First Word

Well, Bridget has started saying her first word. It's "hi", sometimes accompanied by waving. It's pretty cute, especially when she crawls up to us and says it.

First Attempt

So here's the first try. It's a study I did out of my painting book. It's pretty rough, but that's kind of what I expected since I haven't done it before. I'm using acrylic paints, and I'm really pleased with them. I'm finding that it takes some practice to get the brush techniques down, and I think it may take me a lot of practice to do it well. I'm encouraged though, and really glad to have started. On to the next study!

Going to try it

Some time ago I thought that I would like to learn how to paint...really paint. Not just crayola watercolors with my son. Knowing this about me, my sweet mother-in-law gave me a nice easel as a gift. Unfortunately, it didn't possess magical powers, and I still couldn't paint. So the easel sat forlornly by my bed for a year while I pondered how to learn how to do it (short of actually paying someone to tell me, I mean.)

So while perusing my choices on the television one day, I found a painting show that made it actually seem possible for someone with my level of skill (zippo) to paint something that resembles something you'd see on a scenic drive...instead of the thing that you just hit on that scenic drive.

So in short, I watched several episodes, got some paint and canvas, and now I've got my courage up so I'm going to try it. I guess you just got to start somewhere right?

Just Spring

I have the garden planted now. Hooray! You might be wondering what all the white bags are for...well, I'm too cheap to buy that many wall-o-waters for the tomatoes, so I used a garbage bag over the tomato cages and put a cup of water inside each one to prevent freezing. So far it's worked really nicely. It's like a little greenhouse inside, and the plants are sheltered from the wind too. And yes, I may have gone a bit overboard on the tomatoes, but my children love them, and this year I am determined to have enough so that David and I can taste some too.


The hanging baskets I started from seed are doing well, and I found some honeysuckle vines for the 3 posts that don't have a clematis growing on them. I'm so happy to be outside again!

Blue Flags

My neighbor asked me yesterday why I have all these little blue flags around my yard. I told him that they're to mark where some plants are so that David won't till them or hit them with the weedeater. I suffer casualties every year, and have tried many ways to mark the plants. This is this year's attempt.

Easter Eggs

Jacob had a great time dyeing eggs this year.


Bridget....not so much.

Just For Fun

I thought the kids would like it if their dresser had something fun on it. The left half is Bridget's and the right half is Jacob's. I had a lot of fun painting it, and the kids really like to look at it, so I guess it's a success.