the sun did it

Hello! This week has included a ton of different things, from the beach to my birthday to the production of our first journals from our hand made paper! It's been an incredible week, with a visit from my Mom, sister and brother who drove over 4 hours just to visit us. It was pretty lovely :)

Lots of facetime with my dad from Mexico too, which I love because he gets to see my boys in action full with goofiness and spanish lessons :) 

We didn't do school this week so I made sure we were overly artsy. Jonah is my scribble monster. And  Jonah also learned to pedal Andrew's bike--something that took Andrew quite a time to achieve. 

Andrew lives in his own imaginarium as he draws his robots with big muscles and invents bouncy shoes and his own board games.

 You remember how I got so mushy with love for this guy HERE and HERE back in February? Well, I'm about to do it again.

You see, the husband is what you would consider a jock. He's a math and science genius. A coach. A sports and gun fanatic. While I swore off jocks in high school and highly disliked them, he was different. 

He was funny and smart. This is how he roped me in, you see. He showed off his pearly whites and made me laugh and I was totally his. Forever and ever.

His left brain was and is my complement. And until he started getting into this paper-making business, he was never part of my right-brain artsy-ness {or should I say, mess?} He always puts up with my artsy moods, my craft moods, and my hormonal moods. But now, it feels like I've connected with him in a totally different way. In an art way, which I never would have expected in our entire lives. I mean, he offers to take me to Michael's or Hobby Lobby voluntarily (in search of tools to better his trade, but regardless)! 

Whose man does that?  

One night, my breath was taken away at this sight:

When I looked over at my desk and saw him on my stool. Hunched over. My heart was so full. Of happiness. Love. Wonder. Of complete shock. Turns out, he was making custom watermarks for his paper. Now, do you really wanna know how much more I love this guy? lots more. 

                                   And am currently feeling:

totally

a new batch of paper

 And we got bags full of vegetables -- again! {and we haven't made a dent in it which means we need to eat more greens!}

 So I made agua de melon {cantaloupe juice}...just like in Mexico. I remember my tia Ale always making agua de something.....so refreshing and pretty.

And when my family came for a visit, we went to the beach. I didn't know the beach was this accessible!!! 

I want to take advantage of it more often!

And after the beach, I received a giant birthday cookie {which I've always secretly wanted!} 

So, thanks Mom! 

also, this was not my fault. it was the sun's.

I loved the rosettes on my cookie :)

The library has been good to me lately. Reading up on artists. Crafts. Paper. Day of the Dead history. 

You know, the usual subjects. 

I was completely inspired by Picasso and this book that I painted a random still life under two hours. On a whim. On my birthday. Yesterday. It was very relaxing. A quick color study with acrylics and charcoal.

Ooh, and my mom bought me this new table! Which was uber-easy to set up all my paints and not get so frustrated by my crowded art desk! I plan on using this table til its last breath. Even if we do get rid of all the boys toys. And another picture of something I've painted recently. A simple, yet colorful daisy for my Tia Betsy's 50th. She loves it. 

Watercolors on our own paper :) Making things for others brings me joy.

Pssst. Wanna get freaked out? Remember these goofballs from a couple of posts ago?

I put the images on the iPad, and thanks to Frame Magic I was able to make a face switcharoo and totally freak me out. 

Who are they--can you tell? These kids are weird lookin'. They don't look like mine. 

Have a great weekend guys!

sharing, but not like on Facebook or anything

Went to the Farmer's Market last week, and besides getting organic greens, I also got organic goat cheese.

When I tried a sample, it had a strong taste and I wasn't too sure of it. The guy who sold it to me said it was decadent. That it was a dessert. I didn't believe him until a few days later when I actually tried it. 

With apricot and pecan, holy guacamole--he was right! 

I ate the whole thing by myself, and I am not ashamed. it's all gone now. 

yum

One afternoon, we went to take family photographs, and we ended up being called on by the cops.
No, I kid. But one bitter old lady called her landlord and we were short of being escorted by a little old lady driving a Buick. Hilarious. What? It's not like we were doing something illegal horrible...just taking pictures.

None of the pictures came out good. The husband was rushing me. The kids uncooperative. And I have no shutter remote, which means lots of getting up and getting down into position. 

These four were the best ones. But I love how Jonah pinches his cheek because Andrew was doing it first.

Our weather lately has been like my moods. Gloomy & rainy or bright & hot. 

I enjoy this weather now though...

The 4 year old has been busily trying to begin to read. And I love his writing. When he makes an ugly letter, I look at him, give him the frown, and he promptly growls at me and forcefully erases it. 

We call it an ugly letter. And he knows better than to make one. 

Daddy has been leaving the iPad at home (he usually takes it to work with him), which is awesome because we can do part of our school on there too. Montessori apps and counting apps and building word apps. 

Pretty soon I will sign him up for his first year of Kindergarten *tears* I am enjoying my last year with him at home but I know he will enjoy Kindergarten so much more in a public school. 

I am willing to see what happens and we will go from there. 

If I feel like God is calling me to homeschool him, I will do it wholeheartedly again.

And the 2 year old? Well, this week I made him a race track on our carpet. Gave him stickers. Let him paint and color. Let him play with flour again, drew a mustache, did countless puzzles, gave him books and let him do online school (educational youtube videos and starfall). He's a mess of smartness. 

the boys do school in their chones {underwear}...i don't. i don't think i explained that well. 

We took the family out to somewhat recover from our workout that day, and also because we were going to see a possible new place to move into, that has lots more space! 

They are Dr. Pepper-holics, just like their father and ordered a Dr. Pepper.

And oh my gosh you guys!!! 

Been wanting to do a post full of Andrew's drawings, but every time I get some together, he makes 20 more!! Every day. It's ridiculous the amounts of paper he uses, he's on his third (small) sketchbook. And how wacky the kids imagination is!!! 

But my heart, oh, it fills up with love. So we keep all his drawings in his 'notebook' 

which essentially is all of his papers gathered with clips. That way we can keep adding and adding and adding...and you get the picture. This is not all of his drawings. 

The kid draws maps, quests, dreams, guns, swords, dragons, jumping shoes, other dimensions, words that don't make sense, essay-like scribbles that all start with "Dear God" when you ask him what it says and he begins his almost never-ending spiel of imaginative impossibilities. I love it. I love him. I don't love how these papers spewed all over our living room make me so crazy, my eye twitches sometimes.

And every once in a while, I'll log onto Pinterest and see what kid fun I'm missing out on.

This week was Octo-weenies! 

The boys loved them and I allowed them to play with their food, cause I rock.

Our neighbors have been coming outside to play 'baseball' in the evenings and guess who wants to butt in and play with them? Luckily, they really don't mind the boys running wild. 

I do, because I can't catch them with my camera. Ha! 

As for me and my craft this week? Husband's been making paper like crazy.

And I have been assembling sketchbooks and painting on our homemade paper. 

This week I will hopefully get a new shelf painted for the boys room. Frames painted and assembled and hung. I ordered a super cool print from Straw Castle Designs on etsy and can't wait to thrift a frame for that thing to hang up on my wall! I am starting a small art collection. I know my sister's jaw will drop when and ever she clicks on this. click on it. now.

Oooh Oooh! We also bought our first Bountiful Basket! It was like two laundry baskets full of vegetables.

It's awesome. Except I ran out of salad dressing for my salads and have been wondering what to do with those chilies. 

Thank you to my friend Brooke who totally let me in on this awesomeness.

the boys thought green cauliflower was broccoli. they said broccoli tasted weird and didn't eat it all.

Oh, and this picture below? That's me eating a mango from our basket. It was so tempting one morning, I didn't even bother to cut it up like we Mexicans do and sprinkle Tajin on it. I just ate it like a banana. And it was so good! But my face was not. So here's a funny picture. 

Have you ever eaten a mango like this? I bet Carl, my brother who often visits Brazil (he's there right now lucky man), does it like this...

Oh, did I forget something? Oh yeah! My flowers!
This time you were spared the flower/garden pictures. I felt like I was overwhelming the blog with them. But alas, my flowers and garden are doing fine, thank you for the concern!
just kiddin....added petunias to my family!

my new petunias. every time i say that, i am reminded of aunt petunia from harry potter. which i'm currently marathon-ing 

Us-Made

This week has been great. I love this feeling of this goodness. In fact, when I talk on the phone with my relatives I've got nothing to say or whine about it's all going so great. Makes me feel like something big and horrible is liable to come up, because you know how you have to have your turn every once in a while...

But for right now, my little family is awesome. The boys and I have a routine. That's how my days go faster, and how discipline is learned. The weather is great--I am loving this weather and I'm so grateful for it because come July & August, I WILL NOT be this happy!  

School for Andrew is also great, even the little one is learning from just being around us while doing school! It's amazing and surprising to hear him say his letters and know all of his shapes/colors without me even teaching him one-on-one. I tell ya, life's pretty sweet right now :) My tank is full. Thank you, God.

My allergies have been killing me though...that's about as sick as this family gets---UGH allergies! 

But you wouldn't even believe what made my day the other day---my Calla Lilies came up!!! 

These are SO special to me because they were Mother's Day / Anniversary gifts from my amazing husband and they ended up dying when we moved to this place last summer (shown below, top right).

Anyway, I was EVER so excited and EVER so frickin' excited because I just knew they were coming back {I apparently don't know anything about flowers} and guess what, they did! I don't know if you've ever grown anything, but it's pretty rewarding to know things grow out of the ground that were planted by your hand. At least it is to me. 

My poor little garden though, it has rained and been really cold down here in the coast of this great state, and the combination of too much water / not enough sun is not a good thing on this raised little garden :( we will see what comes out of it. Every morning, I peek out the window to see how my little garden is doing...kinda like I peek in the boys room to see how they're laying in their beds...just to make sure they're ok. 

The garden and my potted flowers are like my fourth child {third child are my 2 cats, HA!}...I love them to death and it makes me sad they're not getting enough sunlight!  

You wanna know what's been going on around this house this past week?? Paper. 

And lots of it. The Mr. has totally taken on this hobby and I could NOT BE more prouder, if not the proudest, wife of a paper maker. I love that he gets artsy like that!!! 

But you know what I'm not a fan of? 

the lack of space in this tiny 2 / 2 house. Seriously, this kitchen / dining area is as big as a big city apartment. The Mr. has to take his assembly line outside in our garden-crowded back patio! For goodness sakes, we need a somethin' to remedy this...because I can't take it anymore. I might have to research shops / sheds to use as studio space around here! 

So the Mr. makes paper, and I make art ON the paper. Ohh, his stacks of paper are so nice. He keeps getting better and better at it...it's a craft. I am doing a little stamp carving / lithography on the side too.

And I'm stepping back into serigrafia {screen-printing} again, after about 6 years...I seriously love it. 

My dad used to have a business in it, I went to Art Camp for it, I worked at a shop that did it...I mean, it's always been part of me and I LOVE IT. I think it's my favorite medium :) 

My etsy store would fill up faster though if I could just sit down and actually work!!! Two little {homeschooled} boys + meals + house maintenance + hungry husband really take up all my time! 

This is actually my first screen print since 2005 :) + I printed on home-made paper.

AND I'm listing it on my etsy soon

{thinking about doing a giveaway of the image below, but would like input on it first, so let me know!!!}

Also crafty me has been doing all this below: PHOTO PROPS

again, for my cousin's wedding a couple of weekends ago!

This flower head crown thingy is still my favorite! I invented the finger uni-brow and posted it on 

my Instagram @sanlynet {psst, follow me}

And I keep saying to myself how I don't need to snap any more pictures of them doing school, because I just don't want to overwhelm you with those kinds of pictures, but I think the concentration on their faces, the way their eyes just focus, is so incredible to me. I was once 4, I once sat in a chair and had to do the same things. I don't have pictures of that. I don't remember those times. 

But I wish I could. So here, Andrew and Jonah. Have some photographic memories. 

You were amazing little boys. And I am glad I took your pictures. 

Sun light + cat hair + school work + little toes + coffee = it is the life! 

You guys! Thanks for sticking round til the end! I love yall and want to wish you all a happy weekend!