Category: River

New art desk….

Our art/sewing room had a big old ugly sofa bed in it…and we …..um..my husband..finally lugged it out to the curb…..it was way over due!  And that meant that the room had more space…so River could have a bigger art desk!

I dug up an old desk that we had down in the basement…..seemed about the right height….but it needed a chair.  So, I dug up an old chair that we had in the basement..but it needed a makeover!  I thought it would be fun to redo the upholstery with some faux red leather…..well, I’m not sure if I like it or not….it looks like it is ready to go out to a go go bar!  But it is done……maybe someday I’ll get around to redoing it!

She decided she wanted her new desk to be near Quinn and Tuesday’s desks…..and this is also a better spot..because it gets more natural light.  I think she likes her new art desk!

Park…..

About a month ago, I discovered running.  My husband has been running for awhile, but I had never tried it.  I normally run at night, because that is when I have the time…after the children are all in bed.  But the other day I “acquired” a jogging stroller……okay, someone in my neighborhood was throwing it away….it is in perfect condition….it looks like they never used it…just left it outside…it was a bit rusty and faded…but the wheels looked brand new…after I pumped them up!!

So, now that I have a jogging stroller..I can run during the day with River!  It is a completely different workout!

About two months ago, Christopher and Quinn, discovered a little park by us…we never knew it was there!  Isn’t it funny how you can live somewhere and not even know something exists!  It is now one of our favorite places..especially since I can run there, River can play, and then I can run home…and my work out is done!

Shoot Along Challenge…..

So, last Wednesday, over at Giverslog, Amberlee and Carrie Butler had a shoot along challenge…..pick a time of day and take a photograph at that time of day, for a particular amount of days…..

So, I decided to photograph River, for five days, not including the weekend….at 5 pm.  I thought it would be best to only do a small amount of days the first time I did this!!  It was hard to remember some days because that time of day is so busy!  I often had to set a timer, write myself a note….or just leave the camera out as a reminder!

But it was worth it…..!!  I photographed her just as she was…..not giving her any direction and it was amazing how different each photo is……

Dying Uggs with Rit Dye…..

So, I found a pair of  Uggs for River at the local thrift shop…for $9.99.  They were quite dirty looking…..and the exact same color as her other pair that I had found at the thrift shop.  So, I decided to dye them bright pink…using Rit dye.  I found this article on ehow about how to dye Ugg boots.   So, we decided to go for it.  The only pink our local shop had was fuchsia……so, that is the color we went with.

First, we filled up a giant bucket with hot water…then we added the dye..and stirred it all up.   Then, we threw in the boots…and stirred and stirred….but they kept floating..so we had to smoosh them and smoosh them and they kept floating.  So, I took a big rock and put it on top of them!

Then I remembered the one step that we forgot….we were supposed to soak the Uggs in regular water first, to get them water-logged…..that would have made things so much easier…because when they were finally water-logged..they floated perfectly…..soles up!!

So, the next time…we’ll make sure we remember to soak the Uggs in regular water first!

We let them soak for 30 minutes..but didn’t think they were dark enough..so we waited another 30 minutes.  When we took them out they looked very pink!

It only took them about 3 sunny days to dry!  I thought it would take much longer for them to get thoroughly dry…especially the fluffy insides.

Well, I think they look great..and River likes them too!  Now, we are going to dye her other pair purple!

First Days continued…..

Today was River’s first day of art class.  She was so excited to start going again.  She only goes once a week, but she gets to eat lunch there…..she was very excited to get a new lunch box!

And since we don’t have to arrive until 12:15…..it was a VERY long morning…waiting and waiting….finally, though, the time did arrive…..

When River got home from art class..she had this picture for Quinn…it is a picture of him riding his bike in a rain storm…..(yesterday he went out bike riding and got caught in a bad rain storm!)

A tree…..

Tuesday has been going to violin lessons at an art center since she was six.  On their beautiful property is a wonderful  tree that Tuesday and Quinn have always loved to climb.  While Tuesday is having her violin lesson, Quinn likes to sit in the tree and do his homework.   River, of course, also wants to climb the tree…but she isn’t exactly big enough.

She tried and tried to get up on her on..but couldn’t…so she had to agree to let me help her onto the branch.  Once she was on the branch, she was so pleased…but then she realized she wasn’t as high as Quinn…..she says she can’t wait until she is bigger, so she can climb higher.

Tuesday and Quinn still love to climb this tree.  I think because there are so few “good climbing trees” by where we live.  There are a lot of trees…but none of them with wonderful low branches…so you can climb.

Thoughts about Halloween…..

Ever since someone told River that Halloween is about a month and a half away……she has been trying to decide what she wants to be….one day it is an elephant, then a robot, then Buzz Lightyear, then a cat…….she keeps insisting that she has to take everything out of her dress up bin….”to see if there is anything good in there for Halloween!”

Butterfly craft project…..

I follow Meg’s blog over at Whatever.  It is a wonderful blog filled with colorful photographs.  She does a craft every Thursday.  This past week she did a great craft project with butterflies.  I got inspired to do the same craft.  Usually, I let River just paint or glue whatever she wants..but I thought it would be fun to do a more focused project.

At first she complained because she was in a “painting mood,” not a “gluing mood”…but I convinced her it would be fun!

Of course, she wanted giant pink wings!   She had a great time gluing…..I think she worked on this project for over an hour!!  When she was finished, she insisted that the butterfly be turned over and more gluing needed to be done…on the other side!

When she was finished, I insisted that I take “adorable” photos of her and her butterfly…she didn’t agree and wasn’t happy with the photos..though I took them anyway!

Our Library…

Our town library is huge!  I mean HUGE!  It used to be a very small town library that was warm and cozy…but they knocked it down and built a humungous 21 million dollar library!  I still can’t believe it cost that much money!  It is a nice library, but I actually miss the old library.  The new library is so massive and cold feeling.  It seems like a lot of wasted space and energy!

But we go to the library a lot!  River loves it there.  Besides the books, one of River’s favorite things about the library is the statue outside.  It is called “Sunday Morning” by sculptor J Seward Johnson.   The library had it on loan for two years, but when the two years ended, the library purchased it through donations and fund raising….it was a bargain for only $65,000!  I guess when the library costs $21 million, what is another $65,000!

She loves to stand on the statue plaque and pretend she is a statue..but then she starts to giggle….Quinn told her to sit by the statue and they would both pretend they were statues…that just made her giggle more!…but Quinn was good at being a statue!

365 Stories….


We have a “book” called 365 Stories. It will eventually have 365 stories, but as of now..it probably only has 80!

Some day it will have 365 stories…some day.

I can’t believe we started the book six years ago. I must say I had hoped to have all the days filled in by now. But, life got in the way…..

Sometimes Quinn will write the story and do the illustrations, sometimes Tuesday will draw the pictures and Quinn will write the stories or sometimes I will make the story! It is a little bit of everything..all creative!!

It actually is quite fun that the stories are spanning many years. We started it when Quinn was only 4 years old and River wasn’t even around! Now she is old enough to start working on some stories. On holidays or special occasions, it is fun to see what type of story the kids come up with to memorialize that event! They love going back and reading the stories over and over again!