A Major Oversight!

How did I forget to mention that we went to Mother's Day brunch at Ford's Fish Shack, where I had my favorite thing in the whole world, the perfect food, a LOBSTER ROLL?  That I could leave that out just goes to show how awesome the rest of my day was, I guess.

LOSTER ROLL!  

The funniest thing was, we went early, for brunch, and instead of giving me a little bowl of melted butter for dipping, they accidentally gave me a little bowl of maple syrup.  The bowl was dark, so you couldn't really tell.  It was a little shocking, to say the least, when I took a bite of my syrupy dipped sandwich.  Syrup and lobster don't work together well.  Good thing I didn't pour it over my sandwich as I sometimes do.

Great Big Mother's Day of Awesomeness

Someone was excited about Mother's Day.  

Excited enough to wake up before 6:00 am and construct a Mother's Day tree so that there would be something to put the gifts under.

It was a very handmade Mother's Day.  In addition to the tree, Daphne made me a little paper flower garden and this ceramic German Shepherd, whom we have named Fritz.

Fritz came wrapped in custom hand-drawn Star Wars gift wrap:

And I got a handmade card:

Kev gave me The Gift of Vacation - we're all going to a cabin for a weekend in October.  I can not wait.

We spent a large part of the day on the porch.  We tried to go to a winery for a picnic, but they were all ridiculously crowded, so we had a picnic in the front yard instead.  It was way better.

I like Mother's Day.  I don't have to cook, and I get to hang out with my family, and everyone is extra nice to me.  Let's have Mother's Day more often!

So, Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all the other good moms out there who have the hardest but best job ever.  I hope you all had as much fun as I did.  Thanks, family!

The Week in Pictures

Kev was gone on work travel all last week, so Daphne and I were on our own.  I took care of the garden and taught my knitting class.

Daphne went to school and did homework.  We tried to make it more fun by doing it at the coffee shop.

We had a gluten free week.  Someone recommended this Rudi's bread.  It's pretty terrible.  But when it's toasted with a whole bunch of avocado and some salt on it, you can hardly tell it's gluten free.

I also made chili.  Kev doesn't really like my style of chili, but Daphne does, so we enjoyed it.  All Texas-ed up, with fritos and cheese.  There may or may not have been chili dogs later in the week.

The Girl Scouts made some planters for the entrance to the school, and then did a Relay for Life walk for cancer.  It was so hot, but the kids didn't complain.  We walked for Uncle Dennis.  Daphne did two miles.  She was a disaster when we got home.

But she cleans up real good.

Friday, she made a sign:

And Saturday, we celebrated Kev's return (YAY!!!!) with dinner out at the pho place.  Because I don't cook on Mother's Day weekend.

Daphne worked on her chopsticks skills.  

I had Vietnamese tilapia.  It was delicious.  Go figure.

Rebel Meeting

Sometime after the art show, Daphne made a plan.  I wish I was invited.  Except for the sleeping by the dumpster part, it sounds like a grand adventure.

We Had an Art Show

And what an art show it was!  I am exhausted, but in the best possible way.  This will be a post of few words and many pictures.

First of all, what an awesome setting for the show, huh?  We were in the loft at Dry Mill Winery.  With a lot of help, it quickly changed from an empty room into a super fancy art gallery.

A HUGE thank you to Dry Mill for hosting us.  

Tables were set up for refreshments and a couple of activities...a make-&-take table with artist-inspired projects, and a community art project table with post-it notes for everyone to contribute.

We had a great turn-out.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves, and the girls were SO proud of their paintings.

The art projects were a big hit.

Especially the foil sculpting.

The post-it project turned out great.  For some reason, it was very "Frozen" intensive.

Kev worked on his post-it for about 20 minutes.  If you click on the picture above, you can make it big and try to guess which one is his.  

I am so lucky to be part of such a great group of families in such an awesome community.  Not only did every family from the troop show up, but also a few friends from outside the troop, AND several of the girls' teachers took time on their day off to come and see the show.  It meant so much to the girls to have them there.  And if all that wasn't enough, we raised a little money for SHARE.

So, this was no rinky-dink art show.  

Here is a closer look at the girls' art:

The one above was collaborative.   The girls all painted it together outside after school a couple weeks ago.  They each "hid" their first initial in it somewhere.  (Some initials are a little less hidden than others.) There was talk going around at the show about trying to get this framed, and then giving it to the school as a gift from the troop.  I love the idea.   Let's make it happen!

Individually, the girls each did a still life (above), pointillism (below),

and they painted a "mood" (below).  I think those are my favorite.

So, I'm calling the day a success.  Yay!

I need to mention that I had a lot of help along the way...with the artwork, with setting up the show, with bringing and serving refreshments, with cleaning up, with watching the kids run around WHILE we were cleaning up, SO many things.  These people all know who they are, and know they are appreciated, but if any of you are reading this, THANK YOU.  I seriously have the best troop in the Nation's Capital.

I also need to give one last very important shout-out to Jennifer Cooper, who hosted an art show of her own a few years back and posted about it on her AWESOME blog, "Classic Play."  Her show was the inspiration for this one...I've been looking for a reason to host an art show from the minute I saw the post way back then.  Her blog also inspired a lot of the projects we did at the show today (check out the "art stuff" tab - so many cool projects!).  So, thank you Jennifer!  Thanks for your blog and all that it inspires, and for your kind words of support.  I will report back when we go to the wigwams.  WIGWAMS!!!!  I can't wait!

I am going to sleep really well tonight...

May the 4th be with You

Happy Star Wars Day from Origami Yoda, Han Fold-O, an Ewok, and the Fortune Wookie.  It's been a very crafty week.  These origami Star Wars guys are all over the house.  Daphne has made about a hundred of them, thanks to this awsome book series:

Origami Yoda is really cool and much less frustrating than a paper crane.

Meanwhile, I have been spending as much time as possible on the porch. 

There is a brief window of opportunity in the spring when it isn't hot and there are no mosquitos yet.  So yesterday, I took advantage of that and did some knitting outside.  It was delightful.

I also did some knitting at Shoes on Monday night, and at the Finch on Tuesday.

My class has almost finished their first project!  Sniff sniff.  I am so proud.  Seriously, the Finch is the happiest place in town.  I almost want to live there.

But most of the week has been about preparing for the art show, which is TODAY!  

I can't wait!

I have a lot to do to get ready, but first, coffee.  On the porch.

Happy Star Wars Day!