Grand Haven Kite Festival

Here are the pictures from the kite festival, that I promised oh so long ago. It was another beautiful day, just like today....






this last picture depicts an upside down dog, teddy bear? something? I didn't like that one much, it gave me the heebie jeebies, kind of like he was floating face down...


This is why we don't get pictures of Caden, he is a grouchy picture taker...errr.


we have to distract him and tickle him...

taken with the video camera, no i am definately not photogenic.

studio time

I was able to squeeze in some studio time this week. I have created a few more hand sculpted ceramic pendants ready for the bisque fire. Here are a few pictures:




the butterfly pendants are about the size of a quarter, they will bisque fire white and then I will glaze them.




they need to dry for a couple of days before I can kiln fire them.


The small pinwheel is my favorite, it is the size of a dime, I think I will make another, larger one, I really liked where this could go, with a little color...

I just wanted to give a shout out to Andi at

Mystic Spiral, who kindly called me and answered all my kiln questions. I have had a kiln for over a year, but have been afraid to use it, silly me! Hopefully, this will get me one step closer to achieving a dream.

One day we want to pick up a Nikon D50 or D70, to take some better pictures, but it won't be anytime soon, unless one drops from heaven......uh didn't think so.

color week: white

Little Birds and Mav re-started a weekly blog color theme. Today is white. I love white, I even like white walls *gasp*. We love to contrast rich earth tones with white linens and curtains in our house. This is my contribution for today:


my white ikea vases, oh how I love thee.

for the love of ceramics

I discovered this new to me artist at the doctors' office yesterday. She casts porcelain in molds made from tin takeout containers. Such a great idea...beautiful texture! You can visit her site here.







The lovely peices above are by Mia Goransson. She combines the translucency of porcelain and the beauty of nature together beautifully. She makes molds of fresh buds to create the realistic branch effects. I have been admiring her work for a while now.

Well, that's all for today. Have a wonderful day!

gimping along...

We took our first pier walk of the year on Sunday. It was absolutely beautiful. The only problem is that I twisted my ankle. It didn't hurt right away, but as the day went on, it got so bad I could hardly walk on it. I went to the Doctor today, as it wasn't getting better. It looks like it is only a Grade II sprain and should be better in a week. Good news, but I was thinking it would get better quicker, I don't like limping around, and Caden is too quick for me on a good day!

Paul has been working lots. He is very busy. He will be traveling a lot at the end of this month, when Caden and I are in California.

I still don't have my laptop back. Our "friend" "borrowed" it about 6 weeks ago. He is no longer returning our calls. hmm, we think that our last resort is to report it stolen, because he took it for supposedly a couple of days, now it has been well over one month, and he isn't returning our calls. Can you trust anyone in this world anymore? hmpffff

Another drama over here is that Caden is first on the waiting list for school of choice for Spring Lake school. Apparently, the superintendent of Fruitport schools lived on our street, and somehow was able to skew the school lines to make our little street part of Fruitport schools, since he needed to live in the district. Well, thanks a lot, good for him. It sucks for everyone else in the neighborhood that wants their kids to go to school in the same town as we live in. Every child on our street goes to Spring Lake Schools. This year, they have 90 kids in the district, whereas 60 is the norm, so they shut down school of choice. We are up in the air on where he will be going to school. I did, however, manage to swindle our way into getting him screened in the Spring Lake schools next week to see if he should go in young fives instead. That is one step in the right direction. If they open up school of choice, he will get in. So, we hope that it all works out. No matter what, he is registered for both districts. Fruitport doesn't screen for young fives, it is parental choice. We, quite frankly, just need a little direction in that matter. I just don't know if he is ready or not. Over here, about 85% of the kids go through young fives first. When I was little, I went to young fives too, but I was always one of the oldest in my class because of it. Who knew that this would be such a drama?

Well that is our latest update, hope all is going well out with you all. Have a great day!

Things Caden says...

Today, as a large semi truck backs down our street to make a delivery...
Me: "I wonder what it is..."
Caden: "Maybe it is a giant ice cream cone!"

To have the imagination like a child, life is full of grand surprises.

Westward ho!

Calling all relatives and friends residing on the West coast: That time has come around again, Caden and I will be in California from June 20 to July 5, visiting grandpa. If anyone would like to entertain us, just let us know. We have two weeks to spend catching up. Caden is really lucky to be able to spend so much time with my Dad. Since his birth, my Dad spends his vacation time visiting us in Michigan for two weeks in the fall and then sends Caden and I out for two weeks in the summer. It works out well. It seems like we see each other even more now that we live on the other side of the country. Hopefully we will be able to visit with Grandma and Grandpa "lini" like last year, too.


We had a great weekend. It was hot and humid here in Michigan. We had a garage sale on Saturday, used the proceeds towards a trip to the waterpark on Sunday, and enjoyed our pool Monday. I never thought we would like having a pool as much as we do. It was really nice floating in our very own in-ground pool. We have been cleaning it and feeding it (putting chemicals in it) for two months, but it was worth the wait. It was a pleasant 82 degrees in the water. Not too cold and not too hot. Caden is learning how to swim. His confidence is getting better, he even was jumping in and floating in the deep end. We tried to get him to dive in off the diving boards, but he wasn't quite ready for that. Sorry, no pictures today. I still don't have my laptop back and loading pictures on the spare computer is a real chore.


Today Caden had his first "real" ouchie. He squished the tip of his middle finger in between two 2 pound weights. It is pretty swollen and bruised. Poor guy. We are keeping our eyes on it, if it gets any worse, or he complains about it, I think I'll bring him to the doctor. It is the tip of his finger, so I think there isn't much we can do for it. He seems to be using it, and it bends, so I think it is just a big ouchie.

Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend, and we hope to see you soon!

If you can't join them, chase them!

Caden and I took a walk down by the wharf earlier this month. We had tons of birds to feed. The word quickly spread, the segals joined in. The birds must have been hungry.







"I'm going to get you, mom!"


After we ran out of food, Caden was tired of being chased by the birds, so he chased them back!


and chased and chased them!

Happy Birthday Number Five!

This wasn't the first time he saw his cake, earlier in the day I found him with suspicios blue lips (from the frosting). He was too tempted by the construction trucks on top of his cake that he had to dig in!

We had a good time, Caden got to go to Chuckie Cheese. He had a blast. It is very much like a kiddie casino. Sorta addictive to kids and parents alike. AS always, Caden make out like a bandit with more than enough toys to last a lifetime!

Beautiful things...

I was able to download pictures finally!
Here are some things that I have been loving...
tulips...




Window shopping...

These bright blue birdy salt and pepper shakers caught my eye.
I am loving anything that has to do with birds lately. We have been have beautiful bright orange orioles come eat on our deck, but I can't seem to catch them on film yet, they are too quick!


I loved these bird figures, they have another cute version at Target, much more affordable than these, but I cannot force myself to part with my money yet..maybe I will find them on clearance, my cheapness is getting the most of me!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to Gramma-lini and Grandma! And all those hardworking mom's everywhere! Hope your day was/is great!

Happy Birthday Caden!

from


to


all in five short years. How time flies by. We are blessed.



ps..As soon as I get my regular laptop back, I will post pictures of the celebration, as well as some more posts and pictures that I have saved on the camera.

what kind of sleeper are you?

What kind of sleeper are you? here

Justin McRoberts

As a lot of you who know us well, we love music. Paul helps out on the soundboard at church and me, well I just listen :). I tried to sing on stage a couple of times, but it left me mortified.(and probably all who listened too!') I do not like to be the center of attention. We have been fans of Justin McRobert's music for five years or so. This CD is bit different than his last few, more grown up I guess. We really like his message so I thought I would share a link for you all to check out his music and, if you like, you can download a free mp3. woohoo!
Justin McRoberts

Life is going on..

Well, I am back. I am excited to be back on the computer. I was banned from the computer during healing time...sometimes a break is good. I am feeling much better, thank you for all of your kind thoughts and prayers. It is so nice to be able to breathe through my nose. Ah, the simple things in life! I have lots to catch up on, it is nice to be able to stay awake during the day..the whole day. I was feeling a bit like a granny, needing an afternoon siesta to make it through the day!

Easter was nice. Caden has been aptly spoiled. But, his birthday is just around the corner, so more spoiling will be in order. He only has four more weeks of preschool. He is growing up so fast. He has made so many friends in the new neighborhood. There are a lot of little boys in the new neighborhood, really a nice mix. Everyone gets along really well, that is all we can ask for.

Spring has sprung here. We are discovering what plants we have here to work with, and also adding to the list of things to be done. The pool has been our biggest stepping stone. We cannot find any local companies to come out and kinda explain what goes where. Paul got it up and running, it is a balmy 42 degrees or so. Nice to look at and scoop leaves out of, that is about all the enjoyment we have gotten out of it yet.

I received my Amazon Japan order quite quickly. I am planning on making a spring purse like this:


or



I was really inspired by this also:



so many great patterns. Next, I would like to find a cute skirt pattern, for summer. By the time the purse is done, it will likely be fall ;) I am discovering that I have lofty ideas, but execution isn't so grand. I think I have crafting ADD! On the ceramic front, I have a lot of things ready to be fired in the kiln, but am waiting for Paul to help with the first firing, I am sorta afraid of hot things, and the kiln would qualify as quite hot! I am working on buttons and pendants mostly.

That is it for now, I better get going and work on some house stuff, I am so behind!

Celebration!

To celebrate my recovery from my surgery (which is tomorrow)-hey I am optimistic, I conquered Amazon Japan and completed an order! Paul still cannopt understand why I just need to have craft books in another language that I cannot read. But he just doesn't get it. In 3-4 weeks these will arrive, just in time for my recovery:







Oh I cannot wait--this will give me even more incentive to get better fast. I cannot believe Easter is so close. Yet another reason, the Easter Bunny has not prepared yet, Mr. Easter Bunny may need to do the preparations, but that will be ok, I heard he is good at all that stuff too. Can you tell I am nervous? I just keep blabbing on and on.

Oh by the way, shipping cost half the price of the three books, and that was international slow shipping, the kind that takes forever and is the cheapest of the cheap. Wow, I had no idea how much shipping is around the world.

Oh by the way..Zoey has healed well from her surgeries and is getting her stitches out today! When we got home today, after running a few errands, I called and called for her. She didn't come, then I started to hear the saddest meow you have ever heard. She had somehow become stuck in our closet, poor thing. She is no worse for wear and happily watching the chipmunks from our/or should I tell the truth and say her bay window! That would traumatize me!

photoshop fun

I was able to make this in photoshop so easily with my new paintbrushes from Jason Gaylor's blog Really Cool!

Breathing is an Important thing..

Thus I am having surgery (ugh). April 5th is the big day. I just found out that is Caden's Spring Break from school. I always thought spring break was around Easter. Apparently not. I am nervous, but tired of being tired-no more like exhausted. I am not getting anything done around here, my love for crafting is not even being attended to. I am just a tired lump on a log it seems. I hope this works, they say it will and I have heard good things, but I am tired of surgeries. My poor hubby, Paul, I bet he is tired of them too :(

So, for this reason, my blog will probably become sporatic after the 5th.

sorry, no pretty pictures for this post :( I'll try harder next time...

We're back!

We have been without internet connection for over a week. Being without internet left me with a strange feeling of being disconnected, like I was missing out on what was happening everywhere! I am happy to be re-uniting with my blog-friends!

We have been busy remodeling. Paul started his new job this week. So far so good, he seems to enjoy it. It is weird though, now that he took a job, he has been getting a lot of business for his own business. He is finishing up a big job right now, even as he is working a full-time new job. My busy husband!

Yesterday we tried to get control of our leaves. We have spent at least forty hours on these things and the leaves seem to win. But finally we have a hand on them now. It is looking much better, and wow, our yard looks so much bigger without all of our leaves! We have nearly 3/4 acres, and the former owners left us with all the leaves from what it seems all the years they lived here. In fact, our pool cover was so laden with leaves we had to remove it (another all-day event). Let us just say, that wasn't the easiest thing to do! But we love being home owners, it is all ours, and that makes the work worth it!

We went to the Frederick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for our annual Butterfly Exhibit voyage. Absolutely Beautiful, it was a bright, sunny day and the butterflies were very active. Here are some of our pic's











Today, Caden performed in the annual Kid's Day at church. This was his first time being on stage. We had the honor to have Grandma come with us. Caden was adorable as always, I think a good time was had by all. The pictures aren't great, but I know grandparents afar would like to see our little ham..here he is...



At one point Caden was playing "air guitar" and jumping up and down, it looked like he was trying to start a mosh pit. So cute. He sang and did the motions to the songs with the other kids, but also marched to the beat of his own drum. Once he saw himself on the big screen TV, it was all over! He did a great job, he was looking forward to this for weeks.

out of service...

our internet is our and has been out for about a week. We will have it back up around Thursday, so we will be updating then...lots of remodeling, butterfly exploring, etc. Fun, fun, fun.

down to the studs

our bathroom has been a bugger. Paul has been working day and night remodeling our main bath. It will be so nice when it is done. Here it is in progress...



He now has the bath tub installed and plumbing rigged so we can bathe. How nice it was to take a bath after almost two days..ahh the little things in life we take for granted. Paul is doing a great job, I am thankful to have a husband willing and able to do this. This will make the house so much nicer. The shower/tub stall were original and strapped backwards to the studs. It was the biggest challenge for Paul to get it out. He cut the fiberglass enclosure into several pieces just to pry it out. Poor guy. Looks like the kitchen will be a lot easier, just because the cabinets will go downstairs and are attached normally. The floors are laminate and nearly new, they are floating floors, so hopefully we can use most of this downstairs as an added bonus. I am so excited with the IKEA design, we chose the more solid beech design with lots of horizontal cabinets. Really quite modern for our town, but we start a trend maybe ;).....The European design seems so much more smart...and economical. The cabinets we were going to order from a cabinet shop were at least double and really had less "bells and whistles" Ok well that is what we have been doing...thanks for listening to the dribble...

Sugar-cago

Yep that is Cadenese for Chicago and that is where we have been. We took our first pseudo-vacation in over eighteen months and we really haven't gone on a true "vacation" since our honeymoon....9 years! Wow. We had fun. We upgraded to a suite with down comforters etc in the Hilton Hotel. It was really nice, we got at a lower price than lesser star hotels through the internet. That is where the story begins, yes there is always a story to our adventures.

I was cleaning up after the first night and picked up one of Caden's stuffed animals from near the bed. The only problem is that I didn't get only his stuffed animal, I got a dirty used condom (obviously from a prior visitor-because there is no action going on with your four year old in the bed next to you). DISGUSTING...
So...Hilton put us up in a real suite with a surprise wine, fruit and cheese, and cookies and milk platter at night. A free meal and free movies, free internet. That was nice, but it still was a really disgusting thing to discover in a four star hotel. The suite had whole city views, two rooms, three tv's, a big couch, it was nice. Apparently, if we hadn't paid online, our hotel could have had the stay rebated etc, but I doubt that, I think it was an excuse. But it was a nice surprise.
We had fun, that is all that counts.