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eloise: the many faces of this girl. I think she certainly has a chance as an actress some day if she wants to.

So I’ve started implementing a fun little addition to our lunch and or tea time ritual with Ellie. I read about Charlotte Mason’s “introduction to artists through tea time” on a blog somewhere and fell in love with the idea. I decided to start with Vincent Van Gogh, mainly because Ellie saw A Starry Night in one of her books and started talking about how she liked it. She thought it looked like Peter Pan’s Neverland. I wanted the artist study to be as age-appropriate as possible, so I tried to keep it simple and created a little mini Vincent Van Gogh (machine embroidered and painted with water colors on fabric and then stuffed). I then recreated A Starry Night and a few other Van Gogh paintings by needle-felting reproductions. Ellie has gotten the biggest kick out of them. We’ve looked through books of his art and read Camille and The Sunflowers a lot. It’s a perfect story for Ellie’s age.



This week we’ve moved on to actually painting like Van Gogh. We talked about how Van Gogh painted what he felt. We painted our own Sunflowers and Ellie painted “a happy sunflower”.



We also made our own Starry Night paintings with foil and finger paints. Then we made prints of the sensory experience (which sadly, I did not get a chance to photograph yet, but they turned out lovely!).


After all the talk about Van Gogh, the reading about him, and his art and the painting experiences (we did a self-portrait project too, that I will talk about later), we took Ellie to the Getty to see a real Van Gogh to wrap things up a bit. The day after, I set up a little small world play with art flash cards and peg dolls to represent the museum experience. She enjoyed reenacting visiting the museum.

It’s been a really neat experience so far to introduce Ellie to the great artists. She’s even asked if we can do “a new artist”. And we certainly will…

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eloise: my magical, mystical girl! You remind me of Mowgli these days… running around naked, usually with some sort of crown or pirate hat on. Hair crazy, unwashed and un-brushed (because it is very hard to get anything done with that wild hair of yours). You are beautiful and bright! You are fierce and sassy! Every day I learn something from you. My shining star!

We took a special trip to the Getty Museum this past Labor Day weekend. Believe it or not, I have never been. I’ve been wanting to go ever since I can remember. We decided to take Ellie because we’ve been talking about art recently. I’ve introduced Van Gogh and his art to Ellie during our lunch and tea times (if you follow me on instagram, you’ve seen the Van Gogh doll and wool felt paintings). Ellie was very excited to see a “real” painting by Van Gogh. She did incredibly well for a 3-year-old in a very large museum. It was a really special day. Except for the time when I got in trouble for standing too close to the Van Gogh we came to see. I had to add the only photo Jeff captured of Ellie and I next to the Irises, as I’m apologizing  to the Getty staff member who’s telling me I’m “too close”. Oops!! I guess we were too excited.

Besides Mama getting in trouble, we had a beautiful time. Ellie enjoyed it immensely and wants to learn more about art and artists, which makes my heart soar.

I desperately want to catch you all up on the day-to-day around here. The summer is almost over and I have so much to tell. I’m really hoping I can find more time to document our days here again.

Hoping you all had a wonderful weekend!!

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eloise: We had so much fun together this past week. We’ve had a couple very hot, end of August weeks and so we headed down to the beach. Splashing in the water, floating boats that we made, building sand castles together, running down the beach, collecting sea glass and shells… the list goes on. This is what life is made up of. And I’m so glad to be sharing my days and my life with you.

We stayed close to home this past weekend. Ellie was just getting over a little bug and it was very hot (the weather always seems to get exponentially warmer and more summery right about the time that kids are heading back to school around these parts). We went to one of the most adorable birthday parties ever and then took to the beach where Gramma talked us into taking a ride in one of those beach surrey’s. (No fringe on top sadly). 😉 Lots of watermelon was eaten and I started planning our first year of “preschool homeschooling” (which I will hopefully find the time to write more about in the coming days). Trying to keep cool in a town with no air conditioning and enjoying the last bit of summer. We’re busy and having fun.

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eloise: my rascally girl.

-joining Jodi for the 52 project!

It was a pretty busy weekend, which was good, it kept my mind off not knowing anything about Ellie (we found out the all clear test results Monday). Saturday, Ellie and Jeff spent the day together while I went to a friend’s fundraiser for children in child care and food programs. It was a painting/ silent auction style fundraiser and right on the beach too. Very enjoyable! I’m so proud of my dear friends who put the whole thing together as well.
Sunday I had a baby shower for a local Mama friend. A lovely morning with some good friends and lots of round baby bellies. The rest of the day was spent hanging at home, a little bit of sprinkler action to cool everyone off. It has been a hot few days.
Today I’m dealing with a little girl with a fever though. I swear, we never get through a summer without at least one bug. Hoping this one is a quick one. We have so much left to do before Fall is here (and it will be here before you know it). 😉

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eloise: we had quite the scare these past two weeks. The Friday after your 3rd birthday, we went for your 3 year check up with the doctor. While pressing on your tummy, she found what she thought was a small abdominal mass. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but assured us it was probably nothing, but she would like us to get an ultrasound, just to make sure. The ultrasound was last Friday. You couldn’t nurse over night for the first time ever in your young life (you had to fast for the ultrasound). It was an incredibly difficult night. No one slept. You were a champ for the very long ultrasound, even though you broke down with anxiety and probably tiredness at the very end. You nursed in the parking lot afterwards. The emotions soaring through both of us. It was the longest week in a half of my life. Even though the doctor said there was probably nothing to worry about, the worst case scenarios filled my head. A future of uncertainty. I have never known fear like that. The results came back this afternoon…..  All clear. Everything looked great. The doctor must have mistaken your kidney or bladder for a mass. Biggest sigh of relief. A different future was laid out in front of me again. My girl was healthy. My heart full. My heart thankful.
It’s interesting, because when I got the news, I realized how very lucky we were. Some parents get the opposite news. My heart breaks for them. I truly am blessed to have this beautiful, amazing, healthy child in my life. I love you Ellie.

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve done a garden update. Our garden is certainly producing. Things are a little wild and out of control, especially the tomatoes. Ellie goes into the garden daily and helps herself to handfuls of cherry tomatoes. “Mama, can I eat another one please?” We have mint and the occasional strawberry still. We have a very large pumpkin growing in the back and hops climbing almost all the way up to the roof. It’s very dry around here and we try not to over-water, but things still seem to be pushing through the dryness and heat and growing. My flower bed is full of wildflowers I had sprinkled in there from months past. We have roses growing and lemons a plenty. We are enjoying watching all the buggy visitors come and go and especially watching the butterflies fly through. We have seen a swallowtail visit the lemon and orange tree almost on a daily basis the past few weeks. So much life and beauty.




How is your garden growing?