Family fun weekend!

 We took the boys to Great Wolf Lodge over the weekend, something we've been promising for awhile. I think the business of raising kids can sometimes get too serious. I know I'm often wondering (worrying) if I'm doing/saying/teaching/disciplining in the right way to ensure they grow up to become good, honest, hard-working men. I occasionally have to remind myself to just have FUN with them and enjoy them in all their crazy little boy-ness.

 So that's what we did this weekend. We laughed and played and the boys grew braver and conquered fears as they attempted bigger and bigger water slides. We ate greasy pizza, root beer, and caramel apples and stayed up late watching movies in our comfy hotel room. Gooood stuff.

 We left tired, proud, and very happy : )

Love my boys! I'm looking forward to adding Eli to the fun in a couple months!

Arian : )

Museum bench

 I finished up my project for the Cincinnati Children's Museum. Someone donated several old church pews to the museum to use at seating in their interactive kids play area. So the museum had local artists create murals to be attached to the backs of each bench. Pretty fun! Can't wait to see my art in its new home!

I've got lots of posts to catch up on so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

Arian

In progress...

I'm wrapping up a project I've been working on for Cincinnati Children's Museum... pretty fun stuff! This is one of the last freelance projects on my to-do list before I focus all my creative energy on prepping my Etsy shop for the upcoming holiday season and our home for the upcoming December baby! With all the new paintings I want to do for my shop before the holiday rush, all the decorating I want to do in our home, and all the gifts I want to craft before Christmas, there is no such thing as starting too early!

Looking forward to it!

Arian : )

DIY Family Wedding!

One of my amazingly beautiful step-sisters got married this weekend.  Meet newlyweds Josh and Kasey Day! Aren't they ridiculously cute?!

The past week has been filled with wedding prep, wedding crafting, wedding baking, and family gatherings. Goooood times!

My (step)family is scattered all over the U.S.  So times when we can all get together are pretty special.

My little man and his mustache sucker wedding favor.

Hudson has only seen his cousin, Nan, a few times but they're pretty tight : )

This pic of Andrea and Tye cracks me up every time I look at it. Crazy kids.

The beauuuutiful twins.

Fancy homemade strawberry champaign cupcakes!

My little family : )  24 weeks along with boy #3!

The wedding was filled with family-made details. This was my first attempt at a wedding cake topped by the hand-carved cake topper my step-brother-in-law made.

Instead of a traditional guest book I put together this tandem bike + fingerprint balloon poster per Kasey's request. Each guest left their print and initials. Such a cute idea!

And this is the art I made for the front of their wedding invitations-- inspired by one of my vintage floral pillowcases and Josh's love for chess.

My step-mom has quite an arm ; )  

Congrats to Josh and Kasey! We're soooo happy for you! Love you guys!

Arian

New York!

 Daniel and I just came back from a short trip to New York City! He had several meetings there so I tagged along!

 I never get tired of the view from an airplane. Amazing.

 Times Square!

 Being in NY felt a lot like our years living in Japan.  We got to shop at some of our favorite Japanese stores and eat some of our favorite Japanese food.

 Japan makes the cooooolest pens. That's one of the things I miss most-- Japanese stationery.

 And Japanese food! Mmmmm, curry : )

 And while Daniel spent the day in meetings (doesn't he look cute!)

 I spent the day venturing out into the city on my own. It's been a loooong time since I spent a whole day by myself. Must say, it was pretty sweet : )

 Central Park and a good cup of coffee. Yessss.

 And I got to meet up with long time friend (circa 5th grade) for lunch at an amazing vegetarian restaurant.  Oh man, New York has some of the best food! It's making me hungry just thinking about it.

The trip was short and sweet but much needed. I love New York!

Arian : )

Hug print

I just added a new print to the shop. It's the piece I did for the art show at our home last week. The show was such a hit! Our little house was busting at the seams with friends,family, and people we've never met who came to listen to the music and check out the artwork that the 8 of us created. We'll definitely do this again soon as there are lots more musicians we'd love to feature and lots more local artists we'd love to host!

Good music, good food, good art, good people, and good weather made for such a great night!

Arian : )

Workin On...

Tomorrow night we are hosting our first in-home art show and house concert.  It's the first of hopefully many. Eight of us, who have been getting together weekly for the past 6 weeks to hone our skills and share advice are exhibiting our new pieces for our friends and family. Wine and cheese, live music, my cute black maternity dress....should be a good time!

I'm putting the finishing touches on my painting and have a lot of cleaning and rearranging to do before 5:00 tomorrow night. I'll be sure to show you pics!

Feel free to come if you're local!

Arian