Good times

The other night Hubby and I put the boys down and decided to actually make a little time for ourselves. We laid out a great spread of yummies, opened up some wine, put in a movie and just hung out. It was awesome.
One of the things I wasn't really prepared for with having children was finding out how easy it is to totally lose yourself. You just sort of forget to make time for yourself and one day you feel like your own life has stopped. It is totally and completely about them. And for the most part, I guess that's how it should be.... but sometimes I need a life outside of being a mom, so I think it's really important for Michael and I to do little things like this every once in awhile.

We hooked up a playdate last week when Jeff got back into town. I was really excited to hear about his trip to New York, but we didn't get to get into it really. The playdates usually just turn into craziness just trying to keep up with Dylly and Shannon. It's really cool to see them having so much fun with each other.

Here's a super cute picture of Jeff and Jenn.

Playing chase in the backyard.

I guess it's actually kind of a nice thing to get together and not talk about work, but instead just slow down and hang out with the babies....

Yesterday was Michael's 35th birthday. It's pretty crazy to me to think we've been together since he was 24 and I was 23. Man, it's true... Time does fly. Our good friends Sloan and Joseph came down the hill to help celebrate. We were also celebrating the final days of Hubby's fertility,
as he's getting "the snip" tomorrow. (No more Carrillo babies for us, thanks!)

Sloan and Joseph are Bodie Bear's Godparents.

Our next door neighbors Tom & Bonnie AKA "The Poopies" dropped in with an ice cream cake from Coldstone creamery. Our friends rock.

Happy Birthday Bunches!

So after everyone headed out, we bathed the boys, put them to bed and chilled out in the living room, where we were greeted by this fellow. Aren't these guys supposed to be poisonous? Or is that just a myth? Whatever the case, I wasn't chancing it. I leapt onto our countertops and made Michael deal with him. All those creepy crawly little legs give me the willies.


eeeew.

The Birth of a Painting

Thought I'd post a series of pics taken of the sausage painting in the making. I wouldn't say I really have a method to my painting. I kind of just start in one area, and fill in the blanks as I go. When I'm painting on a personal level, I don't always work everything out in the sketch, I like to let a few things happen along the way.
Transfering the image onto the wood



Wasn't really happy with the background color. Since I would be using a lot of reds in the sausages and details, I thought a nice green would be better....
Throwing down on the skin tones, and some splashes of permanent ink. It bleeds through the end result, helps with the aged look I like to get.


Then I start making some decisions on where the accents and type will go...
pencilling in the type....
added a few more weenies, because really... you can never have too many....
viola. Finished up with a little aging.
A close up of the Queen.
So there. That's how I make a painting :)
Michael made me this really large wood canvas to paint on. It's sitting in our garage beckoning to me everytime I pass it. I'm actually really intimidated by painting large. But I think I'm going to try and tackle my fears on that one next.