Missing the Girls

This week has been a little rough for Rachel and I, all of our kids are away with their grandparents for a week. This is the first time either of us has had our kids gone for longer than a weekend. Lauren and Claire flew by themselves to California and spent time in LA withgrandparents and also took a side trip to San Diego to see Sea World and the Wild Animal Park. Mary and Molly went up to Grand Lake to spend the week with their Grandma in their cabin. While we enjoyed the time for working and leisure, we found that we all missed the kids more than anticipated. We are both not the "hovering" or "over-protective" mom types but we are involved with the kids and enjoy our family units. Well, my kids come home today and Mike and I are off to the airport to pick them up. Rachel and Jeremy still have a couple of days until their girls come home. Hopefully this will get easier for all of us as the years go by.

While we had so much free time, Rachel and I were able to start our annual planning for the business. We have some great events planned for the Fall. We have our new line of jewelry and we have classes and some other fun events as well. We'll fill you all in on our events soon.

School starts in 3 weeks, so you should be hearing from us more then!

Kernels of Truth

Have you ever read a book and had a line stick with you? I am reading Saving the World, by Julia Alvarez. It is a wonderful story entwining stories of two women from different time periods in their personal journeys.
Although I read this line a week ago, it has stuck with me:
"People don't just belong to themselves, they belong to the people who love them." p. 89
What kernel of truth have you found in your summer reading?

In Spite of It All...

Summertime is crazy! It has been a whirlwind of art camps and trying to escape the heat. With four kids (combined) at our respective homes; Kerry and I have little time left for ourselves, much less our business. Summer perhaps should be our busy business time, but it is in fact, our busy family time.

In spite of it all we have managed to keep our Amazon storefront and our Etsy storefront updated.
We have still found time to make more jewelry, plan our fall line (you will love it!), and clean out the studio. (Check out our etsy store for great craft items!)
Next month we will launch our participation in a fundraiser for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. A worthy cause, indeed. Stay tuned for our special jewerly that will help to raise money for research.

Breakfast of Champions

Good Morning!
This is how I start my day: A bowl of fresh berries and a big mug of hot coffee. I love my "Smart Women THIRST for knowledge" mugs that Karry gave to me for my birthday one year. They inspire my day...and probably lead me to drink too much coffee. Today my mug was filled with delicious Hawaiian coffee that Kerry brought back from her trip.
I hope your day started off as well as mine did.

Dog Blog

While Rachel and the girls were out, I decided to fill you in on my stay here. I hope she doesn't mind that I used the computer.
Today I played with my baby--you can see it in the picture.
I also took a nap. I also chased some squirrels. Oh, Molly gave me a treat, and Mary brushed my fur.
I think it was the best day ever!
bye for now!
--Blue (the dog)
p.s. I miss my family. I wonder when they come home.

House Guest

We have a guest in the house this week. Kerry's dog, Blue, is staying with us while she and her family are vacationing in Hawaii.
Honestly, I was a little concerned about dog sitting when she asked us if we would be interested. My younger daughter, Molly, has had an unreasonable fear of dogs since she was about one year old. She would cry and tremble if a dog even sniffed at her. We never knew what caused her fear. Some suggested it was from a traumatic experience, some suggested it was because the dogs were as big (or bigger) than she, others said it must be from a past life. Whatever it was, she has never felt comfortable with dogs.
Blue has been a stellar house guest. He is a very mellow, gentle Golden Retriever. Even though Molly has known him for years, she never really warmed up to him, until now. She adores him! The first day he was here, I found her cuddling with him while she watched her Saturday morning cartoons.
This is a wonderful experience for all of us. I have even caught myself wondering when we might get a dog of our own.

Hatched!

The babies have arrived. By our count, there are at least two very hungry robin chicks in the nest. The mama robin is doing her job bringing lots of worms and protecting these tiny chicks. Here is their first photo.

The other three nests she built must have been "practice nests" She stopped sitting on them a few weeks ago, and directed all of her attention to this one.

I will keep you posted if there are futher developments.