(lots of pictures from) GRADUATION

It’s probably a sin how much pride I have for my husband this week.  Good job honey!

 

He was pretty easy to spot it the line-up since he’s SO TALL.  Check out this poor short guy that had to stand by Dan, I doubt he was more than 5 feet tall.

Meanwhile… up in the stands:

   

 

Sophie’s favorite parts of graduation (after Grandma, Jake, and the treats) were this guy’s green hair in front of us and the service dog that was among the graduates.

My favorite part of the ceremony was when they announced “Daniel Chapman!”  Since they asked us to hold our applause until the end the stadium was mostly silent.  And Sophie knew she should be excited for daddy but didn’t know why.  So when they announced “Daniel Chapman”  Sophie screamed, “Yea, Daddy got his CHAPMAN, Daddy got his CHAPMAN, yeah Daddy!!!” We tried to explain that Chapman was his and her last name.  But every time she sees his tassel hanging off our rear view mirror she says, “Look mommy it’s daddy’s Chapman!”  So cute, I love this funny girl.

My cute girls with their dolls in matching dresses stopped traffic.  Thanks Grandma!  There was a reception after graduation but it was hot, windy and (as evident in the picture below) the kiddos were ready for naps.  So after a few pictures we went home.  I can’t thank all of my kid holders (Mom, Dad, Tom, Nedra, Jake, and Kim) enough.  I didn’t do much kid holding during the ceremony, they had me covered.  I feel so fortunate to have all that support!  Also, thanks to Kim for letting me borrow her camera for the day, I went a little picture crazy since I’ve been camera deprived.

In the program it said that these hats were specially designed for DU’s law school and the graduates are entitled to wear the cap.  (I know you’re jealous.)  It also said, “When Roman law freed slaves they won the privilege of wearing a cap.  The academic cap is a sign of freedom of scholarship as well as responsibility and dignity.”  We are feeling pretty free, but unfortunately for law graduates they still have the bar exam hanging over their heads.  Dan started a full-time bar prep class on Monday, he’ll take the Colorado bar in July and we’ll get his results in October.  I don’t know if we’ll feel really free until October, but graduating from law school is a huge accomplishment in itself.

 

Coming soon… pictures from our dinner celebration and Grandpa Tom’s awesome birthday monkey hat!

slipcover blues

I’m tired of our couches, 5 years is enough sage green with floral pillows.  I wish I would have got a neutral color so I could just change the pillows.  To make it worse, it has a tight back with un-attached pillows so I don’t know if a slipcover will work.   The picture below is a slipcover, but I doubt in real life mine would look that good.  Plus the nice slipcovers are $100 anyway.  I’m not sure how I’ll make it happen but what I really want is a tan or brown couch, light blue wall and blue and white pillows.  I could really go for cute yellow book case or end tables to accent.  Can’t decide if I would be better off to sell my couches and buy a new brown one or do the slipcover thing.  Do you have slipcover experience?  Are they a pain? 

       

“you could fit a whole baby in there”

That’s what the lady at Wal-Mart said to me this weekend referring to this new diaper bag I made.  She’s right, probably could.

I’m so in love with this fabric I have an urge to just make pillows, clothes, blankets, coats, and everything else out of it!  It’s called Mustard Wall Flower by Amy Butler, the pattern for the bag is also from her and it’s called the Nappy Bag.  I don’t care if anyone else likes it or not because I do.  And I want to go places just so I can use it!  What have you made lately?

a reason to smile

Dan is taking his LAST FINAL right now!!!  And graduation is on Saturday.  I think I’ll be doing a lot of smiling this week.

signed up today

Even though we are moving the day of the race, Dan told me to go for it. So I have to run really fast and get home to help with the move. Feeling pretty selfish right now, but hey, I've been planning on this for a year now! Crossing my legs just thinking about it. Remember last year?

they wouldn’t stop shaking the bag…

My good old girl went belly up.  (If you don’t get my HILARIOUS joke, you should go watch Finding Nemo, and try again.)

$185 to repair

re-sale value under $200

she gave me 5 1/2 good years

problem: I’m only half way there with my new camera savings account to replace her

solution: learn to manual focus

here are my best attempts this morning:

I think I can get better at this manual focusing stuff.  It just feels so good to have my big bulky camera back in my hands!  On the bright side, working with a handicap will only make me stronger.  And when I can afford a new camera that will not only have a working focusing motor but tons of new and better features I am going to be happy with every single picture it takes!

The people at the camera store always make fun of my old camera, like it’s an antique and they’ve never seen one this age in person before.  Yes, it is an ORIGINAL digital Rebel, no x’s t’s or i’s.  They’re doubting makes me want to prove her worth even more.  They offered to just recycle her for me, no way!

When I went to pick old girl up from the camera store an older sales man caught me and gave me some stuff to think about.  He actually recommended that I switch systems completely.  He wants to set me up with an Olympus.  Never even crossed my mind.  I saw some of the pictures he’s taken with it and I was amazed.  Biggest upside is that the body has image stabilization built in so the lenses do not, making the lenses much much cheaper.  So I could have a lot more equipment for less money.  But if I want HD video, Canon is still my friend.  I’ve concluded that the noise reduction in any new camera will be so ridiculously better that I will be happy with anything.  But I am glad I have some time to think about all of this and make an informed decision.  I need at least until the end of the year reach my savings goal.  Anyone bought a camera recently?  Do any of you shoot with an Olympus?  What’s your system (Canon, Nikon, Pentax…)?  I would love your feed back.

Tessa Messa

Here she is stealing some of Sophie’s oatmeal she stepped away from.  I try to feed Tessa some and she says, “NO!”  But she’ll sit down and try to feed herself for a half hour.

This girl can get comfortable anywhere!

 

  We love our Tessa Messa.

Denver Art Museum, a good free day choice

I would like to recommend the Denver Art Museum as a good “free day” choice.  I’ve been to a free day at the Nature and Science museum and at the Zoo, NEVER AGAIN.  It’s simply not worth driving around for an hour trying to park, parking 2 miles away, and then literally fighting with the crowds to see exhibits.  Both were just wall to wall people every where.

In contrast, I’ve attended 2 free days at the Art Museum now and it totally rocks!  Granted, we arrived shortly after they opened both times and it probably gets busier later in the afternoon.  But we really like the art museum.  They had added some more kid areas since I’ve been there last, making it even more kid friendly!  There were SEVERAL arts and crafts areas, a dress up area, play room with fabric word pillows, a kid movie “cave,” and games throughout.  (Notice in the pictures our comfortable proximity to the other patrons.)

Matt was in town for a 3rd interview and we just heard today that he has a contract!  (We are SO excited to have them move to Denver.)  Anyway, it was fun to have him come too.

This Indian painting is my favorite, of course the picture doesn’t do it justice, it is just beautiful.  The center one is actually flattened bottle caps hooked together with wire.  The last one had a small room dedicated to it, explaining how it was done and displaying the pieces used.

There was some very, ahem, interesting stuff too… like this room that had projectors putting up lines and angry words up on the walls of a dark room.  And this baby that destroyed all of its toys.  On the modern art floor Sophie kept saying, “look Mom, that’s so funny art huh?”  And she was right.  I do get some of it… but not all. 

I love art and I LOVE free!  So come see us the 1st Saturday of any month and we’ll take you down town to the art museum!