Wordless Wednesday (Sort of)

This post is in honor of LZ over at My Messy Paradise. She made a comment on my blog post about Acadia's run in with Modge Podge that made me laugh, "As soon I decide I want to try an art project or cook a new meal, I see photos of kids covered in paint or glue or spaghetti sauce, and strongly decide against it."

And, yesterday, a series of events had me thinking of her sage advice.

It started as I was feeling bad about keeping the girls inside for the past week due to the sub zero temperatures. We have played so many blocks, so much school, colored so many books that I was feeling guilty about them getting bored. I had the brilliant idea of trying a sensory tub. What's that, you ask? Well it is a creation of some doctors or psychologists somewhere who clearly do not have children. You fill a large container with dried rice or beans and let the kids use spoons, cups, etc. to experiment with the tactile stimulation. Annika actually did great and was loving it... And Acadia was too... until she started to eat the rice...
Now, just to be clear, that is 20 pounds of rice. I told Annika that we needed to put it away until Acadia napped since it seemed to be going downhill quickly. Poor Annika begged if she could do it in her own room with the door closed to keep Acadia out. Yes, I let her go into her room with a 20 pound tub of rice. Let's make a long story short... there was a sneak escape from Acadia, squeals, laughter... and 20 POUNDS OF RICE thrown about a bedroom. 20 POUNDS!!! For once in my life, I did not even take a picture because I was in so much shock- just believe me that even after about 6 hours of sweeping, vacuuming and shaking out, there will still be rice in that bedroom for months to come.

And, I thought of LZ. Why do my best intentions always seem to go horribly awry? The painting never works out, even as far back as when Ariana was a toddler:
And Annika never does well with the paint:



And, yet, I still continue to try with Acadia:


And then there is the dress up play complete with lipstick. NEVER-GOING-TO-WORK:

But, then again, even without my help, they seem to find their own messes:


I guess I just can't win.