Caroline & Henry

Wow. So much for NaBloPoMo. That so did not work out for me.

Anyway,

I love this family. Love them! Patricia & I came home from our missions around the same time about 10 years ago (wow!), and bonded through our love of spanish music. In fact, the last time I went to a big name concert was with Patricia to see Ricky Martin. Which may be why I don't go to big name concerts anymore. Wow. TMI.

Anywhoooo,

Aren't they cute? Love them!


There was one, one split-second where neither sibling was crying when we put them together (sounds familiar!). So lucky I caught it.


One thing I love about this family is their ability to use strong colors really well. Patricia made this little bear for Caroline--don't you love it?


So sweet.

Caroline is a very private little girl. It was kind of fun to work with that, and we were able to capture her sweetness & her shyness.

This may well be my new all-time favorite picture.

Henry was much more of a ham. He posed for me like a pro.

I love his lips & hands in this shot. Also that quilt! Patricia & her mom are both quilting goddesses, and their house is practically overflowing with treasures like this one.

This look, right here, is why people say that babies are wise. Henry looks like he has got it all down to a science here.

Mmm...fun family to photograph! Thanks for letting me be a part of your journey!

Tis the Season

I've always wanted to make a nativity. It's on my life list. So last week, when they announced at church that they needed people to bring their nativities to decorate the big Christmas party, I pulled out my sketch pad & drew this during choir practice.


I love it. I love how peaceful it looks. I love how Jesus looks like he's related to Mary, but not Joseph. I love that I got to use my very favorite paper (the one that I save the tiniest scraps of) for Jesus' swaddling clothes, and somehow, for me, that seemed almost worshipful. I love that this was my drawing, and not a copy from someone else.


So now they've joined our little guardian angel on top of the piano. Maybe next year I'll paint the shepherds or the wise men. Yeah, that would be fun!


P.S. Since this was my drawing, I can sell it. If you're interested in an 8x10 print, call me. We can get it shipped to you right away!

On my list today

I'm canning mangoes today. How sweet is that? I've found that, for my lifestyle, canning in small batches works best. So this week I got a case of mangoes at Costco, & to ensure that none go bad, I'm going to can most of them. Simon could eat mangoes all day, and I'm just loving the idea of being able to open a jar for him when there aren't any good ones in the stores. Mmm... domesticity.

In which Simon narrates

Hi. It's me, Victory, in the purple. A couple of weeks ago, we went walking in Briones, which we do kind of a lot. We love it there. Anyway, while we were waiting for our burgers at Nations, Simon dictated this letter to Grandma & Grandpa Nichols, and I thought it was so irresistible, I had to share it with you.

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,


Today we made a fairy house only.


We walked in a maze.

The maze is called a labyrinth.


We made fairy dresses. (This consisted of poking a hole in a leaf and leaving it in the fairy house. Simon was very concerned that there were fairies out there running around in their skivvies.)


We saw a snake! It was big. It was in the grass.


We saw trees, too.

After the hike we went to lunch.

Then, I saw a spider. It was a Halloween spider. I'm going to be Wall-e for Halloween. (He was a cowboy. And a knight.)

I love you. I like to drink milk and juice and water.

I was going hiking today.

I saw a squirrel in the pool. (a pool of water in a tree trunk) ??? Your guess is as good as mine.

I like you.

Love, Simon

I want to record every second of this little boy. You, know, when he's not smearing paint on the walls. {love}

I'm a Cylon

So my sister, the Free Range Chick, has been doing this knitting game based on Battlestar Galactica for a year or so now, and I've finally joined up. It's pretty rad because it has all sorts of little challenges--yay! Anyway, you get assigned to be either a human or a Cylon, and I get to be a Cylon with my sis--again, yay!

Anyway, just for fun, I whipped up this little pic in photoshop for my avatar. Three of the uber-hot cylon skin-jobs. hee hee!

Dan & Quinn

Waking up to a good snuggle while camping. Quinn is beautiful beyond words, and Dan's hair is aaaaaaawesome!


The time Dan channelled Risky Business through his youngest.

Me, I'm feeling like caca today, so that's all I have to say. 'Night!

Guardian Angel

I couldn't do it. I couldn't take down my Boo Who painting without putting up a replacement. This little guardian angel is also inspired by one of Diane Duda's sketches, but I think more of it came from me this time.


I wanted to do an angel because of a couple of scriptures that have been on my mind lately: Psalms 91:11, "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." Also Luke 12:6-7, "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows."


Anywho, this painting came together much more quickly than the last one--about 4 hours from start to finish. Awesome! Can I tell you, I'm so much more focused and calm after I've painted? It's kind of zen for me.


You can't really tell what's going on with the wings in these photos, but they're made from a pearly-shimmery scrapbook paper with some damask designs on it. I love them.

I love how she fits in with our little harvest tableau, too. The pretty lady on the other side of the piano is also an angel, and one that inspires me, too, so I'm happy to have them balance each other. Once the Christmas season is past, I think I'll put my new angel in the entryway in the back of our home as a reminder that we have guardian angels with us every time we leave this house.


While I was painting, at least the first 45 minutes or so, Simon was doing this:



Here's the Kookaburra he made. I love him! Simon has a thing for kookaburras. I love how his has big feet and an accidental smile. {sigh}

Dan

I'm just loving on you today.


Love it.

Love it. Never want to forget it.

Love you.

Halloween Pumpkins

Today, as I'm cleaning up Halloween and decorating for Thanksgiving, I'm feeling grateful for pumpkin stickers.

It meant a lot that Quinn was able to decorate his pumpkin all by himself.

Doesn't this picture just crack you up??? Simon had such a blast decorating pumpkins. Love that kid.

And now for me, you can see how easily Halloween Pianoscape will transform to Thanksgiving Pianoscape. Don't know if I'm ready to say goodbye to Boo Who for a whole year, though.

Maybe I need to do some painting today.

Medallion Medley

I finally took pictures of my Medallion Medley shawl! I. love. this. shawl! It is warm, and yummy, and so unique!

When I was 12, my mom taught me to crochet, making a simple triangle shell shawl with rainbow yarn. I'm so grateful she taught me this craft. Thanks, Mom.

Family Foto Funday

...because Friday just wasn't working out for me. I do family history on Sundays, though, soooooo:

I've written before about my great grandpa, J. Ed Johnson, the headstanding wonder. He's awesome.

This was his (& G.Gma Johnson's too) Christmas card in 1971. He's standing on his head throughout western Europe. The one on top of the Matterhorn is faked, I'm pretty sure, but the rest are real. Awesome.

Here are some more of J. Ed's antics. Seriously, I'm surprised he got cooperation on some of these.

On a petrified tree at the Petrified Forest in Arizona. I went there when I was 8 with my Grandma Franklin. Sadly, for some weird reason it was closed, and I was soooo disappointed (I love me some petrified wood!), and I've always wanted to go back there. Not enough to actually go to Arizona (hot = yucky!), but I love that J. Ed went there. And stood on his head.


Here he is at the Grand Canyon. The back of this picture reads, "How do you like my cute unknown secret admirer!! Had I been a little nearer to the fence; then eased over it backward, my first stop would have been some 1400 feet down." Yikes!


I've shown you this one at Yosemite before. These high-up ones make me nervous just to look at the pictures. Seriously, how did the person holding the camera not say, "No, Grandpa, I think it's time to have you committed." Although if he had, J. Ed probably would have wrestled him down & given the camera to someone more willing...

And my personal favorite:

This is the barn at our family's ranch. You can see that he brought up a couple of pillows to give himself an even surface on the roof's peak. He is so brave! I can't even climb a stepladder without getting freaked out (on the inside). My other favorite headstand picture, which I have to dig out & scan for you, shows J. Ed doing it on the back of that pretty brown horse in this picture.

Which brings me to the other thing I wanted to talk (blog) about.

November is National Blog Posting Month, or NaBloPoMo. It's all about celebrating this online community & getting into the habit of posting every day. Every day! So I'm going to give it a try. Cheer me on, oh electronic support system!

Other things I'm going to do in November

1. Find out if I can still do a headstand (sounds lame, but I need to be careful not to re-injure my foot).
2. If I can do #1, learn to do a leglift like J. Ed
3. Start playing Christmas carols way too early
4. Learn to play the harmonica. Not kidding!
5. Make a cute, girly hostess apron
6. Make me some Sourwood Mountain fingerless gloves.

Wish me luck!

Transitioning

Nice 'do, Q.

Every now & then I'll walk into Simon's room and find Quinn snuggling down for naptime in Simon's bed. Sometimes he'll do it on my bed, too. I figure he's just about ready to say farewell to the crib. I already have fabric to make his big-boy fuzzy blanket for Christmas this year. Woohoo!

Of course, times like this always make me stop & think for a moment. We're about to move past the crib stage as a family. That is so awesome! I know I'm supposed to feel nostalgic & wistful, but I don't, really. I'm just enjoying where my boys are right now. No wishes to go back. I heard once that's how you know you're really done having children. No more baby-hunger, no awww, this is the last time that Quinn does whatever. Yep, just enjoying now & looking forward.

Now if I could just feel that way about the rest of my life, I'd be all set.

Quinn

Why is it that when I say, "No, no, yucky!", he hears, "put it in your mouth, baby, it'll be fun"?

I'm just sayin'.

Ardenwood

A couple of weekends ago, our friend Mackenzie took us to Ardenwood Farm in Hayward (?). Super fun! It was the harvest festival that day, so on top of the train, cornfield, etc, they had extra activities. The kids would have been happy to card & spin wool all day...


...while Amy & I were stoked to learn how to make cornhusk dolls. I'm a big fan of pioneer dolls (I already knew handkerchief dolls; now I need to learn hollyhock dolls). Simon decided that this one was Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Awesome that he can play along with his girl friends.


Simon demonstrating safe driving. Forget the road, always keep your eyes on the wheel. On the wheel.

They have cornfields of popcorn and indian corn that you can pick & take home. (grin!)

I love that we've been getting out more on weekends. Dan & I feel like we are doing a better job at forming good childhood memories for the boys. It's so restful to the soul when we can get that good quality family time. I am so in love with these boys!