Joel's Turn for Ink

Joel has been wanting a tattoo for some time now and once I got mine he decided it was time to get his done too. Problem was he was having a hard time deciding what to get. Joel and I have also discussed getting complimentary tattoos since I really don't like wearing jewelry...including my wedding ring. Anyone that knows me knows that I rarely wear my ring. So Joel did some research and found that the dragon and phoenix are yin and yang in Chinese culture. He showed me some artwork that he found and I fell in love with it, so that is what he decided to get first. He got the dragon yesterday and I will be going in next Saturday to get the phoenix. Anyone want to come hang out and watch? Jacob at Sovereign Tattoo did a great job on Joel's new ink and Joel loves it!

Jacob placing the stencil on Joel.

Starting on the outline.

Playing with my camera and angles.

Outline done and looking great!
Shading comes next.

Jacob working hard.

Dragon head, I love the touch of red in the tattoo.

Joel checking out the finished tat.

Nothing like new ink!
Thank you Jacob!

When Oliver Grows Up

Oliver has told me MANY times that when he grows up he is going to be a ninja and one of the steps to becoming a ninja is to join karate. We finally allowed Oliver to be tested by Mr. K and Mr. B to see if they thought he was ready to take classes. He passed and has been loving his time on the mat ever since. Of course Joel and I are wondering what we might be getting ourselves into, teaching Oliver to punch and kick properly and with force may not be good for his big brother! Noah is a by-the-book sort of kid and follows the, "karate is for self defense only," number one rule at all times. Oliver, on the other hand, may have a harder time with that rule. We have faith that Oliver will obey the rules or at least learn quickly that there are consequences to his inappropriate actions. Nothing like Mr. K taking your belt away to drive the point home. Ollie is loving his karate time and looks forward to it. I enjoy seeing both of my boys learn from two amazing instructors.

Getting ready for class to start.

Warming up and stretching out.

Draw, punch!

Noah realizing that I turned the camera on him.
I got the shot before he pushed my hand/camera away!

Listening to Mr. B.

Little kids got rewarded at the end of class by getting to do the, "ground and pound." You ground the pad by jumping on it, then you...

...pound it into the ground. You should see the smiles on the kid's faces when they get to do this.

Lego Mission: Space Shuttle

Noah's latest Lego purchase was a big one! Recommended for ages 16+, 1204 pieces, 17.5 inches tall with a 10 inch wingspan and the boy put it together in no time at all. It's an impressive Lego creation that Noah asked me to share with the readers of our blog, so here it is in all it's Space Shuttle awesome-ness...

Separate fuel and rocket boosters you can attach while it's on the launch pad. Ready to launch!

Noah showing me how the doors open up so the crane can deploy the satellite complete with solar cells and folding antennae.

Shuttle in landing mode.

Red-hot engines.

This Makes Me Laugh!!

This is from a blog that I follow...it makes me smile and laugh. That makes it worth a share don't you think???

http://vimeo.com/18423001

My First Tattoo

I've been talking about getting a tattoo for quite a while now. Steph has always talked about dragging me over to Bend to meet Hawk and get a tattoo from him. Well, when you wait long enough good things, apparently, come to you! Hawk and the other artists that he works with decided to open up a shop in Portland too. So they now run 932 Tattoo in Bend and Sovereign Tattoo in Portland. Anyway, one of my gifts I received this Christmas was a gift certificate for a tattoo from Ricki. Steph and I were meeting for lunch and decided to meet down near the shop so I could stop by and see Hawk and pitch him my tattoo idea. That was yesterday! I gave him the email that I had sent Steph that explained what it was that I wanted, he asked a few questions, Steph and I went to lunch at Detour Cafe, came back and he had drawn up exactly what I had envisioned. Not wanting to lose momentum I made an appointment for today. Here is what I gave to Hawk...

I think of life as one big patchwork quilt...lots of little pieces, not necessarily matching, the same size or even coordinating but when put all together they make you who you are...something beautiful. The beauty is hard to see sometimes b/c of all the ragged edges and misshapen pieces but when all done a useful piece of art. I want to take that idea and make it into a tattoo...2 or 3 pieces of fabrics, different shapes, a couple of the edges "sewn" together nicely, an edge or two torn and ragged, needle still attached with a thread...

I was a bit nervous when I got there but it was an excited nervous, not a what-the-hell-am-I-doing kind of nervous. Hawk got things all set up, sat me down and put the transfer onto my arm. I loved it even more when I saw it on my arm. I sat back down and he got to work. Since this was my first tattoo I had prepped myself for the worst! Luckily, it wasn't bad at all. It got a little bit ouchie every once in a while but nothing that I couldn't handle or deal with. I was smiling and chatting the entire time so it couldn't have been that bad. I do have to say that getting a tattoo is, or at least it was for me, quite a rush. I can see how people can want more and more. To see your idea drawn and then inked onto your body, then your body dealing with the pain with a bit of endorphins and adrenaline...um yeah, I'm pretty sure I will be getting another tattoo. Steph, John and I decided that each December 31st we should meet for fresh ink. Sounds like a great New Years tradition to me! Speaking of John and Steph, they decided to get tattoos too!!

For now I have to keep my tattoo dry and clean, wash with soap and water often. After two days I can start using some non-scented moisturizer. I will post more pictures once it's healed and the redness and swelling have gone away. People keep asking me if it's sore and to be honest, it is a little bit but again, not nearly as bad as I was expecting. The best way I can describe it is by comparing it to razor burn or a very mild sunburn.

Just a few minutes into it, see, I'm smiling!

Outline almost done.

Outline is done, next up is the shading. I decided to keep it simply black and gray this time around. I can always add color later if I want or get another, more colorful, tattoo.

The shading begins.

The man is good!

Here are some close-up shots. I love how the stitches are pulled tight. I also let Hawk decide on and design the different fabric patterns.

The needle and thread.

The torn, ragged and worn edges...little imperfections, just like mine.

Hawk was awesome and a great guy to get a tattoo from. Plus he had a lot of fun stories to tell and kept me laughing through much of my tattoo.

This is Jacob, he did John's tattoo today.

John loves his Philadelphia Eagles!

And Steph, she loves her chickens, a brown egg with a chicken foot peace sign was a perfect addition to her tattoos!

Merry Sickmas To All!

Well, our Christmas visit up to my sister's started out with us leaving Ricki behind because she caught the flu. Noah had been sick a couple of days before and we thought we were out of the woods but no such luck. Our luck got even worse when we, about ten minutes from Shana's, we were blessed with a 5 year old puking in the car. We got to my sister's, cleaned up the boy and the car and quarantined Oliver to the basement in hopes of keeping the germs to ourselves. My dad came up on the 24th and picked up Ricki, who was feeling much better, on the way. Again, we were lulled into believing that we had spared the Rollins' the miseries of flu until Christmas Eve when it became apparent that Trevor and Ron were infected. I can not tell you how incredibly guilty I felt once I realized those 2 were down for the count. Yes, flu happens, and yes, I didn't mean to bring it up with us, but still, I felt horrible. Trevor, an absolute trooper, hung out on the couch and opened presents with everyone. As soon as the presents were open my mom decided to get out of the flu battle field and headed home late that night and we retreated to the basement to give Ron and Trevor some time to recover. As far as flues go, this one seemed to be a pretty fast, 24 hour sort of flu, so by the next day/afternoon, everyone was perking up and starting to feel better. Even though we canceled Christmas dinner (more guilt!) I went ahead and cooked up the meal. Luckily, we ALL got to enjoy it. The boys lazily found and opened their stocking on Christmas day and played with all of their new games and toys. I love my sister very much and had a great time even if it wasn't the most ideal situation and circumstances. One of my favorite times of the weekend is when Ron, Shana, Joel and I kicked the kids downstairs and the 4 of us played MarioKart on Christmas night! Nice not having a bunch of kids yelling at you telling you that you are doing it all wrong. Anyway, not the ideal Christmas that all of us hope for but one spent with family and that's all that matters. Merry Sickmas!!

Ironman!!

I keep laughing when I look at my Christmas photos. I have taught Noah to pose quite nicely. He stops what he is doing, holds the gift up, gives me about a 3 second smile/time frame to snap the picture and then he's onto something else.

Yeah! Underwear!

More books for my voracious reader.

My hero for the weekend! Love you Trevor.

My awesome brother-in-law and his beautiful wife.

Hanging in there.

What are you smiling about Ron????

My sister's kid is tough on flashlights, she bought him multiples.

There's a smile!!

Christmas morning, feeling much better!

A boy and his dog.

Beggars!

New games, we ceased to exist for a while.

Oliver finally found his stocking.

Stories Behind the Pictures

Sometimes I wonder, when 20 or 30 years from now, when the boys are looking through pictures from the past what they will think about some of the pictures I have. Will they know the stories behind the pictures? Will they make up their stories? Will they remember them the same way I do? Will they think that I had totally gone nuts taking, literally, thousands of pictures?

Take this first picture for example, Oliver can be a complete pain in the rear at times and that's putting it nicely. He is a strong willed, in-your-face kind of kid. He will argue, question, manipulate and continually poke at that open wound until you snap. Then when you do snap, he gives you that, what is wrong with you, kind of look. Don't get me wrong he is also a blast! An incredible sense of humor for a 5 year old, funny, smiley, lover of life that can suck you into whatever fun he is having. Anyway, I went in on Monday morning to wake him up and found my big boy peaceful, sleeping, surely recharged and ready for the day. I stood there wondering if this was going to be a day filled with fun and laughter or day filled with battles royale?!? I went and quickly and quietly grabbed my camera. The second click of shutter woke him up, he rubbed his eyes, gave me a look and said, "Sheesh lady do you wake everyone up like this?" I laughed.
Then there is this picture, we were waiting to pick Oliver up from his classroom after the Christmas program and this little angel grabbed my attention. She doesn't look happy to me. Does she look happy to you? It looks like her and her little angel boyfriend just had a major fight. Her hair is messy from running her fingers through it in a show of frustration, one wing sags in defeat and her mascara is running because of all the crying. Poor little angel girl.

Our TV broke, we got a new one, this is Oliver telling me that I can't throw his new home away.

We bought the boys new mattresses too. They both wanted the memory foam type like Joel and I have. They came vacuumed sealed and rolled in these boxes. I'm not sure if the boys were more excited about their new mattress or their new robot armor! I made sure to take pictures of this because my eldest is starting to show signs of not wanting to play like this anymore. He is like a teeter totter, one day he is up reaching for young adulthood pushing toys aside, asking for a cell phone, asking for a facebook page, wanting me to let him drive around the neighborhood (not on my lap), and getting very frustrated at me holding him back. The next day he is down, wanting to cuddle, color, play with his toys, play with his brother and, on days like this, make robot armor out of a cardboard box. Yep, going to take pictures of that!

Or course to boys suited up in robot armor results in wrestling...

I don't get the chance to take many pictures like this anymore. He actually wanted to wear the hat and he had a moment of weakness when he let me brush the hair out of the way of his beautiful blue eyes. I somehow managed to get a smile too and it made my day.

This picture is one of many I took while Oliver was playing "Jumping Santa." The old mattress got tossed on the floor for the boys to play one for a couple of days. Oliver was jumping up and down on the mattress saying, "Jumping Santa, HO HO HO!" followed by giggles. Repeat over and over while mom takes pictures and giggles herself.