October and Halloween

Lucy dressed as a voodoo doll for Halloween night and at school they had a "literary" theme for their annual parade. Lucy was Ivy from one of her favorite books "Ivy and Bean". Her friend Sylvie was Bean with her. They looked so cute! Ruby was a lady bug. She had her first major night of trick or treating and she loved it! She was unsure about having to wear a costume at first, but once she started getting candy she was way into it!

Ivy from Book 1 of Ivy and Bean

This is an owl and nest that Lucy made in art class.

Each year her art teacher does a "Super Hero" project. They learn about how to draw the human body and they get to be creative and make up their own female super hero. Here is Lucy's from this year.

Ruby has been loving school too! Her teacher sent me this picture and it clued me in to why she was coming home with dirt in her hair! She's like a little bird taking a dust bath...

Hello Moon

Here is Lucy at a Star Party one of our neighbors had. It was the coolest thing... He brought out all his amazing telescopes and shined them up to distant galaxies and far off stars and things called a ring nebula and binary stars. It gave me such a feeling of perspective of how small we are.

Hmm..let me go see what other pictures I can post:

Here's a flashback to 2 years ago, when Ruby was a baby and Lucy was not yet 5.

Here's a pic from this year's 4th of July parade. Lucy was a pioneer and Ruby was a Texas Bluebonnet. Not that anyone guessed, but I thought she looked cute!

Here is when Katie visited and Ruby didn't want to take a picture at the Orly Genger sculpture at Laguna Gloria. 

Well, that's all for now! Hopefully I'll be back before a year to check in! : ) 

Lucy on the Violin

Here are a few pictures of Lucy from her winter concert at school in December. I love seeing her play her tiny violin! She seems to really like playing too. 

Late Summer Pictures

We made strawberry ice cream in the cream machine! 

Ruby helping with sweeping. : )

Mike and I got to go have a fancy dinner at Jeffrey's care of of Julie and Brian. It was so good!! We has escargot and a chocolate souffle.

We had another round of caterpillars in August. They were Queen Butterflies. 

This summer the girls moved in together and have been sharing a room. It's been going pretty well, but Ruby wakes Lucy up a little too early. So we're not sure if it will work out much longer... I wish it would, but sleep is important!

Lucy dancing at the Long Center. We had just gone to see A Midsummer Night's Dream performed by Ballet Austin.

Ruby primping at the vanity.

First day of first grade! 

{ This Moment }

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

...so, i posted it on sunday. so what!

***This is an idea from Amanda at www.soulemama.com Her blog is amazing, I also have a few of her books. She invites her readers to take part in the Friday {this moment} ritual.

The Winnie comes for a visit!

Back in April the Winnie made a surprise visit. My dad and Martha were on a trip north of here, but there was bad weather predicted, so they came down to visit us instead. We love it when the Winnie comes, because we just hang out outside so much and it really feels like we are camping...except then we get to go sleep in our own bed! 

Martha was playing the horsey riding game "This is the way the gentlemen ride, the gentlemen ride, thegentlemen ride!"

"This is the way the farmer rides, spilling milk all over the side" 

Lu's Self Portrait Show

This post is late...since I am just getting back to the ole family blog, but Lucy had an art show in April at the Flatbed Gallery here in Austin. Her school has a yearly self-portrait show. It's a sight to be seen and super fun to see all the different styles. All the grades are mixed together, so it took us a while to find Lucy's painting, which was fun. While learning about self-portraits in class they studied Frida Kahlo (and made Frida paper dolls...then had a paper doll fashion show which sounds pretty fun) and learned about her life and her self-portraits. Also, in the first semester of school they studied Vermeer's Girl With A Pearl Earring and each did an interpretation. The teacher told me she teaches them by painting along with them, so as she paints something, the kids watch and copy her. As the years go on, they can be more creative and expressive. I really love her art teacher... I included some pictures I took of other student paintings that stood out to me.

The painting on the bottom next to Lucy is hers. : )