Cat House

Just a quick post today.. wanted to share the super cute piece Hannah soldered with Julee. She has a black cat Sophie so when she saw this on a collage sheet she grabbed the image and made this cute collage. Love the colors and think it will be so cute on our collage wall.

my funny Valentine

We were kind of off the hook for Valentine swap this year with the homeschooling, but not to be completely left out, Hannah decided to send Valentine's to a few friends through the mail. She colored in some cute little cards and sent them off to her closest friends and grandparents.

She got an awesome giant valentine from her Auntie Joleen and a couple of other goodies but to me the best one was from her friend Nathan who came over to play for awhile after school. He brought her this clever Valentine that he made with his crafty Mom, who happens to be my friend Bridgette.
It reads "I mustache ( must ask) will you be my Valentine?" and the mustache peels off to stick on your face.

Now my little chickie is also a self proclaimed "nerd" so she has a variety of nerd glasses she likes to pull out. Yesterday while finishing up some math with her dad, I caught here sporting this get up and it cracked me up. I think her sense of humor is so awesome. I am also so thankful she has such fun friends...

How was your Valentine's Day?

Home Schooling

What home school looked like today. :)

So I never posted about this on my blog but the sh*% really hit the fan at Hannah's school back in November/ December. Lots of stuff went down with teaching and with the guidance my child was (not) receiving in the classroom and on the playground.

As Christmas break drew closer the feeling in my gut that it would get better went away and I began feeling that the school we had loved was not the right place for us anymore. I started researching other schools in our area, both public and private. I knew that since she was mid-term it was going to be hard to find a spot that H was comfortable in and I was concerned that she had fallen behind in math.

Trying to get her tested proved fruitless. Our district seems like a disorganized mess. I still get different answers to my questions depending on who or what office I talk to.

I talked to a couple of friends I knew that had home schooled or were currently and was lead to the Monterey County Charter Home School. I signed up for an orientation meeting and we all attended. After sitting through the meeting and then speaking to the presenter (a teacher) we "knew" this was the right fit for us right now. We signed up on the spot and Greg called her old school and dropped her while standing outside the office. BAM! We were home schooling.

They sent us off with some worksheets and a workbook and scheduled us to meet with our teacher ( we meet with her 2x a month) and we were off. It was a difficult beginning. The resources online are overwhelming, the load of books they gave me was overwhelming and the hardest of all was I had no idea where H was in the CA State curriculum.

I learned that not only was she behind in math (as we suspected) but she wasn't even getting some of the subjects. The upside is that she seems to be rockin' along in "language arts" and reading/ reading comprehension. Her 1-2 grade teacher managed to pound quite a bit into their brains while she had them.

This last meeting our teacher brought us retired questions from the CA Standards Test so we could better evaluate where she was. Well we're knee deep in math. Ugh. She has a lot to catch up before 4th grade. I am afraid she is going to follow in my math footsteps, where I had to have tutoring to pass my math classes. Math does NOT come easily to me. I have hopes that her Dad's math genes will kick in and she will buzz right along. Fingers crossed.

So, anyway, overall, home schooling.. while not a long term option for us has been pretty cool. I am trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I get to make up the lessons and curriculum. We can take a day and just go to the Tech museum or the zoo or the aquarium and it counts! We can gather pond water and look at it under a microscope and it counts! Our trip to Hawaii in Jan.??  We took pictures, learned about the landscape and geology, snorkeled and learned about fish, journaled, did puzzles and IT ALL COUNTED toward school.

While it sounds like quite the life.. shorter days, fun adventures, alternative learning. It does have its downside. The social portion is missing completely. I have to work hard to set up play dates with her cousin and friends. I have to make sure I get in the car and take her places and don't get wrapped up in computer work/ projects.  My work has really changed. I have had to take a leave from the office of our family business and just work on specific projects at home, but the upside of that is that I have gotten a nice handful of design work all of a sudden too. Thats all work I can do while she is reading or after "school" is done for the day. The other thing that is a bit of a challenge is that we are kind of sick of each other sometimes. We essentially spend 24/ 7 together and I know both of us need a break. When Greg is home sometimes I will go hide in the studio or just leave the house to go wander around the store or something.

Right now I am trying to look at it each day as the gift of being able to teach my child and be with her while she is young. I can't believe how fast it is going by and I hope I can look back and have a bunch of fond memories of her at home.

In which she turns 8...

Tomorrow marks my baby's 8th birthday. I am simply stunned by how fast time goes by. It seems like just a week ago she was a baby and then toddling around and being so funny. She has grown into a lovely girl, so smart and funny and someone who always brings a smile to my face even though she is 8 going on 18 with her observations, comments and attitude. I am so thankful that we were blessed with her birth and the enjoyment that comes from being her parent. I know her future is so bright and I can't wait to watch her on her journey.

I love you Hannah, more than you can ever know.

SJB

This was taken on our anniversary last weekend. We met my Mom to pick up Han who had spent the night at her place. The weather was gorgeous so we decided to walk around and work off a bit of our Mexican brunch.

The Mission there is so lovely and full of terrific texture for taking photos. Its one of our favorite places to go and was a natural setting for a back drop for some family photos Joleen has done for us over the years and these super cute all time favs by my SIL.

I figured since we were there, I should try my hand at a few shots so I got the wee one to pose for me and we played around. Its been fun to fiddle around with the camera settings and then Photoshop.

I am pretty happy with the results this time. I see some improvement. Now just to work on my patience level when I just want to whip out my little pocket camera instead of lugging around the big Canon ;)

GAP kid??

On a whim I decided to enter Han into the GAP Casting Call for kids. We have these brand spankin' new CUTE photos of Hannah in her favorite jeans and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to toss her face into the hat. My Mom is always telling me that she should be a model so I did this to get her off my back for awhile and it was just fun.

You can go on over and VOTE for Hannah by visiting this link and clicking on the button. Its that easy. Spread the word. Thanks!!

somebody is seven

Just look at this big girl. She turned 7 yesterday and it seems like just yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital. I was really fortunate to have my bestie Joleen up to visit for the long weekend and she agreed to do a fun photo shoot with Hanny today to commemorate her birthday. These are just a couple of the shots she got. Hannah set up the shots herself and really got into it after complaining about it first.. LOL. I love her little face so much and I love these shots. More to share soon. THANK YOU JOLEEN!! I Love you!!

the ribbons

Ok first off, look at that cutie will ya? Like a flea on a dog, perched up there atop her side kick Panda. Our little girl did so great at her first horse show. She was so brave and just went on out there in the big arena.

The night before when we talked about it, she said all she cared about was "bringing home a ribbon" and she brought home THREE! She is so proud of herself and WE are more proud of that than anything.

Once we returned home all she talked about was how to hang up her ribbons in her room for everyone to see so we took to the studio to see what we could create for her ribbons.

I had her help me by spray painting the base pieces and then after they dried I used some ribbon and hot glue to spiff them up to be cute for her room.

The top piece is a ruler from a pack of wooden dollar store rulers.. like 5 for $1. We used that as the support because A. it was handy, B. it was CHEAP, and C. she had been carrying her ribbons around on it anyway so it was just in my mind.

She chose the pink paint for the top and I had her spray it but we let the numbers show through a little bit.

The lighter pink part is a dollar store "matchstick" place mat that she also sprayed.

Since the ruler had holes in it already I just threaded some fuschia seam binding thru the holes and the spaces between the match sticks and tied it tight.

I then added more seam binding and a scattering of millinery flowers. Then we hung it up on her freshly painted wall and threaded her ribbons on it through the slats and its super cute. I think we can squeeze a few more ribbons on it too so it'll work for at least one more show ;). After that I guess I can add another place met below it.

It was a fun little project to do together and great to use up existing stuff from my stash and the dollar bin.

My other artistic endeavor today was just putting together a collage while sitting at the table from things I could reach without getting up. I like the outcome but am saving if for a larger project I am considering doing. I will keep you up to date if I decide to go ahead...

a horsey do

Yessss, school is OUT. Our year seemed to fly by yet drag on at the end. The kids all "walked" to their next grade in a fun year end ceremony on Wednesday night. I haven't uploaded any pix yet but I'll get to it.

Its the last days til our good friends move off to MN. I am sad. We will miss them a lot. They are those kind of people that either Greg or myself feel comfortable just hanging out with either one or both of the and the kids. I am babysitting all of them today while they clear the last things out of their house into storage. So I currently have 3 6 year olds and a 2 year old running around. In between supervising games and such I am working on invites I designed for a baby shower and getting ready for Hannah's first horse show tomorrow!

It seems we have really dove in head first to horse world. Hannah has been riding for about 7 weeks and will be riding in 3 classes tomorrow. I can't wait to see her all dressed up in her little outfit on top of her horse Panda in the ring. I will be sure to take pictures but until then here is a little video of her practicing with her trainer.

dolls

First day of school

Hi Gang, One again I have gone weeks with no update. I am just not in the blogging mode, er, computer mode. I have done some dinking around here and there but largely my computer sits in the corner until DH comes home and logs on to play Mafia Wars. I admit that I have fallen victim to the simplicity of the one line update at Facebook and then going about my business.

Anyway, so much going on here. We had a nice long summer but the little finally went back to school this week. Of course, that came to a screeching halt as she got sick and she is currently resting on my bed under a pile of blankets.

This is a picture of Hannah and her "adopted" brother and sister on the first day of school. They have become quite the inseparable bunch this summer and we have taken to practically living at their house. Part of this is due to the fact that one of their mommies and I have begun our own art business. We have been in the studio pretty much daily for the past couple of months and will be doing out first craft fair this weekend. Great timing considering all three kids are home sick, and my hub is on a long business trip back east. Yeah.. Murphy's Law! If anything possibly can go wrong, it will. But we perservere and will just do the best we can.

Shortly after the craft fair we hope to launch a website and offer our creations to the world. We may hit Etsy and I promise I will let everyone know when that happens. In the meantime I will take my camera and get some pix of what we have been up to so I can share them here. I promise to try to be better about the blogging but I guess I just needed a break!!

tagged

My good pal Lora tagged me with this fun little meme.
Here are the rules, though I had to cheat a bit because my 4th folder was full on kindergarten pix that I can't use. I used the fourth image in my main picture folder. Shhh ;)

* go to your 4th picture folder
* go to the 4th picture in the folder
* tell everyone 4 things about that picture
* tag 4 more people

- So this is my daughter, Hannah.
- She is modeling a crown that I made for my friend Joleen's sister, Aimee's bridal shower. Aimee got married in November and Joleen took pix that you can see here.
- Hannah is wearing her pajamas in the picture.
- Hannah is super cute!!

Pretty concise but not much else to tell about this picture. Here are a couple of other shots of Hannah from our trip down to So Cal where Joleen surprised Hannah and her former charge with a New Year's Eve trip to Libby Lu for make overs. They were a bit hesitant at first but ended up having a total blast! Thank you so much Auntie Joleen!

Now Joleen, Karin, Martha and Karla.. tag, you're it!

Its is finally starting to feel like fall here in central CA. I welcome the cold mornings, crisp days with beautiful afternoon and the chill that comes with the come of darkness. I enjoy bundling up and reading to Hannah, or making art or curling up in my chair and working on the lap top. I have found that my muse is more eager to come out an play. I guess she just takes a summer vacation each year ;).
Lately, I have been back into my journaling and since we are working on the "art journal" issue of Portals I have been seeking out inspiration for both it and my own work. Above are a bunch of snaps I have favorited on Flickr recently (click on it to see the credits for wach picture). I am finding lots of inspiration in rich colors, textures, autumn leaves and scribbley pages. I am finding it a little esasier to let go and get messy in my own work. I am happier with what I have been producing lately. Shown here is a page out of a book I have been working in the last couple of days. Its all about Hannah. I am looking for quotes about childhood and discovery to add to my pages.

Finally, I am preparing for AFF which is just a week away. I am looking forward to my time in the Pacific Northwest spent with my BFF Sharon and the many creative people who are attending and teaching. I am way behind in my packing and especially my trades. It may just not happen this year. I will be putting finishing touches on the swap I hosted this year and look forward to sharing pix of those when I get back.

the little princess...

Take two.. and Five..

Aren't these the cutest faces? Hannah had four of her best buddies over Saturday, along with family, to help her celebrate her 5th birthday! Despite the 100+ degree weather we had, we all had so much fun playing, splashing and tie-dying t-shirts for the kids' favors. My hands are now dyed a multitude of colors but it was worth it to see how much they enjoyed it and to be able to offer up a party favor with no calories and not made of cheap plastic made in China.

As usual, my Mom made Hannah's birthday cake. This year she ordered a "pink Littlest Pet Shop cake" and Nana came through. Look how cute this is! It was yummy too. I am still kind of in shock thinking about where these last 5 years have gone. It wasn't that long ago that we were up nights feeding and soothing and changing diapers. We have had a rough year with her health-wise so it was great to usher in her birthday with her in good health and no stitches, casts or inhalers.

Happy Birthday my Baby!


As if her birthday wasn't excitement enough, on Friday, her actual birthday, she lost ANOTHER tooth. Two teeth in the matter of a week. I love this little toothless grin. Just in time for school pictures. ;)

catching up...

Sometimes when faced with that empty white box, do you feel like you have nothing to say? I seem to be in a blogging rut, I'm just not feelin' it and not feelin' like anyone cares. This here will probably just be a bunch of rambling...

So, its Sept 2... ArtFest registration day! Today is the day that all hopeful Artfesters will rush out to post offices around the country to procure that magical postmark to gain a spot in the oft sold out creative event hosted by Teesha & Tracy Moore. I am planning to go again and am excited to be sharing a room with my wonderful friend Martha who I met at ArtFest 2007 when we both attended. We will be in a house with none other than Ruth Rae! Ruth and I had "met" before AF 2007 through swaps and emails and blogs and we had planned to meet in person at AF. It was 2 days in when I finally ran into her. Of course we were both running late for our classes so we only had time to give each other a quick hug. I am looking forward to spending more time with her at AFF in October and then the whole week next year in April. Yes, I am excited already. If anyone else is going to either of these events, please let me know!

In other news, Hannah was pleased that the toothfairy left her $3 and Littlest Pet Shop toy for the loss of her first tooth. Yesterday we discovered that her other lower tooth is quite loose so we are anticipating another fairy visit by the end of the week. I still have not made her a toothfairy pouch or pillow. Friday is a big day for the wee one. She will be 5!! I am still in utter disbelief that 5 years have passed. I mean, I JUST brought her home from the hospital!! Wow, you Mom's are right, the time certainly does fly.. and I know she will be leaving for college in the blink of an eye. She is doing MUCH better in school, has made some friends and the tears have stopped. I can't say so much for her chattering but her teacher will work on that with her. Thanks to those of you who have offered support and memories of your own.

In the coincidence report... I was reading my dear friend Tracie Lyn's blog today. She spent part of the weekend flea market shopping and scored a darling vintage sewing basket which happens to be the SAME basket I found when I was in OK thrifting with my girls, Donna & Holly. Talk about your small world. I am showing mine here since I had not shared it before and you can see Tracie's on her blog.
Incidentally, I am looking very much forward to seeing Tracie and her lovely MIL, Marylin at both AFF and AF too!

My sewing basket is filled with a few of the vintage linens I have dug up lately. I may have mentioned in passing that my Mom salvaged a bunch of stuff from her fiance's family farm a few months ago. Among the things we unearthed (and I mean that literally in some cases) were a lot of linens which got tossed in a box and buried in a pallet. I found the box before the rummage sale a couple of weeks ago but just got around to soaking and sorting them. Although many of the items are ripped, stained and chewed (mice) there are some beautiful pieces and lots to work with in art. I need to press them but I am excited to start sewing again. I have lots of ideas for ways to use these.

Just call her "Gappy"

Today I was busy working on my computer and busy plotting how to conquer yet another round of clutter and stuff when the phone rang. The caller ID said it was Hannah's school so my heart skipped a tiny beat. When the director's voice came laughing on the phone I just assumed that it was a website question or some other little thing. She said, "Oh don't worry. We have had a little bit of an exciting event and we wanted to call you. I will put Hannah on." Hannah came on, kind of teary and mumbling something about losing something. I couldn't really understand what was going on so i started to worry a bit. Next thing I know, her teacher from last year comes on and says "Heather, everything is fine. Hannah lost a tooth!" Seems she was eating a cherry and all of a sudden her tooth popped out. We didn't even realize it was loose, if it was. I assured Hannah that it was fine, that she is a big girl and we had talked to the dentist about this happening. It didn't hurt and we were all sure the tooth fairy would visit her tonight. I wonder what the going rate for teeth is these days?

We had dinner with one of her little BFF's tonight and he was suitably impressed with the tiny gap her in mouth. She brushed her teeth very carefully tonight before heading off to bed with giddy tooth fairy dreams waiting to be born...

catching up

Whew, last week was a doozy. It was a flurry of settling into a new schedule, making lunches, dealing with a crabby little and her tantrums, bedtime battles and more. I am happy to report that we had a good weekend though and this week has started off much smoother. Hannah is still struggling with kindergarten, the schedule and the fact that she is the only girl in class but she is making new friends and doing well with her school work.

An exciting thing happened for me this week too. In talking to her teacher one day after school we were talking about "work" and upon discovering I was an artist she became very excited. After a little more discussion she asked me to teach art to the kids each week. Wow! I am so excited and full of ideas. The schedule is pretty flexible and I can do whatever I want. I look forward to getting going. If anyone has taught this level or has any fun ideas for projects, I'd love to hear them!

This is my other little bit of exciting news. An exciting find. I scored this cute, shabby pink cabinet over the weekend. Its such a pretty soft shade of pink and there are brackets inside for shelves. I also found a pretty little Mc Coy pot in a box of stuff we salvaged at her fiance's ranch for our rummage sale. I snagged it because I think it will look cool with a little collection of other creamy colored things in this cabinet. I am excited to get some paint on the walls in the living room. I am ready for a change.

One final note.. the two hats that are perched on top of the cabinet are from my thrifting with Donna and Holly whilst in Oklahoma. I am still holding out on a few of my treasures. LOL I will try to better with the pictures and blogging now that I am settling into a better routine.

we made it

Thanks for all the support and well wishes on the
first day of kindergarten. Hannah started off a little tentatively and with a few tears but made it through the day fine. One of her pals from last year is the other child in the afternoon session too. There are only the two of them to gather all of Mrs Jones' attention each day from noon to two. So much fun! It made it much easier to get through the day having her buddy there and I am hoping it will get easier each day.

I was proud of myself for not crying. I admit I got a bit misty but I went out and called Greg after leaving the little. He was supportive and understanding but felt a little sad that he hadn't been there. Hopefully he will get home in time tomorrow to pick her up and check out her little class room.

Anyway, no pictures because it was much to stressful this morning. I hope to get pix of all the kids by the end of the week because I am the yearbook person for their class this year. We will just pretend its the first day of school ;)

So, I have been really lax on taking pictures of my treasures from OK even though my box finally arrived last week. This basket purse was one of the things I found while out antiquing with Holly & Donna one day. Its really nice and clean and the flowers are in great shape. I will use it to store something in at some point. Hmm, maybe the ugly TV remotes..??

These vintage mercury glass Christmas picks were amongst the goodies we found at the flea market. There was a whole bunch so we decided to buy the lot and share them. I love how they are perfectly chippy and distressed but still sparklie and pretty. The cute pink box was in an antique mall. It smells like camphor inside which reminds me of my grandma. Its will find a place in my studio. So those are just a few of the yummy treats I discovered on my adventure. I do have more to share and will try to get those up soon.

Thanks again my friends. Its wonderful to have such support...
xoxo

milestones

Those of you who don't know me well might be surprised to learn that I am pretty emotional and sentimental. I think part of that sentimentality is what causes me to have such difficulty letting go of stuff, but that is a story for another time.

This time I am having a little difficulty letting go of this sweet little thing. You see, this one is going off to kindergarten tomorrow. I know she is a bit nervous but she is hiding it pretty well. I am sure there will be tears tomorrow, on both of our part. I will be good and hide mine until I am out of her eye sight but my heart will be aching in between feeling so proud of her. Its so weird to think of my baby, my only child who I SWEAR was just a BABY a few months ago, going off to school every day.

The upside at least is that she will be in a nurturing environment, a school we love with a teacher she adores. There are only FIVE kids in her class, talk about your one on one attention! The down side is that she is the only girl. I hope the other little boys are kind and do not exclude her. I am a bit worried about how she will do and develop with no other girls in her class.

I'm getting a little teary eyed just writing this, so wish me luck when we start the school routine tomorrow!!!