spring & summer wrap up ..

my kiddies, recreating the photo from last summer. 

been awhile. :) like - ALL SUMMER! my shop went into vacation mode in the end of april. thought it'd just be for a couple weeks while i recovered from my art projects related to our school's spring auction.

like the trapeze artist photo opp i painted [which rumor has it was shipped off to be used at the national clown convention this summer. :)

and this project ... the PreK class gift that i put together that raised $925 [one sold for $425, the other for $500]. crazy, i know. but school auctions tend to be crazy. it's more of a 'donation' with a little gift on the side. :) 

so after all that ... we got a puppy & we had davis's 1st communion all in the same week. lots of excitement. mama was worn out.

and i don't THINK i've mentioned it yet ... but this year [january - december] our family underwent another big change to our daily lives. kyle is taking a year off from flying. he's a full time student getting his masters in military science. to be honest, we thought this would be a huge improvement - no traveling ['here every night']. but he has to commute an hour each way. and he has a full load: papers, tests, presentations. as of today, things have settled down. but all winter & spring, he'd leave before 5:30 AM & get back around 5:00 PM. then would either start studying or would rush off to be an assistant coach for both of our boys' baseball teams. then we'd have dinner & he'd go down to the basement to study 'til he fell asleep. then would go to bed & repeat the schedule the next day. although we saw him, we were ships passing in the night. quality conversations happened about every 10 days when enough important conversations had built up that we just HAD to make time for 'good' conversation. i would always joke that we saw him more when he was in afghanistan & we'd skype. not true ... and luckily he's on U.S. soil & gets to sleep in our house every night. we just missed him. so part of my need to put my shop on vacation, was me realizing i needed to be here full-time for my family. this was supposed to be just a side comment, but you got the full enchilada. 

taking the summer off was just what i needed. i enjoyed it. didn't miss it. :) didn't miss painting canvases & worrying about a shop, that is. i still took creative opportunities.  like when a friend said to me this summer "hey. remember that papier mache tree idea we were thinking about doing for the school library [one day]? well, we're redoing one of the rooms up by 1st & 2nd grade ... and i think there's a perfect spot for a papier mache tree ... would you want to do it?"

and i will end this blog post with that nail biting cliff hanger. :D 

the papier mache tree saga, to be continued ...