Kleas

That time of year again

First stop, Fine Arts Building.

"Open Your Mind" by Susan Anderson-Kimm

"Spill" by Eva W. Christopherson 

This was fun...I happened to show up at the same time the artist and subject did.

"Sock Monkeys in a Meat Grinder" by Rebecca Yaker.  It just wouldn't be a State Fair without a new sock monkey original art.  See sock monkey dress and sock monkey chair from previous years.

Next stop was the Creative Arts Building.

Just recently I became fascinated with the idea of making a weaving like this after reading Sarah's post about it.

There is always a new collaborative art project...love the idea, sadly, my photos of the artwork aren't worth sharing.

Final stop, Horticulture Building

Scary-huge pumpkin.

The scariest of all scarecrows.

Magnificent flower displays.

And, of course, Seed Art.

Peanut spent the afternoon with Grandma, so Julen and I got to hang out alone all day.

It's a go

The final licensing meeting for the preschool went very well.  We are cleared to officially open our doors to welcome children for our fall program.  There were many hurtles to jump during the process.  Not all of them easy or comprehensible.  One example is, I was required to take a seat-belt safety course.  Not because I'll be transporting any of the children, but because I'll be driving my own boys to and from the school.  Then there are all kinds of rules and regulations in place that go from the obvious (We promise not to be drunk while your children are in our care), to the rediculous (Really?  We can't keep an alligator in the bathtub?).  There are also some ordinances in place that go against our program policies that we were able to creatively work out with our case worker.  One example is no towel may be used more than once.  Instead of opting for tons of laundry or tons of paper towel waste, we were given permission to provide each child with her own towel that we will launder once a week.  So we've been busy making them.

These are crocheted from Mission Falls 100% cotton yarn.  These are some of my favorite colors and I couldn't pass them up when I saw them while I was in California visiting Jen.

Now that we are all set, I'm starting to feel a litlle like Kevin Costner in A Field of Dreams.  We've built it, now all we need is for the children to come.  We're off to a slow start with only four enrolled...a far cry from the waiting list we had before.  But we have moved forward...that's all that matters.

Sleep deprived

Anyone else suffering from Olympic fever?  I've got it bad.  The late nights are really starting to wear me out.  Initially I thought I'd just watch my first love...gymnastics.  But then I'm also a huge fan of track & field...and how could I possibly not follow all that record breaking swimming?  On and on it goes.  Good thing it's only every four years.

To keep my hands busy, I dug out a long abandoned project.  Haven't made to much progress, but at least it's something.

Another thing keeping me up late at night is worrying about my final licensing meeting for the preschool...which will be later today.  Wish me luck.

Home.

Finally.  It’s good to have everyone back in the nest.  Papa returned home late last night after several flight delays.  It was a difficult three weeks without him here.  Going solo with the two boys was enough, but with all the work with the preschool and a major remodel happening at home, I’ve been swamped.  It was more than I had bargained for. 

Lucky for me, I have a dear friend who wanted to help out.  “Come and visit” was all she said.  I really needed a vacation.  So I packed up the boys and off we flew to California.

Jen so warmly welcomed us in to her home as only she can.  Spoiling us with all her surprises.

 

Such treats! And even a sweet handmade card from her daughter.

 

This beautiful quilt for Julen.

 

An orange flower original.  (I have to say I’m quite pleased Karin is blogging again).

I can’t begin to express what a treasure it was to see Jen in her life.  We’ve met in person on several occasions, but it is quite a different thing to get to see her in her home.  To hang out in her studio was so much fun.  To see where she creates, where she blogs, to see in person her amazing stash of supplies and how she has surrounded herself with all that inspires her.  What a wonderful gift.  I felt completely inspired just being in her workspace. 

Another treat was to watch how she mothers her children, how she cares for them, jokes with them, loves them.  And to see how that love spreads through them and into my own babes.  What joy to see our two four-year-olds together.

 

They just played and played and played.

 

And then there was mini-Jen.  At just seven, she was such a little mother to my Julen.  That girl is such a kind and gentle old soul.

Peanut just aches with how much he is missing his new best friends.  He’s been asking for them every morning since we got home.  Poor guy, he just doesn’t get that we can’t take a three-hour flight for a play date. 

Call us crazy, but we wanted to meet more blogger friends, so we road tripped it from Southern California to San Francisco.

First stop was Jen’s childhood town.  I was thrilled to meet her beautiful mom and see the home Jen grew up in.  I got to see her high school and heard lots of funny (and some sad) stories of her life growing up there.

Second stop was San Luis Obispo where we ate breakfast with the very lovely, very sweet Toni of Simple Sparrow. 

 

She so thoughtfully gifted me this beautiful linen tote.  With all the pretty orange and yellow fabrics, it will always remind me of Toni, as she is so full of light.

From there we drove to San Francisco.  Our kiddos toughed it out, tromping through the city as we toured about that afternoon.  The highlight of the trip to San Fran came when we were invited to Sonya’s home.  Sonya and I had met once before and I couldn’t wait for her to meet Julen for whom she made these beautiful gifts.

 

Bethany and Michelle were also there to complete this dream come true.  What a thrill for me to meet these two women after knowing them through their blogs all this time.  All I could have wished for was to be able to spend more time with them.  We all just hung out in Sonya’s wonderfully creative home, while all the kids played. 

Sonya talks about it all so succinctly and beautifully here.

Bethany, truly a renaissance women, brought delicious smelling lavender from her garden and  a jar of the best jam I’ve ever tasted.

 

This sweet bundle of fabric is from Michelle...I can't wait to play with it.

 

Thank you Sonya, for hosting such a nice get-together, thank you Michelle and Bethany for making the drive in so we could finally meet.  And thank you Jen for welcoming me and the boys into your lives for a week, we had such a great time in California.