Do I have time for this post? No, not really. But it's Sunday, which means no painting for me, and we have to stay up for other reasons anyway... So, here's what we've been doing during short breaks away from finals work...
Attempted snow-run. Aaron tamped down a very wet, solid slide of snow along the sideyard and wrapped a piece of cardboard in plastic to use as a sled. The pre-run/mount was very athletically done. This picture documents the next part...THUD. OUCH. Onto project number two... The snowman! You couldn't have asked for better snowman snow. Wet, sticky, lots of it. Bad for snowball fights (you might give someone a concussion) but great for snowmen. Aaron rolled and assembled it last night after the picture above was taken. Today we went out and played some more. Aaron also made Nora a little chair, as you will see in the video. I was going to go for the Santa Claus look, but he actually looks a lot like our neighbor, Ray. Or maybe the King of Town?
While uploading recent photos from our camera, I realized that there are LOTS of events as yet uncatalogued on this venue...here is a brief summation, going backward:
ART SHOW I finally showed some art for the first time, at a little "First Friday Art Walk" up in my hometown. It was a nice risk-free way to learn how it goes. I was quite surprised at how much work we had to put into it, with business cards and invoices, framing, title plates, etc.. It was just a little thing, but we learned a lot and now we are prepared for the next one, whenever that may be. (Aaron was a champ, going up to Poky twice and loading and unloading and hanging paintings. I couldn't have done any of it without him. He's an angel for being willing to put so much time into my stuff when he's got plenty of his own work to do.) The best part was that I got to see my old friend, Liz Davenport, her husband and her new baby. She has always been such a good friend. I miss my Poky friends a lot. Thanks to Lance and Molinelli's Jewelers for inviting me!
THANKSGIVING We had Thanksgiving at my sis's place up in Bountiful this year. They just finished a great big fabulous remodel (her husband, Sam, is an award-winning architect and he did the design) so it was fun to have the whole family there to enjoy their new place. It's gorgeous! And I can't ever remember a better meal! Nora had a GREAT time with the cousins and all the new things to explore and play with. Here she is having a very intelligent conversation with her cousin, Tommy... Chad and Mom doing something important, Sam carving the bird... Aaron looking stuffed and dazed before we even begin eating (the pre-meal was pretty deluxe)... Our sad excuse for a pie...We had some trouble with the pie crust being WAY too tender, so we had to tear it in pieces and sort of, well, you can see. Our apple pie turned out a lot better than this one. Tris's gorgeous table setting. The whole fam chowing down. Aaron is taking this picture. A sampling of the fare...
WEDDING My beautiful cousin, Natalie, was married in November, just before Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to be invited to the ceremony and luncheon. Her family all came out from Minnesota, and my Grandpa and company came out from Wisconsin to perform the sealing. It was absolutely beautiful. He's been able to perform the sealing for all of his married grandkids so far. What a great guy! Here's my mom and Nora, G-pa Monk, my Dad, beautiful aunt Jodee (Natalie's mom) who turns the big five-o this week, and Aaron. Natalie and her new hubs, Alex. My pretty cousins, Amber, Nikki, Heather, Erica...This luncheon was at the Blue Lemon up in Highland. I love this picture of Tris! Eatin' some good food, drinkin' some lemonade...
SNOW It hadn't really snowed at all this season until this week, when mother nature sort of made up for all the previous weeks with a few days of nonstop fluffy white snow. Now it finally feels like Christmas (we even put up Christmas lights to celebrate!). Our bushes look like porcupines... And Nora is a little confused about the backyard looking (and feeling) so different...
LITTLE MUSIC LADY I knew right away that Nora had a thing for music. Whenever I sang or put some music on, she would get really still and listen. She loves to play on the piano or strum the mandolin at her Fugate Grandparents' house. We have a book with a picture of some people playing different instruments, a bass, a banjo, a guitar, and a fiddle. She'll point to the different instruments and Aaron and I attempt to mimic the sound while she lights up and slaps her hands against her knees, keeping the beat. Today I decided to get on YouTube and show her what each of those instruments actually sound like, and I pulled out my guitar. She was as interested in the guitar case as anything, but she still strummed and plucked the strings for a while.
Have you ever dreamed of being a golden gopher? We have. And we just might make that transformation. Aaron got accepted to Minnesota's dental school! It's a great option, to say the least. We'll still wait a few weeks on Iowa, who will be sending out some more letters mid-month. He also still has an interview with Loma Linda. But Minnesota is a really great option. Did I say that? It's also the birth place of the Dallas Stars (they used to be the Minnesota North Stars). In other happenings, Nora has croup, apparently. The doctor gave her a steroid shot. She's doing SO much better now, bless that doctor's heart. (If any of you live in the area and want to know who the BEST pediatrician around is, ask me, and I'll tell you. He's FANTASTIC.) And I have a show up in Poky if any of you are up in that area this weekend. It's just for the First Friday Art Walk. My stuff will be up in Molinelli's Jeweler's. Not a huge deal, but if any of you are around, it would be fun to see you. We're just busy with homework stuff, finals stuff, moving stuff, baby stuff, art show stuff. That kind of thing. The house is a wreck, Nora and I are sick, we've got a ton of stuff to do before Christmas. And we haven't even seen Harry Potter yet! How are we going to fit that in? I mean, that should have been top of the list a long time ago! (: Merry Christmas, all!
Happy Anniversary, us! It was actually on Wednesday. We had an excellent breakfast of Aaron's new invention, something you might call 'gingerbread crepes' with raspberries--super good. And a card exchange. I really wish, by the way, that I could type out the content of Aaron's card on here, 'cause it was a royal grand slam of a card. He had me laughing so hard. Man, I love him. So, with school and everything, Friday was the day for our real celebration, with an excellent date planned and executed by Aaron. We dropped Nora off at some friends' and headed up the canyon with Apple Beer and two choice varieties of gummy candy, a movie and dvd player (the laptop), portable generator, and a pile of blankets and pillows. So we watched the movie "Up" in the back of the car up in Mapleton Canyon. So fun, funny, and unforgettable. There was snow outside, but we weren't even cold! And that is a weird movie! Here's the evidence of our adventure:
And here's evidence of Aaron's undying love...see? He's thinking, "I love my wife; man, I love my wife..." I love you too, babe/senor de haute/hotness monster/etc... Here's to many more years of awesomeness!!!
Well, we never named her, but we loved her nonetheless. But all first cars must be sold sometime. At least she's going to a good home. Goodbye, dear red civic, the car we drove when we dated, the car we started our marriage with, the car that took Nora home from the hospital. You will be missed. Let us all observe a moment of silence...
So, folks, we have ourselves here a real, live toddler. I'm not sure what to do with her, to be honest. Babies are easy! Toddlerhood is a whole new playing field, and I'm just trying not to ruin her somehow, seeing as how she copies everything Aaron and I do, from blowing our noses to the exasperated sounds we make when we lose our patience! And how do you know how to discipline a toddler? I think Aaron has this secret reservoir of inherent dad know-how when it comes to discipline. But I feel lost! She has taken to the soccer ball very well, much to the joy of her father. Today she ran down the hill kicking it along. I was quite impressed. She will surpass my skill by the time she's two. (Maybe that's not saying much, though?)
(Just had to throw this in 'cause it's ridiculously cute!) She's also quite the book-lover, as we've mentioned before. But the book-loving continues. Several days ago I went in to check on her during her nap and found that she had managed to pull all of the books off of the adjacent "shelf" (a stack of diaper and wipes boxes) and...well, you can see here: Against the advice of the Sleep Lady book (which is excellent, btw) I now occasionally put her to bed with a book, as it seems to soften the transition, almost like a "lovie"/stuffed animal thing. We've found her, on those occasions, to fall asleep hugging the book or with the book on her face as she lies on her back. Aaron found her the other day, at the end of her nap, perfectly content to stay there and keep reading. (And by 'reading', I mean studying the pictures and letters, of course.) From comprehension to language to motor control and movement, she's just a different person every day. She's a little queen, a sass, a flirt, a smartiepants. And we are completely smitten. Parenthood is just the best!
My mom asked me to post some pictures from Halloween, but I'm sad to report that we haven't any! Despite our musings about going as the advance guard (from Harry Potter, where they're all Harry Potters) Halloween was a day of studying and painting. We did, however wear orange and black, paused briefly to watch part of an excellent murder mystery, and go out to Brick Oven for some excellent rootbeer and over-priced pizza. I don't think either of us ate any candy, though. The studying continues today/tonight...this is a good depiction: this is Aaron studying for a brutal biochem test. He has been gone for several dental school interviews, so he and I are both playing the catchup game with homework, and he with tests. It's a crazy time of year/of life, to say the least! So busy with backed-up homework, backed-up dishes, backed-up sleeping alotments...Nora is getting taller and she's definitely a toddler! And this baby is 30 weeks old and kicking a lot! Selling the car, wrestling with insurance, waiting for dental schools, packing and getting ready to move and have a baby at the same time, weddings and holidays...So many things are happening at once, and before we know it, we'll be heading off to dental school somewhere with two kids, and maybe even buying a house! (Not to mention that I'll be THIRTY pretty soon here...when did that happen?) Here are just a few things from recent camera downloads... This is Nora kissing her dad through the plastic sewing measurement thing: (she's adoring her dad more and more everyday now...she says 'dad' and 'daddy' all the time, and hates it when he leaves)... Here's sort of a long but cute video of the two of them playing on a regular day:
This is posted per my parents' request...a painting that I did for class recently. I think I'll finally get myself an art blog so I can post these things regularly--good for commissions and for keeping track of my work. So hopefully that will be happening soon, maybe before child #2 arrives. Thanks to Justin Taylor for being a great teacher. Wish Aaron luck on his big test today!
