Concert At City Hall. . .

These are some of my very favorite musicians!

Zach, aka Darth Maul . . .

My kids have no shortage of love from their grandparents.  I don't think they've ever taken that love for granted but they certainly rely on it.  When Zach decided to be Darth Maul for Halloween, he knew he needed a seamstress to come along side and create the most authentic costume possible.  He also knew that I would definitely be the wrong person to ask.  Thankfully we have Grandma Jeanie.  Zach did his research and drew up the plans.  Grandma understands how important this holiday is to my boy and she went all out to create the costume he designed.  It's not like Grandmas is an expert on Star Wars characters so she relied on his drawings and, after much work and a few fittings, this is what they came up with:

 

I contributed the gloves and boots (birthday gifts!) but Zach and Grandma get all of the credit for this great costume:

 



Halloween has always been a big deal to Zach so it's no wonder he started working on his costume back in the spring.  He has continued to make his plan for the actual day with full Darth Maul makeup and I can't wait to see what he looks like on October 31st!

Celebrating Zach's 22nd Birthday!

Zach's birthday has always fallen around the first day of school.  When we were doing school at the kitchen table, it wasn't a problem.  But then he started college and it's been very difficult to celebrate on the actual day of his birth.  And now that he resides in Oregon, this was the first time I didn't even see him on his special day.  But maybe that's normal when you're 22. . .

So. . . we celebrated on August 20th this year with family on both sides:

Happy 22nd birthday to my sweet baby boy!!

Road Block...

So much to say about the last three days and so many photos to post. This is the moment that in the past has hindered my blogging process. I don't have the time or the brain power to move photos to my laptop (just installed a bad program while trying) and so I'm afraid the thoughts and moments will pile up in my head and on my iPhone, never to appear in print.

But I have important thoughts. And I have photos to illustrate my thoughts. And I hope I'm able to get those words out while they are still fresh. But it won't be tonight....

Birthday's!

Celebrating Kelsey, Jeanie and Marr!

Art Festival. . .

This was the post that held me up for so long.  Too many pictures, too many thoughts.  And now it's far enough in the past that it's not a big deal.  This is one of those events that has actually been enjoyable for me.  Laid back and easy.  And this was the last time . . .

 

We had another event on the evening of the second day of the Arts Fest- High Street at City Hall in Meridian.  Rob had stuff to do all weekend so I helped Kurt with the Art Fest and hired Jamie to help Rob at City Hall.  I just showed up part way through and listened.  This is a band worth listening to for sure. . .

Day Two of the Art Fest:

And. . . taking it all down.  I remember thinking when I took these last four pictures, that I wanted to remember how physically demanding this part of all of our events has been so that if I ever feel sentimental about it I can look at these pictures and feel relief that I don't have to do it anymore. . .

Since I'm posting this in retrospect on October 18th, I know that we had just two more set ups like this one and each was more difficult than the one before it.  So I guess you could say I will miss this particular event a teeny tiny bit but the back breaking tear downs will always, only make me shudder. . .