TreasuresInTerraCotta

The weather in Southern Arizona turned the slightest bit cool and my mind began swirling with craft projects.  It wasn't intentional, but one day in early October, I looked around and discovered I had about six crafty projects in various stages of incomplete. It seems no coincidence that in early October I also started reading an enlightening blog by Emily over at Chatting at the Sky .  During the course of the month, I've read along as Emily has discussed art.  Not just the painting or symphony writing kind of art.  Not just a commissioned artist or professional art teacher kind of art.  But the art of living as the person you were designed and created and crafted to be.  The art of you!     What if the book, the painting, the meal,  the presentation were all simply evidence of  a deeper art happening within the soul of an artist? Art is what happens when you dare to be who you really are .   Emily'...

We took a much needed pumpkin carving break in the middle of morning homeschool.   My kids would have nothing to do with sticking their hands into the pumpkin goo.  After I cut the lid out, Calvin did all the face carving.  He's an Indian pretending that he has a bow and arrow.  Calvin made his vest, he decorated his headband and I sewed fringe onto some sweat pants. Fireman Andrew ready for work.  At your service!  The crazy before the candy! I took no pictures of the 2 year old.  No pictures of the whole family.  No pictures of all the cousins.  It was not a good year for picture taking.  On the other had we had homemade soup, homemade bread, and Ceasar salad for dinner.  My brother-in-law made it down from Phoenix for the dress-up fun.  And we had a new family with their daughter join us for the dinner and trick-or-treating.  It was a good year for friends and family.

As I mentioned before, my oldest is great at being photographed.  He looks at the camera, he smiles real looking smiles (most of the time).  He's been like that since he was a baby.  The other two do not usually like being photographed, they do not like to look at the camera, they like to run out of the picture frame before I take a picture in order to see the image on the magical side of the digital camera.  They have both been like that since they were babies. So I take what I can get.  And I take a lot of pictures.  Especially on vacation.  And I hope for the best. At a place like LegoLand or the beach, it's easy to fall into the trap of taking lots of far-away pictures.  It's always more interesting to capture scenery with your loved ones, otherwise, you're better off buying postcards, but in the effort to capture the grandness of the ocean or the expance of the sand or the size of a Lego Empire State building it's easy to l...

When we told people we had a 5 day pass to LegoLand they were surprised and skeptical that we would "need" 5 days.  In fact, we spent one afternoon with family friends and one afternoon at the beach.  And the park closed at 5:00 because it was the off season.  Other than that we did, in fact, spend our 5 days in LegoLand.  They were slow walking, easy going days filled with what the kids wanted to do.  Here are a few of the fun things we did that we wouldn't have done if we didn't have 5 days. Chima 4-D show.  The little ones would not have liked this experience and I didn't like the content, but the big boy and I got to experience 4-D. Calvin and I rode the waves.  Calvin and Andrew rode the waves.  Calvin went by himself again and again.  No lines made it fun and possible! The Hideaways - This huge tree house-type climbing area was fun for all the boys.  Calvin spent a lot of time running around in there.  There w...

Most afternoons Tyler would take the little boys back to the hotel for naps.  So Calvin and I got to spend some afternoon time wandering around LegoLand. He wanted to ride on this spinning jet-ski ride.  Fortunately he was tall enough that I didn't have to go with him.  I'm not sure the Dramamine will help me if I go around-and-around-and-around-and-around.  We slid on the wave slide again and again.  I can handle that! Posing with Lego structures. That little Lego man is looking at Calvin as if to say, "Crazy Gringo!" I don't know if this Lego spider is a normal fixture or just decoration for Halloween.  He was huge.     Lego hands make me happy. More posing with Lego structures.   Oh my, that's a big dragon.  And the Knights Tournament was a ride I was happy to get off of.  Waiting for the Dragon roller coaster. Mini-town A boat tour of Mini-town A little history along the way. (I did...