simple Analogy

Sebastian

Oh those lips!  Oh those cheeks!!!  Scrumptious!  My new nephew:  8 pounds 10 ounces  20 1/4 inches.  Healthy and hungry baby, happy mommy, proud daddy, excited sister.  In Magdalena's words, "My boy is here!"  Congratulations Tracy and Juan!  He's beautiful!

So Let the Neighbors Talk

For those of you who are totally wanting to do the chalk drawing thing, but don't have any kids to use as your excuse for drawing on your driveway... take heart.  You are not alone!  Meet Michael Neff and see his amazing shadow chalk drawing gallery.  Beautiful!  Imagine stepping outside one morning only to see that someone has captured the shadows of the night on the sidewalk in front of you.  That would make my day!

I tried it last night.  I wish we had detailed iron scroll work, but the only shadow I could find was the one made by the street light shining through the branches of my pine tree.  I grabbed my chalk and got to it.  Mine isn't nearly as wonderful as Michael Neff's and my camera doesn't take very good pictures in the dark, but it was fun and I felt like I was doing something clandestine.  None of the neighbors called Joel this morning to see if I was "all right", so I don't think I hurt my reputation too badly.

So see, you can let the inner child in you be free to chalk up the driveway - just do it at night.  Of course Mr. Neff's chalking can be attributed to artistic genius.  Somehow I fear it may not be translated the same way for you and I.  Someone might think we are doing graffiti, so be careful!  Just sayin'!

Am I Seeing Things?

 

I had such a fun time making the chalk for the craft along.  The colors I chose were yummy, the actual process was quick and easy, the results perfect.  But did you see the surprise?  I didn't see it until I started photographing - even then I thought I was seeing things.  But it's really truly there, just happened all on it's own with no help from me.  A star!  Look again!  Do you see it, do you see it? 

I first saw it when I was taking pictures of the wet tubes.  I thought when it dried it would be darker than the surrounding chalk like it is here.

But when it dried a phenomenon occurred.  The chalk surrounding it dried darker and the star dried lighter and was indented.  It's own personal imprint. 

Ok, maybe phenomenon is a little too dramatic, but I think it's so cool!  How it happened I do not know, but it was such a nice little surprise.  I guess that one just wanted to be the star of the show.

Photo Giveaway

I had my camera permanently attached to me the whole time we were in the mountains.  I took so many pictures, but of all this one is my favorite!

These thistles are very pretty, but rather a nuisance to the land owners.  Good thing for me that the butterflies love them.  This butterfly flitted around this thistle for about ten minutes, drinking the goodness of it's nectar.  I filled up my card on this one!

I don't have little girls at my house, so I can't build a whole room around the colors and theme of this picture.  Somehow I think my guys would mutiny if I tried to change the decor to lavender, yellow, and sky blue.   I'll just have to settle for inserting it into my living room gallery.

How about you?  Leave a comment for a chance to win "Pretty in Purple".  I'll pick a number on Wednesday morning.

The Feathered Nest

It seems I'm feathering my nest.  Filling my home with my creativity.  Making it a welcoming, peaceful, comfortable, beautiful sanctuary for my family.  How about those adjectives!  We spend a lot of time in the living room... playing games, reading, watching movies, computing, talking, praying, schooling.  My living room is so inviting and cozy now that my gallery is hanging on the wall behind my couch.  Just wait till those pillows are done! 

Click on any picture to see it larger.  You can see the set I used on flickr.

Endings

May is a month of endings...

AWANA - The awards ceremony happens Sunday and Noah has a script to learn.

Landon's research paper - These things are ETERNAL and not easy to teach.

Our homeschool year - We will be done by the end of May if it's the last thing I do!

Bible study - It always goes by so fast!

With all these endings trying to happen all at the same time, things have been crazy around here.  But once these come to an end, there will be another ending taking place ... busy-ness!  Not that summer is not busy, but it's a laid back kind of busy.  I could use some laid back busy right about now!

The pictures have nothing to do with the post, but they are pretty and peaceful!

Pomegranates and a Handful of Stones

Our neighbor's pomegranate tree is in bloom.  This is a tree of contention with me.  It hangs over our fence all year around.  When the pomegranates are ripe, the neighbors do not pick them.  They let them rot, which brings tons of scavenger bugs that eat the rotting pomegranates.  What a waste!  Yesterday when I saw there was a beauty of a bloom right within my grasp, I cut a stem.  That'll be one less rotten, buggy pomegranate that falls over our fence this year. 

I decided to make a new banner with it.  Landon has five smooth little stones that my mom brought back from her trip to Israel years ago.  She picked them out of the same little stream where David picked up his before he rocked Goliath.  Isn't that cool!  These stones are so pretty, and they look great with the flower.  I played around on picnik trying different effects with the photo.  Perfect! 

Emily's Smile

Isn't her smile beautiful?  This little girl is very special to us.  We have known her since she was a baby.  Emily is ten years old and has mitochondrial disease as well as nocturnal and grand mal seizures.  She is being featured during the month of April by Make a Child Smile, an organization committed to bring joy to the lives of chronically ill children with life threatening diseases. 

Our family will be taking time out this month to make Emily smile.  Would you consider joining us?  It's very easy! 

1. Click here to read more about Emily.
2. Drop a card in the mail.  The address is included in the write up about her.

Let's bring another smile to her face!

Chocolate in Church

You know how sometimes no matter how hard you are trying to pay attention in church your mind just wanders?  That would be me last night.

On the way to church I ate one of these little gems.  Yum!

During church, I had this conversation with myself-

Self:  You know you have a small baggie of those in your purse.

Me:  I know.

Self:  You could eat some!

Me:  What, here!  During church?

Self:  Well, yea!  Don't you see that mom up there giving her kids M&M's?  It's ok!

Me:  I'm not a kid.  I can wait.

Self:  Why would you put yourself through the torture of waiting for an hour, when you could pop one in your mouth right now?

Me:  Maybe you're right.

Self:  That's it!  Go ahead!

Me:  But it'll make too much noise.

Self:  Oh, come on now . . . 

And on it went.  There's a verse, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."  Oh too true!  It was definitely a tug of war.  The result?  I resisted the temptation.  Not so much because the spirit was overly willing, but because Megan was sitting next to me.  She's the one that gave them to me in the first place, and I didn't want her to think I had lost control!  Of course, if I had given in and eaten one, she wouldn't have reproached me!  She might have even joined in on my binge on chocolate in church.  Meg, it's all Mikey's fault! 

Ah Spring

 

There is nothing more beautiful than a tulip tree in early spring.