Trip to the Circus

We made our first family trip to the circus last week. I had the standard "we are not going to buy any of the crap they sell" chat with the girls before we left, but that lasted a whole 5 minutes before Jim bought them each a $10 bag of cotton candy. Anyway, the circus was great fun. Here are a couple of shots.

ArtPrize 2009

Those of you who I talk to on a regular basis already know that In Any Event has been working for ArtPrize. We had the public and private opening events last Wednesday and have several more in the next couple of weeks. I had already seen some of the great artwork downtown, but the rest of my family had not.
On Friday, we went downtown for the circus (another very exciting story I'll share later) and we got down rather early. We decided to walk over to the BOB to kill some time. The kids ate it up! They loved looking at each piece and ran from one exhibit to the next. So, we decided to go back down on Saturday night. This time I gave Claire a camera and let her take pictures of what she liked.

Here is our tour:this moose is made entirely of rusty nails

balloon art


the giving tree. this burned down 10 days before the start of the contest and his hometown helped to rebuild it.

can you guess what these are?

they were used to make these awesome portraits!

recycled tires

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girls made stepping stones for Mimi's yard

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Camping a la Jen

We don't have enough vacation to justify the purchase of a camper. However, all of our friends camp. A lot. My girls have been asking why we don't go camping. There are many reasons, but the number one reason is that, because we don't have a camper, we would have to camp in a tent. I don't do tents. I would give a couple of good nights sleep to make them happy, but why when they can "camp" a la Jen.
Tonight we went to Meijer and bought a 2 person tent for $20. Tonight they camped in the living room. Someday we may move them outside, but for now this works.

Lilly's First Day of Preschool

Lilly started preschool this week. She is going to the same program that Claire went to so we knew a little of what to expect - or so we thought. The teacher we told her she would be having is on maternity leave, the helper was transferred to another school. Pick up and drop off procedures have been changed. So, we are really starting from the beginning.

I went with her for the first hour long class. She decided to cling to my leg like a dryer sheet and not talk to anyone. She had her fingers in her mouth or nose the whole time. WHO IS THIS KID? Where is my "no fear" Lilly?
When she got home and saw Claire, Claire asked "Who are your friends?" Lilly said she was shy and didn't talk to anyone. Claire said "Lilly, I am very disappointed." She gave her strict instructions to make some friends the next day.

We made through that day and Grandma Deb brought her the next day. She made a friend the second day. Guess what her name is.....Lilly. Go figure.

Brace Face

Who would have thought that Claire would need braces at the age of 7? Well, this week she got brackets on her top front teeth. She seems to be doing really well with them. I kept Tylenol in her the first couple of days, and now she is eating like normal.before

during

after

Great job, Claire! You were very brave and tough. I am proud of you.

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September 11, 2001

These are not my photos, but when I was in NYC last year we went passed this fence. It is outside of a firehouse at Greenwich Ave and 11th St. Someone organized school children and anyone else who wanted to participate and they created tiles to decorate the fence. All of the children had different reactions based on where they were and who they lost.
We all have our own memories of where we were, what we were doing and how we felt. In an odd way, this day pulls us all together.

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do you think she'll float?

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i came across this picture while organizing some computer files. look how little claire is.

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Happy Birthday, Coco!

Coco turns 19 today. She started college yesterday. Some of her close friends have moved away for college and she is spending more time with other friends. Her life is changing a lot this month. If you know her, you know that she can handle a lot. A lot more than most kids her age. She signed up for all of her classes, got all of her financial aid stuff figured out and started looking for a job all on her own. We don't have to get on her to do things. She loves to watch her sisters to give us a break, she helps with things around the house and even grocery shops once in a while.
We are amazed at the young woman that she is becoming.

Congratulations on another birthday. We proud of you and love you very much and can't wait to see what the next year holds for you.