Happy Birthday Teri!
It was Sunday and Teri’s birthday was on the Thursday before and we had nothing… Then I had this great idea of making up a portrait with Teri, India, and Ezra. So we did. I was inspired by this artist Claudine Hellmuth who will create a portrait almost like a caricature you would get at the fair… only a lot more beautiful and something that would look wonderful on your wall.
Our version was a bit rougher then any of hers but it was something that India and I could do together. We both tore the paper and pasted it down and India drew the bodies for each of the heads. All I had to do was sketch out the beach scene and print out the heads. What a great Sunday afternoon activity. It was a blast.
Creating a Bird Stamp
India and I were watching the Martha Stewart Show together. Yes, we sometimes watch that show. I typically fast-forward past Martha’s sometimes awkward banter to get to the good stuff. I love Tivo. India saw them coloring in bird stamps with makeup. Coloring and makeup?? She had to do it. I told her we could make a stamp and create our own bird picture.
Later that night she kept telling me that she could cut four pieces of paper at the same time. I thought that was great, but had no idea what she was up to. The next day I came to our project room (yes, we now have a project room/office) and I saw this:
I asked her what it was. She promptly told me it was her bird stamp that she made. How great is that?
I let her know that I had just bought some blocks and ink so we could make our own stamp. Not from paper. Basically I purchased more block printing supplies.
Last year I had made a passport for a church activity. I carved my own ’stamp’, if you will, out of that very soft woodblock printing block that is available at any art supply store (even Michael’s has it, but that is all you’ll find). It was so easy to do that I wanted to give the harder, linoleum blocks a try. That way the block would last longer and I could make finer lines more easily. My desire to get back to woodblock printing began a couple weeks ago. I was inspired by a friend’s collection of greeting cards displayed in her home. I thought, I can do that.
Well, India beat me to it. We printed out a few images of birds for her to copy and this is what she came up with. I carved the block and she did the rest!
This is the block:
and this is a print:
At the Fair
You know how a church fair can be really lame? Well move over lame church fair and welcome in the Denver Stake Fair.
I cannot believe the amount of cool stuff there was at this fair. Free concessions… which is always very cool… cotton candy, snow cones, home-baked bread, chili and pie cook-offs (with plenty of tastes), corn on the cob (which India will actually eat), cupcake walk, cookie decorating, fishing game, ice cream sandwich eating contest, dunk your friend in a pool of water thing, plus two giant bounce houses.
I kept joking that I only saw people we knew every 20 minutes or so because there were so many people. Our ward (congregation) is pretty small and the stake (regional congregation) is pretty big and apparently has good ideas and money to make things happen. In any case, loads of fun and if the cotton candy line were smaller we would have had some pretty hopped up kids.
hula-hoop contest. Zach beat India and I, if you can believe it.
India in the bounce obstical course
India ready to dunk a kid
Our friend William gettin the job done!
India and her friend at the end of the night with their cotton candy
Ezra’s tongue
We have passed the week mark since Ezra about bit the tip of his tongue off. He was playing on the play structure at India’s school and bit it… well, fell. Lots of blood, lots of crying and even an offer to go to a friends for a popsicles.
I didn’t know how bad it was until the next morning when I got him out of his car seat. He was fingering his tongue and pulling at the flap that was at the tip. Yuck. After dropping India off at school we were off to urgent care to have it looked at. The Dr. wasn’t sure so called the ER. That doc said they could put in a stitch but that it would heal on its own. That’s what Grandpa Brian had told us the night before. It was good to hear it from another person… the Urgent Care doc hadn’t seen a tongue laceration that bad in the 14 years he had been practicing, if that tells you anything.
You can see for yourself:
Still a happy kid… especially after the medicine.
Aren’t the kiddos so cute together?
Who are the People in our Neighborhood??
Just in case you were wondering.
The woman across the street from us hosted a street ice cream social. It was well attended. This will give you an idea of who India and Ezra will be playing with now and in the future. This is only our street, so not everyone is represented. We had a lot of fun and Ezra only had a hard time when we pulled him away from the fire truck.
Our neighbor
From across the street
One of the potential sitters showing Ezra the approaching fire engine
Even the adults had fun
India and this guy have had lots of fun together. She enjoys hangin’ with the boys, playing boy games.
Our driveway was full of activity once the street was no longer blocked off.
Exploring Colorado
“Are we there yet?”
“How much longer?”
Luckily Ezra was asleep most of the ride so we were only getting it from one kid. But as we entered the mountain pass we saw all the traffic heading back to the city. I knew it would be a long day.
We began with pizza. Thankfully in fru-fru Vail they have a family friendly, hip pizza joint with skeletons everywhere (which India loved) and ’80’s music piped through the speakers. We ate, then headed to the trail that would eventually take us to a waterfall. India and Ezra really enjoyed hiking up the trail… even with the chilly rainfall. Most days in Colorado have a rain in the afternoon. We are still getting used to that. We hiked as far as we dared (who wants to be stuck in a flash flood… or just in rain?) and I think that was key to having a good experience with the kids… no pressure (even without the waterfall). After the hike I suggested we head back to Vail and really take a look around the place. I also had my eye on some shoes for Ezra around the corner from the pizza joint. I’m glad we returned because I ended up getting a really cute pair for him and we saw what Vail is all about… it is basically an outdoor mall.
These were under $20… great sale.
Most the shops were closing so we headed for home. Being Labor Day weekend we figured we would have a very long drive ahead of us. Once we hit traffic we pulled off the highway and had some dinner. We found this really cute little diner with the best peach pie around. I was very happy to eat dessert. Too bad India would only eat the ice cream. Some day she’ll appreciate the finer things in life. Hopefully.
A few photos from the hike:
