So today I'd like to share with you a recent trend in Ella's art:
10/29/13
Usually, she draws people's faces straight on, but as you can see...we have a profile!
And she's been dabbling with pastels these days too.
In general, art is on her mind and we've been pouring over my Alphonse Mucha book quite a bit together.
She'd also been hoping to take a pottery class, offered through The Art Center, but unfortunately it was cancelled. ;_;
Oh, well -- there will be more chances for that in good time. :)
That is all for now.
Are there any updates in the field of art/drawing in your homes?
Do share!
Until next time, take care and Happy Drawing Development!
Sorry for the absence there -- it was a busy and fun weekend, so I figured I'd get back to you after it was all over.
So here I am and here are the updates:
Friday:
After a little work outside the home (always a joy!) Dash and I left the kiddos in the care of the amazing Jesse again and went to a concert!!
I love youuuuuuu!!
Rufus Wainwright played at the Shedd Institute in Eugue and it was a spectacular performance. Truth be told, we were a little late and missed the opening act which was his sister Martha, who has an incredible voice!! But Rufus' gorgeous voice and piano-playing made up for all of that :)
Are you familiar with Rufus Wainwright's work? He did the cover of Leanord Cohen's "Hallelujah" for the end of "Shrek". I think that is how most people know about him. I was first exposed to him through an anime music video. Heh heh heh. I don't even recall which one, just one that was shown at an anime convention back in the day...
Aaaanyway, so it's been just about a decade since I fell in love with him and I've seen him three times so far. At the Wiltern, the Hollywood Bowl, and now the Shedd Institute. :)
And all three times have been with Dash! Hurray!!
After the concert, we stopped by a family restaurant for some coffee and dessert, and had a great time. I was feeling really goofy and at the same time full of incredibly good ideas, and then promptly crashed out at home after seeing Jesse off. So it was a somewhat short (but intense!) date :D
Saturday:
Saturday was the epitome of a lazy day. I had some work to do, so Dash took the kids to the farmers' market and when they got back, William was good and ready for a nap...and so was I! So we crashed out on the couch, and woke up a mere 30 minutes before our dinner guests were due: the Hokazonos!!
Yes, we finally got back together with our long lost dear friends, Kae, Seishirou, Douzen, and Motohira. Going from one kid to two can do that to you!! Dash made many a yummy pizza and the Hokazonos brought a delicious daikon-persimmon salad + ocha muffins. 美味しい！！
It was so great catching up with them, getting to hold the precious little Motohira, and watching as Ella Rose and Douzen flipped out all over the place having a great rambunctious time. Gosh it felt good speaking Japanese again after so long! Besides tutoring it, and reading Japanese books to the kids, I really don't get to speak it that much! So that felt nice :)
Oh, and my period showed up! Phew and yay!! :D I've never been a very regular girl, but I thought two kids and an IUD would do at least something... Guess not!
Sunday:
The first half of the day was taken up by church, which I may have mentioned we are back into going to, which was nice because I got to chat with these really nice gals in the nursery during the service and then got to help with the children's choir practice afterward. I am so proud of Ella's ability to remember the words to songs so quickly and even carry the correct melody. :)))
After church, we did some outdoor work -- raking and prepping the winter garden -- and then spent the rest of the afternoon at a preschool friend's house! January Jewel had us over for yummy apple cider, lots of imaginary play, and even some homemade magnetic letters and numbers that we got to take home! Score!!
We then had a late afternoon surprise visitor, and I was feeling so not in the mood to cook that we went out for mexican! Hurray!
And there you have it.
Our very great weekend. :D
I think this is gonna be a great week, too, and I hope you all had Great Weekends and great everything!!!!!!!
Greeeeeeattttt!!!
What an incredible day today was.
Well...at least the second half. :)
It feels like both kids suddenly made these great leaps ahead in terms of...I guess "progress" is the word.
Lemme explain/show:
Firstly, in terms of our bicycling situation.
Ever since we got Ella Rose's tagalong about a month ago, it changed the way we get around most places, and especially to/from school:
Ella Rose is always nice and bundled up for our commutes :)
On her tagalong, Ella Rose isn't as much dead weight as before, and can actually propel me forward a bit if she really pedals in earnest. Yay!! It is really making her stronger, I feel, and she loves the freedom it grants her :)
But just today, Ella Rose wanted to accompany me to a friend's house on an errand, on her good old two-wheel bike...and add an attachment to it:
Such a proud big sis, with a somewhat bewildered William in the trailer
Indeed, we attached the trailer to her bike and she toted William the entire way there and half of the way back!!
She loved feeling so responsible for her little brother and I can't believe she's only 4 1/2 and was able to pull him so far for so long!! Watch out, Proud Mama here!! :D
Here's a little video of them in action:
So as if that wasn't awesome enough, back at home, Ella said she wanted to accompany Dada to the grocery store and pull the groceries in the trailer behind her...and before she left, I was able to finally teach her how to tie her shoes!!
It only took literally 5 or so minutes, because I opted to teach her using the "two loops" method. Here is a little video of Ella tying her one shoe:
I'm not gonna lie, teaching her was fast, but her actually tying the shoe takes a little while.
Granted, she's only been able to do it as of this one evening :)
I have the feeling she will get good and fast at it by the time the weekend is through, which is good because then she can use her skills at school to tie and untie her own shoes, saving Miss Christine a lot of work! :)
The icing on the cake, was just before dinner and it involved William.
Dash and I were talking about how Tak'e had to be fed, and how I'd get around to it as soon as I was done with the hashbrowns...when I suddenly hear the sound of dog food going into Tak'e's bowl, and there's William having taken the initiative to feed him himself! He used the scooper in the bag and poured it right into Tak'e's bowl without spilling it or anything!
The smart little fella had overheard us and gone ahead to do the chore for us! What a sweetie!!
So yeah, that is all I have to report for now.
Crazy how in one afternoon and evening, the kiddos sort of "advanced" in leaps and bounds.
Maybe I'm overreacting to these tiny little updates, but to me they feel big!
If we can get William to always feed Tak'e...well wow, that'd be frickin' awesome.
And Ella Rose tying her shoes -- well, that's not going away any time soon so that is great too. Really, Miss Christine had just told me how the kids can't wear lace-up shoes to school because it takes so long for the teachers to have to tie and untie them for them...but now that Ella can do it herself, she can wear her lace-up sneakers and whatnot at last!! :)
And the toting of William by Ella... Too cool!! A great way to keep her strong and give her a real sense of purpose and responsibility, which she loves~
Well, that is all I am going to say tonight.
I hope you all have had a great week and are looking forward to an even greater weekend.
Until then, take care and Happy Instant Updates!!
So I think I mentioned a long time ago that Ella and I like to give a theme to our outfits for the day -- be it colors or plants or what-have-you.
Just last week, Ella was a rainbow by doing the following:
- purple socks
- blue pants
- green shorts over her pants
- yellow skirt
- orange shirt
- red sweater
And today she wanted to mimic the character on the cover of the book:
Over the summer we had at least 50 books from this series in our home @_@
Ella's interpretation. Yeaaaah~ ;)
So yeah, it's a fun way to get her involved in the morning dress-up routine.
And here is William in a lamb suit for good measure:
Well, that is all for now.
We are having more lovely autumn days, not too much work but just enough and lots of getting out of the house ;)
Until next time, take care and Happy Creative Clothing!!
Today was another beautiful autumn day.
Really, this has to be the prettiest autumn yet -- such rich colors, and gloriously sunny afternoons.
And today we got to take advantage of it outside with a friend's birthday party!
Ella on the left, Tzippy on the right -- both princessed out~!
Little Tzippy turns 4 tomorrow, so today her lovely family held a "ladybug" themed birthday party. To fit with that theme, our contribution of food was ladybug-esque homemade oreos.
The frosting in the middle was "red"
Miniature marshmallows make the eyes
The finished product looks more like muppet monsters... @_@
I think they went over quite well! I gotta tell you, it is hard to just have one of these little oreos. So...darn...addictive!!
How ironic that my first blog post on them was almost 4 years ago to the day. My, how time flies!!
Ella Rose also wore her black leotard and red tights to look like a ladybug...and the cake at the end was a delicious red velvet cake. YUM!!
Also, while we were there, we got to release real ladybugs into the local park! What a nice act of kindness to the landscaping department, no? :)
William inspecting one -- they are tough enough to withstand his grabby toddler hands
And what was coolest of all, was that we got to take home some ladybugs too!
Their little home~
Ella Rose now has 5 ladybugs in her care named Rachel, Clara, Kate, Laura, and Louisa. She is really enjoying taking care of them, and hopefully they will last longer than "Diana the Snail" from back in early Summer -- bleegh >_<
Well, that is all for now.
Who'dve guessed we'd be enjoying ladybugs at this time of year? :)
Wish us luck with our little ladybug adventures, and until next time -- take care and Happy Ladybugs!!
So yesterday was a the first day in a long while where Dash and I weren't completely consumed by work.
Therefore, we were able to do a little interior rearranging -- doesn't that feel good to do once in a while? Doing away with inefficient set-ups, obsolete furniture/fixtures, and some much needed clean-up too.
It all started with finally get around to assembling this "puzzle light" my mom got us for Christmas:
Taken with Dash's cell phone -- nifty!!
It's called an Infinity Lights and isn't it just gorgeous?
Our living room is notoriously poorly lit, so by replacing the ancient standing lamp in the corner with this one, the room is far better illuminated.
That switch out, of course, spurred us to shift some tables around, do away with clutter that had been building up on some surfaces and -- last but not least -- update the kids' drawing stations.
You recall how in the summer I came by this drawing tray if sorts for William, yeah?
Well, that was working for a while...until it was evident that he's actually a touch too big for it and likes to try and lean on it, which leads to it collapsing under his weight, etc etc.
Not to mention, two draw-happy children were crowding our tiny hallway as it was!
So we have opted to do two things:
a) give William Ella's desk (the plastic primary colors one), and move it out of the hallway, and into his own little nook next to the fire place:
Now to see about installing that shelf from before here...
b) move Ella's drawing station to the desk upstairs. Remember? The one that we salvaged and fixed up? By having her be up in her room to draw, it should hopefully give her more quiet focused time to draw...without worry of William trying to draw over her art. :D
Well, that is all for now.
I look forward to this new arrangement, and hope that it makes for an overall smoother flow of energy and activities in our home.
Now to get cracking on more of that clutter too...
How about you all?
Any fun home reorganizations/renovations going on with you~?
Don't you love how one little addition/adjustment, can cause a domino effect of changes? :)
Well, until next time.
Take care and Happy New Light!!
I know it's technically the 17th now (by 11 minutes!), but "today" William turned 18 months old :)
I feel like I've been doing posts on what he's up to -- words, video, etc -- so this is going to be a really quick post.
Just recording here that I a) remembered his "half-birthday" b) cared to some degree about that.
Now I can officially say "William is one and a half years old!" No more month-age for him!
Well, until next time...take care and Happy William is 18 Months Old!!
