Onward to the Dam

This morning we took the boys to the Dam.

We walked the long trail up to the top of the dam,
IN THE GRUELING heat.

Well J, Roo and I walked

but the boys,

well,

they ran

And ran

and ran

And ran

Finally we reached the top just in time for a LONG DRINK break!

And then to get a lesson from Professor Moe on the importance of staying hydrated in such heat.


There now, doesn't he look more knowledgeable. Thank you P. Moe

We were almost ready to walk back to the car to drop our internal core temperature
to a SAFE level but not before we watched a few airplanes take off and land.

Love that the airport is right by the dam!


Great place to take the kiddos to watch the airplanes. The boys LOVE it!

Finally it got to a point to where nobody could stand the heat anymore
so it was time to "get out tha kitchen"


Of course these guys were waiting at the dining room table for the human
fondue to be served!


So we thought it best

to run back!

And quick!

Stay safe and have a fun, happy summer!

Just a fun little FYI: Since Moe got his tubes in he can now run, jump, play without falling over and running into things CONSTANTLY! It is so precious to watch him run now without hurting himself! Makes a mommy's heart happy! Isn't he absolutely scrumptious running. LOVE IT!

Announcing the winner's LOOT!

A WHILE back, in MAY, I posted an "Ultimate Job" post and asked you all to find the scary job lurking in the picture I posted. It was in fact a contest and I had two lucky winners from that post.

Tia Gathright and Nicole Caldwell. I contacted both ladies to let them know they had won and to contact me to go over details of their winnings.

The reason there were two was that they guessed within minutes of one another the correct job and I just couldn't let one go missed. That job was so intense to me that anyone guessing/noticing it was probably just as freaked out about the job as I was so they deserved the loot.

I had only gotten a response from one of the winners and she FINALLY decided on a canvas painting for her girls' room. :) So exciting. Nicole, if you are reading this and you never got your contact. This is an official contact as well :). You won, If you contact me we can set up a fun something for your family too!

Here is her loot from that contest. Stick around, soon I will post pictures of it hanging in their fun room.

Tia chose the verse Psalm 19:14 for her daughters' canvas and I painted it to match the bedding and colors of their room. So much fun! It will hang by 3 ribbon tabs suspended from a wrought Iron rod (or wooden :)) fixed to the wall.



Also stick around because there will be more chances to win some super fun stuff here on my blog... just as soon as I find that "slow down time" button on this computer!

If you have not already gone by to take a gander, head on over to my etsy site to see some more fun paintings and if you are feeling REALLY great... place your custom order today! It's never too early for Christmas, Birthday, Holiday, event, ANYTHING shopping!

briwachsmann.etsy.com

I did it!

No. I didn't go sailing.

BUT I am SELLING - this painting as well as others I have done (and will do).

I joined the Etsy world ladies (and gents?)! :).

I had enough encouraging people tell me that I should sell my canvas paintings on Etsy. I started one up and it is ready to roll. I am still getting the hang of it all but the important thing is that it is up and running FINALLY!

I still have yet to sell anything. That is a bit discouraging, but it is still early. Right? I mean RIGHT?!? I did sell the "Hawaii blue "C"" listed on there but can make another one really fast. So it is still listed. She is a friend of ours through our foster agency so that doesn't REALLY count as an Etsy sell. haha But it IS a sell all the same and I am excited about that.

I am hoping that the ins and outs and side jobs here and there with some photo shoots and selling some paintings will help until J finds another job. For those of you who haven't heard, J was in a wreck Tuesday and totaled the UPS van as well as the other guys vehicle. Thankfully, THANKFULLY nobody was hurt and no charges were pressed. It was J's fault, he was looking at the clock because he was worried about getting into trouble for being on the clock more than 12 hours. Serious reprimand. But when he looked up there was a car going a bit slower than he and he smacked it.

Yeah, still a serious reprimand coming his way. TERMINATION!

He has the opportunity to fight it again like last time. This time it is in Louisiana. :) I am thinking this is NOT the way to take family vacations people! We enjoyed getting to go to KY and really look forward to traveling again some day but NOT to pursue a job that takes you away from your family. We were thankful for UPS for the past 6 + years that J has been there but they were not as thankful for him and it showed every day.

The days that he needed off because he was VERY ill, or we had court, or Moe had surgery. They threatened his job for him taking off. EVERY TIME! Nothing was enough for these people, He was there from 8:15AM to most nights 10:30PM and still they wanted MORE.

He knows in his heart that he is to return to school. He is looking to finish out his degree for middle school math teaching (more power to him). I agree that it will be a great job for him and I also agree that it will be great having him home more when he is teaching. We did however think that he would keep this job until Sept and then he would go back to pre-loading at UPS until school started. Yeah, well, God has another plan. Not sure what it is yet, but I KNOW HE does!

I had been thinking of getting some pictures together to display for selling them BEFORE he lost his job and I was feeling rather confident about it this time. Typically I am very nervous about my art work and self conscious. But I felt like God had given me the determination I needed and I was ready to roll.

Maybe that is what will help in this season.

So without further ado... here are some of the items I have listed for sale.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/briwachsmann
Naturally each order is custom made so the names that are on there are not the actual item for sale. It is just a replica of what you will be receiving with your chosen name on there. Unless otherwise stated. There are some that will be for sale on there that are waiting. Right now the sailboat no.3 is waiting (I was making them for the boys room but I figure I can just paint more). And the giraffe gift set is for sale right now as well.

Painted with my boys' room in mind but figured I'd try selling it
to see if it would be of any interest. Also I didn't have any boy-ish paintings
that I have done, SO I may as well try my hand at it :).

Just to sell. I thought this up the other night while thinking of fun ideas. I keep "seeing"
the letter "K" in the middle but I figured I will leave it blank for ANYONE.

This one was created for a fun craft swap thing I am a part of.
This was my craft to the girl whose name I drew.

Just to sell. I thought it up one day and kept "seeing" the letter "C" in a circle.
I painted it and it sold to a lady whose family's last name is Cook :).

These were painted for a friends girls' room. She won them from
one of my contests here on this blog

This was painted for a friend to give as a baby shower gift.

This was painted for a friend to give as a baby shower gift.

(hope you don't mind Mariah's room being on display Mandy :). It is rather beautiful!)

This was painted for a friend's little girl. Her bedding was the Circo Girl Safari bedding from Target. I painted three of the characters from the comforter.

I am pretty much able to paint most things. If you would like to have a custom made piece of art to have or to give as a gift, please contact me and we can discuss the details. If you can think it up contact me and I am sure you will see it come to life.

Thanks so much for following along on this whirlwind journey. OH and if you think of it please say a prayer for our family in this season of in between and figuring it out. J feels awful and just like he is not good at anything. I really have been building him up but I am sure the stress is hard on him being the "provider" for our family and all. He is a great man and a wonderful husband and father. He needs to FEEL God's love and strength to make it through even this. Thank you all!