another two year old in the house :)

Hi, dear friends, 

 She's two years old today.  I can no longer call her, "baby".  I have been trying to hang on to having a,"baby in the house", for a while now, but she's definitely one of the most strong willed, bright, silly, and incredibly sweet two-year-olds that I know. Did I mention sassy? Yes, she's sassy. There's nothing "baby" about her. Today we will have cupcakes and sing to our little girl, and next week on Easter we will celebrate her with the rest of our family. Much love and any hugs and so much grace for my darling daughter! 

Much love! and joy!

nicole mArie

a list. colored.

I have a lot of little things that may or may not be enough for a blog post, so I am just going to write about a whole bunch of stuff and call it a list. I won't number it, I'm going to color it ;)

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BLUE: Marathon training took a backseat to other stuff in my life recently. Yesterday was the first day that I ran/worked out in 7 days. My grandfather had heart surgery and then he had a stroke, and it's just been messy.  Prayers and good thoughts for him and the rest of the family would be really wonderful.

MAGENTA: I've fallen in love with Redbull. Seriously. I've been drinking my husband's Redbull and it's awesome. Aldi sells "red thunder" which, for the price (2.99 for 4 cans), is equivalent  but Redbull has more bubbles.  I'm a carbonation kind of girl.

PURPLE: I've almost finished the canvas painting that I mentioned in this post.
<------ This is what it looks like so far. When it's complete, I'll post it :)


YELLOW: This conversation actually happened:
M: these guys are going to walk on water (gesturing to his toy superheroes)

Me: well, actually, Jesus is the only guy who has ever walked on water.
M: what?
Me: Jesus, he's the only one who's ever walked on water.
M: wow! awesome. so cool.


PINK: While at storytime yesterday my daughter found it appropriate to say, loudly, "Put me down right now" more than one time. Seriously? Have I mentioned that she is very independent and sassy?  Well, she is. And no, I didn't bow to her statement. but yes, when I did put her down, she found 3 stuffed puppy dogs that she claimed as her own and carried them around until I had to pry them out of her tiny arms.

ORANGE: I am finding inspiration to move forward in my "creative arts" sort of business-sort of blog-sort of etsy shop-sort of life-living. I've been part of a "Right Brain Business Plan Summit" the last two weeks and it's been amazing. I've gotten a whole lot of great ideas from fantastic speakers who are actually living their creative lives in so many beautiful ways. I'm energized and excited for what's coming in my own creative life-living.

GREEN: and this just arrived in my mail! literally, just arrived.

I won the little canvas in the front, and then it came in that fantastically decorated envelope! Thank you, Amy!  You can find her at RubyMoonArt! :D

Happy Friday, Everyone! 

blessings! and joy!

nicole mArie

RED: OH! Also, I am still fundraising! I humbly ask if you are so inclined to consider donating to me for Women's Choice Network!  Let's empower these women!  Click the widget in the side bar ---> or simply click right here!

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Disney on Ice!

Last Thursday we had the opportunity to take our little people to see Disney on Ice: Treasure Trove. Cool right?  Even cooler is that I won the tickets for the show! Mamas, if you are local, go check out the Pgh Momtourage blog or the fb page for playdates, giveaways, information about happenings in the area, and everything else mom. 

My kids described Disney on Ice as,  "We went to Disney! but it was a movie... on ice! It was SO awesome." LOL 

I took a few pictures -- all from my phone.  Gosh, we need to invest in a real camera!   

 Mickey, Goofy, Donald, Minnie -- the favorites of my littles!

Yay! The Lion King :)

Hurrah! Aladdin! 

Part of the final song with all of the characters :)

(I really like this blurry shadowy picture from the parking garage)

Thank you, Pgh Momtourage, for a great morning of family fun :)

blessings! and joy!

nicole mArie

29 faces challenge 2013, #12, #13, #14, #15 and brave art

I tried really hard to get my boys to stand still so that I could trace their shadows. My younger boy stood more still (#12) than my older boy (#13). hehehe  They thought it was a cool project and wanted to watch me trace their shadows. After I traced them, the boys went ahead and painted themselves. 

I went back over the portrait on the left with a white grease pencil so that we could see the outline better, he had a lot of fun painting ;)

While the boys painted, I also painted. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy painting with my children? 

I played a bit with layering and textures, and even snuck a couple of faces into my art to add to my 29 in February tally.  I realize that I didn't complete my faces in Feburuary, but I made a commitment, and I am going to get these faces created and blogged about!  

#14 

#15

blessings! and joy!

nicole mArie

word tickets. dear friends. so much arting :)

This is what I am doing this evening. Being Creative. Missing dear friends, and feeling so much love brimming over for them!  I miss those who I created these words with.

Oh, the canvases are new. Well, new-ish.  Yes, I know that mighty is jumbled and strange looking. The loved word tickets are from 8 or 10 years ago, perhaps? Word tickets were inspired by this delightful lady, Susan Wooldrige, and her book, Poem Crazy. I recommend it, highly.  I am going to go back and paint another canvas.  

And this is my current work in progress.  We'll see what happens! 

I hope that you are having a juicy and wonderful beautiful evening!

blessings! and Joy!

nicole mArie