Rileys room

Last year I was enspired by a co-worker(Shawn, my former d.manager) and ended up painting Rileys room. He had been painting (as a side job) and brought his portfolio in for me to see. He was using an airbrush to make his murals.
I saw what he was doing and I thought I could do a mural for Riley (I was painting her room at the time).
I traced an image of cinderella onthe wall and painted with a paint brush.

Yosemite

I have always loved Yosemite, and I always will. I can't even tell you how many times I've been there.
We bought a new car this week and decided to celebrate and take it on it's first road trip to Yosemite. It was a beautiful day and it wasn't too crowded. The sides of these huge rock walls were wet with water trickling down and were there were waterfalls...it was all misty like rain and rainbows. Every waterfall was alive.
First we went to Bridalveil, like most people do, and got a little wet. Then we parked in Curry village and took the bus around.
We hiked to Vernal Falls, which is a big hike for kids. Actually, it was the first hike to Vernal for both Liam and Riley. The misty trail was very misty(misty can mean slippery). I made Riley hold onto my hand the whole way up. The path that following the river is a steep climb, rock steps the whole way up and nothing to catch you if you slip. We had had our lunch and then at the top of the falls we took a rest. Will decided that instead of going back down the way we came we'd keep on hiking up toward the ridge and meet the trail that connects to the Nevada falls trail. That hike is longer because you have to hike up before you can start hiking down and it's mostly switchback trails. It took us to the parts of the mountain that still had snow and the kids picked up handfulls to throw at eachother. It's always fun to touch and see snow.
By the time we were done...we had been on our hike for 6 hours.
The kids were go good. The last 15 minutes Liam was saying that his feet hurt...but mine had been hurting for the last 30. It mostly because the very last of the hike is all down hill (steep down hill) and your toes are crammed into the fronts of the shoes and it's hard on knees that arent used to down hill.
Anyways, we had great family time together and made some more memories. The new car gets great gas mileage for us and even though it's a smaller car than we've been used to it is very comfortable.

Rileys top is done

I finished sewing this on my lunch hour and put the beads on when I got home. It matches Rileys "climbing tree", that's blooming now.




It is a beautiful spring so far. Actually today was very warm (in the 90s)

What am I sewing?

I know! I havent mentioned anything lately. But I have been sewing a little shirt for Riley. I'm stitching it by hand (with french seams) It's a cute summer shirt. And if I get to them, matching shorts.

Also I was sewing the binding onto the Christmas quilt at last nights game. I'm only have a few linear feet to go.

I repaired a pair of PJs. I repaired my work pants. I repaired a stuffed animal.....

This week I got out all of my unfinished projects and tried to get inspired to get back to work on one(or more) of them.

Liam MVP

Liam had a baseball game last night. I was there for the first 30 minutes (on my lunch hour). He hit the ball! and Scored a run! He made another hit after I left. After the game he was given the team ball. All his teammates signed it. Oh..happiness. Baseball is so much fun to watch.

Ring the Bell, Riley!

Today is Wednesday. That means gymnastics day for both kids. Riley has been going to gymnastics for 2 years now. Liam only started a few months ago.
The last 5 min. of each class is usually the 'rope-climing' rotation followed by situps and stamps.
This rope is probably 25 feet to the ceiling. At the top is a bell to ring(the parents and coaches clap). Riley has been climbing this rope and for the last few months gets with in 5 feet of the bell and then stops and comes down. Every time she says "I'll ring the bell next time" She always gets so close. A few weeks ago she got far enough to ring the bell she just did'nt want to reach out for it.
Tonight she started climbing. She got to the point she usually gets to and then she looked over at me and I start pointing up and nod my head and say "you can do it, you can do it..." (even though she couldnt hear me) and she looks up and keeps climbing. She gets a foot away and reaches for the rope but it's just out of reach and looks over at me again and I point upwards and nod again as she climbs more and this time reaches out and rings that bell. I tell you that was a proud moment. She climbs down, hand over hand, the way she's supposed to. Once she reaches the bottom she leaps with joy. Hops all the way over to beam for sit ups and after stamps she is able to come over to me. Her smile is so big. She said "Are you proud of me" Of course I said yes. She said "I'm proud of myself, I didnt know that I could do that". On the ride home she says a few times "I'm proud of myself" and we had to tell Dad and Brother the whole story when we got home.
She is a strong little girl.