Painting 2 of 13

This is a quick little painting I painted on Friday night. I'm not sure what to say about it. I was trying to capture the feel of a hyacinth. I'm not sure I succeeded. It felt good to paint though.



I have also been experimenting with painting Seuss-inspired fish for my sister. Even though this is a painting, it's just done on regular paper so I don't really count it. I'm planning to paint some similar fish on canvas for her. (Just to be clear, these are not copied from Seuss. They just are inspired by his style.)

How I Love and Shock You

Yesterday Thomas (who just turned 5 years old on Feb. 8) announced that he wanted to become a rock star. He proceeded to write a song and practice singing it. Now he just needs some musicians to play some instruments for his music video. He would really like 4 people to play the trumpet, 4 people to play the recorder, and 4 people to play the cymbals. If you'd like to audition, let me know.

Honestly, the lyrics Thomas wrote for his song are pretty cool. They could be the start to an amazing song. I know I'm biased since I'm his mom, but really... He came up with this all by himself.

My Painting Past (1992)

When I was in middle school we had one six-weeks where our special area was art. That was it for the whole two years there. (We also had rotations are home ec, music, and shop, amongst other things.) After the first couple of projects in art class the teacher chose a couple students to be in the "advanced" art group. Quite frankly I was surprised to be chosen. I was the nerd of our family. My sister was the artsy one. While I enjoyed art, I did not see myself as someone who had tons of artistic ability. (I still pretty much see myself this way: I love it but am mediocre. I need to put in much more time before I am really good at painting/other art.)

Anyway, the advanced art group got to do paintings modeled after works by great artists. This, I believe, was inspired by the still lifes of Paul Cezanne. I actually think I may have been trying to copy a specific painting, but I'm not sure what it was. I remember this taking me most of the 6-weeks to finish. I was very meticulous and perfectionistic about it. I wonder what it says about me that I have progressed to doing paintings within one to two hours? I don't know that my paintings are any better than this painting that I did at 12-years old. I just produce them faster.

A Tree-Painting 1/13

I finally painted my first painting for 2013. I hadn't initially planned on painting a tree tonight, but that's what I ended up doing. I should not be surprised since I love to sketch trees. I have filled many a church bulletin and many a margin of notes with drawings of trees. I come by this honestly. My dad also sketches trees and also used to paint them. This will probably not be the last tree painting I create.

Happy Valentine's Day!

From my family to yours: Happy Valentine's Day!

(These are some of the photos I used for the kids' Printstagram valentines.) 



 

Printstagram Valentines

I decided to make valentine cards for my kids by using Instagram and Printstagram. I bought some cheap foam hearts and wrote different sayings on them. I bought some fabric to use as a backdrop. Then I snapped some photos, did a little editing, and posted them on Instagram. Then I ordered some sets of prints using Printstagram. For the cards to take to school I printed the Prinstagram Minicards which kind of look like baby Polaroids. There is white space on the top and bottom so the kids can write messages for their friends. I ordered the Mini Squares for me to give out to family and friends. I'm pretty excited about how they came out.


 

Story Laboratory Photo Props

I was on the planning committee for the book fair at Zoe's school. The theme was "Story Laboratory" so everything revolved around a science theme. I'm sure you are thinking, "Book fair? That's not a big deal!" At Zoe's school it is! They hold a huge kick-off pep rally lead by the sixth grade book fair crew. Then they have the fair set up for a week with events for every member of your family to come. We had breakfasts for the moms and grandparents. We had a movie night geared at dads. We had a Poetry Cafe where hot chocolate was served by one of the local coffee shops. (Thanks to JoZoara Coffee Shop!) Our grand finale was Super Science Saturday where we had 9 different science sessions- from robotics to building roller coasters to mammals. It was a ton of fun.

My big contribution was setting up a photo booth with photo props. The background was just a couple of huge pieces of cardboard painted black. I wanted to keep that simple so the props would show up well. Since we were going with a science theme, I made most of my props based on famous scientists such as Newton, Tesla, and, of course, Einstein. I also wanted to make sure female scientists were represented. Marie Curie, arguably the most famous female scientist, did not have interesting enough hair for me to use. Instead I decided to do Ada Lovelace hair. Not only does she have interesting hair, she also has an interesting life! (30 second recap: Daughter of Lord Byron, computer programmer for Babbage's Analytical Engine, called herself a "Poetical Scientist")

  

Want to know how to make photo props?
It is easy but time-consuming.

Supplies:

Foam Core boards (Look for it with the regular poster board.)
Exacto Knife
Cutting board
Either a Sharpie Marker and paints
OR printed out pictures and glue
Chop sticks or dowel rods
Glue (Tacky glue worked well.)

• Draw the outlines of the props onto the foam core.
• Cut them out using your Exacto knife. Don't cut off your fingers!
• Paint  prop OR glue print-out onto prop
• Touch up the outline using your Sharpie after the paint or glue has dried.
• Glue the chop sticks on the back. Make sure to consider which hand you want them held. I put the sticks for the hair/hats to be held in one hand while the smaller props were made to be held in the opposite hand. The word signs had sticks in the middle so they could be held in either hand.

As you can see from the photos, we also added other props like lab coats, gloves, goggles, and graduated cylinders. The kids really enjoyed the variety.

Happy Flu Year!

The flu has hit our house. The girls have been hit especially hard. Joel and I feel yucky but haven't been hit with high fevers yet so we may just be fighting something else. Who knows? Thomas is fine so far, and we are hoping he stays that way.

01/02/2013: PotD

Posted a day late, but this is Rosie's first time in her new high chair. She was super happy, despite the fact that she was running a high fever. Today she has not been so happy. I took her to the doctor and she has the flu. Poor kiddo.

01/01/13: Photo of the Day

I rang in the new year with Joel, Rosie, and my parents. Rosie woke up just a few minutes before the countdown. She was awake and quite talkative for a good bit of time right around when the ball dropped.

I'll have to get a photo of the bigger kids tomorrow. They stayed with Nana and Granddaddy (Joel's parents) New Year's Eve and most of New Year's Day so Joel and I could go out for our anniversary. (We went to see The Hobbit on NYE and Les Miserables on NYD. My parents kept Rosie just during the hours we were out.)

Hello 2013!

Welcome to 2013! Like we did at the beginning of 2012, the Daniel family is already anticipating exciting things for the year ahead.

Like last year, the first half of the year will be spent actively waiting. Last year we were waiting for the birth of Rosanna. This year we are waiting for Joel to graduate in May and find either a residency or job. He has already started the process of applying for residencies and jobs. Some of them are here in Middle TN while others are out of the area. Not knowing where our family will be in six months can be stressful, but for now there is nothing I can really do but wait and trust that all will be okay. Oh, and I can read over Joel's letters of intent to make sure what is he says makes sense.

I have a bunch of goals running through my head for the year ahead. For now I am only going to set one goal which is to paint thirteen paintings in 2013. I had a few opportunities to paint in 2012, and doing so made me feel more centered and less crazy. This year I want to intentionally make time to paint about once a month.

Here is what I painted in 2012:

I'm aliiiive! (But my computer is not.)

Yes, I'm still alive! However, my computer died right before Rosie was born. Joel's laptop died shortly before that, too. We just now replaced Joel's laptop. He really needs one for his clinical rotations for his last year of pharmacy school. My computer has still not been replaced and may not be until next year after Joel graduates.

Today I'm using Joel's laptop, but I don't expect to be on here much. I do have online access via my phone. It's just not the ideal way to blog. If you'd like to keep up with what I'm doing, you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and/or Flickr. My screenname for all of them is kmaritza. (It's also my screenname for Words with Friends, Scramble with Friends, and Draw Something, if you happen to play any of those games.)

1 week old

1 week old, a photo by KMaritza on Flickr.

Rosanna Joan was born one week ago. She and I are doing well. I will try to post her birth story soon.

Contractions and Apostrophes

<p>Have you ever noticed how many contractions are formed by using an apostrophe to shorten the word "not"? It seems like my life has been filled with contractions ending in nots. </p>
<p>It isn't time yet.<br>
These aren't continuing.<br>
Don't go to the hospital.<br>
It won't be worth your time.<br>
The baby hasn't finished cooking.</p>
<p>While all of these episodes of not-contractions are incredibly frustrating, I know they will eventually lead to contractions where the apostrophes stand for "is".</p>

It's time!
Let's go!
She's here!

For now I am anxiously awaiting the change from NOT to IS. Hopefully it will happen sooner than later. I am ready.

Due Date!

Today is Baby Girl's estimated due date. I was really hoping she would be here by now so I could see all THREE of my kiddos on Mother's Day, but it looks like that is not going to happen. Oh well. I had a very nice Mother's Day anyway. I had a nice mixture of time alone and time with family. 

This evening I also got the artwork hung above Baby Girl's bed. My sis helped me arrange the pieces. The artwork was made by Zoe, Thomas, my dad, my sister, my brother, and me which makes it super special.

 

I want to wish my mom, my mother-in-law, and all the other mamas in my life a happy Mother's Day. 

Baby Hat

Well, it doesn't look like I'm having a third kid born on the 8th of their birth month since there is only an hour and 15 minutes left. However, I did get a cute little hat made for Baby Girl. This is not a great photo of it.  I think it is cuter in person. I sized it off of one of the Gerber newborn caps so I am hoping it fits her. It is a tiny bit larger than the Gerber cap and is fairly stretchy. The flower is made from 3 flowers I made ages ago for a scarf that I never finished. I layered them together to put on the hat. Can't wait until I can show off photos of Baby Girl wearing the hat.

39 weeks

First of all, thank you to everyone who has submitted guesses! If you haven't already submitted a guess of when Baby Girl's birthday will be and what her birth weight and length will be, you can still do it!

Yes, I'm still pregnant. One more week until the estimated due date, but I'm really hoping she will arrive sometime this week. The 8th would be fantastic! Zoe and Thomas were both born on the 8th of their birth months. It would be fun to continue that. I also would love for her to be born this week since Joel finishes his exams this week and then has off from school-related stuff until June.

Realistically I know that Baby Girl will most likely be born after the 40-week mark. The other two were, and I'm mentally prepared for that. If nothing else, I'm hoping she gets here before we really have to start discussing induction. I do not want to have labor induced unless absolutely necessary. I'd rather let everything progress naturally, even if that means 3 more weeks of belly pics instead of baby pics.

A Waiting Game

I'm 38 weeks pregnant now which means I hit full term a week ago and could have this baby any time in the next four weeks. While I'm playing the waiting game, I'm going to ask you to play a guessing game. Here is what I want you to guess: Baby Girl's birthday, birth weight, and birth length. Leave a comment on the blog and whoever has the closest guess will get a shout-out on the blog. Exciting, right?

To give you some background:

Zoe was born 8 days past her due date. She was 6 lbs, 15 oz and 19.5 inches long.


Thomas was born 11 past his due date. He was 9 lbs, 14.5 oz and 21.5 inches long.


Baby Girl is due on May 13. I've gained less weight than I did with either of the other two, but she feels longer to me than the other two were.

Yes, there was really almost 3 pounds difference between the birth weighs of my kids. Crazy, huh?

Okay, start guessing!

Bedroom Before...

Today's task is to organize the master bedroom. Here is the before of just the bay window area:

Thyme to Clean

This week I am pretending to nest. I have never actually nested while pregnant and don't expect to this time so I am forcing myself to be productive so I can get things in order before Baby Girl arrives.  I am taking a break from my computer and am not checking Facebook, playing games, or doing much online stuff from my phone. I am checking my email, text messages, and doing a quick blog post here and there though.

Today I am starting the day by making some fresh herbed vinegar solution for cleaning. All I do is take a mason jar, stuff it full of fresh herbs, and then fill to the brim with vinegar. I let it sit for a day or more and then strain it into a spray bottle. It definitely makes the vinegar smell nicer. Today I used lemon thyme and lemon balm, both of which smell amazing!  Since most commercial cleaning products trigger migraines, it is nice to me able to have a simple homemade solution that works well. Vinegar also pairs well with Dawn and with baking soda for tougher messes or you can dilute it with water for a more mild solution.