Crafts and KitKat

Last year, we spent Easter weekend at the Aranda farm! We love going to Moomie & Granpop's and doing crafts and pigging out on chips & salsa (Texas' Official State Snack btw) Moomie makes the best salsa, for real. And Dawna as the balloon lady, was just thee best.

even though she was weird...she was loved.

In Spring of 2012, a cute little stray kitty showed up in our backyard of our West Texas home. She was fluffy and white and had blue eyes. How could I resist this cute, little white kitten? 

I brought her inside, bathed her, loved on her, and she made our home her own. 

We named her Prim.

We moved homes 350 miles away and she came along. Her feisty demeanor and trouble making curiousness was typical. 

Our home was small & we didn't have a backyard. It was hard keeping her inside all the time. She grew to stay indoors....for a while. 

We soon found her a sister, which we named Rue and they grew to tolerate one another. 

But she escaped once and got that taste for the outdoors. There was no keeping her tame now. 

She was an outdoor cat. 

We moved homes from a tiny apartment into a house with plenty of room to play inside and outside. It was heaven. For her & for me. 

She would always want my love but was very skeptical about others. She was not an easy cat. But moments like these, when we both needed love, we would be right there for each other. 

I was in labor with Elena (my third homebirth) in the picture below when she came to visit me. 

She was an outdoor cat. She was wild. She was sweet. She was crazy. She was mine. 

I usually am not a very ooey-gooey pet lover, in fact, I can hardly stand pets. But she was beautiful to me. 

We lost her a few weeks ago.

How, is still a mystery and it was brutal. She didn't deserve to die. She was not a very confrontational cat. I cried much more than I thought I would when Gary called me with the news. 

Her death became a first experience to my two older boys, who were full of questions and also tears. The disappearance of Prim is still a concept not understood by my daughter often asking, "where's Prim?" 

Although Prim wasn't very friendly, the kids loved to try to pet her and play with her.

We all cried as we put her into the ground. Struggling with the unfairness of why she was taken away from us. To never forget her, we printed a picture of her and put her up in our hallway. I always see her. 

Funny though, that I still expect her to come running into the house when I open my door. 

We miss you, Prim. 

unplugged

many may not have noticed, but i have unplugged. 

not from internet of course, {that would be ludicrous} but from this social monster that was overtaking my life.

FACEBOOK.

oh how i loathe and love that thing.

I don't plan on getting back on there, except for maybe starting up a page to display my artwork.

I miss a lot of the gossip, news, and pictures and the temptation to get back on, some days, is great. 

But I don't want it controlling my thoughts, my every minute was being controlled by it, it was too much.

Feelings seemed to get hurt right and left. Useless clutter was taking over my wall. 

"Friends" weren't really friends. "Like" this and that. 

yes, I am a mean mother. 

What was the point, really? 

It's like those commercials that blast out "SHARE EVERYTHING!" when you really shouldn't. 

I am not great with words, I'm sure there are hundreds of other posts about this same subject written more eloquently than I can ever produce.

But there it is. There are people that Facebook was the only connection I had--and it was good and I miss it. But there's more friends to make and more NOW to focus on.

Obviously, I have more time. More time to dedicate to whatever I please.

My craft, my kids, my husband, my house, my photography, this blog. 

Now I can go like this: AHHHHHH! Such a monkey/monster/weight off my back.

If you want to reach me, I always check my email.

If I know you personally, you probably have my number.

For the time being, there's THIS space and there's THIS too.

And if you would like to hire me for anything artistic, there's THIS space as well. 

Please, the holidays are coming and I need to go shopping! :)

a Day in the Life

I've never been an early riser or a morning reader.

But since starting homeschool with Andrew, I've been determined to have some time to myself. I've woken up before 8 most mornings {HEY, that's early for me} and really appreciated it with my amazing coffee, quietness and total ME time. AHhhhh! It's been feeling so good. 

So my Goodwill find last week was a total bargain and also a good morning read.

Lately, I've completely neglected my camera. I don't know why. I just feel my photos never come out how I want them. That my subjects are too squirmy or that I don't have the 'right' eye to capture that.

Maybe I've lost the love for it? Maybe I need to practice more?

But I've made a small effort to continue snapping that shutter. I really don't care if I'll be the next booked photographer for some fancy wedding. As long as I have my memories on these digital pixels to remember when my mind fails me miserably these next long years, I'm good. 

 Some ME time has been finishing a painting for a friend. I knew that skin was hard.

I haven't painted it in years. CRAP it's hard. I was so happy when I was done with skin so I could paint what I love next: the hair! 

 I was pleased how it turned out and can't wait to see what she says about it.

I'll be a little sad to hand her over, but Florence was really creeping me out when I would come around the corner of our living room and would see her portrait reflected on the mirror from the opposite wall.

Also, a word of advice for my fellow painters--don't buy cheap palettes. 

Seriously. This is what 99¢ got me--a whole lotta frustration. You can't scrape that paint off.

When I worked at a sign shop in College Station, I became the master of shipping signs by make-shifting my own boxes. Part of my me-time one morning was making a box to ship two of my drawings to Abilene.

It is for an exhibit in October. It was from my drawing group I had every week.

And if it wasn't a 7 hour drive, I would totally go. 

SO, if you're in that area for the month of October, go see my pieces--better yet, go BUY them because they will be for sale I think...let me check on that. 

Needless to say, my paintings arrived safely :) Yeah, I rock. 

I've been praying for more work. He's been working it out for me that once I'm done with a project, He sends me one more project. So I'm really hoping to see that continue into something great. 

I'm thankful I have a third subject to capture because she really is a beauty. 

She's silly, she's messy, she's naughty, and she's sweet. 

She makes me laugh and she makes me angry. 

She's like Cat-zilla in Train town. She is such a poser.

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen a picture of a lemon tree my sis-in-law has. 

I tried making lemonade with some green tea and I found out I am not a lemon person. I am a LIME person. You know, Mexican? These lemons taste like a bitter orange so I'm not used to their flavor.

But it made for a nice photo shoot. 

I've been scouring the internet for 'fun' learning activities for this boy.

One night, while he was sleeping, I walk into his room and he says "noo Mom! I don't wanna doooo schoooo.....l" Is school really that traumatizing for him? Is it because I've stuck to a schedule and forced him to grab his pencil so he can practice writing? Is it because he can't get to watch his beloved Power Rangers instead? I don't know. Someone says it just takes getting used to.

I've snapped pictures of the 'fun' activities so that maybe I can capture a smile but it's usually his concentrated face. He is not one to color so any time a page says "Color this"...we skip. 

He likes the Bingo dotters {is that what they're called?} though. 

And he loved making me a necklace {which I really wore} out of some wooden beads I had. 

He is really good with his little hands. His tracings have gotten so much better. He no longer asks for help with them. His cutting skills are improving.

We've been learning his name. He's already wrote it all by himself by just looking at it. 

 And you know you can't really teach a 4 year something without the 2 year old butting in, so I make him do some of the same things as Andrew. Never too early. He sings the alphabet with us, and counts.

Maybe he'll be like my genius, almost-doctor, smarty pants cousin. *fingers crossed*

 You know, the internet has all kinds of great ideas for kids. Color matching, letter tracing in flour, you know, stuff like that.

But they don't warn you that you need to put up the flour so that your 2 year old won't get into it. 

 Yeah, that was a stupid mom thing to do. 

Leave a stool by the kitchen counter where a pan full of flour lies. Genius.

 This kid doesn't like getting his hands dirty. Glue? Forget about it! I have to glue everything for him because he refuses to touch it. Dirt? Haha, no way. 

 I told you this guy was amazing with his little hands. I mean, have you seen the robots he builds?

Some additional crafts/activities he does are from the library and church. 

They have a preschool time at the library and it's become part of our school schedule. He loves the computer time more than books though, he has NEVER liked sitting through just any book. It has to be a specific book, like these crappy ones....

Church has become an important part of our week. I remember as a little girl being taken to Sunday school and learning all my stories there. I hope he experiences something similar and better. 

We've just started attending their Sunday school program called GIGL that includes pickles, almost imitating Veggie Tales. I asked Andrew if he wanted to get up to go to it and he said YES! and got ready for it.

I was totally expecting a no, by the way. So that was surprising. I'm glad he enjoys it.

I've learned that you have to make an effort to get out. To meet people.

To get involved. I mean, unless you like being a hermit.

 Our tiny little back patio is enough for them to play with water and be in their birthday suits--did you know it makes for less laundry?! That's a win for me ;)

And so daddy gets to come home, supper times comes, and night time routines commence.

Playtime before bedtime is definitely a must. Sometimes some Netflix helps. 

I mean, Andrew did get his school done and Power Rangers were promised.

Just hand JoJo his blankie and he becomes an instant snuggle bun.

Clean up, dishes, pajamas, brush teeth, story time, kisses and lights out! 

...and then about 2 potty times for each kid because if one does it, the other one has to do it too...

And that's a day in the life of the New Witty's. 

outside on the concrete

As our summer ends, we have to get used to a new schedule, new routine, new habits...

We now have a cat. She's amazing horribly awesome.

Andrew starts Pre-K at home. With me. Wish me luck.

New school for the hub. New campus. New co-workers.

{Lord, please let this transition be a happy one & beneficial for him!}

And we will have a successful football team that the hub will be a part of.

Closer and further apart from family. We shall survive!!!

Prim is a good, bad, cat...She can be sweet, but she can also be a little turd.

She'll lick and cuddle with you and then attack you with her sharp little teeth and claws in a matter of seconds. She's lethal and cute. Perfect combination. Jonah loves it, as you can see. 

Houston is awfully sunny. And rainy. And muggy. 

We just get used to the conditions and use cloudy days and shade to our advantage. 

My mother drove 5 hours just to come visit us---she seldom does that---and I was uber grateful.

The kids had a blast because they actually had somewhere to ride their ripstick, you hardly have any concrete living in the coutnry...My kids were in heaven just because they were here. 

We have this rock {who knows where it came from}and it's a perfect shape for Jonah to kick...

I think he thought it was a soccer ball...

...and we busted out the rollerskates too...

This is Dawna, the babysitter.

Jonah got a lot of Moomie lovin'

and when Daddy came home from work, he got out his toy too. 

We had plenty of pink lemonade breaks.

And cheesy grins with lightsaber swords

I hope this new school year will be a great one. I hope that we learn this area and reap of its benefits like playdates, gymnastics, swimming, parks, library and all that good stuff a community should provide.
I just wish I could find my little niche in the art community....