Jayden the Alien!

We’ll let my cousins, nephews and girlfriends babies go first…. 

Baby Herrera "The Pirate" RRRrrrrr!

Sonny as Popeye the SailorBirds of a feather get their Haloween Party on together!The Parisian and The American! AKA Jamie and NathanBjork and Senorita Jessica

Nini's Twilight Obsession

Tori's Alligator

Krystyna's Totem Poll

Mitch's over achievement. Punk! He totally won!

Later I went over to my sister Dana’s house and helped her decorate for her annual “Haloween Monster Bash”.  My nephew Sonny was messing around outside with us while we tried to set up. He’s so much fun! He’s so different from playing with little girls like I’m used to. It’s like playing WWF with a little Noam. I love that kid!

Monster Bash 2007

Monster Bash 2007

All smiles, all the time.

I want to kiss those cheeks!

Messin' around in one of the coffins

Kiss for Aunt Nini!

When I grow up I want to be a Cellist and a Vet!

WRITER, ART TEACHER, ENGLISH HORSE RIDER

I’m sure every Art Teacher thinks their students are the most talented, but lets just cut the marmelade …my art students are better than yours! Haha…you still love me! Seriously though check this out. I taught a lesson to my 5 to 12 year old students called, “When I grow up.” I had them create the person they want to be when they grow up, whether it was a ballerina, a doctor a paleontologist, a horse back rider, a vet, a teacher a mommy…whatever…and look at what they created! The kids did so many unique professions and got super creative!

I started out the lesson going around the room and giving each kid the opportunity to say what they liked to do when they were all done with their homework. Some kids said, “Play Wii, read, shop, play with my dog, write, go on Facebook.” (Lord help us!) I then discussed with the kids how we could take doing stuff they liked to do and turning it into a job.

I provided the dye cut “person” that I cut out of Trader Joes boxes. I just free handed one person then traced it and cut 40 more people. Then painted them a neutral “skin” color.

I put out a ton of different felt, fabric, yarn, buttons, pipe cleaners, pastels, colored paper, glue and tissue paper for the lesson. My guidelines for my students was that they had to create their accessories and think outside the box. I couldn’t be prouder. Their creations turned out better than my sample. Go figure!

Love that face!

So a couple weeks ago Todd and I were going through his phone and looking at the pictures he has of baby Thadd. (BTW I’m not sure how many pics that iphone thing holds but you could seriously see the kid grow as he flipped through his bazillion pics. Such a proud daddy!) When I saw this picture I died and had to have it. It’s been the screen saver on my desktop ever since. No matter what kind of day I’m having when I open up my laptop and see that face I can’t help but, chuckle. All of Todd and Cece’s kids are the most polite and kind hearted kids you’ve ever met, but little Thad, I don’t know…I think it’s the rebellious hair that keeps me guessing

The Getty

:)

First me, then Jeannette and now Jess and April are off to Spain. I gotta admit I’m a tad jealous they are all there experiencing it all together. I would love to go back to Barcelona and see the Gaudi’s. Crazy beautiful! Yesterday, I got my postcards from all of them. Postcards are so trippy to look at. I’m always like, “Wow! How many hands has this tiny piece of cardstock been carried by just so it could get into my hands on the other side of the world” Trippy huh?

Anyway, so for April and Jess’ Bon Voyage party we had an intimate gathering of just a few of us on Jess’ patio along with a huge pot of Paella that I was quite proud of. I was really nervous to make it since Jess is always hosting us and is an AMAZING chefista herself. However with the awesome cheerleading of my mother over the phone I was able to make a great dish. I even took a picture…check it out…

Muy bueno!

If you want the recipe I highly reccomend it! You can get it here. I can’t wait till the girls get home to tell me their Euro stories. Hopefully they weren’t followed by strange men and almost kidnapped like me. Oh the perils and beauty of traveling alone. I’ll never do that again. I’m so glad they have eachother!

....she'll want to use all the pretty colors...

....and she'll probably want to paint her nails...

....and her face....

and if you tell her it's time to clean up she'll say, "No! No! No! No!"

...or she'll make a run for it!

She's definitely "one" with her art

So the other day I decided that at 18 months old Ever was ready for art projects. So I gave her one of the projects that I would teach my 3 to 5 year old students, cause Ever’s exceptionally bright….goes to show what lots of  love, boundaries and good cheese will get ya I held her while I poured the paint into the pallette and told her the whole process, “This is magenta. This is acrylic paint. First you mix it.”  Then I put her hands in it and she wasn’t scared or wierded out. The funny thing is she never tried to put it in her mouth thinking it was food (Like most kids do) but she did put it ON herself. Too cute! I brought a canvas bag for her to put her hand prints on. She got the hang of it. I had to press down on her hands, but after I did it she would look at her hand, like, “wow did it do that?” Ever is so stinkin’ cute. I can’t wait to do Christmas crafts with her. I have some fun ones! Stay tuned!

My favorite little monsters

I love calling my art students, my “kids”. It makes me feel all mommy like. Here, my “kids” made these awesome Cuddly Aliens for an  art lesson AKA Ugly Dolls. The result? Holy Moly Macaroni! Beware if you want to teach lil’ ones how to sew. Lots of needle threading, encouragment and kleenex is needed to assure these perfectionist artist that your hand and eye coordination really isn’t fully developed until 21. Besides the therapy needed  the outcome is “beautifuly ugly”. Check out their uber cool dolls they made. I love these guys!

"MY ROSINA!!!" and Pooja

Romi is the sickest chick!

Oh hormones....

We love hormones...

I love when they pretend to be normal...it's so cute!

:)

As the old saying goes, “Birds of a feather flock together” or you could go with the new saying, “Talented, smart and beautiful women hang out at XO Salon in Newport Beach and support their amazing artist of a friend Jessica Burkhart.” My girlfriend, old roommate, mentor and fellow hopeless romantic Jessica shows her work at XO Salon in Newport Beach. (Hair salons happen to be the new place to showcase your art work. Pretty genius considering you are chained to a chair for 3 hours of your time. You admire a piece of art work and by the time your hair is cut and colored you have found a place for that gorgeous painting in the hallway of your home. Brilliant!) N-e-wayz! Jess, is an incredibly talented artist that I just adore. Her artwork is not only exceptional, but when you talk to her and see the “why” she created what she created and “why” she selected the quotes she selected, you feel as if you are transported into a Jane Austens head. You feel as if looking at this piece of art all the sudden makes, life, love, romance, heart break, friendship and color all make sense. A beautiful combustion! Thats what I would call Jess’s work. A beautiful combustion! Because, thats truly what her work is, a sincere portrait of her experience. I love it and her so so so so so much! And how did I meet Jess? In art class of course! We were both high tailing it out of class actually to get coffee cause our Ebinezer Scrooge of a teacher was boring us to tears. Being true to your impulses pays off sometimes…sometimes