Princess Rings

In our search for a bridesmaid and flower girl dresses we came across this princess dress and couldn't resist.  

All princesses need glitter and sparkle and this one is no exception.  I couldn't resist one day to paint a little flower with all those beautiful colors that were shining at me in the bathroom.

And after all that glamorizing Eli made himself a few rings.  Are those cool or what?  Made from one of those kits that has been sitting in the closet for quite a while.  Zap, from a Derby Girls program and Gum from a little novelty gum box Eli bought in Nevada City. 

And after playing around it was time to get to work and finish the school project that was due.  Titled  "Hit Da Clown". 

Going to the Chapel

This weekend a friend of mine got married.  I'm really happy for her.  I've seen her with lots of men and none of them quite fit.  She was always in some state or another about them.  But this one seems like an anchor.  I haven't heard one fleeting comment from her.

When I first saw her walk down the aisle with her father during the rehearsal I almost burst into tears thinking you've worked so hard for this and you deserve it.  I was glad there was there was a rehearsal.  The second time I thought of the little plastic statue she had had on her windowsill.  A symbol to remind her of her dream,  She kept it there and now she's here.  Well, not here but cruising along in Mexican waters breathing deep and relaxing. 

Happy Birthday to Nate

Hope you have a great day!  Full of adventure and beauty!

We're thinking about you on your birthday.  Sending birthday cheer from the west coast to the
 east coast.

 Hope you enjoy your cake with this much enthusiasm!

Here's looking at you kid!

So Fresh

 

 The rain has left everything fresh and green.  I love seeing the raindrops on the leaves.  The ocean is roaring and grey but the flora is vibrant.  Even the little carrot seeds in my garden are coming up.  Walking around here taking these pictures really makes me want to get a camera with a real lens.  To get  a close-up of things.  If you look closely at these you can see the rain drops.   

Rain, Rain

A letter came in the mail from Barbara Kingsolver.  She is busy working on her new novel that should be out soon. 

Emily is knitting a scarf.  She started that on her own.     

As part of the theme at school, Eli is building a pin ball machine.  I keep wanting it bigger, out of wood n'things.  He prefers the Cheerios box.  A kind of Gallimoto.

Emily has a new curling iron.  Look at those lovely curls.  

The rain has come.  Such a dry, warm winter and now the rain is here.  It's provided the chance to do things inside.  Knitting, building toys, trying out new hair styles and reading.  Kind of nice and my garden is fairing okay.      

Favorite Authors

A few days ago while Eli was laying low I got the idea to do some writing together.   I bought a new book called Rip the Page by Karen Benke.  We looked at some of the prompts but then I remembered Emily writing to one of her favorite authors and he was intrigued with that idea.  So we just sat right down and wrote a letter.  I wrote to Barbara Kingsolver and he wrote to Gary Paulson.  I could have written to a lot of different authors but I've read a lot of her lately.   Eli is reading Hatchet in school.

We wrote them, sealed them and sent them off.  Well, first Eli had to drip some wax on the back to make sure the letter was sealed.  I had told him about those things we used to have as kids where you melt the crayon-like stuff and actually put something like your initial in it.  He was trying to emulate that but it kind of looked more like we let an old candle drip on it.  Anyway, we're not holding our breath waiting for a personal letter with maybe some writing tips, advice on how to get published, offer to visit if we are ever in their town, autographed copy of their book we really want to read which in my case is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  No we're not holding our breath but it was fun to write them.