2015 Auction Project: Complete!

Here's a shot while it was sitting in my studio, still in progress.

Here's a shot of it at the auction...

There were many steps between what I shared last post and the completed Prayer Wheel. However, I didn't take pictures, and Chris did a lot of building one weekend that I was in bed sick, so I didn't even see how it began to go together. As you can see, there was a change of plans. Instead of using the kids tiles for a table top for the prayer wheel we put them directly on the prayer wheel and did just one row of Om Mani Padme Hum. It was Chris' idea and I think it's much better than the beginning plan. If you have specific questions about how we built this you can always email me.

The kids designs are beautiful, and this year they got to see it before it went to auction! I usually am working on it right up to the moment I have to drive it to the auction and the kids don't usually spend any quality time with it. Along with the requisite mantras and sky and earth mandalas, tucked inside were the children's own words and drawings. It went to a very special family and brought in a handsome sum for the school. It would never have happened without Chris' help and I'm so grateful for him.

Now that that's done, I've got to get that studio back into working condition! There's always more work to do!

2015 Auction Project: Part 2

metal tiles for the table top

The kids made copper tiles with mandala designs on them for a table top. We used 5" x 5" aluminum tiles with a copper color on one side. You can purchase real copper or brass sheets too.  I had these tiles from another project and decided to use them.

I had the kids sketch out designs on a piece of paper until they were happy with their design. Then, I gave them a piece of foam - the kind you can cut up with scissors, it comes in sheets of 8x11 or rolls. I had a roll lying around and cut up 12 pieces that were about 6"x6", just a little larger than the metal tiles. The kids then put the copper side down on the foam and copied their designs onto the metal using a ball point pen. You can see the results in the image above - pretty neat! It is possible to then flip the metal and put more design into it for more dimension, but don't use a ball point pen on the front! Unless there is no ink in it. For our purposes, we just made designs on the back.

You can use this material to create a lot of different projects: The frame of a mirror, a framed piece of art, as in our case a table top, you could even use these individual squares to make the prayer wheel we're making next...There are a lot of possibilities with this cool material. It's not expensive and the kids were really into it!

Stay tuned!

2015 Auction Project: Part 1

Prayer Wheel at Medicine Buddha in Soquel, CA.

It's that time of year again! Time for creating a piece of collaborative art! This year I am again working with students at Tara Redwood School, though my son is no longer there. It has been a cherished annual project for many years now and I wasn't quite ready to give it up. This year I will be building a prayer wheel with the kids. It hasn't been an easy project to find how-to's on. Someone gave me a book with a few technical details on the proper mantras and prayers and which way to wind the prayers on the inside and exactly what mandalas to place inside...but it's a wide-open design project, aside from those few details. Ours is a good-sized table-top version, the drum part will be about 12" tall, and the over-all dimensions about 20" - but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

My plan is to have two students per row, six high (we've got 11 students, plus the teacher).  I will transfer their designs to copper foil and adhere them to the cylinder, which is an 8" cement forming tube (very heavy duty cardboard). I'm planning on using a lazy susan bearing set for the spinning action which I ordered from Amazon. The base is going to be an upside-down wooden bowl - found at Goodwill - that will have the children's designs on it. I plan on being the painter once they sketch the designs onto the bowl.

I think the secret to making a great, quality auction piece with a group of children is to know what part of the project to let the kids do and which part I should do. This year the part the kids are doing is mostly the drawing/design part. I will take their designs and implement them on the final piece, and of course I'll be doing the assembly. That way you get the spirit of the kid's work and tidiness of an experienced artist or maker.

Stay tuned for my own how-to on building a prayer wheel! Our auction is at the end of February, so it's going to be a high-speed project for me.

2014 Auction Project: Complete and Auctioned Off!

The dream catcher project is complete! This book and print together went for $1,200 this Saturday at our school auction. What a project! I'm pleased to be finished and have it passed on to the new owners. The book was my favorite part from concept to completion. I love the poems the children wrote along with the stamps they carved that related to their words. I took the stamps they made and designed their poem pages with them. This was something I had planned to have the children do on their own. Stamping may seem simple, but it's easy to smudge, and composition is not something that comes out of nowhere. So, in the end I used their stamps and their words and designed their poem pages for them. I used acid free paper in different colors. They wrote their poems by starting with four words: a person, an animal, an action and a natural element. I had them start each sentence with "I am". For example here is Max's poem with his words underlined:

I am the brown bear, I protect my babies and give them life.
I am a lake filled with fish.
I am laughter, strong and joyous.
I am the sister of playfulness connected by a dream.

I've always wanted to write a book! Technically I didn't write it, but I had a hand in the writing and design. And I honestly think I will make more!

Let's not forget the hand bowl! The kids love to play with clay. Who doesn't? We started with clay slabs, traced the kids hands, cut them out, had them stamp designs onto them and then I connected their hands to create a bowl. I made two of these. One broke in the kiln catastrophically. This bowl was auctioned off for $950 this Saturday. Sadly, I did not remember to take a final picture of the bowl, but I have one I shot quickly after it came out of the kiln:

2014 School Auction Project: Clay hands

It was a one day project - for the kids. It remains to be seen how many days it will add up to for me to finish this piece. Much more challenging than I thought it would be to put the hands together. If I could do it all again I think I would not. The hand making was a blast for the kids and really only took one hour with the children helping me clean up. The prep work for it was also minimal, maybe 1.75 hours. It took me many hours to put this baby together and I'm not sure I could do it any faster the second time around. With 12 hands and a 17 1/2" diameter kiln I had to put the hands pretty close together. I can tell you I will glaze it all one color and not individually underglaze each hand as I originally planned. In the end, though I think this project is far less time consuming than the print project I am doing with the kids in addition to this.

I surely have my 40 hours of volunteer time by now!

2014 School Auction Project: Phase 2

The kids did such a wonderful job creating their feather stamps. It's time for me to put them together into a dream catcher print. I struggled with this one. Perhaps because there were so many parts and I like things to fit just so. It took me a while to get comfortable with exactly how to execute the design, but I'm on my way now, after hours of playing with the stamps and ink colors, I'm on my way! I'm using acid free paper and ink for this project. I decided to just buy a good quality drawing pad (18"x24") and use the paper from that rather than a single sheet of really good paper. I'm glad I did, I needed a lot of practice and made a lot of errors. Good drawing pads aren't cheap, mind you, but in the end I think it was a wise choice.

This week I will go back into school and have the kids make a stamped page for the book that goes with the dream catcher theme. Hopefully I will be binding this book by Saturday. Hopefully!

Dream Catcher: each child made one feather for this piece. (this isn't the final, it's crooked, I know)

2014 School Auction Project: Phase 1

This project has been brewing since the September. I spent some time pondering the dream catcher concept. And, as lovely an image as it is, I realized a three dimensional dream catcher wasn't that appealing to me. The process may have been interesting, but when I thought of the product at the end I was less stoked than I like to be going into this project. I still love the image of dream catchers and the idea behind them, the feeling they evoke when looking at them or talking about them. I decided it's a solid idea. They are related to the curriculum the class has already covered this fall. Conclusion? A print project. Final piece is a matted and framed print piece of a dream catcher. And a hand bound book with the children's poetry and illustrations/stamp designs. The students are between 7 and 10 years old, there are only 13 of them. We broke into working groups of 4 at a time. Even the kids who I thought would have a hard time carving created beautiful stamps that they are proud of and that stamp quite beautifully. 

Plan:
Each child will write a poem.
Each child will design and carve a rubber stamp feather plus other images if they wish, using carving tools and rubber blocks.
Each child will illustrate a page to go along with his/her poem which will be part of the book.
I will use all the stamps the kids have carved to make the dream catcher print. The net in the center of the dream catcher will be a mandala of the children's stamps and each child's feather will "hang" from the net.

Materials:
Lots of rubber blanks
Carving tools
Ink pads, assorted colors
Heavy duty cotton paper, vellum
Bookbinding materials.
Frame for the final large print.
 
Possibilities:
There may be water colors involved.
We may make more than one...
The stamps will make it possible to make more and different works, such as cards, stamped clay pieces, printed fabric

The beautiful thing about these collaborative projects with the kids is they evolve as we go along. I have to be able to go with the flow of things. It wouldn't work if I clung too tightly to an image or idea. That would be frustrating and not at all fun for any of us. This is about the joy of creating and spontaneity and community.


Resources:

I recommend you support your local art supply store, but if you don't have a local place to purchase, go to Amazon.com or dickblick.com (DickBlick will give discounts to teachers and schools). I find that my local store is competitively priced and willingly gives discounts for school projects or even donates to local schools - don't hesitate to ask!

Making an Impression: Designing and Creating Artful Rubber Stamps by Geninne Zlatkis
Making Handmade Books by Alisa Golden
Speedball Speedy Cut Carving Blocks
Speedball Linoleum Cutter assortment
ColorBox acid free ink pads, as many colors as you need.
There's also the matter of framing it, which could be quite expensive, but I'm going to troll my local thrift stores for a lovely frame and figure it out from there.

2014 Auction Project Ideas

Yes, it's that time of year again. Time to start the auction project plan. The kids are studying Native Americans again this year. I'm thinking Dream Catcher. Big, bold, beautiful and collaborative. I think we can get a lot of good karma into this one. The dream catchers above I found on Pintrest, the two colorful ones are from etsy and the center piece is from Torchlight Jewelry. Our chickens are moulting, so we've got plenty of feathers!

And, let's just say the auction wouldn't be complete without a clay piece. Precious hands coming together to make a difference in the world. Be the change. You can find out more info about this bowl at Studio Art Dallas. I plan on making a similar one with Max's class using their qualities and colors. I'm hoping to get a little poetry into this one.

2013 School Auction Project: Finished, Auctioned & Installed!

It's hard to express the feeling of finally letting go the piece that I worked on and thought about for so long. Relief comes to mind, and Gratitude. The auction took place Saturday, May 11. There were a lot of lovely pieces of art the kids made together. Together the works raised thousands of dollars for the scholarship fund for Tara Redwood School. This piece fetched $1,300 for the scholarship fund.

This is the fourth year I've worked on the auction project for Max's school, and the sixth year I've done an auction project with one of the kid's classrooms. This was my favorite project from start to finish - the scale, the kids, the clay, the ability to be in complete control over the process, even the firing. As always, I could not have done it without Chris' help. When it comes to putting a piece together and motivating me to finish on time, he's the man. Together we carried that honkin' piece of driftwood from Potbelly Beach up a relatively steep trail and all together about 3/4 of a mile to the car. And, lest we forget the most important contributors, the children; each with such wonderful, positive hearts and creative little hands.

The cairn sculpture is about guiding people in the world towards positive actions. The kids each made a clay "stone" and decorated it with designs and a wish for the world. Here are the wishes the kids made to help guide us to good places:

Eland: "Be happy to make friends."
Lunden: "I wish people will stop cutting down trees forever."
Michael: "I wish people will have courage."
Simone: "I wish people will get along."
Thu-Ha: "I wish people will be kind to the earth."
Sasha: "I wish people will practice peace."
Hannah: "I wish people will be content with what they have."
Max W.: "I wish the world to have peace."
Samaya: "I wish all people will have love in their hearts."
Dani: "Believe in yourself to create a world you can live in."
Marina: "I hope everybody can be happy."
Ari: "Be Happy."
Max R.: "Be kind to the earth."
Tej: "I wish everyone can have happiness."
Fede: "I wish there were more sharing in the world."

Complete, this baby stands 7' 6" and is already installed in the lucky winning bidder's yard. I got a lot of positive feedback from people about this sculpture, which just made me want to make more. Maybe not quite so many parts. The possibilities are endless, really.

Now, what to do next year...

2013 School Auction Project: Almost Done!

So long since I posted on this year's auction project! It's been a long, slow process. Largely because I'm slow going and there were some experimental phases to this project that added a bit of time. Also, working just two or three kids at a time in little chunks and not limiting how much time they invested in their piece made for a long beginning to what usually has a heavier back-end time investment. Glaze: so hard to predict if you aren't always working in this medium and have the glazes you love to work with right by your side. This part made me especially nervous that I might ruin the kid's beautiful pieces. They are still beautiful, though and I am really looking forward to seeing the next batch come out of the kiln tomorrow.

There is one major change to the piece, it's no longer going to be a fountain :( . I've never worked with this particular clay before and didn't look up the shrinkage rate. I estimated that it would shrink 13% - well it shrank more and my holes are too small for the water pipe. If I were really dedicated I could file out the holes the extra 1/4 inch I need. But I'm not that dedicated and I don't have that much time, but mostly I'm not that dedicated. It will still be pretty rockin' though.

2013 School Auction Project: The Wishing Fountain Begins!

This year's project for Max's school is going to be a wishing fountain. We are going to build Stones from clay slabs - they will be hollow forms built over balloons. Each child will build his/her own stone and imprint a wish for the world onto the stone using rubber alphabet stamps. We'll use oxides to give the stones an earthy presence and also to bring the wishes to life. I've even thought about using gold leaf in the letters. The stones will stack atop one another, much like our totem of last year. I love stone trail markers called cairn. They evoke for me the outdoors, the guiding spirit of someone who has passed this way before...they fill me with a peaceful feeling when I look at them. That is my hope for this fountain, that the children will send their innocent, hopeful wishes for the world forth and, stacked upon each other the appearance will bring a feeling of peace to the observer.

Each year I do this I do something I've never actually done before. Which is both nerve racking and exciting for me. It really pushes me to think about my process, how to teach this simply enough to the kids and also to make it so the final piece is something we can all be proud of. I have a tendency to be overly ponderous with my pieces, and this project really invites this. The kids have purpose behind their creativity, both from to express themselves and from to raise money for the scholarship fund. This is why I love this project so much. It pushes my creative/teaching/parenting envelope to be just a little more expansive and I have part in helping another family by easing their financial burden just a bit. 

Already, after working for just an hour with the kids today I know I'll do it differently with the next group of kids. I'm working with 3 at a time. Covering the balloons with slabs of clay is challenging. I am going to make a batch of these tonight so that tomorrow the next group can spend their hour putting on texture and words. Otherwise I'll be living at the school for a couple weeks and that just won't do.

Materials and Tools:

75 - 100 pounds of Cone 10 Orion Stout
Slab roller (or you can use a rolling pin for a really good work-out)
Kiln (or a studio who will fire your work for you)
Balloons, I used 9" balloons and I've used inflatable beach balls to do hollow forms also. The bigger the balloon the more challenging it is to get it covered.
Letter stamps, mine are from my rubber stamp collection or you could just use a dull pencil to write on them too.
Texture tools - this can be anything you like, I have a combination of clay tools and random items from around the house and studio. I especially like my rice server with all the dots on it that makes a cool dotty texture (shown in detail below).
Scoring tool
Water
Paintbrush
bowls to fit your works in progress
fabric to rest your work in progress on - i cut up an old sheet
Plastic to wrap up your slabs and your work in progress so they don't dry too quickly.
Lots and Lots of patience.

Process:

• I like to set up the work space before the kids arrive.
• I put a big sheet under their work space and on top of their workspace for easy tidying. 
• Roll out your slabs, I'm making mine 3/8 of an inch, set them aside.
• Blow the balloons up to various sizes to keep it interesting :), place a balloon onto the fabric which is resting inside a bowl not too much larger than the balloon.
• Tear a piece of clay off one of your already rolled slabs, score it and paint some water over the scored part, do that one more time.
• Place one scored piece onto the balloon, score side up.
• Take the second scored piece and overlap the scoring edge (score side down) onto the first piece. This step was a little confusing for the kids, because you score both pieces and one piece is score side up and the other is down - I told them it was like Velcro, you need the Velcro to touch the other Velcro.
• Repeat this step until the entire balloon is covered. This is the part I am going to do on my own tonight so that we can focus on the more decorative side of things tomorrow. Speeding up the process to get to the really fun part is good.
• You realize, of course this is a closed form, and if you don't put a hole into it it will explode in the kiln, We're getting there, but not yet. We're going to work with the closed form until the kids are finished and then I'm going to cut the holes when the pieces are leather hard in just the right place.
• Once the "stones" are closed we smooth out the surface and then, once the surface has no cracks or bubbles left on it and the clay gets a little less wet we're going to put texture and words on there.
• As soon as I figure out the rest I'll let you know how I did it. :)

I've noticed most of my hits this time of year are the school auction project posts. I do that too. I'd love to hear about other people's auction projects. Leave me a comment and a link to yours if you feel like it.

Clay Totem: Auction Project Completed!

 The auction has come and gone and the totem was completed just in the nick of time (as is my MO)! It has a new home and is living happily there, I might add. It stands a whopping six and a half feet tall.

From top to bottom:
Otter; Playful, friendly, dynamic, joy, helpfulness and sharing
Sun; Protector of the Earth during day
Seal; Love, active imagination, creativity
Owl; Clairvoyance, insight, messenger
Frog; Sensitivity, medicine, hidden beauty, peace, adaptability
Moon; Protector of the Earth at night
Dove; Communication, spirit messenger, peace, gentleness, love
Hummingbird; Messenger, timelessness, healing and warrior
Bumble Bee; Organizer, productivity, wisdom
Bear; Industrious, healing, power, self-preservation, courage
Loon; Serenity, good orator


The children chose the positive qualities they identified with first and then found out what their animal was. The meaning of the animals comes from Native American tradition. The children observed and talked about Northwest Native American art before they began this project.

(Another) Auction Project: PMC Jewelry

These are the Sculpy stamps the kids made in class, I mounted them on wood dowel pieces.

The foreground pieces are dried copper clay with the kid's stamps, these haven't been fired or "worked", the background three have been fired and cleaned. These were rejects or samples for experimenting. I would like to enamel some of these.

These are the pieces after they have been fired, cleaned and had a patina applied to them.

This is the bracelet. There was a surprising amount of work put into this, mostly because I changed my plan about how to put it together. Originally I was going to make it more like a charm bracelet but didn't like commercial chains available.

This is the neck piece. This took me a while to figure out, but I was happy to use a piece of hand-woven chain I had made recently. I really love this necklace, the spontaneity of the kid's art alongside the more planned execution of the piece.

Mandalas. That's where it's at. Mandalas were where our minds were focused when we began this project. Each child had three discs of Sculpy to press objects into to make a mandala pattern. We used pens and pencils and other small, every day objects that have details you may usually miss. Take a look at the pens in your pen cup, check out the diverse detailing on the ends of those pens and pencils. We used those patterns to create more patterns. This part was my favorite and the only portion of this project the kids were involved in. The reason I enjoyed this part was the amazing creativity the kids displayed. They were all little master pieces in their own right. I won't go into the details of how I made this, it's not complicated but not all that interesting either. If you'd like to know more then do email me, I'm happy to tell you about it.

I'll update this when it's been auctioned off to let you know how much it went for!

School Auction Project: Kid's Work Progress

Phew. I began the project with the elementary kids at Tara Redwood School this week. This was no small feat. Max and I were not feeling well for about 8 days and things came undone. That means the undone became even more undone, picture Pigpen meets Harry the Dirty Dog and toss in a hurricane for good measure. Balls got dropped. Dogs didn't get walked. I didn't get my own jewelry project done (damn). But, as I promised the kids, I was there at Tara with slabs of clay and lots of little clay tools and hopes that they would have fun and also do a little elementary kid magic with this project. I was not disappointed.

I've made changes in my approach since I last wrote about this project. Originally I thought I would have the kids work on round pieces, I nixed that and went to tubular pieces. However when I experimented with my two boys at home it was immediately clear to me that flat was the way to go. It's less frustrating and the final structure will be more sound (I hope). The children each chose a quality which was attached to an animal totem, they found out what the animal was after they chose their quality ie: wisdom = owl, learned humility and teaching = bear, beauty and spirit messenger = hummingbird, spring and new life = frog (that's what Max chose)...This is a fun project. I worked with the kids in groups of three which is plenty for this project.

Here's how I prepared:
I rolled out slabs of terracotta clay, I think I did 3/8". It's got to be sturdy. I cut them to 14.5"x6.5" which fit my heavy cardboard tube perfectly (I got the tube from the carpet place down the street for free). I placed all the cut slabs onto newspaper and then onto wallboard which has the edges taped with duct tape (any tiny bit of plaster that gets into the clay can make it explode, so don't skip the taping part!). I will put the slabs on plastic first next time, as this really took too much moisture out of the clay and made me rush through a little of it and became frustrating for the kids who came last today. I brought extra slabs with me for cutting shapes and attaching them, and we made snakes and rolled balls of clay for details. We used a lot of little stamps I've made over the years with fimo - but you could use anything, Lego pieces, pen butts, drill bits, little toys. Anything that makes a neat impression.

Check out the progress we made:

This is an otter in progress. Everyone started with a flat slab like this and built their piece from there.

A bear, hummingbird, sun, frog and wolf so far...

Almost a Totem Pole already!

School Auction Project: Inspiration & Plans

These little beauties are made by artist Meagan Chaney. I adore them.

Kapaa Middle School students made these! (Kawai)

In a couple weeks I will start this year's auction project for Max's class at Tara Redwood School. We're using clay as our medium this year. The theme is Northwest Native American Totems. The lovely thing about this subject is it coincides with their studies of North America as well as the Essential Education which is the foundational philosophy of the school. We will be building Spirit Totems, each child will choose a spiritual quality they feel they either embody or wish to work towards - the quality will have an animal connected to it. Salmon, Bear, Dragonfly, just to name a few. Each child will then make that animal in clay. I will make clay hollow forms, formed over small inflatable balls which will be the foundation of their animal.


This week I will:

Gather the clay, cone 5.
Gather inflatable balls, 14 (twelve kids and two teachers).
Gather old towels and blankets.
Gather plastic containers to hold the clay forms.
Gather used plastic bags and such to loosely cover the clay forms.
Make lots of clay slabs.
Purchase spray vegetable oil (3 cans).
Start making hollow forms.

Wow, now that I've made my list I'm feeling a bit nervous. :) I am going to have to get Coleman and Max to help out in the building phase. Maybe I'll even have Max work on his at home.

The following week, Tuesday and Wednesday I will work with the children in groups of three on how to build their animal totem.

I am not certain how I will guide the kids to design their totem. In other words will I guide them to create in the style of the NW Native American tribes? Will it be their own design, without too much guidance? I will be thinking this through more thoroughly while I go through more and more images. Here is some more inspiration, for your viewing pleasure:

Artist Robert Davidson

Artist Robyn Gordon

Stephen Fabrico

Artist Mardi Kearney

Artist Gary Jackson

Update: Auction Project & Chicks

I bet you're wondering where I've been. Been here. Things were a little nutty this week. There was Max's auction project that occupied a full three days of my life (and Chris'). Then there was all the other stuff. Mostly chickens, kids, a short visit from a friend from afar and house stuff. We were busy this week!

Max's Auction Project:

Max's school auction happened on Saturday. Chris and I worked like mad to get the mirror completed this week. I think the last time I made one for an auction I said I would do it differently and more efficiently. Clearly I have forgotten all I learned the first time around because it seemed much harder this time. It was a little complicated by the fact that the tiles were round and I was encrusting sea glass in the grout (and all just 24 hours before it was due). I missed my Laundry to Landscape gray water workshop class because I planned so poorly for this project. I'm disappointed in missing that class, big time. But the final result was splendid, actually and it fetched around $550 for the school. The money goes towards scholarship funds and things like PE, music and art. All important causes in my mind.


The Chicken Coop Project:

All 17 chickens are living outside! They seem to keep themselves segregated by age group right now. Hopefully that won't last forever. I've got lamps in the coop to keep them warm on our chilly California nights. Bob, our architect and Luke, one of the carpenters built the coop and run in about 3 days - give or take. They did a great job. The chickens are safe and secure and in a multilevel coop. They only seem to be spending time on two levels, still have to check out the top two floors. As you can see, Kitty would love to get into the coop with the rest of us. But her intentions are questionable at best. Happy to have a fence between the Cat/Dog and the chickens! And Max is officially known (to me) as Chicken Boy. He adores them and they are getting used to him. He climbs right in with them. Coleman is a little grossed out by all the poop in the coop. Plus, one of the chickens pooped on him today! I expect a serious lag time between that visit and his next. :)

Introducing Night Ninja: 

Today Coleman and I would like to introduce you to one of our 17 chickens. Night Ninja is our nicest chicken (says Coleman). She got her name because she's black, oh and she's super fuzzy. She enjoys being held. She's also one of our larger ladies. We believe she is a Dominique. We will not know for sure what she is until she's fully grown in a few more months. For now we're going with Dominique. We'll introduce you to our others eventually, one at a time.


The House Project:

The house! The kitchen counters are in, oh yes they are. The tile in the bathroom is complete. The trim and doors have been primed (a wee bit stinky). Left to do: install appliances, install sink/vanity in bathroom, install toilet, install shower fixtures, final coat of paint and the decks and front step! That's all that is left!!! It is possible we'll have a final inspection on Friday of this week. This better be the case, because Nana Rose is flying in on Wednesday at noon-ish. We're all looking forward to Nana's arrival as much as we are looking forward to moving into our remodeled home.

Here are some other fun shots from this week:

I'll let you know how it all works out later on this week. Ciao for now.