that hard, but man!  It was a doozy!

But so incredible and satisfying to finish!!!  Now I have to convince myself to take it apart.

The kids have had their fair share of projects too, the most recent of which is the Hogwarts Castle Lego Set.  SO MUCH FUN!

I stepped completely out of this one and Lily put it together all by her little self with her sister the official piece finder.  It was so much fun to watch her commit to putting this 1000 piece castle together and it was such a great learning and engineering project (homeschooling 101 right here guys).

Lily only needed help once or twice in the entire project and the girls were so happy when they finished!  They keep telling me that they want more and more Legos now that they have boosted their confidence in building solo.  Lots of playtime on this thing! Mischief Managed!

Bob, of course, has not been short in house projects.  At the start of this quarantine thing a micro burst storm blew one of our trees on our house breaking several tiles and leaving some of our roof exposed.  Bob the Builder to the rescue.  I seriously cannot believe the man I married.  He can literally do anything.  Its amazing, and after one long Saturday our roof was repaired.  WOW.  Plus, lets face it, how good looking is he in that tool belt?????

The girl's bookshelf project took some build up and Elsa channeling to do.  I have been wanting to do something crazy and wild with the girls, but until recently just haven't had the balls to do it.  In case you don't know, I don't love messes, and this project was gonna be a mess.  New respect for Jackson Pollock and the insane amount of paint that must have been on every surface of his studio!

I decided to incorporate an Art class into our schooling last week and we learned about Jackson Pollock.  We watched a couple of videos about his life and work and then we just decided to throw caution to the wind and Pollock the bookshelf.  We started with a white chalk paint canvas and then went from there.

I steered hard into the bold paint category and got bright pink, purple, aqua, and yellow paint samples.  I loosely gave the girls some guidance, but gave them paint brushes and let them throw paint.  ALL......OVER.......

Learning to let go and remember that messes clean and memories last forever is harder than I would like to admit guys.  This one took it to the next level, and the girls had so much fun!

We threw paint everywhere including on each other.  It was inevitable and we still find paint flecks in our hair.

We even put our handprints on the back because......why ever not?

The result is PERFECT and I could not have expected better.  It looks absolutely adorable in their room and they feel so accomplished.  Ask them, they will always remember when they Jackson Pollock-ed their bookshelf.

We have recovered from that mess and I am honestly looking forward to the next project I come up with.  Its a special time to just do all the things that going places doesn't afford you.  Its beautiful and purposeful and memorable.  All the things that are gonna give 2020 something else to remember it by.