Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Summer Pics

We came into some beans (thank you Sarie and Lissa!) a couple of weeks ago and spent one very hot morning on the porch steps snapping...
 ...and snacking.
 Hot Babies!
 
 Luca brought me this zinnia SO excited that there was "a tiny yellow flower inside this big orange flower!".
 
 The first red tomato. Yummmmmm.

Independence Day


 Luca Bean's 4th of July Crafts and Treats: 

Firework Paintings, you drop watered down paint onto paper and scatter it by blowing through a straw. Then, because it's Luca, she added sequins.
Patriotic Punch (She drank several of these throughout the week.)

Rice Krispies! These were our favorite and it occurred to Luca that if you can make krispies red, white and blue that you could also make them pink and purple.
Pretzel Mix, I saved a bag of candycane hugs from Christmas to make these but for some reason they didn't stick to the pretzels when they melted....we still managed to eat them.

Lawn Stars: found this idea on pinterest, shaking flour onto the grass through a cardboard cutout. Luca was a little heavy-handed on the flour (we have some star "cakes" now) but it was fun.
Court Robert, heading for the good stuff...
 Oh yeah...
 
 Cheerio Necklaces. Courtesy of a Kellog's special edition "Olympics" cereal.
 Court knew exactly what to do with it. Cheerios gone in 5 minutes.
And on the fourth, of course there were fireworks. Luca helped light some this year (gulp) but thankfully, she really took the "run back to the sidewalk" part of things seriously.
 
 
 
 Watching the show with friends and family.
 
 And then it was Bug's bedtime. (Whenever Court's eyes are that calm, he's sleepy.)
 
 Lounging with Noah...
And then it became apparent that it was Bean's bedtime...
 Happy Independence Day!
 

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Luca, Dilettante Photographer

She swiped the camera one night and asked me if she could take some pictures. "Do you know how?" I asked, "I think I do" she replied and set off to find the perfect shot. Select pieces from her first exhibition:

Summer Perspective

Two Feet on 2

Brother Batman

 Daddy Unfocused

Thumper, a Rabbit

Little Brown Shoe
 

All Lined Up
 

I love seeing things through her eyes. It's all in the small stuff!

A Little "Before & After" and a "Helper"

This summer I've been getting a lot more done around the house. We only have Madi Grace with us on Tuesdays and Thursdays now and since the decision to go part-time was completely out of our hands, I am content knowing that this is the schedule the Lord has planned for us right now. You wouldn't think that just one less little person would make such a difference but I feel like I've been given more hours in the day! I had quite the pile of projects stored up and have been excited to dive in. Court, as you will see, is also excited to help. Luca enjoys helping but is equally satisfied with her markers and some fresh paper. Here are some of the fruits of our (Court's and mine) labor: 

I picked up these chairs at Goodwill for $5 a piece, the perfect additions to our front porch.
Before:
During: (Don't worry, I unplugged the staple gun for the picture)
After:
That little table with all the drawers in it was given to me by mother-in-law, (she snagged it at a sale) who knows my taste well. It used to look like this:
And here's everything all together. Have I mentioned before how much I love my porch? :-)
This little table came from a neighbor's trash pile (I made Joe pull over one Sunday night coming home from church, he loves it when I include him in my scavenging.) and the chairs we got when church remodeled the children's rooms. The before picture glosses them up a bit but there were many scratches and much rust!
Before: (Luca and Isaiah, models)
After: (Luca loves the numbers on each seat and always insists that she use #3 because she is 3 years old. Court sits on #1 and Madi is 2 so it all works out but when we have guests...oh dear.)
My little helper, posing just right. 
I'm in love with chevron at the moment. I'm also sort of a fan of pinterest. wink. Combine the two and I decided to try painting my Erslev rug from ikea. If you google it you'll see that it may not be as crazy as it sounds.
Before:
During:
 
 After: Sad thing, I ran out of fabric medium halfway through and unfortunately there is no mistaking exactly where I paused in my painting so it's not a true success. (And no, the oops is not cover-able by furniture.) However, I really do like the way it looks and may attempt another version at a later date. Possibly a smaller kitchen rug?...
This is my new doormat (compliments of a Martha Stewart tutorial). My good friend and neighbor Anna and I frequently spend the children's nap times crafting something or other. This is by far one of my favorite things we've done. I may need to make seasonal versions....
Just some cedar 1x2s, paint, a drill and some rope.
It makes me smile.