Today was one of those days that I didn’t have any responsibilities (besides taking care of my kids) and I just felt like sitting around doing nothing. It didn’t help that I woke up with an awful headache. But I have to say I am glad it was one of those days and I could just do what I felt like. I did some laundry, picked up a little, and played outside with the kids over at Cyndi’s. Anyway, I thought I would make a note of something that happened last night. Karson, our nine month old, was in my arms as the Archers were getting ready to leave. Everyone was saying their good-byes. And as plain as could be, Karson looked right at Micki and said “bye, bye”! We just looked at each other in disbelief…but it was so funny. I don’t know if he meant to say bye, but you have to wonder when he said it in the right context and all if he really knew what he was saying. It wouldn’t be his first word, because he says mama…but only usually when he is upset.

For those of you who like to read my blog regularly, I apologize that I haven’t been better at posting this past week. I have been busy, but didn’t draw or write in my journal much at all since last Saturday and that is the main reason why I haven’t posted anything until today. Sam and I took a last minute trip this weekend (which we planned on Thursday) to Grand Rapids where we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast. We had a wonderful time without the kids. We have a wonderful babysitter who was more than happy to stay the night with them…she is so great that we didn’t really worry about the kids at all while we were gone.

This past week I have been teaching classes at Ella Sharp. I had 1st through 3rd graders. I only had 6 kids and they were all wonderful artists. They were so enthusiastic about everything they did and very well mannered. It was a lot of fun for me to teach them. I taught them about 5 famous artists and we learned about their art and the media that they use to create it. I could not believe the work these kids turned out. Three of them (of which their art is below) were only going into first grade! They did such a wonderful job on these Georgia O’Keeffe inspired drawings that their parents want to frame them and I think they all deserve a place of honor. They are awesome, don’t you think?

We planned a last minute trip to celebrate our anniversary. Something which we rarely do (celebrate our anniversary). We left the kids with our awesome babysitter, Jasmin. They did so great and so did she. We never worried about the kids the whole time we were gone. On Thursday we booked a room at a Bed and Breakfast in Grandville. Becauase we booked so late we got the most expensive room at a cheaper price! It had a remote control fireplace and columns around the Jacuzzi with a chandelier above and mirrors from the tub to the ceiling. We have never stayed at a bed and breakfast before. This one was very nice, and the owner was friendly and the food was awesome. We don’t usually do a lot for our anniversary. I can only remember two other anniversaries that were real memorable. So doing something nice like this was special for both of us. We had a great time being together without kids and talking and other things that I will not be writing in this post.

Got up early this morning, had a few customers. Around 9:30 I drove to the credit union to deposit my paycheck and get us all McDonalds. The four of us sat and waited for customers as the kids were playing on the porch. We took turns resolving conflicts between them about every 10 minutes. That in itself was tiring…and then the fact that we had so much stuff to sell and no one was stopping to look. 4:30 rolled around and we packed everything back into the garage…and totally filled it. We talked about having another garage sale the following weekend and advertising and decided that we would have more customers that way. We counted up our money and split it up between our three families. We then went out to eat…having all that money in our pocket made us feel like we could afford it!

I walked through the back entrance to Roxy’s. As I cut through the kitchen, past the grill, I could hear the sound of bacon and eggs cooking and smelled the familiar scent of pancakes and toast. As I pushed the door open, I noticed that it was busy with customers and quickly scanned the crowd to find the familiar faces of my fellow journalers. The bright cluster of balloons caught my eye and served their purpose in marking the place where all of us crowded around a table that was meant for four until the table next to us finished their meal and gave us theirs. I ordered a Coke and a huge cinnamon roll. It was delicious – served warm and drizzled with icing. Julia ordered eggs and salsa which sounded strange to me, but I think I might try it next time after hearing her rave about how great it is. We drew for a while, until they kicked us out. Actually the management was great about letting stay a little longer to finish our drawings…even though they closed at noon. The owner was impressed by all of our drawings and they mentioned that they have been looking for someone to do a drawing for them. They wanted to know if I was interested. I guess they thought my drawing was something they were looking for.

No time to draw lately…I spent the whole day getting ready for our garage sale tomorrow…actually today as we will be stapling our signs to telephone poles all around our neighborhood in less than seven hours. It is 1:30 AM and Sam just discovered that our staple gun is out of staples…so he is running to Meijers to buy some. Even though it is a lot of work, it’s been fun…I just hope we make at least $100.00. I will post some drawings tomorrow (Saturday) night…because I will be meeting the other members of my class to draw at the Roxy Cafe tomorrow – (actually today.)

This coming week is our church’s VBS and Cyndi and I are going to be decorating for it…and I will also be a crew leader…just found that out. Sam saw my name on this list, which surprised me, because I never was actually called by anyone. Although they claim that someone did. Whatever, it’s fine. I will be leading a group of 5th graders around. It will be fun.

I also start teaching classes for kids next week at Ella Sharp Museum, so I have to get my lessons together for that, type up a letter to the kids, and figure out what I will be doing with the kids each day exactly. Nothing like waiting till the day before…but that’s my M.O. Why do I have all this stuff to do in one weekend?…maybe I should’ve planned the garage sale for another time.

This is the state of our basement right now. Sam and I have spent a number of nights sorting, organizing, and throwing stuff out with my sister Cyndi. She is awesome at organizing…I am the opposite – so I have to have help. This Saturday is our garage sale. There is still so much to do. We have found some long lost treasures of which I hope to do a page sometime. It is fun to go through boxes that have been unopened for six or seven years. But it’s also easy to get distracted and waste time reminiscing about the past.

Something must have triggered Savannah’s memory of watching the fireflies in our yard last summer because she has been asking about why she never sees them and where they are. The reason she never sees them is because she is in bed before it gets dark. So tonight after the boys went to bed, Sam, Savannah and I sat on our porch and watched for fireflies. Sam read Savannah a story, we talked about stuff like when she was littler and things we want to do in the future…and I drew Savannah looking out the door, watching for the fireflies. She was very excited to see them, and every time she spotted one, she was sure to tell us where. It was a fun time for all of us. Seeing Savannah enjoying a simple pleasure like watching fireflies reminds me to appreciate all the simple things in life that we so often take for granted.

After church today, we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and head out to a local state park beach. It was a good time with the kids. The water was freezing cold, but Savannah didn’t care. She played the whole time in the water. I played with her and taught her how to kick her feet. When the boys started to get grumpy because they were getting tired, we decided to pack stuff up and head home…but not before stopping at the camp store to buy a round of ice cream cones for everyone. This time Max had Superman flavor and had some very interesting color combinations displayed around his sticky mouth! Much like the other day when he ate the blue ice cream at The Parlour. (see recent pictures). Savannah couldn’t say enough about how much she loved the beach and kept asking if we will go back. We had a nice time just as a family. A lot of times when we do a “special adventure” type thing we ask someone else to come along – and that’s ok, but for once it was nice to be just us and enjoy our family. Sam is sometimes reluctant to do things like this, especially when it involves being outside, but today he glady went along and seemed to enjoy himself. I feel that it is important to make memories with our kids and to take advantage of nice weather rather than being trapped in an air conditioned house all day. I only think about it being the end of August and feeling like I wasted my days because I stayed inside.

I did parts of this page during my class today. We did fun stuff with photographs, a copying machine, and a variety of other art materials. I didn’t have any real inspirations during class, but later I finished my journal cover. I had collaged some copies of drawings from my journal earlier today, but this evening I was inspired to add some color and a few other finishing touches. Now I really like it.



We were supposed to spend one of our classes painting the cover of our journals…at least that was what was proposed at the beginning…but last week Greg came up with the idea of doing a dust jacket for our books which we would make from paper. Then we could work on a more personal composition for our covers that reflected what was coming across in our journals. Making the paper cover was fun, but I have no idea what I would paint on the outside of the journal. I like the collage idea and having something that reflects my everyday life. But for right now, I will just leave it because I am satisfied with the way the paper cover looks.