*: "Painting is easy when you don't know how...

...but very difficult when you do."

--Degas.

For us, it was very very easy.

Despite living here for over one year we still have lots of bare walls. We also have a disdain for "art" that looks like it came out of some hotel decorating warehouse (hence the bare walls). So last week I decided to get some canvas and paint so we could each paint our own...whatever...and then we'd have something to hang up on the wall.

Easy thing #1: Buying paint

Ripken's initial attempt included every single bottle of red (his favorite color).

Easy thing #2: Counting to 18

Easy thing #3: Lifting the basket.

Easy thing #4: Restocking shelves

Alas, the kind of paint we wanted was on the other side of the store. I did convince Rippy to put them away without inducing a meltdown (note this is not listed as easy thing #5). Nothing went back in the right place. The next time I can't find something because it's in the wrong place I will be reminded that it probably wasn't the stock clerk but rather one of these creatures who was the culprit.

Easy thing #5: Painting!

For the week leading up to it, Rippy was all a chatter about the red horse he was going to paint. Here he is starting off:

Ainsleigh decided she was going to paint a rainbow with a pink heart and a star.

Adding some more colors...

...and more..

The crew at work:

Ainsleigh's masterpiece:

Easy thing #6: Getting messy

Ripken really liked painting, besides the whole mess factor. He worked on his painting longer than anyone, and even then he only stopped when we made him because it was dark and past bedtime. Despite the growing grey blob on his canvas, the whole time he was explaining what he was painting: the moon, the sky, different animals, etc.

Easy thing #7: Hanging up pictures a week after you painted them

It took a while but they are finally on display. I bet you can guess which one is Austin's and which one is mine.