Painting

Arin loves to paint and she has been asking to do it often.  I have been a little less enthusiastic about her doing this activity lately because her little sister loves to do everything that she is doing.  When Arin was Ella's age, we had a regular high chair with a nice big tray on it and Arin would sit in there daily and paint.  The mess would all stay on the tray and not on the floor which is why Ella had not painted until now.  However, I think it is important to give Ella the same opportunities that Arin had at her age, so last week, we went outside and painted.  This was Ella's first time painting and it did not go over as well as I thought.  She did not have the instant passion for it like I assumed she would.  She did not like the mess it made and was eventually more happy to play with the neighbor's dog than to paint.

Arin, on the other hand, was thrilled to be outside painting, even though it was very bright out that day.  Together, we painted a baby chick.  I held her hand and made the outline of the head and body and the legs.  On her own, she painted in the lines to color the chick, added the eye and the beak.  Also on her own, she painted a cat and several abstracts.

I, too, have been painting.  We purchased our home several months ago.  Prior to us living here it was a rental with white, flat painted walls.  It is really hard to clean flat painted walls and even prior to us moving in, the walls were dingy, but add two little ones to the mix and well you get the point.  The walls are in serious need of new paint.  I have only painted a whole room one other time.  Normally, I call on the talents of my mother, who actually enjoys painting, but that was not possible this time, so I am having to be a big girl and do it myself.  I started in our bathroom, which turned out to be very frustrating to me.  So much so that I put the project on hold for a few weeks until it frustrated me more to have a partially painted bathroom.  So I finally finished painting it last week.  We still need to paint the trim (mom, please come help me!!!) and add a couple more touches to the decorating, but it looks so much better than it did!  I feel certain that my frustrations were due to lack of experience, but I have plenty of time to practice those skills as I paint the rest of the house!

These are the "before" pictures of the bathroom.  They were actually taken the week we moved into the house.

These are the "after" pictures that I took last night and today.  The lighting was poor so the pictures do not show the true color.  It is a light beige, but there is more contrast between it and the white trim than what is seen here.