Happy Fourth of July

I just recently returned for a little vacation at my parents house. Catching up with friends and family could not have been more enjoyable. My dad’s garden is in full gear (when the 102 degree sun isn’t bubbling up the veggies). I love seeing what he does with it every year and enjoying those daddy-grown tomatoes (can’t beat them!).

from a bus window( Lebanon)

Two years ago we took a trip with most of Charley’s side of the family.

so just imagine this many relatives:

Driving around in this:

 

 

(well to be completely technical, fourth from the right didn’t drive with us- that’s the hospital director. This picture was taken right outside of the hospital where Charley’s granddad used to work).

I recently stumbled across my old pictures from the trip and figured I would share.

These for starters were from occasionally clicking a picture from the bus window. No composition, just a quick snap. However I feel like the represent a lot of the rockier dryer regions that we drove through.

 

Turquoise Sea (Lebanon)

Little people making art

I paint with the kid’s I nanny a lot. So much that Little Man often wakes up from his nap and yells out “color!” instead of my name. One thing I’ve really enjoyed is watching them explore the different types of marks a paintbrush can make. When I paint with the older kids we work on stuff like mixing colors and all that jazz, but with little man it’s the pure enjoyment of making a mess. I used to hate art with the younger crowd..it’s certainly a messy experience, but I’ve begun to appreciate watching them learn little things….like twirling a brush makes a circle. Or how I move my brush to make a spatter. His favorite part is not putting the paint on paper, it’s getting to pour the paint from the tube “all by himself”. 

There have been a few things I’ve noticed about kids in general while doing art:

1. the bigger the better

They want a huge piece of paper.

2. they want it to look real

I think most parents realize that art supplies are expensive, and they are…but there is something to be said for letting them use “the good stuff” I tape off edges for them, I use the nice paper. I try to make them feel like what they are doing is creating a long lasting work of art. If I give a kid some color wonder markers, they lose interest, but if I give them real “pro” markers and tell them they are exactly what I would use- I’ve seen some fierce  concentration there (and lets face it, I want them to concentrate so I don’t  have to come up with a new activity every 10 minutes). I also stress that it’s the nicer paper so they don’t start over. When they say, “I messed it up” I want them to think about how they could fix it instead of wasting.

3. no matter how much of a guide I choose to be, they are going to do their own thing

I think that’s the goal. If we’re making puppets and I say okay can you put the face on, I have to be okay with buttons covering every inch of it. If I explain that the sky meets the ground, I have to be okay if Butterfly Princess still disagrees with me.

4. they want to be in control

I feel like giving them suggestions (“ oh we should paint the sky today, oh we should make up animals today”) helps to get them started without making it to cookie cutter. They bring home a lot of “mass created” projects from school since there are more children to look after. I think coloring at home should allow more freedom.

Maybe. I’m new at this, but those  are at least some things I’ve noticed thus far.

Bang-bang

I locked myself out of the house and charley was just returning, he pulled up and said

“crap. you’re such a hipster”

aha not a complement, but it’s sort of true. It’s not intentional…I just happen to like cameras and that doesn’t help the stereo type.

Anyways, I went to go get a trim today and the lady recommended bangs so I was like what the heck, yes. Last time I had them, I was five.  These past few months I have just wanted to try things- any thing, just for something new.  I’ve always been a fan of bangs, just didn’t know if I could pull em off.  I like how they turned out though and was pretty surprised. I wear my hair in a pony tail 90 % of the time these days and I think they add a lot to wearing your hair up.  They also help with my lack of eyebrow problem.

Not to mention, it took me three minutes to walk to my salon. They gave me coffee and a neck/ head massage, full blowout ect ect and they didn’t chat my ears off. I didn’t have a game plan, I just asked for her professional advice and some options.

Holy mackeral Batman, grab the art repellent

You know, I always thought I loved the paint. but my heart throb is pen ink and charcoal. I am unsure as to why I never realized that before…so much that I’m packing away the paint for a little while (until we move and I have more space to work). I showed the boys my Juneau sketch and they said it looked like batman….

I’m also forcing myself to do a little study everyday and for someone with as little routine as I, that’s a big task. It’s funny because I also started cracking down on some bad habbits. IE. I have been soda free for two weeks now…I’m dying…no really, a life without coke is ARG. I’m allowing myself to have 1 cup of coffee in the morning (because lets be reasonable…didja really think I could quit coffee?). Charley has also called me out on my eating habits, so I’m trying to cook more meals instead of nibbling here and there on “filler food”.

  Charley and I also started p90 X together. It took some getting used to exercising together but we got the hang of it. We have to move the couch in the living room against the stove in order to have enough space. It’s great to have some accountability and motivation to workout…especially since it takes a huge chunk of time. The shortest workouts are at least an hour, and I’m still  running with Juneau. Some of the moves (like in kickboxing) I’m just not coordinated enough yet, so I usually flail around like an octopus in the background and try not to fall over. However, I feel awesome after these workouts. You can tell what you’ve worked and it’s made so you can build up. No pressure to finish every single set. Plus I get a huge kick out of watching Charley jump like a ballerina or balance like a Buddha.

So it only took until June, but there you have it: our new years resolutions!

oh you made the bed….

Making the bed at our house, one can expect a consistent result.

The outcome is as reliable as making the rain come because you have no umbrella,  watched pots that never boil, and untimed sicknesses on test days.

A cause and effect if you will:  Sheets get washed, pillows get fluffed, dog jumps on bed. ( Everycottonpickintime. )

and in case you were wondering if she does this to spite us, her great mirth was caught on long exposure:

Why do we bother making the bed?

well it’s a nice gesture on some days, but today we had visitors all throughout the day looking at the apartment to see if they’d like to rent here. I’m hoping we find someone soon and fast.