Toys toys toys

I have tried to blog for the last couple of days and haven't had any time.  Though I have had time for 2 sixty-minute massages this week, so maybe it's more a question of priority.

But seriously.  If I don't get up at 5:30 to exercise *something I haven't done since December* I have NO TIME TO DO ANYTHING at all.  I exercise right after breakfast and get dressed and then it's preschool pick up time and then I am literally in the kitchen or folding laundry from noon to 8 when I collapse on the couch and stare glassy eyed at 3 screens at once.

So basically, I have 90 minutes to myself each day and I have to use them wisely or get up when it's dark to increase them to 180.  Wah-wah.

But!  We did a mini toyroom makeover and I LOVE IT.  I mean, I still want to pain the basement and buy new furniture, but now I like 2/4 (that's HALF) of the rooms down there.

Ben, by the way, did the whole thing in less than 24 including hanging an obscene number of pictures because he is AWESOME.  We were going to paint the room yellow like the upstairs because we had an extra gallon of paint in the garage but it froze because Wisconsin is horrible.

Ben was like hey I need to run and get paint.  Any color ideas?  I was all, let's do pink because Dorothy would LOVE it, and so we did.  Not a lot of thought went into the color palette is what I am saying.  But maybe that doesn't need to be said.

 Boy Scout interlude-- SO CUTE.

 We finally have the chalkboard wall I have always wanted!

 And I wasn't kidding about the amount of art on the walls (art is a term I use loosely).

 Ben swtiched out a lot of the kid art on the back wall, and I love every crooked little frame.

 My fave: Jack's Flat Stanley, Harry's Big Foot alien, and Coop's school bus.

 We also hung up their weapons in a Walking Dead/Trumpian sort of display

 That's Dorothy's purple masterpiece

 The reason we had to do this in the first place was that for the first time in 5 Chrismukkahs, the toys ate the basement.  The basement has had this uncanny ability to just absorb all the shit we put into it, but no more.  Part of this was our fault for not understanding how big stuff was when we bough it-- like this Batman thing the size of a dresser:

 (See the weaving on Pooh Bear's bed?  Jack made that in art class and wrapped it up and put it under the tree for Pooh.  I am told that most kids GAVE THOSE TO THEIR PARENTS).

 But really.  Look.  The toys spilled out into the TV room in a way they never have before.

 SO MANY TOYS.

 AUGHHHHHH!

 And the toy room was just a sad collection of over flowing red bins and chipped beige walls.  But no more!

Now it;s smooth pinkish purple walls covered in superhero pics and kiddie art and guns!

 The chalkboard wall is as fun as I thought it would be.

 And we have so much room to play games!

 We even got in a round of Zingo before school.

 Dorothy won!

 Cooper did not.