My Sister the Artist

I was very fortunate to be able to attend my sister's art gallery show on a Saturday night a few weeks ago. She is the art curator at Casa Manana in Ft. Worth and that is where her show was. She has been painting for as long as I can remember. Over the last few years she has branched out from regular old paint and did some amazing artwork out of watercolors and some out of wax, or "encaustic painting" as she calls it. This gallery showcased her encaustic pieces. It was amazing to see an entire room filled with nothing but her paintings and also full of people who came just to see them and her! I was so proud of her!

This isn't the greatest picture. We arrived late and caught the end of her doing a demonstration on how she creates the wax pieces. She lit it on fire and caught everyone's attention. It was pretty amazing.

The finished piece.

Several of her pieces.

Mondo really likes this one. It has feathers melted into it.

I really like this crazy lady. I tend to be drawn more toward the bright ones.

It's hard to see in the pictures but these are all 3 dimensional.

This is another one of Mondo's favorites. It has something to do with traffic and road rage. It's made out of tiny strips of paper (?).

This bee one is pretty cool. It is actually a piece of trash she found on the side of the road! A true artist sees beyond the trash. :-)

Side view to show how much it sticks out.

This is one I've always LOVED!

I'm pretty sure that is a replica of my sister's wedding dress.

There was live music and drinks. It was a nice set-up.

That's my sister in the middle and my cousin Hilari on the end.

And me and my hunny. :-)

If you want to check out more of her amazing art, you can go to her website: www.annmariebarker.com

Baseball Mania!

Well, we've finally done it. Both boys are playing baseball at the same time. I have looked forward to/dreaded this time in our lives. Ethan is playing CP2 (coach pitch 2) for the Astros and Caleb is playing Tball for the Oriels. When I first filled my calendar with the games/practices/snacks for both boys I was completely overwhelmed. They both have practice and 2 games every week. Poor Mondo gets the worst end of the deal when they both have games on Saturday and I'm asleep.

This is the first year that Ethan and Will are not on the same team. We requested the same coach but somehow ended up on different teams. I think it worked out for the best since they have to learn sometime that they can't be together forever! They played each other on their first game. Ironic.

Stretching before the game.

Check out #4 dancing when he's supposed to be stretching...yep, that's Ethan.

The cheering section. Caleb has been looking forward to Ethan's games so he can eat popcorn. We only get to watch part of the games because we spend all of our time at the concession stand!

He got the "game ball" at his second game for have an awesome play. Of course, I wasn't at that game. And I missed him getting the game ball last season too! Ugh!

All ready for his first tball game!

Ethan was bummed to have to sit through Caleb's game and be "bored". Luckily one of his friends was there so he ran around with him.

This baseball guy was at the fields since it was opening weekend. I thought he was kinda creepy looking.

That's Caleb squatting, clearly bored with the game. He spends most of his time at practice playing with rocks on the ground.

He looks so tiny! I was just proud that he hit the ball and ran the right direction!

About halfway through the game, Caleb was teary and said he wanted to go home. Mondo had to sit with him in the dugout and go on the field with him. He's the same age that Ethan was when he started, but Ethan had several friends on his team. Caleb doesn't know anyone. I'm already feeling like I should've waited to sign him up for baseball. He doesn't really seem into it. :-(

We ran into the Airhog guy after the game. Remember William Brazelton from church? That's who is inside that costume. Small world!

Caleb's first hit!

I didn't get a good video of Ethan. I'll have to try again....

Photography by Caleb

Caleb got ahold of my camera and had a little photo session. I think it's funny to see what a four year old wants to take pictures of. They look exactly like what Ethan used to take pics of.

Always a self portrait.

With several up close ones.

This just makes me laugh.

Lexie is not so sure about having he photo taken.

Gracie is not amused.

Sweet Thoughts from Caleb

The other night at Ethan's baseball practice, Caleb was playing with a handful of guys. He kept walking over a grate in the ground and I told him not to because if he dropped his guys they would be lost forever since no one could reach in and get them. He stood directly on top of the grate, looked up into the sky then back at me and said, "but can't God reach them?" I was stumped. If I tell him yes he'll drop the guys in and wait for God to pull them out. If I tell him no he'll wonder why God can't help him. So I gave in and said "I guess God can reach them if he wants to." His reply still stuns me. He said, "Mommy, don't you know God can carry us all?" Then he walked off the grate and went to go play with his toys. I asked him who told him that. He said it was Nana. :-)

Later I caught him staring up at the sky again. He said, "You know one day God is coming down here out of the sky to take us all to live with him." What the? Where is my 4 year old getting these profound thoughts? Nana strikes again. Keep talking Nana, he's listening. :-)

Open House

Ethan had Open House at his school the week before Spring Break. I always loved Open House when I was younger and now I thorougly enjoy watching my child get excited about showing us what he has been doing in class. The first grade had an "Under the Sea" theme. Too cute!!

Ethan showing us his desk with lots of items they had been working on over the last few weeks.

His locker.

Too cute! His handprints made into a crab!

His pirate "Stinky". Such a boy.

A view of the whole classroom.

Deep sea diver Ethan.

His sea monster.

His "wordle".

He wanted me to meet "Andy Pandy" in the music room. I guess they sing songs with him or something. His music teacher is a nice older lady who looks like lots of fun.

Off to the gym to show us his PE teacher.

Guess who else needed their picture taken? ;-)