The Amazing Adventures of Us

We made frog heads today.  Tomorrow we (almost the whole school - those who aren't on the camping trip, a lot of the parents and a few grandparents) are going to be in a parade through downtown Portland.  I plan on taking as many photos of us as I can while wearing my frog head.

Chris Lutter spent the day with us helping us design and build the frog heads.  It was one of the funnest things we've done in a while (we spend this weekend painting the dining room, so of course it was more fun!).
I'll post more photos from the parade as soon as I can. 

basket of monsters

  basket of monsters 
  Originally uploaded by artfulblogger.

I've been hard at work making many many monsters.  Here's a peek at few of them.

Yesterday was Open House at the kid's school and it was a good one.  We had about 20 families show up and most of them seemed really interested!  It was good.  It was billed (for the kids at school) as an extra day of school, most of them seemed to like that. 

We followed that up with one of the kid's friend's birthday party at a local skating rink.  That was cool, loud, but a lot of fun.  And the chocolatey-est cake ever, yum.  Needless to say, all of the kids fell asleep early what with all the playing at school in the morning and rollerskating in the afternoon.

There is a college here in town called Oregon College of Art and Craft  - I'm blown away that there is a place just minutes from me that I can go to (and plan to go and take at least one class this summer) and learn more about art (including photography, which I'm seriously considering).  I'd love to learn how to make kinetic sculptures, more about using digital cameras and computers to enhance the photos, small scale sculpture, etc... 

(Speaking of art, I've been making drawings of shadowboxes that I'd like to make.  I'm working on a fabric tree since I don't need the studio finished to make the leaves.  I've drawn out ideas for ferris wheels, Winkin, Blinkin, and Nod, theaters, and different ships.  I'm SO ready to be back in the studio creating.)

The studio space is getting closer and closer to being finished.  More than half the drywall is up, all the standing shelving has been put together, desks are in place and all the boxes have been moved from the family room into the studio.  Now we just need to finish the drywalling and put unpack boxes and move in (we need rugs and stuff hanging on the walls and ceiling - decorating, it's very blah out there right now).

We are finally feeling more moved in here and that's lovely.  We've been sitting in the hot tub in the evening (it's wonderful to be surrounded by warm water while the sky is spitting cold rain on our heads). 

The kids are really loving their new school.  Robin has this need to be perfect, so he's had moments of unhappiness because he's not living up to his own standards (of course by most other people's standards he's doing just fine).  Stu is incredibly happy there, she's made loads of new friends and she's rarely bored (although, because she is who she is she still has issues with boredom, but they pass pretty quickly).

I've been asked to join with the school board and help with the review of teachers and administrators.  I've said yes, but I'm wondering how much I help I can possibly be - we've only been there a few weeks - I still don't know everyone's name yet! 

Next week is spring break, no school.  So it's going to feel like homschooling again, I'm just hoping that the kids don't wake up grumpy and bored before we've even had a chance to figure out the day!

faucet nose
Originally uploaded by artfulblogger.

I'm not ignoring my blog on purpose, we've just been incredibly busy.

Yesterday we had the hot tub installed (the elctrician comes on Wednesday to hook it up - YAY!), today and the next two days we are having new windows put in, and Jeff and I are hurrying up finishing the dry walling in the garage/studio so that when the inspector comes on Wednesday it's ready to be inspected.

WHEW!

But here are photos from our train trip last week to Seatlle -

The one above is this huge animated trippy faucet nosed guy. The one below is the hostess of the Grossology exhibit, she's kind of creepy.

And then just random photos from the trip -

The Grossology exhibit really wasn't worth the trip, but the Pacific Science Center is great! Being on the train was fun too (although we almost missed the connection back because we couldn't get a bus - we ended up taking a taxi back to the train station and JUST made it in time), we watched movies (Dream Girls and Stranger Than Fiction), ate breakfast going and dinner coming back, and visited with all the other homeschoolers (2 cars worth!).

It was a good day.

my new Le Creuset
Originally uploaded by artfulblogger.

I bought a new pan last week for baking bread in. I looked EVEYWHERE for a cast iron bread pan with a lid and this was closest thing I could find. I've used 5-6 times now and I love it! Although I probably should have gotten a slightly larger one, the bread keeps sticking to the lid after the first 15 minutes of baking (I need the lid so that I can add the water to steam it for a thicker and crisper crust - without the water, it's just another loaf a bread), so I either need to cut the recipe down a little or try oiling the top of the lid. We'll see what works best.

In other picture news -

Stu and Em decided to dress up and me and Jeff the other day. It was very funny. They were tripping over the huge shoes and the hats kept falling into their eyes. Very cute.

Another trip the OMSI, lots of experimenting going on this time.

Stopped and got gas, my camera was right next to me in the car so I just had to take this photo. I love that we don't pump our own gas here. I've always hated doing that.

I had lunch with a friend this week too (while the kids were in school, more on that in a minute)

The food was incredible! Seriously good, we're planning on back there again as soon as we can. In the meantime, we're getting together again next week for a late breakfast and some hiking.

The kids had their first two days of school this past week. And they LOVE it. They went to the ballet, played with light sabers, did some arts and crafts, played dolls (well Stu did), read, played basketball at the gym, and started making friends. On both days when I picked them up they didn't want to leave. And they've insisted that they get there at 8 every morning (although they can show up whenever they want) and stay till 4 every afternoon (again, they can leave whenever they're ready). This is going to be good for them.

Monday we are taking the train to Seattle for the day. The kids will miss school that day, they're a little torn between wanting to go on a train and wanting to go back to a school they adore.

Jeff came home this morning with enough drywall for the entire studio (ceiling included) so we're doing that today - wish us good luck all the way through, I'm not looking forward to it.

mom - christmas 2006
Originally uploaded by artfulblogger.

Yay! I've figured out how to add photos using my sister's computer (which is not a Mac, so completely foreign to me)

So here goes -

This is what we woke up to yesterday, how wonderful is this?

(see the house? That's ours! Cute huh?)

And here's Lily being held by Stu. 5 days old and SO beautiful!

More tomorrow.

My children are changing. They are growing up and I'm loving it. They've taken over the after dinner chore of cleaning the kitchen. And while they're not that great at it yet, they will be. I can't tell you how great it was to walk into the kitchen this morning and see it (almost) clean and know that I wasn't the one who did it, or see dirty dishes that I was going to have to take care of so that I could make breakfast.

So cool.

And they were so proud of themselves. Seriously. They complained a bit during the cleaning, but afterward they were practically strutting.

Today we are running errands (taking used paint to the drop off place, etc...), cooking a pot roast for dinner (I think I'll ask the kids if they want to learn how to do that too), working on art projects, and a teeny bit of cleaning (I have to fold mounds and mounds of clean clothes).

Oh, and I sold this (this is an older photo by the way, she's been embellished a bit with sparkles and jewels)-

I've been having seriuous doubts about my talents and just when I'd hit pretty low, I got an email asking how much and where do they paypal me? I'm mailing her out at the end of the month. WOO HOO!!!