Everybody loves to paint

The girls also really enjoy painting - and since I've stocked up on watercolor sets at garage sales for the last couple of years, we have plenty of fun. Today Jell actually painted people. This is her and Meri (Jell "has red hair and green eyes. Meri is blonde"):
That is daddy with some mighty fine hair on the left and mommy with a hair rainbow on the right:
And this is Nana sporting a purple hairdo, and Uncle Adam with a goatee down to his feet:
I love the creativity! So fun to cultivate in these little guys!
I was painting a bit today too, and have been working on this one:
I included the photos I was working from in the picture. I mostly like it but am not sure if it's done, or if I need to fix my eyes or add definition to Jell's shirt. What do you think? What does it still need? I'm trying hard to keep things loose and focus more on the emotion but it's hard to stop. I need someone to announce "and paintbrushes down please."
And this is one I did a couple of days ago:
I like the looseness in it and the tender moment - I just wish I hadn't let the watercolors get as muddy as I did. I'm not sure if it's done either although maybe it would be better to just start over and try again.
And this is one I did after the last but before the one of me. It didn't go so well and I got frustrated and gave up:
I really like the baby's face but again, I let it get too muddy on the mom, overworked the hair, couldn't figure out the teeth, got mad and gave up. Oh, and I was kind of scared to include those last two painting pictures because I really didn't do justice to the beautiful women I painted - please don't be offended - nor was I trying hard for exact replicas, but for the feeling. There's obviously still quite a few kinks to work out. Sigh.

But that's enough about me - here are a few photos of my cute kids:
And this is just sweet with the little matching piggies:

Family update

After violently coughing for two weeks, Coop finally went to the doctor today and he has pneumonia.
Jell has two ear infections, and after a month still can't stop coughing when she's lying down or running - so she probably has pneumonia too.
Meredith, who was obsessed with the toilet 4 months ago when I couldn't take advantage because of my finger surgery, now hates the idea of potty training. We went to the store to buy panties and her treats to get her excited ... she threw all the panties out of the cart. She cries for "buy-pah" (diaper) when we suggest panties and thinks the potty chair is a medieval torture device. And she's had dry skin sores all over her body so we're very happy to see the rain again.
Mom feels sleep deprived because pneumonia-guy and ear-girl cough all night long and for fun has suddenly developed eczema and is probably going to itch her hand off.
Aside from that, we're all healthy and good. Hope you're doing even better.

Blue eyes

With all the colds and need for sleep (not that we're totally out of the woods, Jell has two ear infections), I haven't been painting much recently but I did finally pick this one back up and finish it tonight. Do you like it?

I still can't decide if I should paint the blue background. It would help her, and her eyes for that matter, stand out more, but it would take away the hard pencil line that I kinda like. It also might add confusion as to where the warm reflected light is coming from (the walls - which are behind and to the side of the blue highchair back). For now I think I'll leave it and take it and the one with the two girls in the hammock tomorrow to a critique group where I'm the youngest and least experienced by probably 30 + years. They're all super nice and really know their stuff but it does make me feel a bit awkward - like being a freshman again, or like being back in my art classes surrounded by all these kids who had gone to private art schools their whole lives and talk a whole lingo that goes so far over my head that I need closed caption to have a chance of following what's going on. I interpret 2 year-old gibberish all day long these days; fancy vocab is a bit foreign. Here's hoping I learn something instead of just feeling like the slow kid who can't think of anything to say.

My baby's 2!

Happy, happy birthday Meri! Totally can't believe she's two years-old already - it's been a crazy two years and I can't imagine our family without her.

Here's a quick list of some of my favorite things about Meri:

1. She's super cuddly and loves to snuggle for comfort or relaxation.
2. She's famous for giving great squeezes that make everyone happy.
3. She's got such a cute, little impish smile and often gets this crazy look in her eye that makes me laugh out loud.
4. When she wears a ponytail on top of her head, she looks like a who from Who-ville.
5. She says the most sincere "I'm sorrys" that I've seen a kid do. And she follows it with a little sorrowful hug - even if she's saying sorry to a stranger.
6. She adores her sister and wants to be just like her. She often even shares with her sister - wanting Jell's company more than the toys.
7. She's fearless - she pet a 4 1/2 foot snake the other day that Jell couldn't get within 5 feet of without screaming. Meri pet it when I told her to and then looked at me like, "so what."
8. For the most part, she has a wonderful little contentness about her and can just sit and play happily by herself. She also bounces back from disappointments or owies amazingly quickly and goes back to just being content again.
9. She forgives me so quickly.
10. She's ours! I'll be forever grateful!

Here's a few pictures of the weekend-long festivities:
The winner of the favorite 2nd birthday present award. Thank you Great-Grandma and Grandpa Berne!
Apparently cupcakes should be eaten with no hands - who can be bothered with etiquette at a time like this?
Meri has had a thing for giraffes for nearly a year now - kind of a random animal for her to pick but it turned out a cute cake.
Quite happy to be getting her own piece of cake.
Remember that crazy look I was talking about? This is total present-opening ecstasy!

We love you Meri! Happy Birthday!!

A sunbeam, a sunbeam!

How is being a sunbeam going for our little redhead (which by the way, Jell doesn't want red hair. She wants blonde like Meri or brown like mommy. She gets very upset when I tell her she isn't either)?
Some examples:
* Jell was asked to be the reverent child in primary today (stand up in front, being a good reverent example with a crown and cape on). She burst into tears when they tried to get her to do it, but then was okay about it if Coop wore the cape and held her, standing in front. She did a great job folding her arms - okay she broke now and then to sneak a delighted wave to a friend - and told Coop, "look, that's my friend folding her arms. I taught her how to be reverent."
* She's the sunbeam who sings at the top of her lungs. She held a last note out a full three seconds longer than everyone else today.
* She's the kid who raises her hand so hard for everything that it raises her right out of her chair.
* She's the kid who interrupted the Primary president (walked up and tugged on her dress) a couple weeks ago to tell her it was snowing, which of course, had nothing to do with what the president was talking about.
* She adores her teacher and talks about her frequently, even pretending to be her when she plays school with Meri. When I do her hair sunday morning, if Jell's really impressed, she sighs deeply with an "ooooh, my teacher will LLLOOOVVEE my hair like this!"
* She hasn't pretended to fall off her chair to make the other sunbeams laugh since the first day, so that's progress! Although she does turn around and wave at us whenever she remembers to do so.

And what of our funny little towhead who kept doing her shrugging-her-shoulders-and-spinning dance throughout the sacrament hymns?
* Well, obviously she's not ready to be picked as the reverent child but she, despite our fears, hasn't cared at all that Jell left her behind in nursery. She has her Aunt Patti. "Ann Pay," and as soon as the sacrament closing prayer is over she grabs Patti's hand, mutters some quick "bye nell, bye mama,"s over her shoulder and is out the door without a second thought. She's kind of independent.
* Speaking of, we had taken to putting her back in the crib lately with the canopy zipped up so she can't get out. The little stinker has learned to unzip it, from the inside, and climb out. It doesn't make sense how - her little arms shouldn't be long enough. There's really no stopping her.
* And today I overheard this argument between the girls who were fighting over some bag. After Meri pulled out the "mine" word, Jell said, "No Meri, it's everybody's!" Meri yelled back, "I not everybody!" I'm not sure if that helps or hurts her case in the argument. Sadly most arguments end these days with Meri biting Jell. This is a new one for us. Any advice on what to do about this???

Sick-day sillies

Since we're all sick, I'd like to focus on some of the positives of our last couple of stuck-inside-days:

When preparing for bed last night, Jell said, "Mom, 'cause we have a fire in our room, can I wear shorts to bed?"
"Jell, there's no fire in your room!"
"Uh-huh mom. There it is - the humidiFIRE."

Jell dresses herself these days. She came in to me with this outfit on - ta dah! "Mama, look it matches. My shirt has stripes and my pants have stripes too!"Then when we had to run a quick errand, she grabbed this sweater because, "look mom, MORE stripes!" She has yet to learn that more is not always a good thing. And by the way, this outfit was complete with polka-dot socks and pink sparkly shoes.
We have an echo in the house. Today Jell told me, "When I was a little baby, I was in the hospital." Then Meri immediately said, "Weah I wa da beebee, I da da da bapal." She nearly always repeats everything Jell says, even after I've answered the question, meaning I have to answer, "Mom, which princess is singing this song" twice, everytime it is asked. She also likes to do nearly everything Jell does. That means when it's time for bed and I say, "Jell, lie down," Meri sits up, just so I can tell her the same thing. If Jell throws her food and goes to timeout, Meri watches, throws hers then asks, "I doo to timeout too, Mama?" Ya think?

I just enjoyed a puppet show where a Halloween mask sang me Christmas songs. And Johnny Appleseed kept popping up to say "hello."

Jell calls my dad "Bopa." This came from when she was really little and tried to say grandpa. We liked it and it stuck. However, when Meri says it, it's more like, "Boo-pee." My dad feels a little gypped.

Meri thinks this is a flute and has been walking around the house all day making music with it (humming as she goes - it's one of those wreath door hanger things).
These little sculpture things are usually their instruments of choice (they usually play with my piano books in front of them on the floor):
A fantastic side-view of our dedicated little musical genius-in-the-making:
When playing with their pretend kitchen, Jell likes to "make you some hot chocolate that we call tea." Every time I try to convince her that we don't drink tea, she replies, "No Mama, it's hot chocolate but we call it tea."

Jell has recently starting trying to refuse to bathe. Everytime I tell her it's time for a bath, like this morning, she say, "No Mama! I don't want to take a bath! I smell nice already!"

And the other day when Jell was in the bathroom and Meri joined her (Meri likes to help her wipe - it is disgusting, and she's not allowed to do it if I'm around), Jell became outraged and started yelling, "I need my practicing! I need my practicing!" It took us a good 10 minutes to sort it out and realize what she meant. She now knows the real word and yells, "I need my privacy!"anytime any one of us tries to get near to help. This little stroke of modesty from the child who, when she decides she needs to go potty, announces it at the top of her lungs, drops her pants and waddles to the bathroom (from whatever room in the house she happened to be in), bare buns, with pants around her ankles (no picture of that thankfully). When this happens, Meri likes to run up, smack Jell's bare behind and yell, "Bum-bum!" Yes, I do live in a zoo.

And while we're talking about our fish ...

I'd like to know where snails come from. Maybe I should back up. A few weeks ago we had 4 fish and 1 frog. No snails. We have never bought nor invited any snails into our tank. And now there's a whole freakin snail community. So, I return to the question: where do snails come from? For the most part I know where babies come from, but since there were no mommy and daddy snails in our tank ... I'm a little confused. Can fishies make snails? That seems a little contrary to nature. Do snails hear that somebody hasn't cleaned their tank in awhile and move in? Do they magically appear when a bubble pops or something? It's kind of creepy. If they actually cleaned algae and were thus worthwhile beings, I wouldn't complain. It's just kind of weird.

For love of the fish ... and frog

Jenelle painted this lovely paint-by-number the other day. Now I feel obliged to say I don't believe in paint-by-numbers - they stifle creativity and are not art. Of course I was taught as an art education major to turn my snooty little nose up at coloring books for the same reason, and yet I spend plenty of time sitting on the couch coloring "My Little Ponies" with the girls in their very large coloring book. I am a hypocrite. But my girls are so cute and they enjoy it so much and I put my silly little high ideals on a shelf because they are 2 and 3 years old and I think there are much larger battles to fight in the world today than how coloring books are ruining our children. I could be wrong but somehow I don't think so. That said, I still don't approve of paint-by-number or the ridiculous little containers the paints come in that are nearly impossible to open without catastrophe. And with that said, Jenelle is SO proud of her painting. She ADORES the little easel that came in the package, and she wants to share the pleasure of viewing it with all - especially our fish. This is my favorite! Everytime I come into the kitchen I find her masterpiece in one of these two positions:
And I have heard her saying to the fish a number of times, "There. Now you can see my dolphin painting. Do you like it? I'll leave it here for you to look at." And each time she has lingered to observe, and then walked off with such a smile on her face - so content to have made the world a better place. I love it.
Now on a less happy note, Bubba, the frog has died. I thought this would be tramautic, but Jell pointed out the fact while eating Kix and watching Little Einsteins by stating, "Hey mom. Bubba, the frog, died. We need to get a new frog and name him Bubba." Kind of unfeeling. Kind of surprising. Let the record show though, that I don't think the viewing of her dolphin had anything to do with his early and unexpected demise. I'm just glad there were no tears nor need of an explanation of froggy heaven.

Still looking for my style

So I haven't got to paint this last week until today when I did this quick (about an hour-long) watercolor sketch. It's really hard for me to stay loose but I really really want to. One suggestion on an artist's website was to not worry about making the painting look like the model, but just get the feeling and the idea expressed (Of course this wouldn't work if I were to ever get into commissions, but it might be a good idea for now). I just want the softness of these little faces to come across in the paintings. This one isn't perfectly Meri but I think I like it nonetheless.
This may only be interesting to me, but here I'll make links to some of the artists I've found recently that are my "people painting" inspiration:
Nancy Tipton
Janet Rogers
I think they're both amazing. This is another awesome artist I just discovered: Sterling Edwards. I haven't seen any portraits by him, but his paintings are fantastically loose and exciting. And this is also pretty cool by Tom Francesconi - although perhaps a tiny bit looser than I prefer. I know, I'm kinda reaching a little high here, they're all decorated artists in prestigious groups like the National Watercolor Society or American Watercolor Society or Transparent Watercolor Society or all three. But they're very inspiring. Anyway, gotta run - Jell's calling and if I don't answer she'll just keep getting louder until Meri is no longer sleeping. Which would be bad since the poor dear has a terrible croup cough that kept the whole poor family up all night.