Self Mutilation

If I am going to mutilate someone in a portrait, it may as well be me, right?  I just finally finished this one, and I am excited--not because I think it's a great likeness of me, (let's be honest, it's only a subtle resemblance), but because I REALLY enjoyed the process.  I may start doing several series of paintings based on the human form.  I am going to make sure they are people no one knows until I get a little better--nothing worse than having someone make a piece of art that is supposed to look like you, but actually looks nothing like you. Awkward!!  Anyway, should be a fun new painting tangent.

Mod birds for Navy

I painted these for Navy, a sweet newborn to one of my dear friends. It was my first venture into the world of acrylic, and it was certainly a learning experience.  I am certain now that I prefer oils, but acrylic has it's allure for certain projects such as these mod birds. 

Preschool Graduation

Okay, I am a little behind in posting this, but Eliza graduated from Preschool!  Here she is with her best friends.  Eliza absolutely adores school.  She started out knowing pretty much nothing, and now she can recognize the entire alphabet (with sounds), write all the letters, spell her name, and count (sometimes to 20, but often forgetting 13 and 15).  She also learned safety, how to make ice cream (a very valuable skill, I'd say), lots and lots of songs (her favorite part), and many other things!

I never went to preschool as a child, so for a long time I was a little confused as to the necessity of it.  But, now that I've put a child through it, I am sold!  These days, the competitive schools want kids who have a jump-start on their education. And Eliza was able to develop some valuable social skills.  She's a shy girl by nature, so it's nice to see her make friends and feel included.

Ashlyn at 9 months

My little Ashlyn girl is in no hurry to grow up, it seems, and I couldn't be happier about that.  At 9 1/2 months, she still struggles to roll over.  I think that has more to do with preference than anything else.  She's such a jolly, easy going girl.

Recently, she started expressing an interest in crawling, but she hasn't quite gotten there yet.  She has pretty good form for the yoga "down dog", however.

The kids just loving making her smile and will do just about anything to get her signature toothless grin across her face.

Shiloh has a unique relationship with her. :)  He wants to just eat her all up.  Um, hey!

She adores when I play piano, and loves music in general, like most babies I know.  But can other babies PLAY piano like Ashlyn?  I think not!

For the love...

  ...of garage cabinets.

Since the first day we moved into our home about 2 years ago, Shiloh has salivated over garage cabinet coupons that come in the mail monthly.  You know the local ad coupons I am talking about? ------------------------->
Well, last week his dream came true.  Where there is a will there is a way, so they say, and I must say that Shiloh is plenty persistent. :)  Congratulations, honey.

The Dairy Farm

To celebrate Ezra's birthday--on his ACTUAL birthday--we went to a nearby dairy farm. It was a Monday and the farm doesn't normally allow their tours on that day, but since it's a small farm they allowed us into the petting zoo, and even allowed us to join in on the hayride they were doing. By the end of the day we had tasted multiple flavors of milk, fed all kinds of animals, seen an actual commercial milking of dozens of cows, and played fetch with the resident farm dog. All-in-all a very satisfying break from the city life. Aah.

Birthday Boy!!






They had some twin calves. Cute, eh?


Apparently, these calves enjoy eating pants, and giving babies rides! Weird!

Easter Clothing

Given that Easter falls on Conference this year, the kids wore their new Easter clothes on Sunday. Ashlyn was drowning in frills, Ezra got to be like his daddy in a new suite, and Eliza enjoyed herself feeling fancy. Thanks Grandma!