Painting the Playhouse Red
Last fall, Matt built a great playhouse/slide in the backyard. Nothing fancy, but enough of a playground to keep a few kiddos occupied while adults enjoyed a cocktail hour or something. It weathered the winter ok, but we had always meant to paint it to seal it up and protect it from the rain and sun of the backyard. Well, a good six or seven months later, we finally got around to painting the playhouse red (and blue).
A few weeks before that painting experience, though, Ava got to practice her painting skills on our fence. Oh, how I wish I’d thought of this activity sooner! Water + Paintbrush + Dozens of feet of fence = busy, happy toddler (& no mess for mommy!)
Anyway, by the time we were finally ready to paint the playhouse, Ava was totally up for it. She got to help stir the paint and then slop that stuff just about anywhere on the structure. We were really ok with it looking like a toddler painted it. In fact, when Ava pooped out and Matt was finishing, I had to remind him to be sloppy so that it wouldn’t look like Ava quit halfway through the job!
Funny side note, we had to cover all the grass with painter’s plastic. You know, because plastic grass doesn’t grow out. Oh, the challenges of desert living! 
A couple of weeks later, while Matt was out of town, I made a topper for the playhouse, so now it’s even more colorful and shady!
We had a great time transforming Ava’s playhouse from something pretty drab to something pretty fab and fun!
Making
If you know Matt well, you know that he’s got the “knack”…bad. His is one of the worst cases of nerdy engineering tinkering ever documented on the face of the earth. We never throw anything with a motor away around here because it’s always going to be turned into something “someday.”
Recently, some RC helicopters got new lives as boat propellers. I had been out shopping and, when I got home, Ava met me in the garage to announce, “We’re making a boat!” She was super excited to help her dad tinker and they really enjoyed playing with their new toy.
The boat probably needs a few more revisions before it’s ready for springtime play, but it sure did keep those two happy for an afternoon!