Crafternoon Gone Bad

I don't have any training in military torture tactics but I think I water boarded my 17 month old today. Let me explain.

In the afternoons I like to do crafts. If you are my Facebook friend you have probably seem me post photos through the years enjoying "crafternoon" with my kids. In all the photos my kids are happy and neatly doing their crafts. What isn't photoed is what typically takes place when I put the camera down. Total freaking chaos.

Crafternoon has become less crafting and more reading books while mommy counts down the minutes until Brett gets home since Steven was born. Today I got my act together and set up crafts before we picked up Peter from school.

My goals were to let the boys make bibs for my God son, have all three kids put their hand print on Steven's "V" and let Campbell make hand prints to use for her valentines.

Everything started out great. The boys were working well independently, and Campbell was loving making her hand prints with my assistance. Steven was being and angel and sitting quietly in his car seat.

But after I Campbell finished and I cleaned her up she was thirsty for more. Fine, sit in the high chair. Paper. Tempra paint. Water proof bib. Good to go.

Then Aaron starts screaming. The arms of his sweat shirt are covered in fabric paint (I should have rolled those up - my bad). I remove the sweat shirt and run it to the sink for a useless attempt to clean it off.

As I come back from the bathroom sink Peter is walking toward me, wet painted bib in hand. In the process of running to stop him from touching anything I trip over the coarsest, waking up the baby who starts screaming. At that moment I notice Campbell. Bib is on the floor (covered in paint on my carpet), she has finger painted her face, hair, high chair. Awesome. 

Stick the pacifier in Steven's mouth, grab Campbell and throw her in the bath. And that is how I came to water board my poor baby as I scrubbed and poured water over her head trying to get the red out.

At least the projects were successful.

Bibs for baby MJ:

Hand print "V" for Steven's nursery (the other letters were decorated by myself and my kid's God Mothers):

Valentines from Campbell: