painting again!

Posted on December 30, 2014 by BeSquirrely

So I fell off the blog bandwagon a few months ago with my photo series posts. But you saw that coming when I missed a few (or months) and starting grouping them together. And so it goes in this little corner of cyberspace this year.

But.

I have something VERY exciting to share. No, I’m not pregnant although I hear that’s all the rage with the kids these days (!).

I started painting again! It’s been many years really and I’ve been wanting to paint, but haven’t found the space/time/insert excuse here for my own painting. Until last week. I wanted to paint something for meine Mutti for Christmas so I buckled down and did it. It wasn’t easy or pretty or glamorous:

But I did it. And I actually like it. Progress, lovelies, progress.

Cheers to a creative 2015!

this and that

Posted on March 2, 2014 by BeSquirrely

The Polar Vortex continues here in northern Michigan, although we’ve got less than three weeks until spring. It’s been in the single digits almost every day for a while. This has meant that we’ve had A LOT of indoor time. It feels like we’re at school/work, car, home, store, church, repeat as needed. The windchills have been so low that we just don’t last too long outside, especially the littlest birdie. So we’ve been trying to embrace our indoor time (cabin fever…) with some creative activities (lots of painting and drawing) and lots of free play. Oh, and about five thousand YouTube clips of Frozen. Ahem.

Sight word study. Great use for plastic eggs from last year…

Wren made me a sticker set from little white Avery labels. Oh my, my hands are dry.

The girls have been playing pretty nicely together. Most of the time. They made a big forest scene then ran the train through it.

Then all hell broke loose. Well, not really, but you know how it goes… all this indoor free play gets, err, messy.

How is your cabin fever, lovelies?

Tuesdays

Posted on February 4, 2014 by BeSquirrely

Early last year I decided I wanted to work out of the home again so I searched, interviewed and found a part time marketing & communications position. I work three days and the girls are together at a wonderful preschool those days. That leaves us with a couple at-home days to nest, create, snuggle, bake, make a fort under the table and play catch-up with each other. One of those has recently turned into our activity (dance, gymnastics) and errand day and I’ve tried to keep Tuesdays as our truest at-home day.

It’s been a wonderful pseudo-balance for all of us. The girls are very social so they truly enjoy other adults and kids; school is great for this. And I enjoy the space to focus on work and not also everything else (as much as a Mama can). It feels like a luxury to be at work and just focus on work after trying to work from home for the previous four years. I know some people can do it, but it was so hard for me to focus on work when there’s so much other work to be done at home. There is always a pile of laundry. There is always a pile of dishes. There is always a toilet that needs to be scrubbed… sigh. More importantly, when the kids were around while I was tackling a deadine, I wasn’t doing anything well; I wasn’t paying enough attention to them and I wasn’t able to focus on my work either. Lose, lose.

Tuesdays with Mama? Win, win.

Wren will be in kindergarten next fall (!) so these full days at home with no rigid agenda are fleeting indeed. Create on!

on the mend

Posted on March 19, 2013 by BeSquirrely

After three weeks of being under-the-weather and a long, flopsy-sick weekend, I really believe Wren is officially on the mend. She’s back to her charming self, exclaiming this morning in reference to her chapped lips, “it’s pothole season on my lips!” A little while later she blew her nose really hard and some blood came out on the tissue. “Mama, this is SO cool! I got to see blood come out of my body!” Yup, she’s ba-ack!

If you haven’t seen it yet, Wren and her Easter crafting were featured over on one of my favorite sites for art/craft inspiration: The Artful Parent! Click on over to see it. Hippity hoppity, Easter’s on its way!

in like a lion

Posted on March 1, 2013 by BeSquirrely

Why hello there, March. And hello there, lovely readers. Thanks for clicking in! Although I’m not usually into apologizing for not writing about my cutest-kids-in-the-world and what-amazing-things-we’ve-been-doing-in-the-most-beautiful-place-in-America, snicker snicker, I am here anyway to say “sorry about all the crickets, lately, lovelies!”

It’s been busy on the work front and a bit messy meets crazy on the home front mixed with lots of snow days, a couple sick days and a couple getaway days thrown in too. And sometimes when I’m clicking away with work on my computer for my clients, one of the last things I want to do is hop back on when I have a few minutes of time. But then time and development keep racing on and I stop and think, I need to capture this, savor this, post this. And yes, I realize that savoring doesn’t equate to taking pictures and posting about it, but sometimes, well, it does for me. In a 2013 kind of way I suppose.

So enough musing, here are a few shots of our February life. Enjoy!

It’s been very wintery at 605. I love our nest blanketed in some fresh snow. And the birdies have been enjoying the snow, although Phoebe hates her boots so she doesn’t last long out in the snow.

We’ve been skiing, but not enough given how wintery it’s been. Thankful for the times we’ve been able to get out.

We enjoyed the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail near Glen Haven. I love seeing the same trail at different times of year, don’t you?

We’ve had (more than) our fair share of cocoa…

Ahh, fresh snow.

And the biggest highlight was the Winter Fest in downtown Traverse City. An ice rink! A tubing run! A ferris wheel! All right downtown. Sorry, cars.

The biggest birdie got to try out ice skating for the first time. Ahh, the firsts!

And also her first ice cream eating contest. She didn’t care that her competitors included a very big twelve year old. Because, um, hello, free ice cream.

And lots of warm baths to warm after all this chilly winter fun.

So the sweet and lovely Phoebe Jane is climbing. Can we say “heart attack,” anyone? Or maybe “spring fever!” ? I turn around and she’s scaled something, or balanced something on top of something else to get UP. Up up up. It’s hard to get much done when there’s this kind of craziness in your midst. Aahhhh!

And how was your February? Are you ready for March?!

art for her sister

Posted on January 14, 2013 by BeSquirrely

All by herself (remember “do it SELF!!!”) Wren made a picture for Phoebe “of Phoebe in the sandbox.” I didn’t even know she was doing it until it had already been completed and Wren was giving it to Phoebe. Such a sweet moment. Every day there’s some sweetness. Tempered with Wren screaming at Phoebe, “stop following me!” or “stop looking at me!” or getting really angry because Phoebe’s into all of her stuff. It’s hard living with babies in your stuff! I know.

inspiration

Posted on January 5, 2013 by BeSquirrely

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/24715531 w=398&h=224]

You’ve probably seen this interview with Ira Glass (This American Life) before in different formats, but if you haven’t, it’s worth your two valuable minutes. If you have, it’s still worth two more of your minutes today, right? Enjoy.

last day of vacation

Posted on January 4, 2013 by BeSquirrely

We are having a lazy, pajama-clad, art-filled last day of vacation. Monday it’s back to school time again! I think we’re all ready for a little bit more structure… Looking forward to taking down the Christmas decorations and getting things organized around here. How are things in your nest? Are you back to school already?

a little joy for you

Posted on December 19, 2012 by BeSquirrely

This picture Wren made yesterday brought me so much joy. I wanted to share it with you too! May you find some peace and joy in the hustle and bustle of the holidays.

process

Posted on September 27, 2012 by BeSquirrely

It’s important to me that my birdies enjoy the process of creating something as much–or perhaps even more–than the end result. This is such a great life lesson that can be applied to almost anything. Slow down, enjoy the process, be here now. This is easier said than done, but having children underfoot helps to keep this in perspective. It also helps that we do a lot of messy things and I don’t shy away from creating messes wherever I go. Chris could easily vouch for that one…

I’ve also been seeking out opportunities to show the birdies the process of making other kinds of things and Wren absolutely loves this: from the peanut (butter) grinder to the coffee bean grinder to the homemade marshmallows we made this summer. Some might ask “why?” because you can just buy marshmallows, peanut butter and coffee and be done with the shopping trip and moving on to other things. Process.

Process.

If you’re wondering what this process was all about, it’s marbling using shaving cream and paint. And it is SO fun and SO easy to focus on the process of creativity. You can read more about it over on The Artful Parent.

Be Squirrely

creating a nest worth sharing

Category Archives: art