Wishing for Wings

Evan's preschool had a fieldtrip this morning. They visited the part of the airport where the privates planes come and go.

Evan at an observation window.

Pilot Evan - ready for his wings

Evan with two of his classmates.

On board a very fancy private plane. The owners must be very brave!

Lizards, Spiders & Frogs... oh my!

It is definitely Spring. Spring weather and lots of Spring critters! Evan & I were working in the backyard this morning and it seemed like everywhere we looked we found frogs chillin' in the mud, spiders (big ones!) hiding under rocks, and even a small salamander under the dog house. Evan is keeping the salamander, which he named Speed Racer, for two days. Then Speed Racer (who is neither speedy nor racey) will be returned to the great outdoors. This is actually Evan's own idea. We have done the same thing with catepillars (the last one was named Joe).

I am happy to report that Speed Racer is doing well, but I need to research what he eats...

Oh, the joys of boys! At least he doesn't keep frogs in his pockets. Or at least he hasn't yet ; )

Morning Star Studio

http://www.morningstarstudio.blogspot.com

a page all about my crafty creations.

the idea is to have a webpage to display and promote my art and photography without the personal stuff found on my other blog pages.

it is still under construction... but take a peek : )

fyi - Danica means 'Morning Star' thus the name of my studio

Brownie Bonanza Monday!

Evan was a great helper today! We made brownies with carrot puree and unsweetened applesauce as 'secret ingredients'.

Dragons!

Evan's soccer team

The Big Day is Getting Closer

This morning I registered my sweet boy for kindergarten. I didn't want to ; ) I want to remain in denial... where kindergarten still exists in the very distant future... it isn't just around the corner...

However it was comforting to see so many of our neighborhood kids at the school this morning. They would run up to me and say hi and ask if Evan was coming to school here soon.

I am still going to be a blubbering mess in August though. No doubts about that! : /

A New First!

I made my first grilled cheese sandwich today. That's right... my first ever. I have never cooked one before. Evan wanted one for dinner and Markas wasn't home yet (he is the grilled cheese expert in our house) so I gave it a go. Didn't turn out half bad if I do say so myself. And Evan ate all of it... and is still feeling okay ; )

I finally...

broke down and bought this cookbook.

I have several friends that have it and say it really helps them. Evan is superduper picky when it comes to eating fruits and veggies... and meat... and any new food... well you get the idea. So I am going to give this a try. Cooking is not one of my favorite things to do. But hopefully this 'program' will get all of us to eat more healthy foods... whether my son (and hubby) realize it or not.

I'm so devious! ; )

cozy cottage

(click on image to enlarge)

A cozy cottage (with lots of porch space) on a small piece of land... sounds simple enough.

Markas has no strong preferences about the actual home dwelling.

For him it is all about the garage/shop that would go behind the house.

So if he had his own blog, this posting would be titled...

huge, ginormous, state-of-the-art, dream shop spectacular/man cave! ; )

Earth Day 2008

12 x 12 layout

Earth Day!

I talked to Evan this morning about Earth Day. I tried explaining about oil, water, trees, air and how everything is connected... in a kid friendly way (not as easy as it may seem). We talked about how many things are made with oil that you might not think of. We talked about were oil comes from. We talked about how we are using canvas bags instead of plastic, using less paper products, recycling more, etc, etc.

Anyway, I was feeling completely inadequate in explaining things when Evan pipes up and says

"you mean we need to do things to make the Earth happy".

Kids have a way of getting to the heart of things, don't they?

We are picking up trash in our area today. Luckily Evan thinks this is really cool. He also wants to plant another tree in our front yard... not sure if that will happen today, but it is definately an idea for the near future.

Tree Swing

a few more photos from our trip to 'The Lake' this weekend

are on my photography page

...check them out : )

Wet Boots part 1

Evan & I spent the weekend with my folks. Lots of fun places for a boy to explore at Memaw & PaPa's place!

Luckily Evan had his trusty black rain boots to keep his feet dry... at least for the first two minutes ; )

Wet Boots part 2

filling up the boots!

how Evan gets water out of his boots - step 1

how Evan gets water out of his boots - step 2

marching off with sloshy boots

Morning Fishing

We went to an area 'lake' this morning. Didn't catch any fish, but still had fun.

Finding Treasures

Photograph from this morning.

more new photos at

http://www.dljack75photos.blogspot.com

Also went treasure hunting with my friend Linda at an area thrift store this afternoon. Found some super cool goodies for scrapbooking and other crafty projects. Now I have a new 'secret' place. May have to go back soon for those old records and album covers...

Thanks for hanging with me, Linda!

The Simple Joys

of childhood! Evan with his head out of the car window as we drive down the road.

I was lucky this pic turned out at all, because I just held the camera in his general direction and clicked.

note: no one was hurt in the making of this photo ; )

Killing the Blues

I busted out the white paper and acrylic paints again for this LO. As well as my trusty black sketching/doodling marker. My swinging world turned out more like a Christmas ornament... : /

I really enjoy incorporating song lyrics into my layouts. So prepare to see more! ; )

song lyrics by John Prine

Coming Undone

also known as coming unglued, unhinged, fed up, frustrated, fuming mad.

I struggle with my hubby's work schedule. This is not a new struggle, but an intimately familiar one. I know the ins and outs of this struggle now by heart. However when he comes down to it, I'm not struggling with the work schedule or the lifestyle it creates, but with how I handle it.
I decided to channel my angry energy into my creativity. No thinking or planning, just doing. So with a plain white page and a handful of random paint colors, I delved into whatever may come. In the end I found myself...
Coming Undone.

The Aftermath

Art is all about letting go,ignoring limitations,following where creativity leads... not worrying about the paint on the table top, or on clothes, the floor, in the hair...

Evan and I were having "art time" last night. We just threw caution to the wind. Evan asked several times, what are we making. I told him whatever comes into your head, just go with it. Evan kept telling me that he was making a big mess! I kept telling him that is part of the artistic process and we would worry about cleaning up later. Of course if we had a brand new pristine table, I might not be so care free about the artistic process ; )But we have a table that is perfect for art time and one day I will look at the top of that table and see remnants of all of our creative endeavors.

Fold a Candidate

http://www.folduscandidate.com/

came across this on one of my favorite blogs (How About Orange)...

thought I would share : )

Is it just me...

or does anyone else talk to themselves? Specifically, I mean talk to any body parts. You don't have to lie to make me feel better. I understand that I am not 'normal' LOL But I find myself having entire conversations with my heart. It has been acting up more lately and I start telling it to chill out, give me a break, think happy thoughts. More recently though, I am sharing words with my pancreas. I haven't gotten any answers back yet, but I am still hopeful. It probably is crazy to treat organs as completely separate entities. However since I often don't feel like I have much control over them, maybe my approach isn't too, too whacky??? Oh, who am I kidding? ; ) I have issues! Sometimes I tell my pancreas, 'well if you are going to not work right when I eat only healthy stuff, then I am going to chow down on chocolate chip cookies and milk and say screw you'. Silly pancreas should appreciate a chocolate chip cookie once in awhile... geez. Of course if my heart and pancreas could really talk back, I imagine they would get the last word in every time... darn them to heck!

FORE!

golfball size hail for us!

We were pretty lucky though, other areas of town got tennis ball and baseball size hail.

Mosaic Madness 5

click on mosaic to enlarge image

more car show pictures

Evan cruisin' in a Jeep

Evan checking out the rides

father & son go-kart ride

Mosaic Madness 4

my first original mosaic!

photographs from today's car show

(click mosaic to enlarge image)

brave boy

Evan had a soccer game early this morning. (He scored three goals!) After the game we went to a car show being held at the same park. There was a rock climbing wall set up and Evan couldn't wait to try it.

He made it half way up the wall before he decided that was far enough. I am guessing this wall was around 40 ft. tall. He also thought it was cool that 'real soldiers' were helping with the rock climbing wall.

another adventure

We had another bicycle adventure and this time

Markas was able to join in.

Second Season

Evan had the first game of his second soccer season tonight.

Six of the eight periods were played before the stormy weather hit.

Evan had a great game.

Apparently I haven't found the right camera settings
for action shots. Sorry for the blurry pictures. Evan will
probably think they are cool because he says when he gets
going super fast he is a blur! ; )

first big test

Yesterday was officially the start of my eco-challenge (although I have actually been foregoing plastic bags for a few days now). However yesterday was indeed my first big test of this challenge... grocery shopping at 'WallyWorld'. I was a little apprehensive about how things would work. Did my shopping, approached the checkout and realized I had forgotten my tote bags in the car! (Ran into a friend on the way into Wal-Mart and completely lost my focus!) Anyway, this wasn't a good start to my ' no plastic bags, please' policy. The way I saw it, I had two choices. 1. go plastic and start anew next shopping trip 2. suck it up and roll with it

I picked #2! I explained to the checker that I didn't use plastic bags and I would put all of the items directly in my cart (unbagged). She said that was a first for her. What can I say, I like to buck the system, make my own rules, be a non-conformist... a rebel if you will LOL When I got to my car, I loaded my items into my canvas bags and breathed a sign of relief having just survived my first big challenge.

Bicycle Adventure

Evan & I went on a bicycling adventure this morning.

We explored this old road.

Evan found puddles!

Luckily I took my camera with me ; )