All Fired Up 3/24/11

I've sort of had this bucket list of things I wanted to do during my maternity leave. Besides recover from major surgery and create a bond to last a lifetime with my newborn, I hoped to do stuff like read at least one book, organize the closet that hangs onto my sewing-scrap booking-gift wrapping-until-I'm-actually-able-to-do-something-with-it-in-five-years-or-so madness, have lunch dates with girlfriends, finish the unfinished, spend a Friday morning at the Tuscaloosa Barnyard, cook dinner more than once a week (that would be instead of ordering a pizza from the Hungry Howie's across the street from our neighborhood or eating whatever the chefs at Publix made that day)...

and paint with my babes at All Fired Up.

I did this with Jake a little more than a year ago, and I've never been so hooked on making something a tradition. In fact, I've already made him make a promise to me that he'll make a Christmas ornament just for me every single year for the rest of my life (We'll see how well a four year old's promise holds up. Just allow me to be hopeful. Please.). So no, we didn't get it done in time to hang one on our Christmas tree decorated in 2010 or even before the year actually ended.  But I was sort of on bed rest, and we were kind of expecting a little extra someone to go with us.

So we went almost two weeks ago now, and here's what we made (And I say we because the dots would be courtesy of moi.). 

And if I didn't tell you, you wouldn't know that it took three different tries to get Parker's footprint just right.  Or that while I was paying, Jake was nearly halfway out to our car before I realized where he was. 

And if I didn't tell you, you wouldn't know that he also asked every single person in the building if he could help them paint, or that I found out a coworker of Jim's is expecting his first baby, or that it took two baths to get the red paint out from under Parker's toenails. 

And if I didn't tell you, you wouldn't know that Parker had the dirtiest diaper of his life strapped to his hiney when we got home, and Jake was wearing more paint on his pants than we used to decorate both ornaments put together. 

And if I didn't tell you, you wouldn't know I actually checked my blood pressure to make sure I wasn't on the verge of a stroke (right after I changed Parker's diaper, of course). 

And if I didn't tell you, you wouldn't know I can't wait to go back again...because the hands and feet of my babes captured in time for me to treasure for the remainder of my life...was worth it all!