Hello

I love fall.

Quicky update

Amelia started full day kindergarten! She is enjoying it despite the fatigue, which I'm hoping will subside once we get more accustomed to this routine. She is making lots of new friends and loves her teacher.





I am getting back into the school groove with a couple online classes and also doing some work for my dad. Milo misses his sister during the day and is tagging along with me, but is being a trooper about it all.


We all feel like this a lot lately....

Hope you're enjoying the start of this new season as much as we are. :)

Hello.

Enjoying the summer so far, hope you are too. Some day maybe I'll keep this up. ;)

I blinked...

...and she grew up.
My sweet little girl turns five today!

keep it local

Felt compelled to pass this on, it's a really good idea: The 3/50 Project.

Happy Spring!

In honor of this glorious day, how about some flowers, or some Paris? Or both! Oh my. Courtesy of the ever-inspiring Design Sponge, of course.

Hello.

Internal Crisis.

Anyone who as ever had any sort of artistic inclination whether it be through music, visual arts, writing, etc. should watch this, found on Soule Mama. I'll be cheesy and say that the lyrics totally spoke to me (in a whimsical sort of way I guess) as I'm sort of in a quandary right now as to when, how, if, I should start seriously pursuing art. It's always been a part of my life, sometimes intensly and sometimes only in the form of something small, like arranging some flowers to set on the table. But now I really am starting to feel like I need to take that urge a little more seriously, I just don't know how, but I'm working on that. Another really cute video is this song, I love the little sock fish, found on Creature Comforts.

Smarty Pants

You know you listen to too much NPR news when your 4 year old goes around singing things like "stimulus package! stimulus package!" and "nasdaq!" to the tune of "A Spoon Full of Sugar". A wee bit of irony there actually, I guess. And she asked me what the stimulus package was, so I gave her what I thought would be a good age-appropriate (generic) answer. She stared at me blankly for a minute and then said "you mean like for if the banks and the schools don't have enough money?" And again I was reminded of how much does not go over her head. Yikes.

Some culture for the kids.

On Saturday the kids and I took advantage of a free day at the Fine Arts Center since we aren't members anymore. Amelia and I have been there before and of course she does great, but to be quite honest I was skeptical of how pleasant our visit would be with Milo. He was an absolute doll though, I couldn't have asked for more. He sat perfectly content in the sling for the 2+ hours we meandered through the exhibits, he watched people, pointed at and talked about a few pieces that caught his eye, and toward the end when he started to get bored he experimented with the acoustics in the rooms a bit. His favorite was a huge painting with a big dog. We walked by it a few times and he pointed to it and made his "woof woof" sound. Really cute.

I am not at a point in my life where I could give any sort of intelligent commentary on the art I saw... I can barely remember what I saw. The visit was mainly for the kids. I'll tell you what I do remember though: I remember Amelia had some pretty intelligent comments and some pretty strong opinions on some stuff. The way kids take things in sometimes surprises me.... we saw an installation piece that creeped me out a bit but didn't bother Amelia at all. (She's been having nightmares and I was a bit paranoid that hanging around this particular piece would create more, but she took it in completely innocently.) It was titled "The Discarded", set up in a corner, took up about a fourth of the whole room and included mainly old doll parts; heads, limbless bodies, etc. Oh, and plastic chili peppers among other things. Maybe Amelia was immune to the creepiness because of her own barbies that have been inadvertently decapitated, I don't know. But then on the flip-side, there were a couple rooms with what I thought of as your run-of-the-mill portrait paintings and landscapes, which she pretty much hated and even said "I don't like it in here I want to get out of this room right now." So we did. She asked a lot of good questions and got what I hope were satisfactory answers, laughed at some stuff, made some thoughtful remarks, and had an overall good time. We left in time to run around in the grass outside and take in a couple of the big outdoor sculptures before it got dark. I suppose that was actually Milo's favorite part.

This was Amelia's favorite, and the only thing I was brave enough to take a picture of. (I have no idea if photos are allowed or frowned upon or what. I saw other people doing it but it didn't feel right.) It's a collaborative piece by kids who take art classes at the center. Pretty cool.

Updates coming soon...

I promise! There are a few drafts I started a while back that I'll get finished and published soon. All the festivities: Milo's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and some lovely randomness. :) I'll leave you for now with this.....



He keeps me on my toes.