rock-n-roll

just one of the many super cute pictures i took of ever last week while trying on her christmas dress.  

it cracks me up how she looks so exasperated about standing still for a picture.  

and since we are on the subject of her cracking me up i have to share this little story.  

i honestly can't keep up with all the funny things she says and does these days but here is something i remember.

a few days ago will was buckling her into her car seat and he said let's rock-n-roll.

she instantly repeated rock-n-roll.  she repeats everything!

saturday she had a little toy in her hand and she was making the item run around on tables and such.  that is another thing...her imagination has really taken off.  i can tell by the way she plays with her toys these days.  anyway i asked her what she was playing with and she held it up to me and said "bear rrrraaaaawwwwrrr!"  i told her it was actually a raccoon.  she looked at it and said "oh rock-n-roll".  will and i both laughed so hard.  she now calls her raccoon a rock-n-roll and she still points out that it wears glasses.   

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portrait a week 47/52

ever running off energy during a break on our bike ride last night.  

she loves bundling up with a hat and mittens.

cold weather fan just like her parents.

she adores the ornaments and tree

 get ready for picture overload of ever helping me put up christmas decorations.  ordinarily i wouldn't decorate this early.  i'm lucky if we get the tree out before the first week of december is over but i figured ever would be pleased if the tree made an early appearance.  i was right.  i haven't heard so many happy squeals from her in quite some time.  each ornament we unwrapped elicited some sort of joyous reaction. 

this is her idea of decorating...setting ornaments on the lower branches.  

of course i think it is adorable.  

blurry pictures ♥

 she exclaimed...owl! puppy! frog! kitty!

so far her absolute favorite ornaments are

the breakable ones of course...

she said UP about a million times then said ohhhh cuuuute!

since nightmare before christmas recently became her thing i knew this ornament would thrill her... it did.  

and all three of the jingle ornaments made her day.

i was happy to rediscover the ornaments from my childhood and remember how gram picked a theme for the ornaments each year then made one based on the theme and let each grandchild pick their favorite character, color, etc. from that years theme.  apparently in 1983 funshine bear was my thing.  so glad she wrote our names and the year on the ornaments.

and now that i typed that i feel like i mentioned this a couple years ago...oh well.

i may not have appreciated that tradition so much as a child but now i really think of it fondly.  

i wish i could find all the ornaments she made.....who knows where they ended up over all the years.

 i guess hugging the mushroom ornament was necessary.

last year ever seemed to enjoy the christmas tree but this year it has been way more exciting to her.  

hopefully she doesn't destroy any of the ornaments.  i had a bad daydream today about her knocking the tree down.  she sure has her naughty moments...especially lately so i could really see that happening.  

4 years

11/7/09

our wedding 

with all we've had going on the last few weeks i realized i had yet to make mention of our anniversary on the blog....something i always like to do.

we celebrated 4 years of marriage on november 7th.  

links to previous years....

our wedding

a few more wedding photos

i have yet to share all the wedding photos.  i know there are several sprinkled through the years in the blog but i'm not even sure which ones or where.  sad fact...i still haven't printed any of our wedding photos. 

year 1

year 2

year 3

enjoying the newlywed life.

below are pictures on or around our anniversary each year.

celebrating our first anniversary at disneyland....so much fun!

almost 20 weeks pregnant with ever.  we kept the celebration low key this year...it involved a trip to st. george to see friends mixed with a shopping in vegas on the way home.  but this picture was taken in sedona at our friends wedding a few days after our anniversary.  

ever was 7 months old by our third anniversary.  we celebrated a few different times.  we went on a couple movie dates around that time...this picture was taken on one of those dates.  we also went to vegas for the day....my first time away from ever for an entire day.  i think i cried.  

in doing this post i realized will and i are terrible about taking pictures together since ever became part of our family.  we shall work on that.  this is the best i could do....a picture of us on halloween....exactly one week before our anniversary.  in fact when we were planning the wedding i almost decided to have it on halloween.  i was so close. 

this year my mom watched ever as always and we took a trip to lake havasu for the day.  we saw a movie, went to dinner, and shopped for art supplies.  will made me smile while encouraging me to load up the cart with all the paint and canvases i needed.  he let me take my time even if it wasn't fun for him.  he's a keeper for that and so many reasons.  

i'm happy we have each other.

oh and i got something i've always wanted....  

a kitchen aid mixer.

will paid attention over the years and got me the exact color i wanted too.....a sweet surprise!  

and since will was being a goofball while i was trying to get a picture of my mixer i'll embarrass him and include the one he thought nobody would see.

coming in the door from the gym, flexing as always.   

berry

this photo prompted a little discussion on instagram the other night so i wanted to tell more of the story here.

let me start with this.....

poor ever....she had her first experience with a tummy bug last week.  it all started to unfold tuesday evening as i was getting ready to head out the door to go to a friend's get together.  it is rare that i leave the house without ever but oddly enough the last couple times i have i end up with a sick girl.  i know it is a coincidence but it makes me think twice about making plans with her in them.  not really but you know.  first it was a few weeks ago i met a friend for frozen yogurt and i came home to a fussy runny nosed girl.  in the coming days her runny nose turned into a bad cold that kept all of us from sleeping at night then a day or so later will and i both caught it so we were all sickies together for about a week.  obviously not fun.   then last tuesday as i am about 30 minutes from going out the door ever vomits all over.  i wasn't sure she was sick because she didn't act sick.  will insisted i get out and have a good time.  i felt bad leaving ever but it was a nice break.  will kept in touch through text saying all was well.  then i get home and discover the vomit episodes happened several more times...he didn't want to tell me though because he knew i'd rush home.  vomit is the number one thing i dislike.  i can handle all sorts of other yucky things but even the sound of someone throwing up sends me over the edge.  it broke my heart to see ever wonder what was happening to her tiny body and hear her scream and cry.  two good things about the her having the illness i've dreaded since the day she was born is that for the first time in her life she was incredibly cuddly.  also i gained a new level of love and respect for will.  he handled her vomit situations so well.....he helped out and remained calm when i had a hard time doing so.  seriously a new level of love for will.  

now the story of the bear.....

will has had this bear since he was about 6 years old.  if we are lucky most of us have special things from our childhood.  i am fortunate to have many things...journals, pictures, toys, clothes and other keepsakes.  my mom was good about saving precious things and documenting stories for which i'll always be grateful.  one night not to long after will got this stuffed bear he was out to dinner with his family.  he insisted on taking the one he named "berry" out for dinner with the family.  yes he purposely spelled the bear's name berry.  little did he know that cute decision would turn out to be a very wise one because when his family returned home they discovered their house had burned down and all possessions were lost.  from that day on berry was more that just a stuffed bear for will.  he was something special to remind him of his younger childhood days...the only keepsake left.  

i remember meeting berry and hearing the bittersweet story when we were first dating. 

i remember will leaving berry for me to cuddle with at night in those dating days.  berry has always been a source of comfort and now he is something really special for ever like he once was for will 25 years ago.  ever has a few stuffed animals that she has fancied more than others....her turtles, her husky.  all of the sudden when her tummy bug hit all she wanted was berry and her love for him is something that we enjoy watching....particularly will.  i bet the 6 year old will could never even imagine that 25 years later berry would be adored by his daughter.  it is sweet.  

a scone and steinway

ever woke up this morning thinking she had won the lottery.  

yaya was here with a blueberry scone for her and steinway in tow. 

my mom asked me to meet her outside as she was on her way back home with steinway, then to work.  

i woke ever up and took her outside all groggy but as soon as she saw a few of her favorite things she perked right up.  i quite liked the surprise visit too. 

i got a healthy dose of steinway kisses.....sure do love that fluffy girl.

ever calmly ate her scone and had a look of pure bliss.

i hope the great start to her day means less tantrums and defiance.  all the sudden this 19 month old girl has one serious temper and her sleep habits are getting bad again.  she seems to always be pushing the limits and testing our patience.  i'm sure it is just a phase as most things seem to be.  time to read more on these tantrums and how to remain calm and sane while her little body and brain get it all figured out.

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portrait a week 46/52

i love that expression of hers.  

whale of a tale

i feel like i've really neglected this shop of mine, because i have.

i've been planning to do more with my original paintings.  i finally stocked up on supplies so once i finish a few projects i intend to put as much time as ever allows me into creating original pieces for my bigcartel shop.  i've also considered opening and etsy shop and maybe selling originals plus limited edition prints from there.  for now society6 is a great way to share my art with the world until i have more time to focus on other options.  here is a  recent painting i did for a dear friend.  the paint was still wet in some spots when i took this......i'll have to share a better photo of it when prints are available.

prints should be available by the end of the week right here. 

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portrait a week 45/52

for these posts i usually try to use a picture that is clear with decent lighting but i had to make an exception this time because this picture helps to tell one of the cute stories that accompanies this post.

1. ever has these two stuffed turtles that she has to have in her crib with her.  when she wakes up in the morning i transfer her to our bed for cuddle time.  before she comes to our bed she frantically says turtles and searches for her turtles among the blankets in her crib.  once she has each of them tucked under an arm she is ready to be taken out of the crib.  often times she also grabs a blanket with the turtles...she either says cozy or blanket while grabbing it.  i really enjoy this little ritual of hers.

2.  ever has become rather obsessed with nightmare before christmas since we watched it while carving pumpkins.  i'm a little surprised how much she loves it since it is more of a dark scary movie but then again this is ever and she is anything but ordinary.  because of her love of the movie her latest word is christmas "chismas". she often asks for jack (jack skellington).  she hums the songs and uses her very best dance moves when they sing the halloween town song.  she seems to be equally in love with the pumpkin scenes as she is with the snowman scenes in the movie.  that is how she talks about the halloween vs. christmas parts.

3.  a thing ever says often these days is "stop it!" with a grumbly tone.  she says it to me when i take something from her that she shouldn't have or hold her hand when she doesn't want it held.  she says it when playing with her toys.  for instance today she was stacking and connecting different items from her toy bin and they weren't connecting like she wanted to so little miss attitude said her usual stop it!  it almost sounds like she has a french accent when she says it and she always grunts the words out.  i can't help but laugh when i hear her say it even if she is being naughty while saying it to me.

4.  ever has an additional name for yaya.  she calls her yaya pipe most of the time now because she knows my mom plays the bagpipes.  

5.  when my mom leaves after a visit ever's new thing is sitting on her lap in the car to pretend she's driving before the last tearful goodbye.  a few days ago while pretending to drive on my moms lap ever shoved me away and had my mom roll up the window.  then she held up her finger to me through the closed window and said "i fine".

6.  saturday will and i went out of town for the day to have a little late anniversary celebration.  my mom was holding ever as we went to leave.  will said goodbye to her first...they hugged.  then ever reached for me and said hug.  she hugged me tightly with both arms as my mom held her...it was so sweet.  i asked her for a kiss but she pushed me away and said "go!" very sternly...we thought that was so funny.  she knows the drill when yaya comes over and she doesn't care one bit that we leave.  i always dreaded the day she would cry and beg me not to leave but so far that hasn't happen.  she just does that when yaya pipe leaves.  on a side note will and i had planned to go to disneyland for a few days this week and meet up with friends that were going.  we haven't had a chance to go since our first anniversary and it is sometimes all we talk about.  the main reason i decided not to go this time is that i couldn't handle the thought of being away from ever.  i guess will and i are turning out to be just like my parents.  i think the first real vacation they took without brandon and i was a cruise they went on when i was 12.  now i totally get it.              

happy 30th to the hospital

friday night we went downtown for the hospitals 30th birthday celebration.  i was anticipating this get together because i was asked to display some of my art for it, which was exciting.  turns out at the last minute the celebration couldn't be held in the building they had planned for because of permit issues so it turned into a block party sort of thing.  i was still fun but unfortunately the display options for my art were not nearly as good or visible and i couldn't bring as many pieces as originally planned.  a few pieces were hung in a cafe in the area and others were hung on pegboards in the street.  not the exposure i had hoped for but at least we had a nice family night.  my mom played the bagpipes with her group and unfortunately we missed their big performance.  we could hear them as we were parking and ever immediately said yaya when she heard them but we didn't make it in time to hear all the songs or see them march.  my little social butterfly had so much fun dancing in the street to the musical performances.  she was so full of energy and happy about all she got to see and experience.  the fact that she was so cute and we knew most of the people there worked in ever's favor because she was loaded up with goodie bags of toys and candy as well as lots of attention which she seemed to like.     

acting up for the camera before we left the house.  this girl is all about the camera....not like i give her much of a choice.

some of my art hanging in the street.

with her favorite bagpipe player.

i didn't know will was taking this picture but i think it is funny how ever appears to be slapping me out of the way to see all the fun things around her.  

dancing with papa.

the hospital bear mascot was handing out toys and dancing around.  ever was afraid when the fluffy bear got too close but she was amazed watching him from what she considered a safe distance.  all night she talked about the bear and asked me to take her to him but if i got too close she freaked out in a bad way.  as long as we kept our distance she squealed with delight watching the bear.

 ever was a blur of movement all night but i happened to capture the blurs around her as she was still for a second.

she kept letting go of our hands to dance to the music...even classical music.

after having all the fun we could possibly have we went home....although i think ever could have stayed and danced all night long.