Lovely hydrangea...

There is a long story to this high maintenance hydrangea, she was sad for the longest time and started to grow new buds as soon as I came home to get her. Here is to a beautiful future and new life!

Nature Table: end of July

Here is our current nature table, enjoy!

A day of watercolor..

Yesterday we had a day of watercolor ing and water play. While Audrey worked on painting strips of paper for a growth chart, I painted a picture as a gift for a dear friend.

Here is the completed growth chart:

It's interesting to have a visual interpretation of her growth and to see that she grows 6" a year and now stands 40" tall nearing her 3.5 birthday, we plan on celebrating next month with homemade pancakes and a walk on the lakefront.

Mimi's Back!

before leaving

So, poor Mimi had to take a trip back to Canada to get her hair and nose fixed. She was gone for approximately 2 weeks and was greatly missed by AE, even some tears were shed. But now she is back and looking better than she ever did before, must be the fresh Canada air...

Thanks Bamboletta Dolls!

Flashback to "Vegas"

This past Independence Day, we went to visit family in Las Vegas, Ne-vah-da...

Organizing: Workspace

Now that we are in the last half of the month, I've been feeling like there is a big time crunch to start prepping everything to homeschool AE. Although I am not planning to start Coast School until September, I am one who likes to get things done, quick and easy...We'll also be traveling for most of August, so there is no time like the present to begin "Restoration Workspace".

Before:

Before, everything was piled into one box and the only thing that was truly organized were my sewing supplies. I started by taking everything out and arranging everything on the floor into categories: paper, notebooks, seasonal and random items. I then measured the cupboards of the working space and estimated how many containers I would need.

After:

... Now all that is left is the homeschooling room.

Flashback to "Nola"

Work has taken us many places and today I was reflecting upon my experience in New Orleans Parish, Louisiana. In a perfect world I would absolutely love to buy a home and live there for a couple years, mostly because there is so much rich history and the city has an energy that I have never seen before... sadly I am completely allergic to everything there, the bugs, the plants and sometimes the food.

Aside from the California grown allergies to Louisiana, I firmly believe that everyone should visit Nola at least once in their lifetime. It's almost indescribable the amount of "life" that is still there, despite the tragedy of Katrina, I can only describe it as a place that is starting new and building on what they little there is left and now is a great time to see the progress it is making.