Clay Art Studio

This past weekend, Bridget and Emily & Cathy & I went on a MDDD; mother-daughter-double date! We started out at Bigby's with some amazing coffee drinks and ended at Clay Art Studio where Bridget & Emily painted some pottery pieces! It was the gift they had given her for her birthday and it was a great time!

Remember

Thinking about the people who served our country today...

Flash Back Friday 205

John & Me, 2003

Love Thursday: BFF's

What college girls do when school is out for summer...

Calvin Roomies

Aaah!!!! Maria asked me to do a photoshoot Monday evening of her and her friend/Calvin roomie Abby. John had the brilliant idea to do it at the old Calvin campus on Franklin street.

I took a couple hundred. Wow, amazing fun! The above mosaic shows a few of them!

Here they are looking like good Calvin girls in front of the OLD Hekman library.

Search On

I was just so excited thinking about Edward & Maria coming home from Calvin last week that I made this little video.

Van-Go

My friend Lydia stopped by on her way out of town the other day. She is driving to the east coast and from there will fly to Amsterdam to paint for 2 months. It was kind of like one of my kids leaving for the summer! Our family had helped her move her paintings back to her studio the day before and then ate at Yesterdog with her. ... great memory which I did not capture, so we got one in front of the dogwood tree.

Flash Back Friday 204

The Queen Mother back in the 50's.

Love Thursday: Forever Families

This past Monday, my friend Cathy was on TV to talk about events coming up in GR and things you can do to help connect children in need to parents ready to adopt. So cool! What an awesome job she did getting the message across. She works so hard to help these families and kids...

Educate Yourself About Adoption: woodtv.com

Happy Birthday Queen Mother!

Happy Birthday to my dear mother! Love you!!!

Taking Root

These are the first flowers from the new pink dogwood we planted last year in honor of Maria's graduation.

It will always remind me that it began to take root...

at the same time as our "little" Maria...

...was ready to take wing.

Playbills: Whodunnit & Mirrors

Bridget performed last Friday evening in a couple of Playbills which are student-directed plays. The first was a mystery and the second a psychological drama. She has been busy with practices for these 2 along with performances of the Trial of Goldilocks and now that they are over, she is busy looking for a job!

Flash Back Friday 203

Bridget, 2008, 13 years old

Love Thursday: Gratefulness

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” M. Beattie

Tulip Time

This is the week of Tulip Time over in Holland, Michigan. To celebrate, I took some pictures of my own tulips out in the garden. Cheers!

A Pretty Special Graduation

This past Saturday, John & I attended our friend Lydia's graduation. She was getting her Master of Fine Arts Degree in painting from Kendall College of Art & Design and when I realized her parents from the east coast were not going to be able to make it for the graduation, I told her we would come. And take pictures. And be her adopted parents. It was a wonderful occasion!

It was very meaningful to hear Pomp & Circumstance even though she had only been my kid for a few days so far.

John's strategic seating plans allowed me to get a picture of her "hooding" and to get her as she came out of the historic Fountain Street Church where the ceremony was held.

We went over to the school for the reception and looked at her latest painting, Catalyst. This 67inx87in oil on canvas is in the front lobby of the school and it is beautiful.

Happy Mother's Day!

After church Sunday, we went to Olga's Kitchen over by Calvin College. It has been my favorite restaurant since I was at Calvin. As always, it was awesome to have all the family together! John took this photo for Mother's day.

Flash Back Friday 203

August, 2010

Love Thursday: Bridgie's B-day Lunch With the Fam!

Such excitement! We celebrated Bridgie with the whole family this past Sunday!

We had lunch at the Electric Cheetah complete with photos to capture the celebration of course.

Now she is really 16.

Birthday Artist Talk

The girls enjoyed looking at the artwork downtown at our church where the candlelight dinner was held. We have some of the work of Lydia Larson on display for a couple of months. Much to Bridget's amazement, Lydia stopped by with a present for Bridget, a very special little painting she had made just for her and she talked to the girls about the meaning behind it.

Lydia received a residency from the Netherland America Foundation and will be painting in Amsterdam this summer! You can see her work here.

Sweet Sixteen Candlelight Dinner

The punchbowl

The toast!

Great friends to help!

The prayer.

Time to eat.

Bridgie's Bridge!

We had Bridget's Sweet Sixteen birthday party downtown this past Saturday evening and thought it only appropriate to go over to the infamous Sixth Street Bridge for some fun pix with her guests!

Such fun! More to come...