we heart art

if you missed my last post, let me tell you that sara at domestically challenged, 3baybchicks and I'm Living Proof God Has a Sense of Humor, are hosting "we heart art."

'...which gives you the chance to not only showcase your artwork or creative projects, but also your kid's handiwork. You can read the kick-off post here. Prizes for children and adults will be awarded to a few lucky winners selected at random.'

post your art entries on your blog, then link them to any or all of the blogs that i mentioned! or if you have already posted some artwork in the past, just link that post to their websites. but hurry people, today is the last day!


so now for the artistic side of our family samantha and i. (i'm not saying that ben and ryan aren't artistic... ben can make a house look beautiful with his painting, but i don't having any pictures of him. and ryan hasn't really dabbled into art yet, except for his sunday school papers he brings home with 3 scribbles on them...!)

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well you already know that samantha (5 years old) has a creative side if you read this post. but here are some of my favorites that she's done.

this was the first picture she ever colored for me. she was about 19 or 20 months old. it still hangs on my freezer!



samantha was 3 years old when she made these placemats. they're so much fun to do. just take a piece of construction paper, load them up with stickers, and then cover both sides with clear contact paper. if you need to find cheap stickers check out your local dollar store!



samantha drew this nativity picture, which i used for our christmas card, when she was 4. she got quite flustered with her star so i drew the one in the middle for her. and check out joseph's toothy grin!



samantha made this flowers for me a few months ago with her nana. she made them out of tissue paper and pipe cleaners. she even sprayed them with perfume so that they'd smell good!



this is one of the most special things samantha has made for me. it was my gift for mother's day this year. isn't it beautiful?! her nana took her to a class at a craft store and she made me this necklace. she tried to crimp some of the tiny gold beads herself but needed a little help. other than that, it was all her!



samantha also has a wonderful singing voice... she loves to sing and make up songs. here is a video of her singing the star spangled banner when she was 2. she learned this from ben and i singing it around the house. don't ask me why, but we would always sing it. (we don't anymore.)

enjoy!



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it was hard to come up with ideas for me. my main artistic ability is playing the piano. but i don't have any video of me doing that. and i don't have a piano handy so that i CAN take a video. (and even if i did, i probably wouldn't want to be on video!)

but then i remembered that i used to paint. my parent's enrolled me in an oil painting class when i was 13. i won't post any of my first paintings, but here's one i did for my mom.


another thing i like to do is write poems. i mainly write poems for my family members, and some other miscellaneous things, like pizza, and chatting online.


when i got to the end of my book, i had forgotten about one of the last poems i wrote. it was for my grandpa after he was diagnosed with cancer and given three months to live. i wrote this april 26, 2006.


Good Times With Gramps

I remember the good times
That you and I've had
I'm lucky to have
Such a wonderful granddad

You'd come over to help us
With chicken butchering
You'd warn us by saying
"Don't cut the green thing!"

I remember the winter
I helped you with wood
And you'd drive the snow machine
As fast as you could

Trolling down the river
Or at Blackberry Lake
I always enjoyed
The fishing trips that we'd take

The trip to Alaska
Is a memory that's best
Lang...halibut fishing
And that mouse--what a pest

Time spent at your house
Was never in vain
Playing games, vising,
Or just watching the trains

Waving bye from your porch
Hugs, kisses, and whisker rubs
These are special ways
That you've shown me your love

Celebrating special times
You'd aways make a way
To be at parties, piano recitals
And my wedding day

Since moving away
I've enjoyed your letters
But seeing you in person
Is so much better

These are the memories
That I'll hold dear
Thanks for all the good times
Throughout all the years


nowadays, photography is my art. i have fallen in love with my camera and i'm truely enjoying this hobby! even if it's just pictures of the kids! and not only do i like to take pictures, but i have fun editing them on my computer also.

well there you have it! you still have time to enter... we heart art ends at midnight. so get creative! i think i'm off to watch some artistic television..!

not me! monday and i need some help!

i totally did NOT scream and freak out last night when i came home after being gone for two weeks and discover that my husband painted the kitchen. don't get me wrong.... this was a good freaking out! what a huge surprise! i still can't believe that he did that for me. THANK YOU SO MUCH HUN!

this morning i did NOT not move all the stuff on the kitchen counter onto the table to take a picture, then move everything back onto the counter to take a picture of the rest of the kitchen. nope, i didn't because my house is always clean, spotless, and there is absolutely no clutter in my kitchen. (although i now realize you can see the clutter at the very right of the picture. but i suppose it's not really clutter since it's laundry waiting to happen.... and it's not in the kitchen, it's behind the kitchen!)

in my moving clutter from the counter to the table, table to the counter, i did NOT discover half of an apple pie from two weeks ago that is now nice and molded and stenchful. yes, it is full of stench! and after i discovered it i did NOT contemplate throwing the whole thing away and buying another $4 pie pan. and it is NOT still sitting on the counter awaiting its fate.

all right... so onto the part where i need your help. i had originally planned to paint the kitchen a light yellow color. i thought it would brighten up the plain white paint, but not be too yellow. that, and we had about 4 gallons of yellow paint that was leftover from a job ben did a few years ago. but then i got to thinking that my cream cabinets would look washed out with a light yellow wall and painting the cabinets was not an option. so i decided i wanted a maroon/red color on the 2 walls with the cabinets. WHICH I ABSOLUTELY LOVE NOW! so the other walls (the white walls in the pictures) would be the light yellow. but now after seeing the dark color i'm second guessing the light yellow. i don't know if it will be too light, and i don't know if i should just paint my already small kitchen all red/maroon and make it even smaller! so i need a little color help. my painter husband is in the mood for painting so i gotta take advantage of that when it comes around! can't wait for your input!

the washer, dryer and a small bathroom wraps around behind the stove. so i'd paint that back there too.

the thing underneath the window would GO! actually, i'm pretty certain it will go anyway. it was my attempt at hiding paint buckets and such a few years ago. i think i'll have my dad make a buffet to put there. by the way, dad, if you're reading this, can you make me a buffet?! :-)

visit mckmama's blog to participate in not me! monday

miscelaneous happenings

i haven't posted anything in a while, so here's what's been happening. well, what i remember anyway!

last thursday we went to look at a house ben's gonna be painting. it's 7000 sq. feet.....it went on forever it seemed!

thursday evening i helped with the clothing givaway at our church. people bring in gently used or new clothes through the week, then we sort them and set them up in the gym. friday night the church gets to come and get clothing, and on saturday it's open to the community. and it's all free. i got a big bag for the kids and one for ben and i as well. it was fun to get some 'new' clothes since it's too hot to go to garage sales down here!

on saturday ben went to a royals game with his brother tommy and his step-dad mike. so while the boys were out in the 100+ degree heat, us girls went to "horton hears a who" at the $2.00 theater. ben's mom, sister, two nieces, samantha, ryan and i went. it was lots of fun and ryan was actually good for his first movie.

on monday night we went to the new chuck e cheese that's going to open next monday. they're training so we got to go and check it out a week early. we spent 4 hours there! i have to say, though, that it's the nicest one we've ever been to!

tuesday night we went to ben's softball game which they won 11-9. it was actually a nice night and wasn't too hot. it was only 90 degrees when we got there!

samantha loved the pink hat daddy got her at the royals game.

ryan and papa mike

samantha was finding a lot of flowers and weeds to pick

heading to the outfield again.... ben's #9

tonight ben got to go to another royals game through work so the kids and i went shopping. other than that it's been pretty uneventful.... finally!