Artistic Endeavors and More Anna

I started temping for a large law firm (Hutchinson Cox) around the last week of February.  I was hired to fill in for someone going on vacation the first two weeks of March. After that person returned, I was asked to keep temping to help the other legal assistants get caught up on their work. And week after week they kept asking me to keep working, which I was happy to do because I really liked it there and was getting well paid.  Finally, around the third week in April, I was offered a "real job" beginning May 1st. That was actually in the middle of Staff Appreciation Week there at the office -- which they really do well.  We got flowers, gift certificates, chair massages, and a painting party at a place called "Vino and Vango" (i.e. like Van Gogh). You bring your own treats, including adult beverages if desired (which is the "vino" part), and they walk you through doing a painting. It's with acrylics because they dry fast. And everybody has to do the same painting, which you choose ahead of time.  I hadn't participated in the selection process because I wasn't a real employee at the time, and I wouldn't have picked the one we ended up doing, but it was fun anyway.

I hadn't ever painted before, so I was kinda nervous.

 

Everybody seemed to be having fun.

 

It's amazing what a variety of results we get when

we're all doing the same steps.

When I brought it home, Clay said something like:

"Wow, that turned out better than I expected!"

(which is kind of a combined compliment and insult, I think). ;-)

 

 

Here are a few more pictures of Anna.

 

She likes a ball just her size.

 

Playing keep-away from Grandpa.

 

Sitting in a rocking chair that was mine when I was a little girl,

wearing a shirt that was Melissa's when she was a toddler.

 

 

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Anna's Birthday (March)

I can see it's definitely time to catch up on the blog.  Here are a few pictures from Anna's birthday in March:

 

 

Trying to feed baby.  Close but not quite correct! 

She snuck Grandpa's phone out of his shirt pocket and was so excited!

But she didn't get very far with it.

 

 Her favorite thing was her birthday balloon.

She wants to move faster than her walking talents have progressed.

 

 

 

She smeared the frosting on her tray, then enjoyed the rest of the cupcake.

 

 

 

And here are some photos from a walk we went on a few days later. It was such a beautiful spring day!

It was a beautiful day in Eugene, and we

decided to take Anna for a walk in the park.

She loved watching kids playing at the playground,

dogs, birds, flowers, skateboarders

(and basically anything else that moved).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandpa is pointing out the ducks and geese to Anna.

She enjoyed watching them.