randomness from the willis house

so i've had it with myself and not blogging.  somehow life went from super busy to flying at mega speed.  i laugh at myself for thinking we were busy 4 months ago, because the last 4 months have defined busy in a whole new way. sheesh.  still waiting for someone to invent a machine to slow time. somebody get on that, would ya?

i've had enough of the self-imposed guilt trips with myself for failing to document everyday life in the way that my brain thinks i should, so here i am making an attempt to drown out the voices in my head.

just so you know, this is going to be as random as random gets.  and in order to make sure that this was something i could mark off my mental 'to-do' list, i've decided that editing and resizing photos was a waste of precious time. so let's just pretend there are no flaws, shall we?

spidergirl has an on again off again relationship with her smile lately, but when she flashes those pearly whites at you, it's the cutest smile you've ever seen. seriously lights up the room. she's been off the charts emotional about anything and everything lately and i thought to myself "tania, if you think this is bad, just wait a few more years 'til those teenage hormones kick in." anywho. she was super proud to be wearing a towel on her wet hair after her shower just like mommy does. not sure what it is about a twisted towel---ashlyn went through the same fascination.

ashlyn has been spending her free-time drawing, creating, crafting, etc.  her hands are almost always covered with paint or sharpie marker. her latest creations are these 'made-to-order' phone pouches made from folded notebook paper that's been reinforced with duct tape.  she's ready to go into business folks!

just spidergirl looking so very little and quite adorable.  there's so many times i look at her and marvel at how grown up she looks, but so many other times where i realize how very little she still is.  it's time playing a cruel little game of tug-o-war with my heart.

if you've been reading for some time, you're aware that this sight is nothing new to behold.  my studio is in a constant state of disarray.  i'm so not complaining because that means there's been a flurry of activity keeping things hopping.  this summer has been one deadline on the heels of another and i've loved every moment of it.  but, really. it's time to clean! this i know.

we've been spending lots of time with sore hind ends from sitting on the bleachers in the observation deck at gymnastics for two reasons....

1. because spidergirl begged and begged and begged and begged some more to take gymnastics just like her big sister from just about the time ashlyn started her first lesson.  but that pesky asthma flaring up non-stop the first 4 months of this year kept my answer at a firm NO. but over the last several months her doctors seemed to have found the right combination of medicines to keep her well-controlled and well, i didn't have a reason to say no anymore.   she's over the moon thrilled, can't you tell! :)

2. because ashlyn was moved from 1 hour a week training to 3 hours a week training in the pre-team class.  but she was in pre-team for a whole week before they asked her to join competitive team!  she's super stoked.  so now she trains 5 hours a week and loves every second of it. my wallet is crying in pain though.  competitive gymnastics is off the charts EXPENSIVE.

this is how we roll when the pain is out of control.  heating pad and puzzles. oh joy.

shark week was celebrated with baths in the dark with glowsticks and.....

floating sharks.  eeeeeps!

my house is littered with little trinkets that are near and dear to spidergirls heart.  finding them laying around everywhere is almost as annoying as stepping on a stray lego on the floor.  she's completely smitten with this nerdy chipmunk brought back from Disney.

peace.  did you know that Friday was World Peace Day?  it was.  the girls' school did activities all day long to celebrate peace.  ashlyn had written an essay on peace and was chosen along with 9 other kids from the school to read her essay during an assembly that day. of course, i know that has nothing to do with a photo of spidergirl's backpack. lol.

this is HUGE news around here.........doug.ate.a.salad.  whoa. never thought i'd see the day where my meat and potatos man would start eating all kinds of vegetables and actually LIKE them.

awwww. i'll never get tired of looking at pictures of her missing her two front teeth.  anywho. we're still making the 100 mile roundtrip adventure every friday morning to the allergist for spidergirls' allergy shot. not my favorite outing of the week, but we try to make it fun. she always takes along some sort of stuffie to keep her company.  this is her Duffy bear--a souvenir she brought back from Disney.

it's always extra stressful for me when ashlyn joins us because the two of them together in a waiting room with nowhere to burn off excess energy is a recipe for obnoxiousness. 

this pretty little batch of fabric kept me busy the last few weeks for a deadline. it was fun to play with fabric again, but i think i've decided that i'll stick to my paper. i'm so much more of an instant gratification project person these days. maybe some day when life isn't so busy i'll enjoy fabric more than paper again.

that's all i've got folks.  pretty lame. i know. 

around town: The Ohio State Fair

back at the beginning of August we decided at the last minute to take the girls to the Ohio State Fair. they had been once before but were too young to remember it at all.  you should know....i avoid the fair like the plague. fairs just aren't my thing.  too many people....all sweating along with funky foul odors (both body and food) in one place for me.  it feels like mass chaos. but i was ready to take one for the team and suck it to go for the girls to experience it.

we really weren't there for the 'fair' per se, but i'll get to that in a bit.  i thought if we were all together, why not take a family photo. you can see that they are all jumping out of their skin thrilled about it, yes?  here's a secret: i'm not the only one overwhelmed by the fair around here.  mind you, we had just gotten back from Disney World, so they were comparitively thinking: LAME. but in all honesty, all my life, whenever i hear the word 'fair' the first thing that comes to mind is miserably HOT....and usually really humid.  this day was no different.

but there is some really, really cool stuff to be seen at the fair.  i always enjoy going into the Youth Discovery Center. some of the things they have displayed in there are quite fascinating.  my favorite is always the lego town.  they use nothing but legos to reconstruct major US landmarks into this cityscape display and it is a massive display. and if you ever miss getting your girl scout cookies ordered, never fear, they have loads and loads available for you to buy at the fair.  Youth Discovery Center is the place to get 'em.

 

whenever doug thinks of the fair, he thinks two things: corndogs and funnel cakes.  we were about 35 steps into the fair he and emma stopped to check out the corndogs.

they decided they were only mildly impressed. me?  i don't eat at the fair. EVER. fried food just isn't my idea of appetizing.

 

if you know ashlyn, you know that she will pick chocolate icecream.....excuse me, soft-serve chocolate icecream, over real food any day.  and if given the choice she'll pick the largest size offered. every time. the girl loooooooooooves her soft-serve chocolate icecream.

just because i don't eat at the fair doesn't mean my salivary glands don't excrete a little when i walk by the caramel apples. mmmmmmmmm. i LOVE caramel apples just as much as i love peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches, buuuuut i don't eat fair food.  you know, it's kinda hard to get a caramel apple if you aren't buying it at a fair. unless you make it yourself, i suppose, but that's way too much work for a single apple.  i don't think i've had one since 2007 but still consider them my favorite treat. 

 

anywho.  we were making our way over to the dairy building and got sidetracked by an enthusiastic entertainer preparing to start a magic show. emma loooooves to be entertained so we decided to stop and take in the show. just two minutes later emma was approached about being pulled from the audience to be an assistant in James Johnson's magic show and instantly melted into a puddle of giddy giggles. i'll never forget the pure joy radiating from her being during that magical 15 minutes.

 

funnel cake location found and noted for a stop later. :)

after the magic show we continued toward the dairy building and met some livestock along the way.  this dairy cow was such a sweet and mild tempered beauty.  i adore giving my girls experiences like this because when i think back to my childhood most of my memories revolve around time at my grandparents' farm or in the barn milking cattle by my grandpa's side. :)

and then we found the butter cow!  actually there were two and this was the smallest of them. there was also a three tiered cake......all sculpted from BUTTER.  amazing. the kids weren't overly impressed, but it's been an iconic thing at the fair for as long as i can remember.

but the reason we were really at the fair was to take the girls to their very first concert!  after scoring one heck of a deal on tickets we took them to see......

 

my girls are highly entertained by two shows on television right now: iCarly and Victorious.  Victoria Justice is the leading actress in the show Victorious, so they were thrilled!  tickets for this concert were $34 each face value, but we found great seats through Stubhub for $11 which also included fair admission.  typical fair admission is $10 for adults and $8 for kids, so, yeah....a deal!

 don't mind us....just killing time before the concert.  doug doesn't know how to smile for a camera....it's quite the joke around here.

 

our secret for keeping an antsy 7 year old little girl happy through a 2 hour concert?  a giant lollie purchased for $1 at Walgreens.  :)

 

 i was worried about how this one would handle a concert.  she doesn't usually do well with large crowds, dark spaces or loud noises, but getting there early and allowing her to adjust and take in everything around her before the lights went down was very helpful.  but i'm not gonna lie, i think i held my breath the entire night waiting for the sensory overload to take root.

the only thing i wasn't impressed with at this concert was her opening act, Max Schneider.  not that his singing wasn't stellar...because it was, but because he doesn't have many of his own song, so he was covering other artists. call me prude but i thought singing Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream' to 20,000 girls who's ages averaged 11 years old was a bit over the top.  it really icked me out and made me second guess our decision to take the girls to the concert.  yep. prude. i own it. at 7 and 10 they don't need to hear that stuff.

 

i spent the majority of the concert mesmerized by the lighting and trying to distract myself with testing out the various settings on a new point and shoot camera.  

 

  

and checking in on spidergirl who was still happy as a lark licking away at her lollipop and taking it all in.  she sang along to almost every song.

after the concert, there was only one last thing they wanted to do........

and that was find a funnel cake. and that they did. 

photo share: celebrating freedom

we kept with our usual 4th of July tradition again this year and headed over to Groveport to enjoy the mid-afternoon parade.  we weren't entirely sure that all the festivities would continue as Groveport had been without power for a few days prior because of the storm that blew through.  and actually part of the town was even out as the parade went one.

but, this parade is by far our favorite and wouldn't be missed unless it was officially cancelled.

some of the girls' cousins met at our house and followed us over while other cousins met us there.

doesn't this photo just melt you?  this is my step-brother Greg and his oldest daughter who is just ADORABLE!  she's quite the pro at this parade stuff by now---waving and collecting candy is her speciality.

it looks like a beautiful day, but it was HOT, HOT, HOT!  any more hot we would have poo-poo'd tradition and just stayed home.

when the cousins arrived to the house, i had just gotten done fixing the girls' hair into messy buns and spraying it with hair color that i stocked up on for 10 cents a can after halloween.  even at 7 and 10, my girls still love to dress up and find any excuse to dig into their costume bucket.

so, of course, the cousins needed a makeover too and aunt tania was happy to oblige!

only thing was.....it was so hot at the parade that when they were sweating their spray was melting off and dripping down their faces. it was a hot mess!

not sure what i did differently for my girls because for the most part their spray stayed put. i'm thinking maybe i sprayed theirs with hairspray afterward?  i dunno.

anywho. whatever it was that kept it in their hair, i'm thankful for, because this photo above is my new favorite!  i'm determined to get it printed on a large canvas before too long. the colors are so vibrant and their personality really shines through.  and spidergirl's big brown eyes just melt me! (click the photo to see it bigger!)

suzi lives in town and snagged us some super awesome seats, then spoiled the kids with goody bags filled with glowsticks, necklaces, sparklers, ring pops, and bubbles.  she's awesome like that.

and this little girl is my husband's sister's little girl.  she's quite shy when it comes to having a camera in her face, so i was extra giddy to have captured this photo of her!  for those of you who have been readers for a while, you think what we all think-----boy does she ever look like ashlyn did as a baby!  it's really unbelievable how much alike they look at this age.

and this is the same little girl up above waving at the parade passing by. gosh, she's beautiful!

of course, ya'll know, this is spidergirl!  sporting zebra sunnies and two missing front teeth.  she really wants her teeth to grow in before vacation.  i'm quite fond of that gap and hope it stays a while longer.

this is another one of doug's sister's kids....her oldest.  he's 6 weeks older than spidergirl, but she has about 20 lbs on him and a good 5".

my blonde beauty looking a bit like Marg Simpson, LOL.

these days, spidergirl is quite annoyed by my camera for the most part. she'd much rather blow bubbles than smile for me.

well, hello, suzi-Q! 

okay.......i have more, but my blogging time for the day has run out and i have to tend to some other things.

more soon.....