Father's Day

There are three dads in my life. All have such significant roles in my life.
First, there is the dad to my children. Without my husband, I think I would go insane caring for my children. He is a great, great, dad. For him, family comes first. Our kids love him and look to him for guidance, protection, and fun. The above painting is of him guiding my daughter across a river.

Next, there is my husband's dad. I call him dad. He has been the greatest father in law anyone could wish for. He is a significant part of our lives and we are so grateful that he is able to live so close to us and that we are able to see him weekly.

Then, there is my own dad. I love him so much. He has sacrificed so much for my brother and me. He is a quiet man of inner strength. He can also fix anything! When I was young, he even fixed my hair! My friends always said they liked my hair and asked if my mom did it. Nope, it was my dad! As a perfectionist, my pigtails were always perfect. The above painting shows him fixing my daughter's hair.

Happy Father's Day to my dads and to all the other dads out there!

Happy Anniversary

Today is my husband’s and my wedding anniversary. We’ve been married for 15 years. I feel as if I’ve know him forever.

Last weekend we took a trip to the Monterrey/Carmel area in California to celebrate.

We stayed in this wonderful bed & breakfast in Pacific Grove – in between Monterrey and Carmel. It is right near the ocean – we were able to run every day on a path alongside the ocean.

We drove on the 17 mile road in Pebble Beach. The days looked mostly like this – grey. It was okay, it was fun just being together!

We also drove to Big Sur. What a sight! Vistas like the one above were at every turn!

We also walked around the quaint town of Carmel where many of the buildings look like the above photo.

Wine tasting was a must – with dozens of vineyards in the Carmel Valley. We only visited 4.

We had so much fun- what a treat to be able to spend a little time together to celebrate one of the biggest event in our lives. Happy Anniversary Aaron - I love you!

It’s Almost Over!

This month has been insane! Between all the school activities and programs, and birthdays, I am exhausted! The picture above is the last of my daughter’s birthday parties. It has been a 3 week celebration between my family, my husband’s family, our own family, and finally here with her friends. In both my husband’s and my family, there are 9 birthdays in May and early June.

There are 7 days of school left, and all the parents are counting down the days! I think I am more excited than the kids – no more driving back and forth to school, no more homework….although, I have traded in our school schedule to now an insanely busy summer schedule….

The above picture is of a field trip I went on with the kindergartners. It was at a ranch where the kids got to ride ponies, go on a hayride, and have a picnic. We were sitting in the hayride in this picture. The horses came right up to where we were sitting, and the kids got to feed them some hay. It was all good and fun until the wind kicked up, hay got in our eyes, and we were covered head to toe in the itchy stuff! It was quite funny actually, but there were kids screaming because some of the horses got a bit too close.

What a scene, isn’t this pretty?

The Best Mother’s Day Gift…..Ever!

I was blessed with this little peanut 6 years ago today…Mother’s Day 2003. She is my spunky, friendly one who will tell everyone she sees today that it is her birthday. Her little “go after it” personality was apparent day one when she decided to come into the world on Mother’s Day instead of the next day when she was scheduled. Happy Birthday little Belle, you are going so fast, we love you so much!

Mother's Day

My mom is my inspiration. She has been through such trials, having gone through wartime Korea as a young girl. She walked for miles and miles with her family to escape gunfire, and was hungry for days on end. It is a life I cannot imagine for myself or my children. She has been through so much, and yet always kept a positive attitude. She is a person who will make things happen, a woman of faith, a survivor, and an inspiration to me. I love her so much. Happy Mother's Day mom!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there too!

Taking Photos in Style

I take my small Cannon elph camera everywhere. It is always in my purse. There are times, though, when I wish I could take my bigger Nikon SLR camera without lugging my ugly camera bag that looks like a camera bag. Many hours of searching on the internet for a decent looking, reasonably priced bag, and this is what I ended up buying at Best Buy:

I was so excited to find this! It is made by Swiss Gear, you know, the makers of the watches and pocket knives. It has all the compartments I need for the camera, extra lens, and also my wallet, car keys, i-phone, and lipstick. I could probably shove more into it if I wanted.

I really wanted this bag below, but I don’t think it would have fit all that I needed it to.

Isn’t it cute?! It is called the Bowler Camera Bag by Acme Made. It’s only $39.99. I read somewhere that the company is supposed to come out with a “Super Bowler” that is a bit bigger.

Of course, there’s this medium leather bag by Jill-e:

And, this small leather bag:

The Jill-e bags were more than what I wanted to spend, but I was tempted! They come in a variety of colors, and sizes, and are so cute!

Breaking Free

Do you ever want to break free from the "same old same old" thing you've been doing? Sometimes I just want change. My daily routine is getting so boring! Maybe it's Spring fever, or maybe it's because I'm just plain ready to try new things. Some of my routine is unavoidable - there are kids to pick up and drop off. Kids' activities to attend; their routines will not change.

I've taken steps to make small changes in my life: my art is changing, my home decor is changing, and I've changed my exercise routine in the morning. (My husband and I started a new exercise regimine together. It is so unfair that men can shed pounds so much more quickly than women and, that a 5 foot tall woman has to work so hard to shed a couple of pounds! ...oops, I digress - so sorry!)

Besides these little steps, my life-long goal is to get deeper in my walk with God, develop deeper relationships with friends and family, and continue to grow and learn new things and not let my daily routine make me walk around as if I'm sleepwalking through life!

I painted the above titled "Breaking Free" to express my desire for these things above. How about you, do you feel like breaking free sometimes?

Freshening Up Cont’d – My Slipcovers

A couple of weeks ago I showed you some of the things I did to freshen up my home. (You can click here to see that post.) Here’s what I worked on last week. This is a little makeover I did to my chairs. Here is a before picture of one of the chairs:

Here are the chairs after I made some slipcovers out of white cotton duck fabric:

I had the silk check pillows in my basement. They were a European sham style that I made many years ago, but my children and husband thought they needed to be used in a pillow fight. Of course they ripped right in the seam. I cut off the edge, and sewed the sides back together. This whole project cost me $30, but what a difference these slipcovers make to the room!

Here is the other side of this room (our library):

Thanks for viewing my little makeover. Now, go on to Between Naps on the Porch to see some awesome before and afters!

My Daughter’s Dream Room

My youngest daughter, almost 6 years old, loves to stare at these photos. I took them at last year’s Parade of Homes.

This is a cute cafe bedroom/playroom. (My daughter wants to become a chef when she grows up. She loves Giada DeLaurentis!)

Look at the bunk bed, and the little store underneath!

The Closet:

Below is the bathroom. I think it’s pretty, a bit more sophisticated than the actual room, but definitely something a tween or a teen may like:

Well, that’s it for this week. Are these weeks going faster and faster for you? It seems everything is happening this last month of school. I’m ready for a vacation!

Have a great weekend everyone!

April Showers…?

My tulips are buried right now due to a snowstorm we had this last weekend. This is a photo right before the burial. You can’t see them anymore. :(

I ran out to cut a few tulips.I took several photos since I’m sure this year’s tulips are gone with over a foot of snow piled on top of them.

Other versions of these tulips with some digital artistry:

By the way, I finally downloaded Windows Live Writer. Thanks Maria at Colour Me Happy for suggesting it to your readers! If you don’t have Writer, you really should look into it. It’s free and it makes blogging so much easier!