Room Makeover

Yep, I painted a chalkboard onto the kids' bedroom wall!



They've finally outgrown their obsession with scribbling on walls, but when it was full force... oy boy! I was painting over the doodles again and again and again. Until the leftover paint finished... and then it came time to be more creative.

It's done! See the area to the right? I have some magnetic strips to hang artwork from, but the area below is a rightful mess! I will hang up some of the educational posters we bought to cover it.


Oh, my, did I say it was done? Excuse me, my mistake.
It's not done till I put up a sweet ribbon around the perimeter to frame the new chalkboard.

Neat, huh? You can also see the magnetic strips in the photo above. And on the left, I finally hung the orange organizer baskets I bought eons ago.

Here's a better view:

So there you have it! A fun little room makeover for the boys.

(And no, the intended purpose of the baskets is not cat storage.)

Oh, and before I end this post, would you like to see the drawing that's hanging in the corner of this picture up close?


Of course you would.
Drawn by Meshulem Zusha, age 5.5
Funny Faces:

Medium: the sticky paper left over from some circle stickers.

Kids Going to School:

Medium: a sheet of stationery paper with a school bus on it.

I especially love how different all the kids are, since I know most kids this age stick to one specific style of drawing people. And the fact that he gave the driver an official looking hat and made him face forward. And the blinking lights he added to the stop sign. Funny boy!

Take a Guess

What's this?


Maybe this post from over a year ago can give you a clue...

We Made...

And oh, boy was it an adventure!

First we found all the broken bits of crayons from our crayon box and removed the papers. The paper removal was harder than expected, but the boys did most of it.


Then we put them in this silicone pan. I thought it would be so cute, because the would come out as long thin rectangles.



That's when I learned my first lesson.
Silicone pans made for freezing things are not interchangeable with silicone pans made for baking things. Remember that.

Luckily I thought to put an aluminum pan under the silicone one, so I wasn't left with picking baked crayons off the bottom of the oven with my nails.


But not all was lost. We did manage to salvage some nice rectangular crayons, and even a few pieces from the leaky leftovers in the aluminum pan.


In addition to some whole sticks, we got a bunch of broken sticks, random edges, and a bear shape that you can see in the post below.

And now for the real test:


They work!



Pretty nicely, actually!

Clue #3

Clue #2

Clue #1

Dingalingaling

Did you guess it? It's a phone, of course!


In typical toddler fashion, Adi must have the most popular toy in the house.


And once in a while she'll put it to her ear as well. Hello!


It has many great uses for us in Adel's therapy. Here we're trying to get her to crawl through the tunnel. We bribe the girl.

Just One Thing

There is one thing that Adi just adores.


And she'd do almost anything for it.


In fact, we harnessed that love and devotion,


and now we use this something in Adel's therapy sometimes.


Because as I said, she'd do almost anything for it.


Have you already figured it out?
The answer post is coming in 24 hours!

Zusha (and Some Cats for the Fun of it)

There's something a bit off about these photos...

And I don't mean the choice of scarf with that hat, either. (That's what happens when I'm nursing when Zusha is about to leave the house for cheider- I can't check him, and his Tatte doesn't see anything wrong with this choice. Heh heh.)


In the meantime, while you are pondering the issue, let me entertain you with some tidbits about this cute five-and-a-half year old boy.


He loves to talk. Especially to adults. Any opportunity he has, he will tell about his costume, about his siblings' costumes, his cat, his hamster, his deceased hamster and all the other animals we used to have during his lifetime. He is so happy to be able to talk to Adel's therapists whenever he gets a chance.


This child is absolutely in love with his sister. He comes to my bed every morning to play with her. He makes up songs for her. He runs for the opportunity to change her diaper or bring her something. He watches out for her. Even when it seems like he is totally engrossed in his play, he will notice if she put something from the floor in her mouth and will tell me to take it away. Whenever he is angry at me or at his brother, he would scream something like, "Go away! To to a monkey forest! I'll call a car service to take you there. Mama, Tatte, Gedalya... all of you except Adel. Adel and I will live here together."
I really have to restrain myself from laughing!


So, have you pondered?
Here is one last hint before I reveal the answer...


And before the final answer, let me interrupt you with a lolcat.


And a lolcat of our very own:

O hai!

I'z guardin your internetz.

I'm... guardin... of... course...

I...


Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Who guessed right?


That's my silly Zusha.
Notice the snow in the background.

And the Winner is...

Please contact me with your address!

And for the rest of you guys... you can still get your necklaces because I have a surprise, as promised. Enter BLOG68 at checkout and receive 20% off. Is that a great deal, or what?

Thanks to all of you who participated in the raffle!