Continuing Education

So two Fridays ago, Jimmy attended a builder's conference in Seattle, where he learned about green building, siding, fake bay windows, hidden doorways and lots of other cool things about construction. He also came home with bags full of free nails.

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to attend the National Council of Teachers of English meeting in San Antonio. There I learned that I need to work on my public speaking skills, that other writers have much more interesting lives and compelling insights, and that my editor walks even faster than I do. (More details and photos to come at my other blog.)

Jimmy and I are both grateful to have chances to continue learning and growing in our field. But we don't have to go far to learn something new every day. Watch below as Evie June schools us both on how to get a groove on.


Untitled from Jennifer Bradbury on Vimeo.

Jen

Busy Times

We're settling back into our routines here after our travels. Library, swimming class, play day at the Children's Museum, etc. And it feels good. Evie June is happy to back with all her friends, and loves our outings during the week (and isn't even crying anymore when she stays in the Kids Club next to the health club--partly because some of the other moms bring cheetos for snacks and she knows is she lingers at the table long enough, someone will trade her one for one of her carrot sticks).

But as settled as we are, we started a very disruptive project a couple of weekends ago. We went from this:


To this:


We're expanding and remodeling our kitchen (we'll finally have a dishwasher!) We've a bit more reconstruction to do before we start pulling out the rest of what's there, so we're spending our time planning, working with a designer and pretending that it really won't cost all that much. We'll keep you posted.

And Evie's been pretty creative lately as well. She's in love with drawing right now, specifically tracing her hand (thanks Aunt M!). But she took it one step further last night. Usually she announces what she plans to draw, and the list always starts with "Trace my hand first." Last night she announced similar intent, and even put her hand on the paper. But then she popped up, looked at Jimmy and declared: "I trace my head."

So she did.


And we were all very proud.