the first snow fall

It started snowing today. 

It grows my heart to see my children excited by snowfall.  And even more so how thrilled they are to watch their littlest brother enthralled...he doesn't remember this from last year. 

I sewed some curtains this morning.

I conditioned the table.

I've been painting.  This is what my dining room looks like when I've been painting.  I have nowhere else to store the finished works, nor the works in progress.  So, until these make their way to completion and then to their next destination, we eat in a motel-art shrine.

On the docket for the day?  Finish up three of the above. 

And then some Christmas decorating.

It's a shame that we got rid of the artificial tree.

 

eight

My boy turned eight today. 

When he was born I felt a mix of overwhelming love and complete panic.  I grew up with sisters.  I had a daughter.  I understood girls.  And girl stuff.  Boy stuff?  A mystery.

But, oh the love a mother has for her son.  I would hold him and look into his beautiful blue eyes and wonder what kind of man he would one day become.  What would he be like?  What would he think about?  What would he do?

His first Christmas I heard a song about Mary and her baby Jesus and I wept with an understanding that I hadn't known before. 

This boy...

...this boy that on the day he learned to crawl, he crawled all the way to the top of the stairs.  Baby gates!  And when he learned to pull to a stand, he pulled to a stand on top of the sofa...



...I had turned my back for two seconds (which is the beginning of almost all the stories of his babyhood) and the above is what I found.  *It should be noted that the camera was RIGHT THERE, and I knew I needed evidence of this moment for posterity.  **Also, I removed him right afterwards. 

He has always been so curious.  He is so smart.  Like, this kid could be a rocket scientist.  Except for the fact that he's going to fly Blue Angels.

And the cliche about boys being so different from girls?  Is one of the truest.  Different - but not in a bad way.  In the most wonderful way. 

 

s is for sarah

four years ago

This little fellow was born. 

He is so delightful.

love abounds

And this is my prayer:
 that your love may abound
more and more
in the knowledge and depth of insight,
so that you may be able
 to discern what is best
and may be pure and blameless
 until the day of Christ  

 

Philippians 1:9-10

 

 

 

 

thirty-six

One time I was fifteen years old and this super hot guy asked me to go with him to the movies.

I said, "I'm sorry,  I can't date until I'm sixteen."


:)

(that's not what I said...once a liar...)

He turns thirty-six today. 

He's pretty great.

I'm pretty lucky.

seventeen

If at first you don't succeed, don't try skydiving

sixteen

Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?

Pearl and Stanley

I tried to resist posing these two like a couple of old love birds...




He prefers reading the paper, and she likes to garden.

 

fifteen

When she told me I was average, she was just being mean.

fourteen

Did you know that William Tell and his family were avid bowlers? Yes, it's true. But, unfortunately, all the bowling league records were destroyed in a fire, so we will never know for whom the Tells bowled.

thirteen

Corduroy pillows are making headlines.

twelve

The man who had fallen into an upholstery factory is now said to be fully recovered.

eleven

(because I am a mother of boys...)

There was a captain sailing on the sea during a battle. His servant came up to him and the captain said, "bring me my red shirt".

So, the servant did as the captain said.

After that the servant came up to the captain and said, Why did you say bring me my red shirt"?

The captain said, "Well if I get shot they won't see the blood.

The next day the servant came up to the captain and said, "There are 50 ships on the horizon."

The captain said, "Bring me my brown pants."

getting ready, again

I'm getting ready for the Johnny Appleseed Days show again. 

Last year was really fun.  I got to spend the day with my Mom and sisters. 

(all the husbands watched the kids) 

 

The show was not the best place to sell paintings, but it was good motivation to paint in preparation.  I don't know that it's the best venue for my stuff, but I know it will be fun to spend the day with some of my favorite people. 

 

 

*Etsy shop to be filled in a few weeks*

 

ten

Did you hear about the man who lost his left side?
He's all right now.

nine

The Tate Watch Co., established in the 1880s in Massachusetts, wanted to expand their line of products. They decided on compasses, reasoning that the pioneers traveling west would all need one. Their watches were of excellent quality, not so their compasses. Pioneers often ended up in Canada or Mexico. Hence the expression, "He who has a Tate's is lost."

eight

A neutron goes into a bar and asks the bartender, "How much for a beer?" The bartender replies, "For you, no charge."

seven

There was a man who entered the local newspaper's pun contest. He sent in ten different puns, in the hope that at least one of the puns would win. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did.

six

Two vultures get ready to board an airplane, each carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at them and says, "I'm sorry, gentlemen, only one carrion allowed per passenger."