Another Year Down

So I was standing in the shower this morning thinking what a crappy year this has been. Noone can argue that watching a parent in end-stage cancer isn't a great way to spend the year, but that's pretty much how the year started in January, continuing through to the end in August. And add on to that the illness, suffering, and subsequent death of a beloved step parent during that exact time. I could also mention that 2010 found my husband still technically without fulltime employment and all the benefits that go with that. No one would argue with me that 2010 has been a pretty lousy year all around.

But about as quickly as my mind went down that road, I was struck by how much there was to be thankful for. Now I'm not trying to say that I don't have cause to be sad or grieving the deaths of my Mom and Al just because there are things to be thankful about, but that perhaps I shouldn't be so hasty about telling 2010, "Sayonara and don't let the door hit ya in the behind on the way out."

This year afforded me the opportunity to make several trips to Arkansas to be with my Mom and Al during their last months. Despite (or perhaps because of) Mike's lack of a regular fulltime job, I was able to spend several weeks visiting and taking care of what needed to be taken care of. I was able to be with my Mom during her final moments. Many adults can only wish for the opportunities to serve their parents that I've had this year. As heartbreaking and stressful as it was, there is good to be found there. In some families the death of a parent can tear them apart; I'm so glad that wasn't the experience I had with my brother and step-siblings. If anything, it brought us closer together.

Despite Mike's employment situation, he never lacked for work when it was needed. Not once. Mike took all opportunities presented to him and worked hard, but we know that it was God who brought the work Mike's way. His timing was always perfect. And so to God goes the glory and the thankfulness for taking care of this little family and their needs (and lots of wants as well!)

I'm thankful for the vacation we had in Puerto Vallarta with my Dad and Candace. We enjoyed the family time spent in such a superb location, and I dream of being able to go back again! It was a very relaxing time without the need for running around here and there to do this and that. Simply time spent resting, eating, swimming, and strolling with family. Doesn't get much better than that!

With everything going on this year, I was still able to continue homeschooling the kids. I'm thankful for being able to do so and don't take this right for granted. Our family was also able to participate in a co-op to enrich our homeschooling lives, and the friends I and my children made there are ones we cherish!

True, 2010 will go down as one of the saddest and most difficult years of my life. There are images in my memory banks that I wish weren't there and emotions that are still quite raw. But if I'm honest with myself, there was more to this year than grief. We had good health, we enjoyed growing friendships, renewing relationships with family and old friends, a God who never once left our sides, and above all else, hope. Hope for our present, and hope for our future.

Happy New Year To Us All

Crystal Ball

When I was at my Mom and Step Dad's house in September going through their things, I saw a picture on the wall of my Mom, me and the kids. I decided to tuck it into my suitcase and bring it home with me. I have it sitting on an end table next to the chair I usually sit in while in the living room. It was taken on Thanksgiving Day 2003, just 5 weeks after Charlotte was born.

I look at this picture and wonder what I would've thought if someone had told me in just 3 short years Mom would be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and begin a battle that would last for nearly 4 years......and that she (and my step dad) wouldn't be around for Thanksgiving 2010. I'm so thankful we were able to spend Thanksgiving 2009, their last, with them.

Some days are difficult. Not a day goes by that I don't think about Mom and Al. Some days I laugh over how silly Al was when he was in Grandpa mode, how he got Eric and Charlotte giggling. I miss his jokes, and I miss how he always took care of my mom. Other days I cringe when I think of all the missed opportunities I had for talking with my Mom but didn't. I miss my Mom's cooking, I miss hugging her, and I definitely miss spending time talking with her, just the two of us.

Even though we often wonder what we would do differently if "only we had known", I think it's probably a good thing that we don't know the future and what it holds. Life plays out as it should, complete with all it's joy, pain, regrets, and authenticity.

FYI

It still lives. Why don't the batteries in the remote last this long????

Gettin' My Thrifty On

Last spring our light fixture in the kitchen blew out (smoked, popped, and fizzled.....literally.) We got busy, weren't particularly interested or motivated to get something new all summer; it was a tad dark in the kitchen but we got used to it. Finally we went out a couple weeks ago to Menards when they had their sale on light fixtures. We found something simple in that "oil rubbed bronze" that's currently in vogue.

The new fixture looked great.....



.......until you looked across the room and saw the white ceiling fan/light fixture (which went much better with the old white light fixture.) Any new fan fixture that I liked was in the $150 range, and that seemed like a lot to spend on a new fan when we already had one that worked......just didn't like the color.



So I got THRIFTY....


I really wish I'd taken a before picture, but it was laying in pieces out in the garage before it occured to me to do so. Anyway, I thought it turned out awesome!! Total cost was 2 cans of Oil Rubbed Bronze Metallic Paint, 1 can brown paint, and one can of primer. Savings was about $130.




I'm now inspired to buy more paint and spray more dated light fixtures around the house!

Team McDonalds

A San Francisco Mom is driving down the road at mealtime and thinks to herself, "Oh no. We're going to pass by a McDonald's. My kids are going to ask for a Happy Meal so they can get a crappy little plastic toy. What am I going to do??!" As if on cue, little voices from the back of the mom-van pipe up in unison, "Mooooom. We're hungry!! We want McDonalds! Get us McDonalds Happy Meals!" Well, what's a Mom to do? She has no choice but to swing into the drive through and order up $20 worth of fast food and plastic toys.

What's that you say? She has a choice? Well, she could say, "No" to her children. Is there anything else she could do? She could say nothing and keep driving past the McDonalds. She could tell her kids to pipe down; they'll get a PBJ when they get home,a nd if they don't stop complaining, they'll get (gasp) nothing at all. She could even take the time to instruct her children that some food is good for you and some food is bad for you. McDonalds is in the "bad for you" category, so we don't eat there very often. "What?" you ask? Say "NO" to your kids? Teach them something about making good choices?? What do you think they are- a, a, a parent or something?

No, let's not venture down that path of doing the responsible thing; instead, let's get the government involved! Yes, they aren't involved in our lives enough, so we need to make sure they outlaw a restaurant from selling toys with an unhealthy meal. That would be the best course of action don't you think? I can't think of anything else that would take care of the childhood obesity problem besides demanding that a restaurant offer my child sliced apples with their greasy cheeseburger and side order of oil-drenched fries. Don't even think of asking these parents to limit their TV and video game time. These kids are in school sitting in their seats all day long. They need some down time in front of the tube instead of running around in the backyard. And you can't actually expect these parents to cook healthy meals for their families. They're busy with......whatever is more important than taking care of their families. Don't you see that the logical thing to do is to get the government involved to do the job that parents are unwilling to do?

Next thing you know they'll make it a requirement for grocery stores to offer carrot sticks in the check out lines next to the candy and gum. Wouldn't want a parent to have to stand there and say NO to their child, would we??

I, personally, am on Team McDonalds. I hope they get this ridiculous ban overturned and thrown out on it's ear. I believe it's time parents stop blaming everyone else for their own failings and own up to the fact that they've only shown up part-time to a full-time career. Stop blaming McDonalds for your fat kids and start doing what it takes to lead healthier lives.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

~ Proverbs 22:6

Stray Cat

Say, "Hello" to Alex, our stray cat.




He showed up in mid-July looking emaciated and scared. His hunger over-ruled his fear, so he came back to get the food I put out for him. Within a few days, I'd won his trust, and he let me pet him. Before long, he was spending his days on our deck and hanging out with us when we were in the yard. He fattened up on the food we put out for him, while I posted an ad in the Daily Herald and Craigslist for a lost cat, as well as posting signs in the neighborhood, but all callers were looking for other cats, not Alex.

The little guy has grown on me, so I decided to check into some low-cost options for getting him immunizations to keep him healthy and neutering him so he's not populating up the neighborhood (I recommend Spay USA or Spay Illinois if you live in the state.) So Alex's big day was on Tuesday. I was thinking we'd bring him into the house for a couple days while he recuperated and then he'd be back outside. Come to find out that a recently neutered tom cat needs 14 days of recuperation - no running or jumping (are they kidding? Keep a cat from jumping?) Sigh....

So I brought him home and set him up in bathroom/laundry room and hoped for the best. After the grogginess wore off, Alex Let It Be Known that his preferred lifestyle is as an Outside Cat. He paced back and forth between the doors, meowing for what seemed like Hours. On. End. We ignore him, and it's slowly getting better (it's only day 3.) Today, we introduced our existing house cats to Alex. Well, they already knew him having seen him on their deck for the past 3 months, but it was a whole different story having him on their turf....inside the house. A few hisses, one swat, and things are going swell. Everyone is ignoring everyone else and I think we'll get through this. HOWEVER, I'm still looking for a good home for him, so if you know anyone who loves cats and would like to have this wonderful tiger tabby boy who is kid-friendly, and one cool cat, please let me know.

Alex seems to be adjusting a bit too well, don't you think?

The Last Ones I Promise

Just a few more photos from our Puerto Vallarta trip. This is it. No more. I promise. This post is all about the pirate cruise we took. The pirate cruise was a show, two meals, and a trip to a protected island for swimming, kayaking, snorkeling, and banana boat rides.

So here's Mike and I on the Pirate Cruise with the kids and the Grandparents. At first I thought, "Wow, I look like crap!" But given that it was like 102 deg. out that day with no breeze and insane humidity levels, I think I look well under the conditions. ;-)




"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from this tropic port...."

On the island. The water was aqua color, clear and warm! I thoroughly enjoyed swimming there!

I was looking at this photo and thought, WHY is this guy video taping us? I don't know him! Why does he want footage of some gringos ? (And no, that wasn't the boat that took us out on our banana boat trip! That thing looks heavy enough to sink itself.)




The ride was fun for all of us, except Charlotte who sat in front. She said she got all the water sprays.

Maybe Next Time

We were at the Milwaukee Zoo yesterday to support our nephew on his first Down Syndrome Awareness walk. So we were on the walk portion of our day going by this foresty area that seemed like a great place to take a photo of the kids - you know, maybe for the annual Christmas card or something. I made the mistake of taking my sunglasses off while shooting the photos so I could see the light better, but duh, didn't put on my regular glasses so I really wasn't sure what I was shooting since it all looked blurry to me. Then there's Mike, ever the not helpful photographer's assistant, telling the kids to say cheeseburger or pizza or something stupid like that. All I wanted was a cute photo of the kids. THIS is what I get instead......

Family Vacation

Here are a few more photos from our trip to Puerto Vallarta.

Dad and Candace

The family - what is up with my kids?

I think this is only photo of me except one Mike took looking down my shirt at the Phoenix Airport. Not sharing that one of course. ;-)

Mike in the roof-top pool

Mike tries the waves

Our second favorite past-time while on the beach - dodge the waves

(First favorite past-time was sipping Coronas!)

Mr. Safety surfs safely

Still has the most awesome eyes ever!

Charlotte with her new friend from Montreal. The fact that neither could speak the other's language didn't deter these two from having a fabulous time together.

Posing after lunch with the Mexican Dancers sculpture on the Malecon

Dodging the waves

Scenic Puerto Vallarta

At the end of July we left for a week-long trip in Puerto Vallarta. We joined my Dad and Candace who were already there at the condo-on-the-beach. Here are a few excerpts from the trip.

A famous church that I never got around to going inside to see. It's supposed to be really beautiful, but I gotta admit by the time we made it down there on foot we were dying from the heat and humidity, so a passing photo of the steeple as we headed back to the pool was about all I was able to manage.




Every morning the 'Muffin Man' came by with his tray of fresh-out-of-the-oven muffins and pastries. He knew where to find us on our 4th floor balcony. Here's Dad, Mike, and the kids making their choices. I'm dreaming of an apple custard pastry right now.



The view from the roof (pool deck) staring south down the beach.



The view from the back of the condo where we were staying.



The view from the front of the condo where we were staying.

T-Ball Round Two

Just 4 short years ago we were on these very fields for T-Ball when Eric was in the league. This year Charlotte chose to take a break from gymnastics and try out T-Ball.

Warm-up before the game

In the dugout looking a little warm (it was 90 deg or something the day I took these.)

This is being "baseball ready" (aka pay attention so you don't get bopped on the head with a ball)

If this isn't a "girl throw", I don't know what is!

Can you tell this child was loving having the camera on her all during the game?

Yes, You're At The Right Place

I just made some changes to my blog look. I wasn't planning on it since I hardly have time, but what I was using (from some free site) has apparently been deleted and is no longer available, so rather than have readers looking at a white background with "this image is no longer available" plastered all over the page, I chose to spend some time today to find another look. Blogger has come a long way in their offerings since I first started blogging, but so many of the backgrounds are nice to look at but make it difficult to read text. I think this one may border close to the edge of "not quite readable".

The Big Reveal

Three summers ago Mike and I whacked down all our bushes out front. The yucky evergreen type trees had met a similar fate in a previous year. We made some major changes out there and this summer it all finally came together. Now it's a matter of waiting for everything to mature.

To read the initial post I made about this journey, you can read that here. If you don't really care and just want to cut to the chase and see the photos of before and after, keep scrolling down.

BEFORE

We got crazy

We planted a new tree

If you look in the above photo you can see my white spray painted line of what my plans were. Lets see how I did.

Ta Daaaah.....

Notice the fence is gone, the whole garden area is outlined with interlocking brick (the kind that are buy two at .89 and get one free kind), and there's always something blooming. Right now it's daylilies, hydrangea, and asiatic lilies. If you click on the photo to enlarge, you'll also see that I relocated the bird bath. Now the birds can splash around right in front of the window and torture our cats.

There's an assortment of stuff in there - balloon flowers, lupine, iris, hosta, couple different kinds of daylilies, two bushes, cone flowers, poppies, bleeding hearts, spider wort, and some other stuff I don't even remember what it's called. It's taken 3 summers to put it all together - some came from friends' gardens, some were rescued off the October clearance rack, and other stuff came from honest to goodness nurseries.

Much improved, eh?

La Mariposa

We spent 2 weeks on a butterfly unit last month and part of that unit was raising our own from caterpillars. Memorial Day weekend 4 of the 5 chrysalis hatched into beautiful Painted Lady butterflies. The 5th chrysalis didn't make it.

We enjoyed them inside for a couple days, but once the cats figured out what was fluttering around inside the habitat, they started a stake-out to see if they could catch one. So on our 2nd to last day of school we started the day by going outside to release our little butterflies. One flew off so fast I don't even know where s/he went to. The other wasn't too far behind, and the 3rd seemed to be telling us "I got snacks; not going anywhere right now."




Our 4th, and final, butterfly is "flight impaired". Instead of symmetrical wings, the right side is a bit....off and not well-formed. Oh, he tried to fly away, but just fluttered to the ground. We rescued him and brought him back inside to live out his life. I couldn't stand the thought of him becoming a part of the food chain.

Butterfly #4 resting on Charlotte's hand

You can see his asymmetrical wings here

About a week later we went on a family bike ride and were down by the river. We stopped for a moment and there was a painted lady butterfly. We watched it a while, and it briefly came to rest on my hand. I think it was our butterfly.

Daddy's Princess

In April, Mike took Charlotte to a daddy/daughter dance hosted by our church. Charlotte talked of nothing else all week long and was beyond excited once the day arrived. She chose to wear her red velvet Christmas dress, and I put her hair up in a bun in the back. She was thrilled to have her hair done fancy, but totally blown away when I lent her one of my necklaces to wear with her dress.

At the dance they had their picture taken by the photographer, and all the daughters received a necklace and a carnation. Lots of punch, desserts and dancing followed! She had the time of her life!!! Since I can't decide which one I like best, I posted all three of the ones I thought turned out good. :-)










He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers..." (Malachi 4:6a)

Prairie Girl

.
I took the kids on a field trip to a one-room school house about 40 minutes from home. We've been studying pioneer life, and I thought this might be a cool thing for them to see first hand. When we got there, we had the place to ourselves, along with the two volunteers. They were happy to share their information with folks who were interested. The kids got to sit at the old-time desks and were each given a slate and slate pencil to practice on, as well as a grade-appropriate McGuffy Reader! Charlotte was thrilled to try on each of the dresses! For this reason alone she wishes she had lived during this period in history. As we were getting ready to leave, each of the kids got to ring the bell in the belfry. It was definitely a successful field trip!

It's Just Around The Corner

Today the weather warmed up into the mid-50's and now that it's late afternoon, the rainclouds have lifted and the sun is poking out. I decided to inspect my garden and spray a little "liquid fence" to deter the deer and resident rabbit from eating up everything as it comes out of the ground (the stuff really works!) I had noticed the other day that my crocus were poking up out of the ground, but today they were fully up and looking beautiful. I couldn't resist taking a photo of one of them! What a treat - it's not even officially spring yet!!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Las Friday my brother and I met up at O'Hare to fly south to visit our Mom and Al. As it turned out, the weather in other parts of the country, including where we were headed, were getting hit with snow and ice. But all seemed to be going well for us. We managed to find each other easily enough, no troubles at security, found our gate at the furthest end of the corridor and sat down to rest. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:20 p.m., but about 7:15 for some reason I decided to check the departure screens and noticed that our gate had changed from what it was on the departure screen when we got through security 45 minutes prior. So we walked down the corridor to get in line for the shuttle, since we had to go to an entirely different area of the airport. When the shuttle arrived, we went down the stairs, outside and onto the shuttle bus, which then took us over to "F12A". We disembarked from the bus, got outside, back up the stairs, and down the corridor to sit at our gate and wait. As it turned out, our plane was announced 25 minutes late. No biggee.

About 9:00, an announcement was made that the plane had arrived but boarding would be delayed further since the plane was experiencing some technical difficulties. Hey, take yer time I say. About 15 minutes later they came on the intercom and said there was good news and bad news. The bad news was that our plane was out of commission; the good news was that another plane was available to take us instead. It was back over in the other part of the airport where we'd just come from. I literally LOL. So we went back down the corridor, got in line for the shuttle, went down the stairs and outside. By this time the wind was blowing, the snow was flurrying, but we got on the bus which took us back over to terminal C. Got out of the bus, back outside, up the stairs, and back down the corridor to our gate. Did I mention that I had a carryon bag packed? Yes, it had wheels, but that didn't do me any good going up or down the stairs or getting on or off the shuttle bus.

Once we arrived at our new gate (which was directly across from the first gate), we were met with........no one. No plane, no crew, no check-in person. Thankfully, someone from United came by but since there was no crew and no plane, well, check in couldn't really begin. Tom and I sat down. He said he wanted to file a complaint with his travel agent (me). At least we were keeping our sense of humor, as others were not. Finally plane and crew arrived, and we boarded the plan around 10:00 p.m. With a sigh of relief, we found our seats, and sat down. Since the plane was too small for carry on, I had to check my bag at the gate. No problem though since once we arrived, they'd put all the "at the gate" bags at the arrival gate so we wouldn't have to wait in the baggage claim area.

The pilot came on around 10:15 to state that there were further delays because they really needed to de-ice the plane. So we waited further for the de-icing crew to come and de-ice the plane. At 10:30 we finally thought we were going to be under way but the pilot just got on to say that the de-icing crew missed a few spots, so we had to wait for them to come back and do it again. Are you freakin' kidding me? I was losing my sense of humor by this point.

At long last we lifted off at 10:45 p.m. and arrived in Springfield, MO about 12:15 a.m......about 2 hours late. This wasn't a big airport and we were absolutely the only passengers in the place. So it was truly a wonder to me why we had to pull into the furthest gate in the terminal. Was there something wrong with the vacant gate 1?? I was fully anticipating to receive my luggage at the gate, but they decided to bring all the luggage to the claim area, so I basically lugged that thing all around the airport for no reason at all now that I had to wait in baggage claim like everyone else.

When we got to the baggage claim/rental car area, I went over to the Enterprise window to get our car. Unfortunately they closed 15 minutes before we landed. So I went over to the open window of Alamo and got a little crappy car for highway robbery. Had my brain been engaged, it would've been cheaper to call a cab. For a one day rental at Alamo, it cost as much as a three day rental at Enterprise. But Enterprise was closed, so their fabulous prices were doing me no good at that moment. We waited for our luggage and then shlepped out to the car rental lot.

Did I mention that Springfield was getting hit with a snow storm? Southern states just aren't prepared to deal with 8"+ of snow. They aren't.....no salt, no plows......but lotsa snow. There was no way we were going to be able to manage the hills of this area to drive 80 miles south to where our Mom and Al lived, so we opted to find a hotel (being the prepared person that I am, I did anticipate this need and found a hotel online that was 5 miles from the airport. Even got directions off their website to the hotel.) So anyway, we go out to the rental car parking lot to row 9 and space 216. It was about 15 degrees out (without the windchill), and loads of swirling snow hitting us in our faces. There were 10 rows in the rental car lot, we trudged out to row 9. Did I mention that the rental car lot wasn't plowed.....at all?? And to think I left my snow boots at home. So in my Borns and Tom in his sneakers, we went to......the absolute last parking space of row 9, me carrying my, by now very heavy, rolling suitcase. I do have to agree with my brother when he said, "For $60, they should've $@&*!* heated the car up and brought it around for us." So true.

So it's dark, windy, snowy, and unplowed where we're at in our little Nissan box on wheels with a brake that thumped or sounded like it was dragging on the road whenever I used it. We had a bit of trouble finding the exit to the airport, but managed to get out onto the main road. The directions said to go to the roundabout and take XYZ road. Except there was no XYZ road. We gave it our best shot to find this place.....in the dark, on unplowed roads. And I do mean unplowed highway roads in a place that had received 8"+ of snow. By 1:45 we couldn't find this hotel, and gave up. We had seen a little place back up the road and stopped off there. We asked if they had a room, which he said he did (through a sliding window while we stood outside at 2 a.m. in the morning in the 15 degree weather with snow swirling around us.) Unfortunately he didn't have a room with two beds but did have a room with a king size bed. At this point, we really didn't care, so we took it.

We got to our room and it didn't have any heat turned on and was about as cold inside as it was outside. Tom got the heat cranking while I laid down on the bed still in my coat. Abougt 10 minutes later it started to crank out some heat. Fully clothed, we crawled under the covers to try and get some rest. Tom woke me up at 8 a.m. because he needed coffee; besides we need to try and get to Arkansas. One look in the bathroom told us we weren't showering here, so after brushing my teeth we split and headed back to the airport to turn in this lousy car (they wanted $130 for the whole weekend. Gimmee a break!) We turned in the car, then went down to the Enterprise counter, which was open. Yay. I explained what had happened last night and the woman upgraded us for free AND went out to the rental car lot to get the car for us, brush it off and warm it up. Sweet. I think it was a Pontiac G4 (?). Much nicer ride anyway, and off we went. Truly amazing though that the roads leading into the airport still hadn't been plowed by 8:30 a.m.

We hit the highway and arrived at Mom and Al's about 11 a.m. The MO highways were reasonably plowed, but when we saw the "Welcome to Arkansas" sign, the roads instantaneously became awful and our travel was slowed to about 30 mph. I found myself behind one plow and really it seemed like he was just making the road worse, so I passed him. Sure enough, once I got in front of the plow the road was considerably smoother traveling. Back at Mom's they were snowed in; neither could drive, and both were sick and couldn't have shoveled the drive to get out of the garage, so Tom and I shoveled so I could take Mom to Walmart for some items Al needed, including a new prescription.

When I booked the flight about a week before we left, I really sensed God wanting us to go that weekend. While we were at the airport and dealing with the delays, snow, and lousy hotel, I found myself questioning the whole thing - Did I misunderstand? And if I didn't, why all these hassles to arrive at our destination? I didn't have my answer immediately, but after our short weekend there, I'm certain that I understood correctly; we were meant to be on that flight and to travel that weekend. They needed us there that weekend, especially on early Monday morning when Mom woke us up to take Al to the emergency room. After several hours at the ER and many tests later, they determined that he had a puliminary embulism (sp?). Forutnately he was admitted to the hospital and will be treated for what he's been suffering from for the past week. My step brother is flying in today to take our place, so we felt OK leaving on our scheduled flight. The trip back up to the airport was uneventful and all 7 of us got on the plane with no problems. As a matter of fact, we left 10 minutes early.

When They Do Art

Occasionally I throw in some art into our homeschooling curriculum. Sometimes it's to teach a specific skill and sometimes it's just something for fun. This project fell into the "for fun" category, while at the same time tying into Charlotte's study of the seasons.

I got the idea out of the Mailbox Craft book here:



I chose to have Charlotte do the winter one since, well, it's winter. Eric tagged along on this project. It was basically a simple project. I cut small strips of masking tape which the kids taped onto white watercolor paper into the shape of the tree of their choice. Afterwards, they used "cool" water colors for a wintery feel. When the paint is dry, remove the masking tape, and you have left a white tree.

I think the kids liked it. Here's Charlotte's tree. She used several shades of blue and even a bit of grey and purple in there. Not bad for a 6 year old:



And here's Eric's tree.


Now I know art is supposed to be about the process, not the end product, but it's moments like this that have me wondering what words Picasso's Mother had for him in his early years. Do I have a surrealist artist on my hands? Ya never know.....