Art Day

Yesterday we spent most of our school time doing art. We always have some coloring with each lesson but this time we went all out painting in our art journals. 

Aurora learned a bit about the color wheel and what colors shouldn't mix. 

She started with a white crayon. then a layer of watercolor to see that the watercolors resisted the crayon. 

Then added some acrylic paints, then finished with modge podged pictures she liked out of an old magazine.

 (waiting for the gesso to dry so she could start)

I didn't take any picture of it finished yet because we were so busy painting it started to get dark and I realized I better get supper going before Caleb got home! :) (He's been working pretty late this week so he hasn't gotten home before 7:15pm) 

Today Caleb is off (since he's worked four 14 hour days already this week) so we are taking the day off school and hopefully doing something fun. Perhaps taking Aurora to her first theater movie (Beauty and the Beast) if we don't do that today though we will try for Sunday probably. She's been pretty excited about it. 

In other news. I have been checking out some different artist and their techniques for art  class next year (not for Aurora for the missionary academy- see previous post about it) and I've found one that is just so interesting and really cool and he has videos of his painting (sped up) So i was checking out his website this morning and it looks like he might be a believer. I have to do a bit more digging because I don't like to just assume based on one sentence but I thought that was pretty neat. I was definitely not expecting that, it's just an added bonus!

princess preschool

Aurora always likes dressing up but this week she's been going all out, changing multiple times a day, fairy wings everything. Here is what our week has looked like so far:

Fancy dress beading...

 Princess lunch...

 Belle dress and fairy wings name spelling...

 Belle Geography...

My girl is so silly. :)

Hope everyone is having a good week!!

My handsome boy

Finally took some time to photograph my little handsome yesterday. Here are two of my favorites. :) To see more check out my photography site

www.lilypondphotography.com

Monster stuffies

Starting Preschool again after the holiday is proving to be difficult. There seems to be so much to still do to catch up to normal life. 

Aurora has been working a lot on her verses though. She got a bit sloppy on her older ones over Christmas so we are working on getting those all fresh in her mind again. She is working on a new one too. 

We should start full school again this week.

 Yesterday my mom and I worked on the monster stuffies for Aurora's party. Each kid who comes gets to adopt a monster. They are all sewed and stuffed now awaiting names and personalities.

 I will post pictures of them finished soon.

Monster cake

Aurora has some friends who can't make it to her birthday party so we had a little party with them this past weekend. 

Her party is going to be a monster party so along with that theme I made a monster cake for the night. It's an adaptation of this one on Pinterest 

Blessings

I've been reflecting a lot the last couple months on the past year and the different things God has done. About a year ago a friend of mine and I mostly lost contact. Some things had happened which, although they weren't between the two of us really, greatly affected each of us (and many of our friends) and even though we didn't really mean to lose touch we did.

My friend has gone through some huge struggles this year and one of them was waiting to move (her husband has been doing a 1.5 hour commute to work for 2 years now so they wanted a fresh start closer to where he works. Their house has been on the market for a long time but wouldn't sell.

It was pretty random how we regained contact. A mutual friend (Sherry) came for a surprise visit and wanted to get some of our old group together, we had a great night and since then our friendship has been rekindled. Actually I don't even know if that is the right way to describe it. We were friends before but not like we are now. She is a very dear friend now, one who encourages me every time I see her or talk to her. She points me to Christ even when she doesn't feel like she does.

I've thought a lot about how if her house had sold and they had moved back when they first wanted to, If  Sherry hadn't decided to drive up on a whim (she lives about 10 hours from us) and suggest they call me of all people. If Aurora hadn't heard my phone ring (I would probably not have checked my messages until too late) All of these things are pretty small thing but each one was such a "God thing". I am so thankful for each of these things.

She is moving in a month now and although I am so happy for her I am also a bit sad. She'll be a little over an hour away instead of 15 minutes away, but I am confident that our friendship will not change. Thanks to text messaging and facebook distances aren't so bad anymore. :)

That is just something I wanted to share. Sometimes when it feels like God is ignoring us now or taking way too long to do something, it's for a wonderful reason like this. He has showed me this over and over in the last decade but this was such a wonderful way he's showed me his love these past months. Two very dear friends who mean the world to me and have been such an encouragement to me already. I look forward to deepening our friendships this year, encouraging each other in the Lord and ditches out insecurities (LOL, we have been going through Beth Moore's book So Long Insecurities together)

Happy New Years!

Caleb's family has this tradition of making newspaper hats every New Years Eve and wearing them for the party. It comes from being in Venezuela and having to make due without party supplies. Aurora helped make her hat this year...

 My sister in law's boyfriend had a fancy airplane hat...

 my sister-in-law with her "simple yet sophisticated" hat (he he)

 Then everyone is forced to posed in front of the tree (LOL) and get's their pictures taken.

 Playing fruit ninja on kinect

 more hat making

I hope everyone had a very Happy New Years!!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party

Grow up, decorating a birthday cake for Jesus was always a tradition for my siblings and me. Usually it was a little crazy looking because we did it ourselves but it has always been a good memory. Last year we did it with our kids (seen here)but 2 of my nephews got sick so only Aurora and Elliot got to participate. 

This year we made it part of our Christmas Eve celebration. 

 These are the hats they made last year

Cinderella

My mom made this dress for Aurora for her birthday. Aurora just about freaked when she saw it. She is more than  little obsessed with anything princess. I've had a hard time getting her to wear anything else since the 29th. :)