clean after messy

I know I've mentioned before that I allow my girls to get down and dirty, but it doesn't mean that I always enjoy it! There are very few things that make me cringe and feel anxious and unfortunately painting is one of them. But, I give both girls plenty of opportunities to do so because I know that they love it and as much as I hate to admit it, it's not always about me! :) I decided to let them paint outside....Maddie asked and I thought-hey why not. I changed the girls into grubby clothes, set up the art easel, poured paint into cups, handed out paint brushes and then hovered and bit my nails for 30 minutes of crazy, messy, fun. It started out great....both girls were really into it, the paint brushes stayed in the correct colored cups and their clothes were spotless. That all changed in a matter of minutes. Charlotte tried to eat the paint, Maddie wiped paint on her nose, Charlotte dumped paint onto the concrete, Maddie walked barefoot on some of the pictures we had laid out to dry and then got painty footprints everywhere. It was very stressful for me, but they had a blast! I finally called it quits when they were both more or less covered in paint and then frantically called to Dan to help with cleaning them off.

"Look Mama, I made brown."

We decided that stripping them down, and hosing them off would be the best method of clean up. Once I got most of the paint off, I let them play with the hose. That basically consisted of Maddie holding the hose and spraying Charlotte as she ran around the yard! I don't mind wet....it's a lot cleaner than paint and just as much fun! I think it was a great afternoon, but we may wait a while before breaking out the paints again....I don't know if my nerves could handle it! :)

Once Charlotte's diaper completely filled up and added an additional 15 pounds, we took it off and let her run around nekkid!