Art Class

Our neighbor, B.B. took the girls a couple weeks ago to an art class along with her grandson. She did me an ENORMOUS favor by leaving me to my cleaning and baby rocking in a quiet house. Another day, she took SJ and The Crazy Dog for a walk while I got ready for a date with The Daddy.

I tell you what...Florida has good neighbors. We've got them on all sides and are so thankful that though we are hours and hundreds of miles away from family, we've got our own little niche here in our part of Florida.

Back to the art.

The girls made pinch pots and used various leaves to make impressions in the clay.

HJ's is certainly Auburn appropriate. Blue on one side.

Orange on the other.

I love the colors that AE used on her bowl:

I came to class with the girls after the firing so they could do the under glazing.

I may or may not have suggested a few combinations.

Pretty gorgeous work by our gorgeous girls!

Black Swan Comes to Mind

This week afforded our eldest, AE time to be a big kid at VBS. She was the youngest there, but she jumped right in on the very first day. Walking right down the steps, taking a seat ALL BY HERSELF and listening intently, I quickly saw a flash to our future where, in one short month, she will begin Kindergarten.

Last night the church held a service for all the kids who participated and their families. After the service, there was a carnival to end the fun. Bounce houses (out of control), face painting, cotton candy and a caricature artist were the fun on the docket.

After getting knocked around the bouncy death-traps, we decided face painting would be a safer activity. Boy howdy, the line was long. We ate cotton candy while not moving but a foot or two in I-don't-know-how-long, but it was long with three kids, that's for sure.

We came to the conclusion that the face painting was NOT going to happen last night. The caricature artist had capped off his line, so we made promises to have a surprise at home and "MAMA WILL PAINT YOUR FACES TOMORROW."

The surprise once we got home was a dance party to the CD The Daddy bought at church of the five original songs from VBS that week. Awesome music. Great moves. Everyone was happy and went to bed.

Fast forward to today. HJ of course, remembered this afternoon our promise for MAMA TO DO FACE PAINTING. Oh. No.

NO supplies. I said we'd improvise.

The girls learned that sometimes good intentions are just no good. I'm so sorry if you are afraid of clowns.

My first try:

She was a trooper. She WOULD NOT let The Daddy see her like this. I couldn't stop laughing. I still can't. Good golly. What was I trying to do???

Second try:

Better. Princess of Hearts.

Annnnnd, the Princess of Diamonds:

Double crowning it:

I think we all learned an important lesson: go get the free caricatures done FIRST, skip the bumped noggins in the bounce house, eat some sugar and get home!

Sweet SJ's caricature:

*bonus for being a fussy baby during the service! No line for the portrait!

Hugs

While we were in Georgia for the first 10 days of July, we took great advantage of our time together as a family. Memaw was still in the hospital when we arrived, but thankfully she got out during our visit and we got to love on her, too.

Which meant lots of hugs for Paw Paw:

Love this one with SJ and Paw Paw:

At Memaw and Paw Paw's new home:

They are just getting settled into their new assisted living home.

At Nana and Papa's mountain house:

We tried to get a family of five picture, but really this one stole my heart away:

This week I spent quality time with JUST SJ. The girls stayed in Georgia with Nana and Papa and arrived safely back here in Florida last night. I have lots pictures of their time at "Camp Nana and Papa" as they had many NEW adventures and some staples of fun, like ice cream at Bruster's.

Before It's Too Late

As always, the family spent the Fourth of July up in the North Georgia mountains.

We packed up and left on June 30, which just so happened to be Mr. SJ's 10-month birthday. Leaving at 6 in the late-afternoon, we didn't arrive until way into the wee hours of the morning. The Daddy and I agreed: traveling with sleeping little ones is good. :)

After a day in Atlanta and haircuts for the girls, we headed up to Ellijay for all the fun festivities. Parade at 6:00pm, fireworks at dusk.

The firetrucks always announce the start of the parade.

Oh, y'all. This guy made my day!

Colonel Poole always makes an appearance. Love his BBQ, though we didn't get to enjoy it this trip.

I assisted The Daddy in capturing this alluring photo by hollerin' till Sonny turned around.

The Daddy also cracked me up on this one by remarking, "That's awkward."

Sweet patriotic girl

HJ was so tired without a nap. I'm trying to get SJ to turn around and see what's coming up next. He's more interested in his sisters.

After the parade, this fellow was pickin' some tunes. He wasn't half bad.

Face painting again. This year, the girls wanted the #6.

Whoa! The blue eyeshadow.

He did NOT get his face painted.

Pretty little girls

Our attempt at a family photo while waiting for the fireworks to begin was humorous.

When all else fails...

make a silly face.

Still tired, HJ got a little put-out at the photo op.

But then she warmed up with some individual attention.

SJ was not a fan of the girls' chairs:

Despite this photo, little baby boy held on and actually enjoyed the fireworks. Several walks around the block in the stroller helped facilitate that win.

The girls are still in Georgia with Nana and Papa, while I enjoy some time with my sweet, possibly teething, baby. I'm cleaning, exercising, showering without interruption, organizing, and cleaning out our closets for a special garage sale this weekend.

Tell you more about that later. :)

She's Worth It

Don't you just love a good before and after?

Sometimes it takes a while.

Sometimes it seems like it is taking forever.

There she was when I began to blog about our lives. The Chair was the second post I ever wrote, yet somehow it has been the one I always go back to when I begin to reminisce.

She finally got her makeover. I finally got up the nerve to change her. She was $15.oo at that garage sale so long ago.

She's different somehow, don't you think?

Her back.

Gone are the channel-stitches. All pretty and button-backed now.

We left her finish the same. We kept some age on her.

Her damaged leg was repaired. No more tape and glue holding her together.

Gone is the old brass nail head trim and in its place, a simple double welt.

The classic linen shows off her pretty carvings now.

She even got a new shabby chic pillow to keep her company.

It's the place where we read to our girls at night before bed. It's the place where dirty clothes end up. It's the place where toys and books and blankets and hangers get piled. But she's new. She's different.

She was worth it. Worth the wait. Worth the money. Worth the time. Worth the worry that it wouldn't turn out right.

Worth it.

Do you have a project that you've been putting off? Are YOU that project?

Thanks to Rhoda for hosting the Thrifty Treasures party again this week!