Lately...

The mini miss Kyndal Faith is extra-adorable and sweet and cuddly in the mornings.  Here we are when she joined me in my chair this morning...

 That's two Mondays in a row that I've gotten up crazy early to come get them, and it's fun being there when they wake up.  Jace goes from zero to 60 in about five seconds -- he jolts awake between 7 and 8 and then goes right into a story about the previous day or something he's looking forward to that day! lol  Kyndal is slower getting up, but then she's all smiles and cuddly cuteness.  Carter took his time getting ready upstairs, but hugged me and chatted a bit when he came down... he had a reading tutoring appoinment at 10, so we swung by CFA for breakfast and then I took him to that appointment, then took J&K to Mamaw's where they were joining Bob and Linda and their grandkids for a trip to the Science Musuem... then came back to pick up T-man, who slept in until I finally had to wake him up at 11:15 so we could meet my parents for lunch! lol

In unrelated but very exciting news, Jessica and Evan's adoption of Sophia was finalized this week!!

This group pic was taken one year ago, and I put a sticker over baby Sophia because it was not official and they were not allowed to publish photos yet... so here's the full group photo! ❤

It's been a very long journey for them, and I was so thankful to see this family pic!

A helpful reminder for anyone feeling tired like me on where we can find real rest.

Creek County is the gift that keeps on giving. lol  The AC unit in the ceiling above my office is leaking again... these pics are a week apart.

And this was the next day, after moving my printer and covering my computer to keep them safe.  They think they've fixed the AC for now, but the lovely water stains remain, and I'm guessing it'll be several months before I get replacement tiles.

I'm working on this.  And I'm thankful to have friends I can be honest with and work through hard conversations.

I went to the movies for the first time in several months this weekend... more time-consuming and expensive than I remembered (definitely more now that I cancelled my AMC Stubs membership), but it was fun!  I saw In the Heights, another musical by the brilliant Lin Manuel Miranda!  (The story was not Hamilton caliber, but musicals are always fun, and I saw some previews I'm excited about, including "Respect," the story of Aretha Franklin played by Jennifer Hudson - yes, please!!)

This is also on that Voila app... a Renaissance painting option where I somehow look more like Kat Dennings than myself. lol

The cartoon characters filter is much more fun!  FB should parter with them to create a more realistic "avatar" that people would actually wanna use!

Something I'd like to learn more about and practice is acrylic pour paintings... where you create this marbled bubbly effect by mixing the paints with different mediums and adding silicone and heat!  I'm in a FB group about that, and I'd also like to learn how to add 3D effects afterward -- the photos below are a "before and after" of a canvas where they did a colorful pour painting and then added the black and white for a shadow effect and the colored dots just for fun.  It's busy, but so cool and interesting to me - so my next project will hopefully be something like this, but less advanced!

That's all my random photos that didn't fit with the 40th anniversary post.  I'll leave you with this encouragement to keep moving and not grow weary in doing good!