The Last Supper Exhibit

Howdy~!

Today was a big ol' day.
First, I finished and sent off a translation.
Then, I accompanied Ella Rose to her gymnastics/tap/ballet class from noon until 2pm.
On the way home, both she and William fell asleep so I just puttered around the house not really being able to do anything on account of the sleeping baby on my chest.
It was 4pm by the time they woke up, so we had tea, beat Bowser in Super Mario Bros. WiiU, and then go ready to go to a reception for an art exhibit.

The artist whose work was being shown was the lovely and talented Julie Green.
I've worked with her in her art classes on my occasions and she even lives in the neighborhood! :)

This particular exhibit is called "The Last Supper" because it's her rendition of prisoners' last meals before they are executed by capital punishment. It's blue paint on white dishes, and the gallery who hosted it this evening was a building that was originally a church, The Arts Center right next to Central Park. It was very compelling to have such a controversial subject matter showcased in such space.

It really got me thinking:
Why do newspapers publicize the last meals of prisoners executed? It seems so perverse to me. Are they doing it for the families' sakes? Is it one last nod to the prisoners?
And if I had one last supper, what would I choose?
How can these prisoners stomach the mere thought of food with their death at hand?

It was interesting to see that the majority of meals tended to include meat, typically of the fast food variety (pepperoni pizza, hamburgers, etc).
Julie shared with us a story behind one prisoner's meal. The prison guards knew that the prisoner had never had a birthday cake of his own, so they got him one with his last supper request...

I was very happy to have been able to attend a showcase of a local artist and especially one of such potent subject matter. Ella Rose was absolutely wonderful...William was oblivious and yelly.
Oh, well. All in good time.

The exhibit will be up for a time yet, so if you live in the area, I highly recommend you check it out.

Until then, Happy Art Appreciating~!

William & The Stairs

Heyas, everybody!

He's finally done it!
William's learned how to go down the stairs~!

I taught him to go up the stairs soon after he started crawling, and now he's got the other half of the equation down.
I recorded him today in two videos.

Nothing like a mikan to motivate him~

Yes, that is Mario on the WiiU we are playing :)

It's a lot more reassuring to know that soon William will be able to encounter stairs anywhere and know what to do with them, instead of falling down them and hurting himself.
And boy does he get a kick out of it! :)

Well, I'm going to watch some BBC Sherlock season 2 now (more on that another time, for sure!!)
So until next time, Happy Stair Climbing!! 

Homemade Waterproof Mittens

Hey, everybody!

So, every since Ella Rose started preschool this past September (Peach Blossoms -- so great!!), there's been one thing gnawing at me...
The list of supplies included "waterproof mittens" because the kids play outside come rain or snow or what have you. And the kids want to be comfortable, right?

But being so frugal, I kept putting off purchasing waterproof mittens in the hopes that a) I'd stumble upon a pair at a thrift store, or b) be gifted a pair.
All to no avail.
So for the past term, Ella's been making do with the knitted pair I made her (not at all waterproof) and sometimes borrowing a pair from the preschool's emergency stash... Which I've felt pretty bad about~~

Then it finally dawned on me: why not make some waterproof mittens??
And the way I went about it was quite simple!

1) Start with Ella's knitted purple pair

Remember these bad boys from my 2011 rundown? Aaaaw, yeah~

2) Trace them onto the leftover material I used to make her rain pants (also purple~) but add a good inch or so around it for depth and all that.

[I didn't take a photo of this step]

3) Cut out, line up (wrong sides touching), and sew up around the sides

I'm not that good at making curves on my machine yet...

 4) Flip inside out and stick over the knitted mittens

Nice 'n' puffy.

Done!
Maybe it will rain tomorrow and Ella can test them out and tell me how well (if even) they work!!
Wish us luck~!

Until then, Happy Waterproofing!!

That Was Funny

Just thought I'd share something funny Ella Rose told me today.

So, we were walking to her swim class and I was trying to emphasize the importance of learning how to swim (so that we're safe in the water, etc etc.).
Here's how the conversation went:

Mama: So, Ella Rose. You need to know how to swim because what if we went fishing in a boat, and you fell out into the water? What would you do?

Ella: I'd grab a rope.

Mama: But what if there was no rope to grab?

Ella: Well, then we would just go home.


Maybe you had to be there, but I thought it was pretty funny and it definitely shut me up about all the swim talk. :)

Happy Funny Convos~!

Tea Time

Heyas~

So last month some time, we instated a little daily routine in our household around the 3 o'clock hour: tea time.

We break out whatever light snacks are around, brew up some teas (Ella Rose included!) and just chill out around the living room table.

Today was mikan, walnuts, and cranberry-oatmeal cookie sticks

 It's just a great way to refuel and recollect ourselves for the last energy-expenditure of the evening (squeezing in some last-minute work for the day, preparing and eating dinner, readying the kids for bedtime, etc).

Some days, we've had tea time around 5 o'clock (oops) so it pushes dinner back a bit, but all in all, the family (William included!) really enjoys this midafternoon snack.

If you give it a try, tell me how you enjoy it.
Until then, Happy Tea Time~!

Purple Sunday

Hi, everyone!

I don't know if anybody else does this, but when Ella Rose and I are trying to figure out what to wear for the day, we tend to go by color. As in, "Let's wear all blue today!" "Okay, today we'll be red."
Well, can you guess what today's color theme was?

With a cameo appearance by William :)

That's right. It's your favorite color and mine: purple.
We hit up two special occasions in this purple get-up.

First was the Mennonite Fellowship -- a lovely group of people who made us feel so welcome and appreciated. I really loved the vibe there, but as my Resolution dictates, I'll be hitting up a different church every week, so it may be a while yet before I find myself there again...though they definitely made a great impression.

Immediately following, we attended our first-ever Gingerbread Decorating Party!
It was held by a lovely gal from the LBCC Live & Learn With Your Baby class. And boy did I meet some neat folks. So many researchers in the biological realm. Fascinating stuff these people are up to, and so modest about it too :)

Ella Rose's creation. It won "Best of Show" (j/k)

It was technically an Epiphany Party, where we ate King's Cake and I found the bean! That makes me Queen for the day~ ;)

All in all, it was a pretty cool day. A very active one, really!
And this week is looking like it will be as much, if not more so~!

Until tomorrow, take care and Happy Purple!!

What I'm Reading

Howdy all~

Just thought I'd share with you a book I recently got out of the library at the recommendation of my sister's beau, Martin.
It's called "The Undressed Art: Why We Draw" by Peter Steinhart.
Very intriguing so far -- the role of the artist, as well as art model, in the face of changing culture and technology. Fascinating~!

I thought today was the first day of the Winter Farmer's Market, but I was mistaken (it's next Saturday) so I rode the bus and then walked for an hour this morning. Very good for reading and thinking!

There was also a lot of napping in the house today. The two kiddos and hubby, not me -- also good for reading ;)

Hoping you are all enjoying this lovely January and reading some good books too!
Happy Reading to you!