New ART?

New ARTiculations just had another dazzling performance last weekend and the kids got the best seat in the house. Actually, I think they got every seat in the house, because after each performance they ran like crazy to take over a different part of the theater. And did the running screaming children completely drive the ushers to suicide and get us all 86ed from PCC West? Normally it would have, but thanks to Tammy we were at the dress rehearsal and all ushers are none the wiser.

After the show, the kids were allowed on stage to run around and the the guy who did the lighting even provided them with some fun colors to help them along.

The kids loved the dance performances, the parents loved not having to tell them to be still, and all provided for a lovely evening. I swear dress rehersals are the way to go!









Thank you New ARTiculations for the fantastic show!!!

Summer Lovin'

Starting off the first week of summer with swimming, sewing, reading, and especially whiney children.
AH! Nothing says summer fun like the words "mama, I'm boooooored." ringing through your head.
This week has been espeially low key since pottery ans swim lessons haven't started yet.
Hopefully next week when we bust out a more productive schedule, the whine will subside and the wine will commence!

In my not leaving the house all week-ness I did manage to dust off the old sewing machine and make these:



A dress for Teagan



















A tutu for Pearl













I also started a painting, that one day I may even finish? But no promises :)

Bunnies and fairy rings

Easter was pretty mellow at our house.
The kids had an egg hunt twice.
Once from the Easter Bunny and one from the Easter Don along with their friend Sophie.



First of all I have to say our eggs were rockin!
We dyed them this year using men's neck ties.
What you do is get some silk ties, cut them and wrap them around your eggs, then wrap a cut up towel or other fabric over them and tie it. This is so the color doesn't run onto other eggs.
Boil the eggs for 20 minutes in water with vinegar.

And voila, tie dye!

I think they could have come out better if I was more exact about wrapping the ties, but I kinda liked the swirly effect.

After friends went home and candy was devoured, we all settled down into our own projects.

I finished these onsies for my SIL and started on her baby quilt.


...and the kids started making a fairy ring with some mushrooms we have (the bigger one I made in my pottery class.)


Luckily the ring is in the front yard, so we won't have to worry about any innocent chickens stepping inside.
We've already lost 5 chickens to the neighborhood cat, we can't afford to lose anymore to fairies.

She talks to the animals...

Ari. My budding Dr. Doolittle.


Ari put a chair in front of the playhouse blocking the entrance to the playhouse porch. She designed it so that the chickens could get through and go on the porch, but our dog Carmen could not.

Don: That's really cleaver what you did with the chair Ari.

Ari: It's so the chickens can go in and Carmen can't bug them.

Don: I see that. Did you think of that all by yourself?

Ari: No, Midnight (the chicken) told me to do it.

Don: Really? Midnight told you? Now how could Midnight tell you to do that?

Ari: Ahh... I dunno? She just had a thought in her head.


Apparently both my kids are fluent in Chickenese.

Look what I can do!

Spent an exhausting day shoveling river rock at Lupe's with Kurt and Vicki.
We shoveled a small hill, transported it over toBELL for Earth Day, then unloaded it into a pile. OH, I'm sure my muscal's will be hurtin in the morning, but it was worth it!
BTW, if ANYONE needs river rock, I know a house that is just itching to get rid of it!
Their home is surrounded with it, and it goes down quite deep.
If you are lucky you can not only score some rock, but yummy homemade salsa to boot!

After some hard labor I came home and had plans to work on the irrigation pipe I busted on Saturday while I was trying to dig a garden. But I didn't. I was pooped.

Instead I went over to Stephanie to to grab my sewing machine so that I could sew this for my niece's 1st birthday.






It's just a simple banner, but it came out pretty cute.
Yep, I'm damn proud of myself! Plus it took less than two hours to do!!

I hung out at Stephanie's for a while swamping funny websites.
She introduced me a beautiful new world of UNmotivation.
All you die-hard people who thrive on inspirational quotes please don't look at this website!!!
BUT, for all you slackers... there is a whole world out there and it's just for you.

http://despair.com/viewall.html

They will make you feel slightly less adequate than you already feel.
Or maybe they'll make you plain miserable?
Either way.

My friends ROCK!

I expressed on facebook how I was challenged of what to put on Ari's annual mixed tape. I received luckily a couple of great suggestions for songs too!
But one friend went above that and emailed me a whole birthday playlist.
First of all you need to know Stacy C. She rocks. Literally, she does.
She is infamous in the Bay Area for her mixes. And if you are lucky enough to be her close friend, chances are you have one made especially for you.

So when she read my distress email this is what she sent me within record speed:

Subject: Happy Happy...

What a hoot! :)

---

THE CD THAT STACY WOULD MAKE FOR ARI'S BIRTHDAY PARTY:

1  Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
2  Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite - The Beatles
3  Music Box - Regina Spektor
4  Suki Yaki - Kyu Sakamoto
5  I Think I'm Turning Japanese - The Vapors
6  All Over The World - Electric Light Orchestra
7  Private Eyes - Hall & Oates
8  Alley Cat - Bent Fabric
9  Shish Kebab - Ralph Marterie
10  Iko Iko - The Dixie Cups
11  Click Song Number One - Miriam Makeba
12  Whistle Stop - Roger Whittaker
13  Jolly Roger - Adam and the Ants
14  Start Wearing Purple - Gogol Bordello
15  Little Drop of Poison - Tom Waits
16  Summer Nights - John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John
17  The Battle of 1814 - Johnny Horton
18  Queenie Wahine's Papaya - Elvis Presley
19  Ulupalakua - Hui Ohana
20  Pipeline - The Chantays
21  Rock Lobster - The B-52's
22  Walk, Don't Run - The Ventures
23  Apache - The Shadows
24  Mr. Custer - Larry Verne
25  Running Bear - Johnny Preston
26  Stranded In The Jungle - The Cadets
27  Beep Beep - The Playmates

How cool are my friends?
I love them, each and every one.
(This means YOU!)

What tha F...

Today we spent a slow Saturday lounging around the house.
The kids played, I made a couple shrinky dinks and we all had a hard time motivating.
We finally made it over to the the Festival of Books around noon.
WOW!
Tucson festivals always cease to amaze me.
Never in Berkeley would there be such an amazing family friendly event!!
It was actually too big and the kids were a bit over stimulated.
We went to a few booths, said "hi" to a few friends, and visited Rebecca at her booth.
Then quietly snuck into the sweet World of Words library that she works at. I highly recommend visiting it if you go. It was like a little bit of tranquility underneath the super highway of people. PLUS fyi, it's a good place to pee!
(NO, I did not squat in the aisles of your library Rebecca. I swear that smell did not come from me!)

The whole thing was so very cool.
It makes me a proud Tucsonian to live in a place that has such devotion to learning and to it's children.
Every festival in Tucson always has children's activities.
In the Bay Area festivals were rarely kid friendly much less kid oriented.
I blame this "love of children" crap on our proximity to Mexico and their child loving culture.
Damn them!

Tomorrow the Festival of Books continues.
At 11:30am the monk in the bookstore will be erasing the sand mandala and giving away the sand to people so they can bless their homes with.
We just may have to go back for that!

And to prove I'm not making this all up....