5 year olds and making decisions....

Here is just ONE of the many PERFECT examples of why you SHOULDN'T let your 5 year old make decisions: (Emma has been telling me for a while now that she wants to go to a 'real school'. Yeah, it bothered me a bit because I have a real desire to homeschool and I want them, of course, to be happy about that decision. Well, our conversation today made me feel a bit better about my decision of sticking to homeschool and not being swayed at all by her wanting to be in school....)

(I am handing Emma a zip lock bag with a PB&J sandwich in it....)

Emma: "Mommy, this is why I want to go to a school, a REAL SCHOOL."

Me: "What is why.... the sandwich?!"

Emma: "Yes, at 'real schools', kids get food in bags and the food looks SOOOO yummy, that is why I want to go to a REAL SCHOOL." (major emphasis made on the last 2 words)

Me: (with my normal response to things like this) "Oh, I see."

and there you go, that is why 5 year olds don't make decisions

The end result

Notice Emma's shimmering face? Well, we were at my brothers house last night for a b-day party and my niece painted her face with nail polish. Emma is in love with the permanent sparkle. The picture and lighting doesn't capture how much of a paint job she received but trust me, she sparkles.

That time again

When they get a bit older and I have more time to braid 3 heads of hair I will let them grow it out, but short hair really helps with prep time in the morning.

Always wanting to create

In my studio...

well, bedroom...
Kevin bought me something I have been wanting for years now. I am very new to art, any type of art, but through my reading I have really loved classical art and the artist I have been watching is Alexei Antonov. From his website this is how he describes his art style...

" Classical realism is not just a passive rendering of the subjects.On the one hand it is a creative process of the piece of art with the precise following of the rules and requirements which have been created during Renaissance Epoch and polished up later by the greatest artists from generation to generation. "
So Kevin bought me the first instructional video, which is a very detailed lesson in oil painting. It may be another year before I can afford all the supplies to actually start painting, but I am in practice mode now...I set up my first still life arrangement (I need to foodshop because I was low on 'paint worthy' fruit, veggies, etc...)and I am practicing my sketching from real life because my comfort has been drawing from photos. Kevin also bought me a new cello tuner, which I adore, so I unzipped Vincent (the cello) from his bag. It has been a long 4-5 years since I have 'held' him and ran my fingers across his strings, but it was great...now for getting my fingers back in shape.

A bit of life after Christmas

Counter clutter has ALMOST become attractive to me, its a good thing too.

Christmas Day Night

My side of the family met over at my mom's house on the evening of Christmas Day.
Above is my mom and sis and below is my bro, Danny.
My bro, Ben.
Sis in law, Mandy, and Tia Debbie
My bro, Chris.
The girls sitting down for Christmas dinner and getting ready for the big toast.

Cheese...cheese...cheese. You know how kids do that? If you have a camera to your face they continue to say CHhhhheeeeeseeeee until you take the camera away.
They are all SO ready to open gifts, even auntie Bree.
Yes, sugar high past their bedtime.
Bro, Dan and his wife, Khaki and my darling husband, who can never allow a normal photo, checking out some art sent as a gift from Shell and Ross.

Great pics Ross...thank you!

A wonderful Christmas, but time for bed.

Merry Christmas

Tractor from Nana and Paw-Paw. Thank you!



Sorry there are not many pictures from Christmas morning. I wanted to enjoy the moment without a camera attached to my face and my mind on finding a good shot. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Are you excited that it is Christmas Eve?!

What do you think?!

This Christmas Eve we read the Christmas story and had a good conversation with the girls about 'why we do what we do' on Christmas. We then opened stockings and our pj gifts...it is always nice to wake up Christmas morning wearing new and creative pj's.

Winter fun

We went for a sleigh ride at Charming Fare Farm on Sunday night. It was unfortunate that my camera died before we even got on the sleigh. The weather could not have been better. There was a perfect amount of snow around. The girls loved seeing the animals, as well as frosty the snowman and other characters that showed up through our ride through the woods.

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad

13 years was what they had, and then my daddy saw his Heavenly Father face to face. Today would have been 30 years of marriage. Even though my mom doesn't have my daddy here to celebrate that wonderful milestone with her, I know deep in her heart she can still celebrate loving that same man for these 30 years. Thank you mom, for choosing such a wonderful man to be my daddy. Happy Anniversary to you!

Warm inside

As the ice and large amounts of snow begin to slowly melt away.....

we play...
and bake...


and play more...