Lavender's Big 2 Party

So we had a last minute impromptu party for Miss Lavender last night. The evening was complete with friends and fam, birthday cake, presents and ten bazillion balloons. The kiddos loved all the balloon madness and had a blast running all over chasing, kicking and throwing them.
Here are a few snippets of the evening.

tiny shoes

Check out these adorable little shoes!!!

One of Josher's sweet co-workers made them for our little Autumn.

Her tiny feet are too little for them right now, but she's growing like a weed. I think they are going to be just perfect for Spring.

Yet another reason to be excited about Spring!

Sweet times with Mimi

Here are a few moments from our past few days with Mimi... my salvation during much sickness.

V Day

Here is a snippet of the tiniest Valentine's celebration...

The great thing about my girls is that it only takes a tiny little something to make the day all bright and shiny and fun. I love the look on Lavender's face when she opens her little v-day gift - a little family of beavers (or maybe otters) complete with clothes that come on and off and on and off again and again and again.

Nevertheless, I am thankful that it only takes pipe cleaners, and shortbread heart cookies to make this silly red and pink filled day special.

the saga continues...

i woke up this morning with a little gift... called conjunctivitis


yes, yes... what a nice present, huh?!

i am posting this pic of a lovely healthy eye to inspire me to good health... (btw... don't ever search conjunctivitis on google images... you will want to throw up!)

hopefully with antibotics & eye drops, I will start getting better.


being sick with a multitude of illnesses make me think of Job & what a man of faith he must have been. If only I had a little sliver of that.... not just b.c. I don't want to be sick anymore, but to be able to possess such a fervent trust in God. i could say a lot more about such things, but sometimes silence is more appropriate than words.

prognosis

so i broke down and went to a doc in box on sunday after a very very long night of head slamming throbbing, fever and pain.

It turns out that my stupid mega cough/cold goo morphed into a full blown ear infection that spread to both ears. eerrrh

And all I have to say about that is I understand why Van Gogh cut off his ear.

Laughfer's big 2nd Birthday

Thursday was Lavender's big 2 year mark... I can't believe she is already two years old!
The poor kiddo's party had to be postponed due to "the sickness" (which made me feel incredibly sad - being the cause of the cancel and all), so we had a mini party at home. Mimi totally saved my bootie and picked up a ready made cake and a giant Tweety bird balloon... Laughfer thought it was the cooolest thing.. she was jumpin' and chasin' that thing all over the house like a crazy woman!

But, she loved having the pre-made cake and some of her b-day presents... which is another thing - Joshers & I were somehow crazy enough to get her this little pink plastic guitar that plays the most annoying tunes that haunt us in our sleep - i guess that is a rookie parent move, huh! - I did make a vow to never give music making presents to any kid who's parents we wish to remain friends with!!
anyways, it feels like the big 2 year mark for Laughfer has come and gone without much mental or emotional awareness on my part, since I have been in this weird, warpy, timeless sicky land of zombie. I just keep reminding myself that there will be a celebration for Laughfer and little Naya soon and that I didn't drop the ball. erh...

sicky sicky

yep... sickness hits again.
now that we have weathered the croup and countless coughs and colds, I have somehow picked up the flu. it's been a long time since I had the flu and it is just no fun at all... I feel like the little sick kid in this painting. Being sick makes you just want your mom no matter how old you are, right?

anyways... i just wanted to share this work of art b.c. it makes me get out of my head and remember that people have been getting sick and making thru to good health for a very long time. And no matter how dreadful and isolating it makes you feel, it WILL end!!

And one more thing... I just wanted to say that I have the most incredible mom ever... she has braved entering my cootie filled house and helped me with the kiddos for the past 2 days. Thanks, Mom... so much thankfulness fils my heart for you... i love you so!

the low down on the painting, for you art buffs out there...

Mother and Sick Child, Holland, 1600s. This painting was done by the Flemish painter, Gabriel Metsu, and is commonly known as "The Sick Child". The painting is located in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

New materials

Here are a few new materials that fell across my path and I am just so stoked to play with them!!
I always know when I have found something really cool b/c Laughfer goes bonkers for it... smart girl - she is my coolness meter.

There is simply nothing like finding vintage material to work with... just check out these paper dolls - you can't find stuff like this just anywhere.
I am working on the dwarves right now - hopefully it won't look too bad to have the "seven dwarfs" minus one or two... I guess they went out for coffee.

I'll let ya know how they turn out!!

Magnetic Fields

So I was driving around the other day listening to ol' NPR... and whatdaya know they were doing a review of the new Magnetic Fields album, Distortion. I got so excited--- I turned up the volume and prayed for a few moments of silence from the kiddos in the back and listened hard. All to be less and less intrigued with each and every low down about the album. I was listening to descriptions like "exuberant unhappiness" and "morose melancholies" and suddenly it hit me... this band I loved soo soo much no longer speaks to my little world. Silence seems to have more relevant things to say to my life right now... so weird to see how much your world has changed through such seemingly small events.

hmmm.....

Faces of Autumn

My sweet tiniest girl has become quite the little cooer... is that a word? anyways, it is so nice after months of just sleeping and being to finally see a little glimpse of her personality. I must say I am so addicted to her little smile... but, you gotta be fast to catch it... it comes and goes as quickly as a breeze. Here we are trying to catch it and memorex it forever.

Tumbleweeds travel thru Etsy

so I finally got around to making a little banner for my etsy shop. I think it turned out really fun.

Now if I could just get my act together enuff to post some new works.... yep, it's empty right now... so sad... but not for long!!!

Emerging from "the Purge"

Yep, yep... the time has finally come... I have completed my studio purge. I know it may seem silly to write so much about throwing out excesses and organizing the leftovers.
But for me, this process is crucial. I always seem to reach this point of immobility where I can no longer move forward till the past projects and "shoulds" are disposed of. I wonder if anyone else has this building and purging addiction...

however meaningless this all seems, it does actually have a real effect in my little world... it has led me to search for the "perfect system" ... a way to put my studio and countless materials together so that I can find them all when I need them. I think this is especially difficult for artists who work with collage... there is just so much neato stuff lying around. Little Laughfer thinks this little cubby of creativity is the funnest place in the whole house... this is her getting upset with me for not letting her touch my squishy Blue Skies garland (thanks again, Cat.... i know it was supposed to be for the girls, but i just couldn't give it up!) for the thousandth time.

Hopefully the new "system" will hold up longer than a week!!! HA

my eighties model

yep yep... we have rediscovered the good ol' eighties up in here!!

There is something about these pics of Laughfer that give a little glimpse of the upcoming Lavender... the Lavender as a young girl.
When I look at these I can see her primping in the mirror several years down the road - Let's just hope that glimpse is not of her getting ready for a date - gulp!

Anyways... just thought these were too cute to resist!

Ode to my Sweet

I just wanted to say out loud how much I love my Josh and how much I enjoy him and appreciate all he does.

There is no one more fun to be with and no one easier to love.

i am a lucky girl!

The Purge

why is it so hard to give up certain things??

for me, this difficulty lies in the relinquishing of any sort of art supply... or really anything that speaks to me about its potential to be molded into something more. However optimistic this approach can be, it always leads to overwhelming piles of strange things cluttering up my studio.

And then, these things that once seemed so promising morph into some new kind of burden... a "should"... i find myself looking over these piles and thinking I really should do.... blah blah blah... and I guess if I actually did something at that point, then there would be no need for mass exodus of the studio that seems to happen repeatedly. Which is where I find myself now... in mid purge.

The nice thing about this endless process is that at the end of a long line of garbage bags I always find a nice, fresh vigor for new works....

check this out

Winter Baby

What is it about having a tiny new little baby in the winter that creates in me in this constant incredible desire to find the warmest, quietest place and cozy up with my little Autumn and listen to her every tiny coo and drink in every detail of her small little self???
The few moments that I get to spend such concentrated time with my new little daughter like this is never as frequent as I would like, but it has this rare guiltless quality about it that is more attractive than anything I have known in a while. I mean, how could I even begin to choose tackling the overflowing pile of laundry flooding my house over these moments that seem to be fleeting away into memories as soon as they are made??? Perhaps this is how one responds to a unique kind of wholesomeness that only a new life could bring....

All I really know is that there is simply no better way to spend a cold winters day than forgetting the world with my little Autumn girl.