Mama and Her Camera

This kid doesn't seem to mind pictures being taken of him. He's cute and performs well for me.

Now with this kid - it's an entirely different story. But I consider myself a photojournalist. It would be wrong of me to not take pictures, even if the subjects aren't too happy. Oh well. He needs to get over it. This is the Mom that God gave him and he simply needs to get over it, doncha think?

Can't you hear Mama playin' the violin now?

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First Formal

Pearly went to her first "formal" last week. The high school volleyball team traditionally has a formal where the girls put on their formal attire and go to someone's house for a very nice dinner. Two of their male friends from the high school basketball team were dressed in black slacks, white shirt, and black bow tie and served them their meal. What a fun tradition. What I liked about it is that it didn't have the same kind of pressure I had when I was a kid. These girls were happy to borrow each other's old formal dresses and didn't care that their dress was not brand new. Boy, there was so much pressure for having name-brand labels, brand new, etc, when I was a teen. Pearly wore big sister's formal and it was a perfect fit :)

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Are You Bugged?

I bought a cool insect drawing book a while back. It comes with a template with various shapes. On one side of the page is the completed insect. On the other side is the beginnings of the insect with markings to show how to use the template to complete the insect.

This was pretty fun for Orange Boy even though he has no idea Mom has other things in mind: drafting skills, art skills, following directions, starting & complete assigned tasks, independent work/creativity. That's what I'm talking about!

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New Sweater

My daughter came over for a visit and brought the sweater she knit for Jonathan. She didn't quite finish it (buttons and pocket) and also is having trouble finding the time to complete it, so I offered to finish it for her.

I loved the pattern when I saw it at the store and bought the yarn. She swiped the project from me and said she wanted to make it for her brother. How could I say no? I'm going to try to finish the buttons and pocket in the next couple days, but had to take this picture.

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Read Me a Story, Papa

No less than 5 minutes after Papa got home from work. The book - a children's version of Aesop's Fables.

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Pearly's Pics

It was a fantastic day today - about 69 degrees and gloriously sunny. I'm so glad we got the little point and shoot for Tall Dude's trip. Pearly has been taking pictures lately. I love this:

And then she caught her brothers playing with their boy-toys: a dart powered by a rubberband and a crossbow.



The boys inspecting their target (old baby mattress):

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Gift Idea

A couple months ago, I ordered this collage from Snapfish.com (sorry about the glare and poor lighting - the quality IRL is superb). I love it. Unbeknownst to any of us at the time, this would be our last family photo shoot with all the kids still at home. The pictures turned out great and I wanted a way to showcase them.

It was very easy to drop and drag the pictures. You decide what size collage you want and if you want the collage done horizontally or vertically and they do the rest . I kind of wish it were possible to manually move the pictures around to change the order, but overall, this is a great way to make a quick collage for not much $$. This one cost $14.99 at Snapfish.com. A couple days later, I found that Costco.com will make the same collage for only $9.99 - gotta love Costco. There are color options for the background and you can add titles as well. I made a collage for my parent's dog, Casey (the dog I referred to earlier last month) and they both were in tears when they saw it. This is a great gift idea with very little time/effort - perfect for busy moms.

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Weekend

Just got back from a ladies retreat here:

The weather was typical Oregon spring weather - very unpredictable with showers, hail, sunshine, windy, cold, warm - just wait a couple minutes and it changes.

It was nice to be able to spend time with friends from church and also have a special time with Pearly.

I was able to begin a new "brainless" knitting project - meaning it's a good project to work on while listening to speakers. The yarn is yummy - a merino/bamboo/nylon blend. Very nice to work with.

The Chevron Scarf from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts
has been a great project. I love how the 2 colorways work together.
Yarn: Pagewood Farm Hand Dyed Sock Yarn in colorways: Really Red and Mississippi Mud
1 skein each

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Budding Artist

I was tucking Bunny in bed last night and saw this little piece of artwork right by his pillow. I was surprised that a 5-yr old would notice such details in a fighter jet. Isn't it interesting how boys seem to draw boyish things? My girls wouldn't have drawn anything like this.

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