Two peas, same pod

Seeing similarities between Calvin Jesse and Miss Lu tickles me to no end.

For example, the inward tilt of the two middle bottom teeth:

Calvin Jesse, 11 months

Miss Lu, 10 months

And something about their tiny, curling toes outside just kills me:

Calvin Jesse, 11 months

Miss Lu, 11 months

Homecoming 2011!

The Homecoming parade here in Los Alamos is a big, big deal. School lets out early and everyone lines up on the main street to cheer and collect candy. The parade lasted an hour!

Wearing our Hilltopper green and gold

 

How Miss Lu spent most of the parade (eating candy!)

 

Lucy's reaction to the marching band?

 

Awesome!

 

Intrigued? Yes I am.

 I wonder what I could make with this book?

Miss Lucy, artist

Miss Lu loved her art camp weeks this summer. Tons of creative projects, paint, and glitter. What more could you ask for? 

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At the end of the summer they held an art show at Fuller Lodge where certain pieces were displayed to the public for two weeks. 

At the closing reception (when we picked up Lucy's pieces), the curator told her that her oil pastel of Ashley Pond had been seen by people from all over the United States and even some from England! She was so proud, especially when he made a point of letting her know that people had said they liked her work :)

Best thing I've seen all day

  

They are beautiful.

And we are blessed.

Chow's on!

Miss Lu made dinner this week. She chose the menu (mac and cheese, salad, and chocolate cake for dessert). I helped with things like turning on the stove, but she measured, poured, and stirred until everything was ready. She was so proud of herself!

 

I told her I would put a picture on our blog, and she said "So everyone in the world can see it? And say 'Wow, a six-year-old cooked dinner?'!" Well, it is a pretty big deal :) 

Four things I loved this week online

1. Sprout's design to make a watering can out of a milk carton. It's pretty and practical. I'll be on the lookout for this one to go into production.

 

2. Payton Turner's ornate wallpaper made out of stickers. Vision and imagination! (Click on these to see them close up—it's pretty amazing.)

 

 

3. Abigail Edwards's Seascape wallpaper. Makes me want to attack a wall with a sharpie. 

 

 

4. This tutorial on design*sponge on how to make a vertical garden out of pallet. It combines two of my current faves: repurposing pallets and gardens on a wall. 

Font Friday

Just found the blog Design Editor (which I am sure I will be spending more time on). She participates in a group called Font Friday. Super fun (if you're a typography nerd like me). Anyway, her pick this week was from one of my favorite free (and well-designed) font sources, The League of Moveable Type.  

Introducing Fanwood.

I must use this is sometime, and soon.

Curly and swirly

It seems like every time I turn around I'm looking for some sort of fun swirly or crazy curlique to dress up something or other. The Vector Graphics Blog is a great resource for this kind of thing, if you're looking (they have lots of stuff too besides ornaments and frames).

Here's a link to the Ornate Design Elements Vector files pictured here. 

 

 

Silk

If you need to waste some time, play around with Silk online. It's pretty :) 

Little ears

Conversation today in the car following our FHE picnic in the park. 


Miss Lu: [asks Mom something about why we didn't do something earlier in the day]


Mom: "Well, given the circumstances ..."


Miss Lu: [interrupting] "Wait a minute! What circus dances?!?"

 

(Miss Lu at the downtown Salt Lake City fountains, summer 2011)

Ye Olde Faire

Best fair ever, according to Miss Lu. We spent Saturday afternoon down at the Santa Fe Medieval Festival. After multiple visits to the Fairy Village, madrigal singers, belly dancers, and catapult games we ended the day with the entertaining acrobatics of Clan Tynker.

 

Part of the fun was meeting up with some friends whose daughters were equally enchanted by the Fairy Village. Miss Lu also was proud to pick out a slide whistle from the prize booth at the games (she was able to throw a beanbag and knock the rats down from the castle). After we were faired out, we all went out for burritos and gelato ... Calvin Jesse ate many spoonfuls of guacamole followed by many spoonfuls of ginger gelato. He seemed pretty happy about the whole thing.

 

Soccer studdette

Fall soccer season is upon us, and Miss Lu is happy to once again be running around chasing after a soccer ball. She's quicker than ever :) 

Baby friends

Calvin Jesse figured out how to hug his best baby friend Iden.

 

He was pretty excited about the whole thing, but Iden remained a bit skeptical ...

I'm never sure about these two

 

Miss Lu and Calvin Jesse really are becoming friends. He's so excited to see her every day when she comes home after school, and the first thing she does when she comes in the door is run over and heft him off the floor into a squishy hug. 

So the other day, when Miss Lu told me she'd like to play with Calvin, I wasn't surprised. I was, however, a little worried. Here's the transcript:

Miss Lucy: "Hey Mom, can I do something with Calvin? I mean, I don't want to kill him or anything...."

Me: "Um ... yeah. You can play with him. But don't hurt him, ok?"

Miss Lucy: "Yeah, that's what I said!"

Summer's end

How I Spent My Tuesday Night:

The result? Fourteen quarts of beautiful honey-colored peaches to last us through our snowy New Mexican winter. Totally worth it.

Calvin's new hobby

 

 No roll is safe ...

 

At least this is better than his other new goal in life: to splash in the toilet!

Calvin Jesse decides to practice for his upcoming birthday festivities

 

We were at a surprise party for our bishop's birthday. There were four adults sitting in this side room off the kitchen, talking and watching the babies crawl around. All of the sudden our friend Petra said "Oh my gosh. Well, Calvin will do well at his birthday party!"

Nick and I turned around and saw ... a very enthusiastic Calvin Jesse attacking a forgotten piece of cake. Nobody had seen him because he cleverly positioned himself just out of sight behind the chair. 

He spent the rest of the party naked.