Live and Learn...

I've been playing with headers and names...decided to drop the 'ArtSmith' name because: 1) I don't get as much art done as I want too; and 2) it's too hard for me to separate the art and the daily life, so this has become a daily life blog, that I can use to show things that I've done. And most of the things I do have to do with sewing and not the mixed media that I intended. Things change, people come and go and life moves on...along with your muse, sometimes. My muse has been gone for a long time.

As of now, I am officially changing the name of the blog to "Live and Learn". Not sure what to do with my Flickr account/name. I don't even know if I can change my name without starting a whole new account. I'll have to check that out, but for now it is still the same.

And check out that new and oh, so cool banner! I should probably have just gone ahead and put a regular everyday one up there but I just love this one. I got it for free at "The Cutest Blog on the Block", the same place I had gotten the cherry one. Hopefully, I will remember to change it after Halloween!

There was a HUGE adventure for us last weekend...it was Valero Family Day at Fiesta Texas. And we went! Valero hosts this every year but we have never gone. I just have not been brave enough to take Ethan out to a place like that. But this past year he has made a lot of progress and I felt like I could handle the multiple meltdowns we were sure to have. I can't believe this myself, but, there was only ONE! He wanted to play a game and win a stuffed Bugs Bunny, and things just weren't working out for him. I finally convinced him to let me try one. So I walked around and took a look at all the games, finally found one I thought I could win-it was the one where you pop balloons with darts. I even studied it for a while to see how the darts were weighted to make it harder for you to win. lol! So I finally decided to go for it, and just a few pops later, all three kids had stuffed toys!

I'm going to go ahead and brag here for a bit...I handed them my three tickets for 3 tries, and you had to pop one balloon for a small, two for a medium and three for a large. *Oh-side note...Ethan didn't trust me and thought Steven was a better shot. So, Steven played for Ethan and I was playing for the girls.* My very first 3 tries I won a medium Bugs Bunny for Claire! Steven tried 3 times and missed every single one. hee-hee-hee! I was now in charge of all of the tickets. Took 3 more tries and won a medium Tweety Bird for Allison, and used the last 3 to get something for Ethan. I only hit 1 balloon. That was it-no more tickets. So Ethan chose the small Bugs Bunny, and I thought for sure Meltdown City was upon us! But, nope. He liked the small one, because it looks more like a baby! Yee-haaaaawwww! Everyone was happy. Of course, Steven will never live down his complete and total loss to my incredibly amazing score! The new rule around here is that the girls have to say "my MEDIUM sized Bugs Bunny/Tweety that MOMMY won".


So, here is a shot of the two big guys in one of those teeny tiny cars...


They managed to do ok in the end though...


And one of the girls on the swings.


I had to go on one of the rollercoasters with Claire. The Roadrunner, I think. It wasn't the biggest one, but the next one down. Still to big for Claire, I think, but she just had to ride it. That girl has no fear! She wanted to go over and over but I thought that one heart attack that day was enough.

Long update, so I'll stop now. I have been working on some Halloween decorations and some things for a Day of the Dead Shrine; so someone please remind me to take pictures of it all before I take it down!