Fine Arts Night

It was Fine Arts Night at Lemme school on Tuesday night. The 1st graders sang 3 songs, two of which he's reluctantly singing in the video (with Sam as back-up.) The other song was "She'll be Coming 'Round the Mountain." I was impressed that the songs they've been learning have a lot to do with having good character and making good decisions. Then we headed to the art room to pick up Will's clay sculpture: Lucy.

We also went to the library where they had computers set up to view the 1st grader's family portraits that they created on the computer program Kid's Pics. Hopefully they'll send us a paper copy of it or the file because it was pretty cute and this picture didn't turn out all that great.

Afterward we had cookies and lemonade and the kids played on the playground. It was a nice night!

Racing the Sidewalks

Here's my sweet Sam, racing the sidewalks of our neighborhood. His favorite riding toy is actually his Big Wheel, but he likes this guy too. Who do you think he looks like in this picture? He looks like somebody, it's in the eyes, but I don't know who!

One Man Bubble Show

We've been taking advantage of the nice weather to do all the typical Spring things. Will wanted to do bubbles, but we couldn't find any wands, so we came up with some creative solutions. Will wanted to use tennis rackets, which were too big. We were however able to find plastic sand sifters, scoops you play catch with, as well as wiffle balls and some pvc pipes, all of which worked fairly well. Alex our neighbor was more than happy to provide the back-up music for this One-Man Bubble Show.

Dancing with the Stars is Back!

Can I just tell everyone how excited I am that Dancing with the Stars is back? Last Monday was the first episode of this season. I sat there with a silly grin on my face for two hours while my feet twitched like they had a mind of their own. If I were thinner, lighter on my feet and not such a clutz I would be a professional ballroom dancer. It's too early to tell who I am rooting for, but I'm quite looking forward to tonight.

Stranger Than Fiction

This weekend we watched the movie Stranger Than Fiction, with Will Ferrell. I loved it - Will Ferrell is great in a little more serious role. Has anyone else seen it, and what did you think? I was most intrigued with the visual graphics that were displayed that showed what he was calculating and thinking. This is one of the few movies I could watch again, just so that I could catch more of the graphics. As a more literary person, I loved that he was trying to figure out if he was in a comedy or a tragedy, and all the references to writing techniques - and how the professor eliminated types of literature and characters with his odd questions. As a person married to a more orderly, number-oriented person, I could appreciate that aspect as well. I highly recommend renting this movie!

I NEED SOME CREATIVE INSPIRATION!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some things that I took pics of recently to send in for art show applications. I am trying to get into a creative state of mind again, these are some of the most recent things I've created - and that was months and months ago! All the cats that I did (in the first pic) have coats with buttons that open up with a message inside. I recently took on a special order to create a visual representation of a Christian family's mission statement. I've done several others, and have gotten more of these projects by word of mouth as friends see the finished product. When it's finished it will look similar in style to this one that I already did, only with different words:

Double click on the image if you want to look at it closer. Now that I'm looking at it, I'm hoping it looked better in person than it did in this picture. Some of you may have already guessed that I am procrastinating getting started on this project, by blogging instead. Part of the problem is getting started. I can't remember the order of how I put these together. I am literally sitting with my back turned to my work table as I sit and type on the computer. I have no excuses. Damon was nice enough to cut the plywood into 2ft by 2 ft and even primed it for me. It's all ready to go. I just need to do it!!

The Long Awaited Japan Pictures

Damon's plane was two levels. It was a 747-400.

Here's Damon in his Tokyo hotel room, wearing the complimentary PJ's/robe and slippers. We're all glad that he opted to keep the sweat pants on. The room was pretty standard, with the exception of the bidet in the bathroom, which my engineer some how rigged to go off without actually sitting on it, just to see what would happen. What happens, you ask? Water goes shooting across the room, that's what happens.

Above is the view from Damon's hotel room. In the distance is Mt. Fuji.

Right across the street from Damon's hotel was a Krispy Kreme donuts, which must have been something new because the line was always HUGE!! All the people in the orange square are waiting in turnstile type lines, then the line extends around the corner.

This picture was taken in the train station. Lots of people wear masks like the two in the picture. So are they sick or trying to keep from getting sick? Bird flu? Either way it's kind of spooky. So anyway, those are the highlights (according to Damon)!

Scary Dreams

Sam has had a few scary dreams lately. He talks about them alot - although I think he's actually only had them each once. The first is that he and his friend Caleb - also three - are stuck in an elevator. In the second one we are at McDonald's and Jack and Noah are there. In Sam's words, "Jack is being weird and he has a moustache. Noah is running around. And it's really scary."

Damon's Home!

Damon made it home safe and sound last night - only 35 minutes delayed. He's pretty wiped so we're laying low today. He's only now just really gotten up for the day - and I'm sure there'll be plenty of napping this weekend. I'll post some pics soon, when I have time to download them - and if Damon will let me, there is a very nice one of him in his Japanese robe and slippers.

Time Flies

We finally heard from Damon Monday night via e-mail. The calling card he'd been given hadn't been activated, so he was stuck with email. He was able to finally give us a call last night. It was good to hear his voice. It's so strange and confusing to have him call here 6pm Tues, and there it is 8am Wed, and he's just starting his day. He has been able to find his way around and is working hard full days full of meetings, without time to relax. On this end of the world, our time is going quickly. We spent all day yesterday in CR with Laura, her kids and my mom, rummaging at the Goodwill's and Stuff stores. We found a cool new inexpensive place to eat - Cici's Pizza - a pizza buffet over by Westdale mall. It's $4.99 ($1.49 for a drink). The new hit was the Macaroni and Cheese pizza. The boys are not big fans of shopping, and they wore me out with their bickering and complaining. (Mostly this was from Sam - who I can't trust much to roam yet, because he never comes back, so I had to keep him closer, which made him furious.) Luckily, he's much better for my mom than for me, so she'd take him in her cart and he'd be all cute and funny. Today Will has a birthday party to go to at the Children's Museum, which should be interesting for Sam - since he gets to hang out with Mom and shop, once again. Then tomorrow is pick-up-Damon-at-the-airport-day!

My Hubby

Can I just tell everyone how much I appreciate my husband?! He cleaned the whole house from top to bottom this morning while I took Sam to the doctor and went to the grocery store. Now he's getting ready to load up all my art stuff and display racks into the truck to take over to Carver arena this afternoon. He'll unload me and help set me up and then take the boys to get some dinner while I finish setting up. All this plus he's supposed to be packing and getting ready to leave for Japan tomorrow morning. I've been giving him such a hard time because I don't want him to go - especially while I'm home for 5 days with 2 kids during spring break and no school routine to keep us busy. But I really do appreciate all that he does for me - especially because I'm so tired and cranky and feeling yucky. He's very patient with me. I truly am blessed. Thank you God for giving me my hubby!

Hot Tip

Thought I'd pass along this little-known fact: Sam says that if you stand up and put one leg up in the air behind you, it gives you more "power" for blowing your nose. Now he's actually willing to blow his nose with a little persuading, so I'm like hey, whatever works. The only thing about this particular method is that you may need to hold on to something so that you don't fall over.

13 Weeks . . . and Counting

On Monday I will be 13 weeks pregnant. Doesn't sound like much but hey, I'm moving out of the first trimester! None of my pants fit anymore so I'm on to the stretchy, sloppy pants and some maternity pants. A week ago Thursday I went in for a check up and everything looked great. Since I wasn't quite 12 weeks at the time Dr. Adam didn't know if she'd be able to hear a heartbeat with the sonar thingy (and that's the technical term) so she said let's go to the room next door and do a quick ultrasound! I could get used to this treatment! If I'd known ahead of time, I'd have brought someone along with me to share in it. I saw a very lovely head profile and arms and legs kicking around and of course a beautiful heartbeat. The fact that Dr. Adam kept calling the baby "he" didn't phase me at all, since it's too early to be able to see that yet. Back again the end of March.
Sam and I have been sick this week with sinus, cough and cold stuff. Sam's been coughing so much he broke little blood vessels all over his face, so he has all these little red dots on his face, poor guy. He can't breathe through his nose at all, but yet refuses to try to blow it. He often comes up to me and says in his little hoarse voice, "I'm just not feewing vewy well." So after two trips to the doc this week, we finally got him started on an antibiotic for a sinus infection. One of his newer symptoms is conjunctivitis which now I've got too, along with my sinus infection and cough. So I got on antibiotics today. Hopefully next week will go better.