Happy Holidays from the Portland Elves!!

New Coats

As some of you have heard, we are moving into a brand new apartment in our building. We got a chance to paint the walls this weekend. (the yellow layer was our failed first attempt).



Olive is overseeing the work.



Here's one wall that we already finished!

Renee's 27th Birthday!

We had a wonderful day on my birthday. Brian made me crepes in the morning and then we went for a walk around 23rd stopping to get some chocolates. Then sushi for dinner! Thank you everyone for sending me treats and gifts, it made my day so special :)

Ingrid & Olive

Here are some images of Ingrid and Olive that I came across yesterday and realizes I never posted them. They are just to cute not to put on our blog even 6 months after she came to visit us!

Brian's Off Day

Brian and Olive cuddling up on his off day.

Proof of Hard Work!

This is Brian's office at school! The trimester ends this week and as you can see, thigns have been hectic!

Black Friday Deal$!

We woke up at 9am to head out fro Black Friday! Our favorite find was free breakfast at IKEA! yay!

Thanksgiving!

Our good friend Lori and her pug Herbbie joined us for Thanksgiving ham this year! Tasty!

HALLOWEEEEEEEEN!

Cutest Lobster ever!



Dr. Cook & the second cutest lobster ever!




Sarah (Gracie's Mom) dressed up as a zombie bride. We painted her neck and other bloody areas.




Gracie in her Bad-A scull shirt

Pumpkin Party Bananza!

We had a great pumpkin carving party at our place to kick off Halloween!

Here is Sarah (on left) & Lori with some pumpkin guts!

Liz imitating her very petite pumpkin.

Brian with his lopsided pumpkin, trying to make the best of it.

Our finished pumpkins!

Fall Is Here!

Olive in the leaves!

The Girls Sleeping

All the girls passed out, well almost everyone...oh little Gracie!


Olive thought it was the most comfortable to sleep on Gracie's Head, but Gracie wasn't about to kick her off.

Check This Crazy Bug Out!

I found this bug walking home from my studio and had to bring it home with me to photograph it. It was already dead when I found him/her in the middle of the road. I wish I could have photographed it next to something for a size comparison, but I would say that it was at least 1.5 inches long and about 1 inch wide. It was huge and really beautiful. I thought that the fur that is on it's stomach is really unique as well. I have never seen anything like it or any insect as large.
Does anyone know what kind of bug this is?

The Swifts!

This is a video we took of the these local birds called Swifts. They meet in this chimney every September into October and do this tornado dance into the chimney at sunset and sunrise. It takes the birds about an hour to all make their way into the chimney. The chimney is attached to a school and is no longer used for heating but they left it standing for the Swifts. The school is only a 10min walk from our apt in the NW of Portland.

Art Prize!

Renee by her painting for Art Prize which was hung at the WMCAT (West Michigan Center for Arts & Technology). It was a wonderful facility and I was happy to be a part of it all.

Helmut and Paul came to see my work in Grand Rapids, we had a lot of fun looking at all the work and talking about lots of art. Helmut really liked the sculpture below, it was made of aluminum and was about 9 feet high. I never did meet the artist on that one Dad or find out how it was made, sorry about that :) Maybe next time.


Mom, Carla, and Mike came to see me on the opening night. It was so nice to see such encouraging faces.


This was one of the works of art that was displayed at different locations around Grand Rapids. On the day Helmut and Paul came into town it was moved that morning to the Rosa Parks Circle so we had to go check it out. Believe me it was really wedged under that overhang, don't think we didn't test that out ;)


Mom and Carla really liked this sculpture which was made of all balloons! It was one of my favorites as well.


Janet and Mark came to see me and my work at the WMCAT. They are looking at a clay life-sized whale sculpture that was also in the WMCAT building.


Thank you all for coming to support me and my work during Art Prize, it really means a lot to me!

Olives New Friend Gracie!

This is Olive's new best friend Gracie. Or as we call her Grace Face, Gracer Eraser, and Gracie Bear. She is a Chihuahua mix and is so so sweet. She belongs to a new neighbor of ours Sarah, who is just as cool :)

Getting comfy together...well everyone except Brian.

Back to school.

School starts Tuesday and here are some pictures of Brian's brand new art room at South Meadows Middle School.

Here's a view of the front of Brian's classroom (notice the absence of unpacked boxes)



A view from the other side. The door on the right is the kiln room.



Although the new school has state of the art technology, Brian still found it important to smuggle in a little "old technology" that was almost thrown out at the old school.



There are 3 of these sinks in the room. It's awesome that they are away from the counter because at least 3 kids can clean up at each one at the same time!



A view of the storage room....still a work in progress.



Brian's office (the other teachers are jealous)



His desk in the classroom (again...the sign was something he brought from the old school)



And here's a view of the main office. Brian put up the 7'x5' mural that his students made last year. You can see it perfectly through the windows which is pretty cool.



And another view.