portraits

Paloma has really been into drawing and writing lately. Here is her latest portrait of us together - we are in our birthday suits in the shower.

whew! I actually ran a 1/2 Marathon!!! and I was sick!!!

When that swine flu invaded our house a few weeks ago, I was down for the count! Lio came down with a fever on a Saturday, and since it was a week before the big 1/2 Marathon, I took every precaution and tried not to get sick. I even wore a face mask around and drank a ton of Airborn, but after Paloma got her fever on Monday, I started feeling sick myself. Sure enough, I got the fever on Tuesday, and was out for the rest of the week. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself that I wouldn't get to run after all of my training, but in the end, decided to run, and I'm soooo glad that I did! It was an amazing feeling to finally accomplish my goal. John ran the whole way with me, took one for the team, after all he did promise "in sickness and in health", and finished 4 minutes later than his 2 hour goal. I couldn't have done it without him! I really needed that support to help me get through.

We don't have any pictures to remember the event, other than these that were randomly taken for runners to purchase.

MarathonFoto - The World's Leader in Race Photography

I already feel like I am slacking and have totally slowed down with the running, but I am going to sign up for a 10K (that's 6.2 miles) on Thanksgiving morning, and will hopefully do a relay (with YOU, Jamie!!!) in the Flying Pig Marathon in the spring. The one thing that I learned from all of this is that I can reach my goals, even if they seem crazy. Now I just need to keep motivated by setting new goals.

Little Red and BB Wolf

John and I really don't like going all out for Halloween, but I'm slowly getting more into the fun of the season with Lio and Paloma. They love looking at all of the decorations and getting dressed up, and it's making me get a bit more out of my shy shell.

John and I were invited to a Halloween party by some friends, and costumes were pretty much mandatory. If I was going to have to dress up, I wanted to at least look cute and not ridiculous. So that's why I nixed John's "John and Kate + 8" idea. (In hindsight, that idea would have gone over well with the party crowd, which included an "Octomom".) John came up with the Little Red Riding Hood/BB Wolf or Huntsman idea, even though he doesn't recall that detail.

It was a super fun party - I actually danced and sang, and loved seeing everyone dressed up. I'm already looking forward to coming up with an idea for next year, and it's not even officially Halloween yet!

Fall Festival Fun

After a week of everyone in our house (except John - how did that happen?!) having the Swine Flu, and then a week of recovering from recovering, I am back! These past few weeks have been super busy - I feel like I've run a marathon, or at least 1/2 of one. (More about that on another post!) I am so glad that everyone here is finally happy and healthy, and that things are returning more to normal with our regular school schedules.

Paloma recovered just in time to enjoy the Fall Festival held at her preschool. It was a beautiful morning full of fun activities for the kids to enjoy with their parents. I *love* her school and her teachers!

The day started off outside - we took a nature hike and then played on the playground. An obstacle course was set up, which was by far Paloma's favorite.

We then moved inside to an area set up with lots of different activities to try out. (Notice the little bracelet that Paloma is wearing - she made it that morning for Lio.)

We even did a little face painting, and true to Paloma's personality she wanted creepy spiders crawling on her face. I love that about her!

But the best part of it all was seeing Paloma with her new BFF, Emma. Those two just love each other, and I loved seeing her interact and have so much fun with her school friends.

more work

I just finished another order of dovey love stuff! It was another big order, and I worked really hard to get it all completed in a week. Lots more headbands, squirrels, owls and flowers. When I delivered them this past weekend I was really surprised at how little was left from the order I finished a few weeks ago. It's all really good news, but I am truly in need of a little breather! I hope to not get any more orders until October is over - I haven't even started on our Halloween costumes!

I also got a call for my 1st custom order stencil onesie! Not so custom - the person really liked the bunny example I made for the class I'm going to offer, and wants to order one. I decided to give it a shot - see if it's going to be another creative outlet that can make me a bit more money. I'm even considering making a design for each season - for example I would do deer for winter, bunnies for spring, squirrels for fall, and who knows what for summer - but do the same design in a variety of sizes for the store. It's all going to depend on how much the wholesale shirts are, how much time it takes me, and how much the store would sell them for.

It's all keeping me really busy!

guest blogger

Today I am lucky to have a guest blogger.

Take it away, Paloma!

"This is my stuffed animals. And my mom took a picture of these animals. That's it. The panda is Mei Lan, and this is Ducko, my animal I like to put stuff on, and this is Pup, the biggest one. That's it."

happy shiny WHITE smile

I finally broke down from the stress of it all, pulled Lio out of school, and visited the dentist about his teeth. For a few months now I have been so worried about his teeth - they looked so stained - almost like brown stripes in the grooves - and have been getting worse and worse and worse. We were getting crazy about the brushing!!! And when he mentioned that a friend of his at school told him he had to be a better brusher, I knew I couldn't wait for that appointment we had scheduled a month from now.

So, the suspected culprit of it all?

Yep, chewable vitamins. Lio's not supposed to take any for a month to see if that's what causing it, and I really hope that will take care of the problem.

After his teeth were cleaned he looked like himself again. Seeing his happy, shiny, WHITE smile was the very best part of my day.

I am married to a triathlete

Sunday John and our friend Tom completed a triathlon. Amazing! They had to canoe 6 miles, run another 6 miles, then finish with an 18 mile bike ride. Again, amazing!

As you can tell, I was totally unprepared for John riding in to cross the finish line.

And didn't do too much better at capturing the moment for Tom, either.

But we were all so proud of their accomplishment!

It's crazy that John and I couldn't even run a mile less than 6 months ago. (I'm so glad that we have embraced this healthy athletic kick together.) Since school has started, John hasn't even had much time to keep up with his running training, let alone go for long bike rides, yet he was able to complete a triathlon.

And then there's our friend Tom, who just got roped into being John's partner a few months ago. He took up running (with a pair of shoes that are not for running!!!), and is sleep deprived since the arrival of his beautiful daughter a few weeks ago.

I think they are both very determined and brave. It motivates me to feel like I can do really challenging things, too. I am proud to know them both. I can now say that I am married to a triathlete!

happy birthday

Friday was John's birthday! Paloma had been pretty excited about it all week, and drew this cat for John's birthday card. She's really been getting into drawing lately, and it is so fun to see her imagination come to life. I hope to post more pictures as she keeps on drawing!

caterpillar

With all of the felt scraps lying around lately, Lio and Paloma have been interested in sewing. I had seen this little idea for a caterpillar awhile ago, and it seemed like a simple way to start.

The felt circles have a little bead in between them, which allows for the caterpillar to wiggle a bit when you move him.

Lio immediately thought of Eric Carle's 'The Hungry Caterpillar' - wouldn't it be fun to plan a whole day around that book? He was most interested in eating all of the things the caterpillar ate on the Saturday - chocolate cake, ice-cream cone, pickle, swiss cheese, salami, lollipop, cherry pie, sausage, cupcake, and watermelon. Yes, we would definitely have a stomachache after that!

latest endeavor

So I am crazy about freezer paper stencils. Again. A few weekends ago my sister visited with the kids, and we spent Sunday morning making some. Every time I do one it feels like magic. And I want to make more. And more. And more.

So here's my latest endeavor, that involves making more:

This past summer I was asked if I could teach some classes at the store that sells my doveylove stuff. I thought some classes for mommies would be great - a night out with friends, wine, good food, and the chance to make something personal and amazing to take home. I would love that myself!

When I first felt that freezer paper stencil magic, I knew it had the potential to be a great class, but didn't really know how to organize it so that everyone would be successful. When my sister Michelle helped me work it out - I had to present it to the store owners to see if they would be interested. And they are!

We are offering a class in early November, $30/person, limit 10 people. The fee includes a really nice, thick t-shirt, all supplies, instruction from me, and wine and food. To keep things simple, I am going to have a ton of animal silhouettes to choose from, and lots of ideas on how to arrange them. Once people see the possibilities and techniques and make one, they could try more at home or sign up for an advanced class to do family silhouettes, etc. and have all of the materials at their disposal.

I made some samples to have at the store:

Hopefully there will be an interest and lots of people will sign up! A few people inquired about buying the samples, so I hope that's a good sign. Ya know, for the right price I could do custom orders for people, or even designs to go along with the store's new line! (But I repeat, FOR THE RIGHT PRICE.)