One of the joys I have in life is creating; it's how I got into soapmaking. I love crafts of all types (don't believe me? My crafty boards on Pinterest have a veritable lifetime of awesome craft ideas for me to try). I knit. I have a flower press. I have newly started gardening. I adore cooking. I rubber stamp. I like to color. And, I now consider myself an expert play dough sculptor.
When I was tasked with developing a 2.5 day retreat for my Entrepreneur's Organization group (that's us at the Inn at Langley enjoying an amazing meal cooked by Matt Costello), I jumped at the chance to make our team building exercise creative.
We tried glass blowing. Wow! It was intense. I was alternately terrified and curious about the process. When it came time to actually do it, I tipped over the line of worry and spent most of my creative time scared I would drop the molten hot glass or slip and touch the glass. It's over 1200 degrees so apparently, it would burn me but first, it would burn all the nerves so I wouldn't feel pain initially. That news wasn't all that comforting.
This is my creation. I'm ridiculously proud of it and even with the fear of burning myself, would definitely try my hand at glass blowing again. I also have a new-found appreciation for all glassblowing artisans now too.
Jamisen is growing to look more like his Daddy every day (which of course thrills me because I think his Daddy is pretty dang cute). He remains obsessed with trains, loves fire engines and likes to pretend cook me creative things every day ("Mommy, can I cook you some cheese ice cream?"). He adores reading time and we spend a lot of time at the library in addition to lining the pockets of all the local booksellers. Books are the one thing I feel good about splurging for him on; well, books and healthy food. Jamisen still drinks green juice and asks for it most days.
We've got Lily in on the green juice act as well. She gets kale or spinach most mornings for breakfast and is so good natured that she smiles through the entire meal.
Jamisen and Lily remain typical siblings, as the photo series above demonstrates. He loves her most days but still likes to torment her. Today, I caught him trying to feed her olives. He claimed he thought was sharing. I tried to explain the meaning of "choking hazard" to him but I'm not sure it sunk in. Not twenty minutes later, he came over, enveloped her in a giant hug and said, "I love you, Lily." I'm reading the book 'Sibling Rivalry' in the hopes that I can steer them towards friendship and teaming up against their parents, instead of each other. 
The other day Jamisen grabbed Lily firmly by the shoulders and proceeded to open mouth kiss her. That was a little more sibling affection than we'd like to see so Chris tried to explain to Jamisen that we kiss sisters on the cheek.
The downstairs remodel is almost done (yay!) and Chris and Jamisen have been having a wonderful time shopping for finishings and fixtures at Lowes and Home Depot. They bond over cart rides and shiny faucets. Our credit card can't wait for that father/son bonding activity to transition to something cheaper, like throwing money into a furnace instead.
Jamisen and Ava remain best of friends. She sent him a card this week and he's been carrying it around the house and sleeping with it. When he saw it, he said "Ooooh, it glitters!" Naturally, she had sent a card with sparkles (duh, everything is better with glitter.) He is planning on sending her a card in return.
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