All while I was sitting right there...

I haven't stopped blogging for the lack of things to blog about. It more or less comes down to being spread too thin- too many things to do and not enough time. Unfortunately for me, as I was reminded today, I spend a large portion of my time in damage control mode. Undoing all the doing. Sound familiar? Of course today has been no different. There is no rest for the weary- not even on Sunday!

Today Dave was gone doing his Air Force Reserve thing and I hauled off to church by myself with all the kids half an hour late (minus Spencer who spent the night with Mike and Amy (Amy is Dave's sister. She is trying to confiscate Spencer for life because he is so darn cute.)). I know, we were late- don't judge- the baby had to eat. I just did parenthesis inside of parenthesis. Is that legal?

Anyhoodle, we have 1:00 church and upon arriving home shortly after 4:00 pm I found myself stuck on the couch nursing a baby & juggling phone calls trying to arrange schedules with my peeps to pull off a baby shower. Dave got home and headed upstairs. I followed shortly thereafter to see how his day went and to inform him he needed to hurry and change because we had a dinner appointment.

Minutes later Olivia arrived in our room. She just stood there....

dripping in paint.

For real.

We just stared at her for a second followed by my one question:

Olivia, whyyyyyyyy did you do that?

Her response:

"It wasn't me- it was the paint. Waaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Yes, she burst into tears.

Do kids do things like burst into tears looking all innocent and pathetic to soften our mood so we don't kill them? I think I am onto something.

At this point it was all I could do not to burst out laughing. I mean, she really just said- "it's not me, it's the paint". Yeah...

Needless to say, she made her way to the bath and I made my way downstairs to assess the damage.

Here is what I found:

Not bad. A paper plate full of paint and a messy table. Pretty mellow for Olivia.

While Sara was helping her get dressed and while Dave was loading kids into the car I took a gander by the half-bath. The light was on and the door was locked. And on the tile right outside the door- PAINT! Greenish bluish paint. More specifically a greenish bluish foot print, size Olivia.

The girls were still upstairs changing.

I unlocked the door to the bathroom.

Not too bad...

I stepped in further:

Typical... (she is always at the bathroom sink "cleaning" and "giving a bath" to things)

I turned and saw this:

Getting worse...

Sigh...

Not too happy about the door handle either...

And that's when I closed the bathroom door...

UGH. ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

In case you are wondering, I didn't fly off the handle and have a melt down. I am so past doing that. I surveyed the scene, laughed to myself, sighed (someone has to clean up this mess, you know), waved Dave in from the car to come see, and grabbed my camera.

I could hear the girls coming down the stairs so I went out to the family room. Sara had changed Livvy into her brand new orange shirt and plopped a flower on her head. She looked darling. Standing there with the camera in my hand, I told her to sit down so I could take her picture. While taking her picture, I asked her about the bathroom.

Me: "Hey Liv, why did you paint the bathroom?"

Liv: "I dinnet do it".

(Seriously, I did nothing to get that pose from her. It was all her, attempting to dig herself out of her hole, adamantly claiming her innocence.)

Me: "Oh really? You didn't do it?"

Liv: {shaking her head} "I dinnet do it".

Well, at least she sticks to her story.

See that pretty new shirt? She came home from dinner and resumed painting with her sister and her cousin. You guessed it- paint all over the shirt before I even realized she was painting!!! I told her she is not allowed to paint with clothes on anymore. I yanked her shirt off and set it to soak in Oxi Clean (love that stuff!).

Here she is taking a break from her painting to pour herself a cup of milk (no one can help her, of course). You may think that posting this picture of this tornado child on the blog is my sweet revenge for her behavior. Problem is, she couldn't care less. In fact, once I show her this, she will think it's hilarious. I tell you what, Liv is the real deal. She is energetic, and disobedient, and mischievous, and loving, and hilarious, and persistent, and annoying, and just so very Olivia. Bless her heart. And mine too.

FYI: It took an entire roll of paper towel and quite a few Lysol wipes to clean off the door- the door that is now stained green and needs to be repainted! Oh how I love my life! ( I really do.)

In other news, aren't these two so cute?