Vaida turns 2

September is a busy birthday month. Vaida turned 2! She is growing up so fast and so sweet and opinionated at the same time.

She celebrated her birthday at the studio.

She got into her painting. I think she got more paint on herself than the canvas.

Vaida with pappy

He wanted me to take this picture.

With mimi

We handprint ceiling panels and put them up since we don't have enough walls for handprints.

Happy Birthday little one, mimi loves you!

Busy Life

Benjamin is taking tap this year. Larissa helps in his class.

He loves tap, he does not let me out of the room yet. I am trying to get out! He follows me if I leave. The only time he is not with family is when we go to church. He has been going to church his entire life. He still cries when I drop him off at church. Any suggestions for helping with separation? I don't recall any of my other kids being this bad and I have been a stay at home mom for a long time.

Larissa had an EEG. For the first time she did not have a seizure.  Although this sounds great I am not so sure. She had a seizure the day before when she fell asleep on the couch after school so I know that the seizures aren't gone. She sees the doctor in October, I imagine she will have to have a sleep study. Blowing on fans and light strobes have never caused her to have seizures.

After her EEG we went to get her pointe shoes for ballet. She has been cleared to wear them.

I have been dealing with a laundry problem. I am not sure what happened but it is bad. Benjamin took advantage of my time spent in the laundry room by helping with the dishes.

I found laundry for 15 different people plus some clothing I don't recognize at all. 

I am still sorting and doing laundry.

I got the necklace sent off today. Painting earth on a small bead is a challenge. It didn't help that the kids had broken our globe and I didn't have a circular model to go by. Hope you enjoy it!

Larissa is 11

Larissa is now 11. She is two months younger than Michelle and 1 year older than Emma.

Back when I had fewer children I would make elaborate cakes. Now I am lucky to bake a cake, slap some chocolate and sugar letters on it. At least it tastes good. 

Larissa wanted a tie dye party.

We did the acrylic paint method.

Benjamin approves of the cake.

Anthony hanging out in the play area, away from the girls.

We had a lot of fun. Some parents tie dyed shirts as well.

Having your own art studio really opens up the options for parties. 

Next weekend will be Vaida's party.

Winner

We have a winner.

Email me your address at pritzen1@yahoo.com. Hmmm, earth and moon, I will have to paint something up for you.

My Mom

There have been changes with my mom lately, namely crying. She has been crying a lot and it is upsetting everyone. Benjamin will go in and kiss her and love on her. The kids are upset because they don't understand why she is crying. I feel helpless when she starts crying. Today she wanted to get up and walk. That just isn't going to happen. I have been trying to spend more time with her but I admit, it is hard. Today I sat in there while waiting for a cake to bake. However, I just don't have time to sit and do nothing. It makes me feel bad that I can't fix what is making her cry. Caring for your parent is hard.

Please say a prayer for her.

Painting

My business has been quite busy. I have several parties a week along with homeschool classes and Tuesday night paper mache night. I am really enjoying my business.

However, after requests for unicorn, mermaid and Rescue Bots painting parties I feel the need to just play. Not quite done with this fellow but can't quite decide what to do with the pumpkin. It may sit a while unfinished, it really doesn't matter. I enjoy the journey.

Lights on...

Lights off

I will take a moment sometime this week to show more of my business.

We will hold the drawing for the necklace Sunday evening so make sure you are in the drawing.

Marriage

Yesterday Benjamin and I headed to Fort Jackson to meet John for lunch. Benjamin started playing in John's shirt pocket so John took out his CAC card and put it on the lunch tray.  He can't do anything with out this card, not even get into his building. You can probably guess where this is headed. John heads to work and I finish shopping and start to head out to pick up Vaida. John contacts me frantic, he couldn't find his card anywhere and thinks that he threw it away with the contents of the tray. I got to go search through the trash to look for his CAC card. He didn't expect me to do that but I felt bad for him. I was lucky, I found it close to the top of the trash bag. I am curious, would you search through the trash for your husband? Would your husband do the same for you? I believe that mine would.

I don't talk about my husband much, I assume that people don't really want to hear about my husband or my marriage. I guess I never really thought about it. We have been married almost 25 years, doesn't seem that long. We have had some rough times and good times. Really, we are so different and were raised differently. He was raised on a farm and I was raised in an executive travelling family.

He left home at 17 to join the army. The army is still in him. He does not allow disrespect. I would call him more of an authoritarian. I am not. He is slow to forgive whereas I am too quick to forgive. He is more of a pessimist whereas I am more of an optomist.

He is rough, tough and sounds harsh. However, don't let that fool you. He has a huge heart, sometimes he doesn't know how to show it. I have many pictures of him holding sleeping foster babies. Now he holds his granddaughter.

He is from a time when you take care of each other, have an obligation to do so. He took care of his father for three years (even when that meant changing diapers) and allows me to take care of my mother as long as I can. He has two biological children yet he is father to 11. We have puts our dreams of an Alaska cruise on hold because of our choice to adopt. My husband will work longer than planned because of our choice to adopt Benjamin. That is OK, that was our choice. That is love.

He works hard to provide for his family and allows me to stay at home or work if I want to. For our family it has been easier to have me at home to meet the needs of all the kids. Recently I started my business and most of the business is on Saturdays.  He has had to adjust to me being gone on that day. At first it was a difficult adjustment but things have settled now.

Because we are so different we see things differently. Some days we get mad at each other. Somedays we struggle to see each others sides. However, in the end we come together. We support each other. We know that our family that was formed by us needs us to be a solid unit. Needs stability. Needs love. Needs a mother and a father.

The other day he ran out for milk, he brought me back some Cherry Garcia, yes, he loves me.

Creating

I have a new stress reliever, painting beads for necklaces. I sit late at night painting on those tiny surfaces. They are a lot of fun and I am thinking of other designs.

I have been creating so many of these necklaces that I am at the point that I may need to put something in my etsy shop.

I also decided that I wanted to give one away. If you would like to be entered into the drawing leave a comment with what you would your necklace to be.

I have also been painting some Halloween silhouette paintings for the studio. 

We are planning some painting classes.

We are also offering this painting in October, I think I will title mine, "If the shoe fits...". 

What would you title yours?

We hve a lot going on at the studio. I will post about that after I get some changes done so I can post some pictures.

Emma is 10

Emma is now 10. It is hard to believe. The years seem to fly by so fast while the days seem to creep by, I am not sure how that happens. 

I love how you can give kids the same canvas, allow them to pick their own paint colors and all their paintings come out different.

Passing

My friend has passed away from her injuries and I will miss her. Over the years I have known her I have watched her struggle with the long term effect of abuse she suffered as a child. I tried to get her to find a therapist but she never did. Sometimes I saw glimpses of my troubled kids in her. I wish that she had been able to find peace with her past but that didn't happen. But she did love being a part of our family. She found great joy in every day life and had such a great outgoing personality.

She wanted love, unconditional love. However, her sons rejected her for her ex-husband and I watched her cry many times over that loss. I remember the day she said that she wondered how they would react if she died. Over the last month I watched those boys suddenly come to her side. The thing she wanted most, her boys, came in the end. But I can't help but feel that they may one day realize the pain that they caused their mom.

She stopped by my house a few days before her accident. We had a nice, short visit and as she left I told her I loved her. I am thankful for that visit.

If you love someone, show them that now. Don't wait because you aren't promised a tomorrow.

Love you, I will miss you until we meet again.