Update #9: The Baby Squid

My child is a baby squid. Seriously. Look at her and tell me she does not remind you of a little baby squid in those goggles and swim cap. I dare you! Cause it's not possible!!

So, as you can see, I am now a Swim Mom. For now and forever more I will be there, poolside in my folding captain's chair, cheering my daughter on as she swims across the pool. I will have you also know that we are not hopping on the "Phelpswagon" either. We have been doing this for MONTHS. Her first swim meet (the one from these photos) was July 17th. Bust speaking of the Phelpswagon... it's funny. All of a sudden, this week, there is a HUGE INFLUX in kids wanting to join the swin team and be the next Michael Phelps. Awesomeness. Swimmers ROCK.

Before the meet, Violet stretched out...
And getting ready for her first event, the 50m backstroke.
She's checking her goggles just before swim time...
And as the buzzer rang to start the event, Violet was determined to make it a good one. I love this picture - with the sheer concentration on her face as she pushes off the wall...
And her first event is done! Two more to go!
Rick volunteered to time the events, and Riley helped.

Violet was checking out which heat she was in next...
It was the 100 freestyle. She had a bit of a bobble on her dive into the pool, which is unusual because she's normally a great little diver. But she recovered pretty well...
And finished strong. Afterward she got a little pep talk from her Auntie, who is nearly as excited as I am about having a swimmer in the family!
Violet didn't have much time to rest, though! She was in the next event, the 50m breaststroke. This is her favorite event, and she did great.
She had a super dive into the water...

And after almost starting to freestyle, she caught herself just in time and began the breaststroke!
Here she is, mid-stroke, taking a breath...
And getting ready to go back for the last 25...
And finished! Awesomeness.

This swim meet was so much fun. It was really low-key (our YMCA was competing against another YMCA team in town), but great experience for the kids. Violet is definitely a natural swimmer (just like her Auntie!) and I couldn't be prouder of how well she did. No medals or ribbons this time, but then again she is one of the youngest on the team and this was her first race ever. I believe there will be another meet at the end of September. She is so excited to do it again! :)

The Art Show

So I have mentioned before that Rick and I are helping out as leaders of the Young Adult group at church, right? Pastor Eli and Deidre are in charge and we are their helpers. Well, a few months ago we were talking about doing some sort of fundraiser and we ended up deciding on doing an art gallery. There are several members of the group that have some pretty good artistic ability, and we were pretty confident we could end up creating some good stuff to share at the show.



We had the Gallery on August 17th... and it was actually a great success as a fundraiser. Not as many group members participated (it was mostly the leaders), but it totally created a good buzz for our group which was awesome. Everyone donated their art pieces, so 100% of the sale prices went directly to our group. It was really awesome!



Here are a few of the pieces I created... I am not sure how many I did in total, because I just kept making stuff and bringing it in. This first one, a 12x24 wood mixed media sign, was one of the pieces I made using those woodblock letters:



And this is one of the five 8x10 canvases I made for our "six word memoir" project. This is the teaching I did a few weeks ago. I decided to use lyrics from worship songs for the ones I made to sell at the show. You may notice I totally stole this script and even color scheme from the recent Starbucks poster campaign.
This is another piece I did that ended up being really popular. I have a few requests for me to make more of these, which cracks me up because this is the last one I made and it was totally as an afterthought. LOL! Next time I will make a few of these. It's 12x24.
I had actually made this one awhile ago... it's a 12x12 canvas.
I also sold this chair, which I had made a few years ago for a scrapbook store. The chair was wildly popular as well, so we decided that we will make more chairs for the next show.

Here are a few more of my pieces on one of the walls... the top is 16x20, then two 5x7s below that and an 11x14 that got cut off on the right. I had made that 11x14 awhile ago for one of my It Kit Studio projects.
And the long wall of the gallery...
The middle of the room with freestanding pieces as well as the folding screen wall...
And the shorter wall. All the really cool, pop-art looking stuff is our friend Chance. Melinda and Luke bought the black daisies (to the right of the guitar) as well as the larger piece on the wall just below the guitar. Liane and Carl bought my red LOVE sign (much to the disappointment of Melinda and Chance, who also wanted it).

I can't say enough about how great the Gallery was. We are definitely planning on doing another one, probably in mid-November. We have lots of great ideas for how we can execute it to make it even more fabulous than this one has been! I can't wait to do it again.

Update #8 - The House

So remember forever ago when I went through that whole "rearranging" thing in my office? Here is the result. Still a tad messy at the moment, but at least you can see how it's changed.
The desk on the left there was moved from the wall to the left and replaced with the TV. We hung those cool IKEA shelves above the desk, which is perfect for current art projects and photos to display. The TV has a cool new stand now... an awesome purchase from IKEA! These drawers hold all sorts of business goodies and I LOVE them. Oh and what's that burgundy thing in the front?
Alas, while you may have been reminded by Jon Boardman for a moment (as are we, daily, by it), that swollen burgundy ball you are seeing is a LoveSac. A SuperSac with footrest to be precise. The kids call it a "baby love sac" and they use it as their launching pad as they do superb feats of aerial strength onto the Big Sac. (oh, and the roses in the foreground? My 13th anniversary present from Rick!)
Here you are, sitting on the lovesac facing the door. This is the work table where I package orders, work on art projects, and attempt to not pile things anymore. Just outside the door to the right (you can't see it) is the filing cabinet, which I wanted so desperately to remove from the room. And the pile you see outside the door is one of four stacks of scrapbooking and crafting magazines I am purging.
This is our "gallery" going down our stairs. We have all sorts of fun art hung here... The big head of Demetri Martin was drawn by Carl. Just to the left of it is our newest purchase... an original painting by Chance Gomez of an antique typewriter. I seriously LOVE it and now we have three pieces by Chance... the daisy (our first one), the typewriter, and the guitar. Rick got me the typewriter and I got him the guitar as anniversary presents. They were part of a gallery show that we put on at our church for our Young Adult group. I have photos of that I hope to share later this week. Other art here includes a small block by Amy Ruppel, prints by local artists Dar Freeland, Jennifer Main, and more, and a really extra cool litho print by Liane. I love my gallery!
Oh and of course, I wanted to show you my FLOORS! Violet loves them.
Here is the living room in it's new blue color, complete with fancy new shutters and crown moulding...

This is the view from the front door looking to the family room. You can see the baseboards pretty well from this shot. We went from these gross, standard, 3 inch baseboards to 6.5 inches. I love love them. The same guy that did the crown moulding did the baseboards and I am so glad he did. It was sooo great not having to do that last step and just getting it done in a day.
Since we moved the piano out from the stairway area, I turned into my Grandma Jane corner. That is her lamp from her house, and to the right of it is a piece of her bathroom wallpaper that I absolutely loved as a kid. And the chair was also Grandma's. I love that corner.
And, the kitchen - with our new shutters on the sliding glass door.
Oh and I mentioned that I got those really awesome woodblock letters from the antique show in Michigan? Check them out...!

Wait till you see the art I made with them!! I will share that tomorrow!

Update #7 - The Wedding Day

The Wedding Day started out with gorgeous weather, although the forecast was for thunderstorms. Aside from a few white puffy clouds (and an unfortunate rise in humidity), the weather was beautiful. Aren't my boys handsome?
I love this picture of Papa :)
The groom and his mother. I love her headpiece. Most of the British ladies wore some. I totally wanted to wear a hat, but my sisters weren't interested in wearing one with me. So I didn't. But I would have totally fit in with all the Britishy folk.
And the bride... she looked very lovely.
Shedding a tear as they shared their vows...

The family blessing...
And, of course, the kiss...
Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Fairweather... :)
There was supposed to be a garden tea party after the wedding, but the skies were looking ominous and I was pretty sure the kids wouldn't make it. So we got lunch and headed back to the hotel just as the skies opened up and a HUGE rainstorm fell. The attendants of the Tea ended up all huddling under a porch, waiting for the rain to stop. But really, I think that was the only glitch to the whole affair.

At the evening reception, I got to catch a picture of all the kid cousins (except the baby, who was sound asleep in her daddy's baby bjorn carrier)...
The reception was loads of fun (other than the overzealous waiters who apparently had nothing better to do than clear tables of uneaten food while party guests were dancing... half of us didn't get any cake because it was cleared away before we ate it!). The music was decent and everyone had a good time dancing. We finally left around 9:30 pm (just as the polka started) to get the kids off to bed... after a quick stop for some ice cream since we didn't have any cake.

Sunday morning we got to see everyone one last time before heading out to the airport to catch our flights back to Vegas and the reality of laundry and chores and jobs. Sigh. It was fun while it lasted... and the perfect end to a wonderful summer.

Update #6 - The Wedding (Rehearsal Dinner)

Friday the 8th was an absolutely lovely evening... we went to Lindsey's house for a wonderful backyard gathering for the rehearsal dinner. The weather was perfect, and there were fun lawn games set up around the property... croquet, bocce, lawn darts (which Uncle John wisely confiscated soon after small children arrived. As an aside, aren't those illegal? Or something? Cause people can impale each other? Just wondering)... And of course, the moment we arrived, Violet took charge and invented her own game.
You had to roll (throw?) the ball and hit the post. And if you did, you got Bonus Points (or was it a free turn?). I am not sure, but the other kids totally loved it.
Especially this cutie. She is so adorable I can't stand it.
And this kid. Who took my baby and replaced him with a dude? WHO???
There were plenty of Sisterly Love moments...
And beer :)

I love my sisters! :)
AND I also love toothless babies!!
Meanwhile, as we are all enjoying the gathering, I noticed that across the yard there assembled a group of British folk, with the bride and groom in the front row. With a "program"... from the "show." And, indeed, there was my daughter and her cousin, performing some sort of magic/variety show for the crowd. I believe this scene was called (and I am not making this up)... "Girl Running Fast."
The Brits were ever so polite, however, and appreciated the entertainment.
But the best entertainment of all? Fireflies at dusk. Here Riley has one in his hand... and Violet caught a whole jarful. And Melinda got to experience seeing and catching fireflies for the first time. There is something completely magical about them. It was perfect.

Tomorrow, the Wedding Day :)