Fiona's Blog, Sam

A New Favorite

2010-11-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

Thank you, Uncle Joey, for sharing this with us!

Saari "Blue" from Veronica Lassenius on Vimeo.

This is not funny.

2010-08-02T19:30:00.001-07:00

Windy Day

2010-07-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

I found this video on Robyn's blog, Framing the South. They loved it!

Sarcasm + Phonics = One For the Baby Book

2010-05-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

(I found this post-it note stuck to my bedroom door.)

Translation:

"Thanks For Me To Clean Up The Poo Poo."

Translation of the translation:

"Thanks a lot for making me clean up Banjo's poo poo (with a plastic bag over my hand) after I did something bad (Mommy has forgotten what now), which made me simultaneously cry and gag, but I'll probably never do that bad thing again because it makes me heave just to think about it."

Another Favorite Clip

2010-03-14T20:07:00.001-07:00

Has Anyone Ever Told You...

2010-01-17T23:29:00.000-08:00

...that you have the most stunning eyes?

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-24T06:06:00.000-08:00

Fiona has been very into the performance thing lately. "Mom, Mom... I have an idea. I can be the Angel of Light, and Neve will be Baby Jesus, and you can be... um, do you mind being a donkey?" I'm happy to hear that the obvious choice for me is to be a stable extra, as opposed to say, Mother Mary!? Good grief. And trust me when I tell you that there was about half an hour of her singing, "Aughhhh, aughhhh, aughhhh" around and around the Christmas tree, while her sister (sort of the whole point of the play, as she IS Baby Jesus) is told to just lie there and coo. (I, for the record, refused to be a donkey.) And sure as the play was titled, "Beautiful Angel of Shiny Light", Fiona drew picture of herself the following day. It's her Christmas card to you.

(The little boy in the photo here is Mike, aka. 6 year old Heartbreaker. Neve wishes you a Merry Christmas too!)

Art (and Crafts) in Motion

2009-10-31T20:40:00.000-07:00

Whoa, whoa, and whoa. I mean, where do I even start to discuss this visual narrative? What could this all possibly mean, you ask? Well, when I asked she said,

"Two funny ladies dancing and making crafts."

Of course.

Jean pockets? Pear-shapes? The crazy poses? I want to be a fly on the wall of her brain...

"Where Are We Going?"

2009-10-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

I pull drawings like this out of the trash can or off the floor in crumpled ball all the time. I love how much she enjoys making art these days (the volume is seriously unbelievable), but it's becoming too hard for me to regularly document.

A Yellow Dress

2009-07-15T18:44:00.001-07:00

... and the Sun Man.

BIG BLOG DEBUT

2009-06-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

I think it's time I make this a shared sister blog. Neve asked me, after drawing a beautiful drawing that I barely gave a nod to, "can I put this picture on my blog?" Oh my, I am an awful, awful person. But before I go and water down the bloggersphere with yet another neglected "proud mom" blog (out of guilt, no less), I could probably condense the White sisters' works into one. She's recently begun showing real interest in drawing and visuals, making some very cool stuff that is different from her sister.

So, I present to you, Neve Rosalie, age 3:

(Fiona's drawing is on the right page, Neve's is on the left.)

And my favorite:

At the risk of sounding like such a mom, I like how she uses color in her drawing. She lets the color dictate the subject. Ok, lame. She's 3, and she uses scented markers. Her artist statement would be "AVOID THE BLACK MARKER. IT SMELLS LIKE LICORICE!" But I still think she's awesome.

Another Disney Remix

2009-05-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

but click here for an even cooler version.

Terry Sent This To The Girls From Work

2009-03-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

...and we watched it about 10 x.

Better Late Than Never

2009-02-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

Fiona has started kindergarten. It's a long story as to why we opted to enroll her 3/4 of the way through the schoolyear (perhaps a future post on casablanca). But in true White/Bennett family fashion, we decided better late than never.

So far so good. She had a good start. She's made friends right off the bat, she's learning about the wonderful world of addition and subtraction (an area of learning completely overlooked by teacher mom), and truly grasping those tricky silent "e"s.

I don't want to leak too many skeletons from her new little school closet/cubby, but she did have a funny/sad episode on Friday that involved a Bingo game, being a sore loser, and tossing a card across the primary colored rug. Oops. Her daily smiley face looked more like a daily unsure-of-this face instead. "Inch by inch, life's a cinch... Yard by yard, life is hard." I keep telling myself that everytime I imagine her in college throwing her art history exam in the face of her professor.

I will be posting her zebra drawing here soon. It was rather extrodinary, if I do say so myself. Oh, and tht reminds me of this:

As I finished up the enrollment process in the principal's office last week, Fiona's delightful teacher met us down there. She was the greatest combination of funny, smart (didn't talk to Fiona like she was a child), and a straight-shooter.

Her: "Is there anything else I should know about her, before we go back to the classroom?"

At this point, I've listed her ethnicity, her doctor's contact info, the names and contact info for those who can pick her up after school, and social security number so many times on various forms, I was sure her teacher was referring to some fun Fiona trivia that she could pass on to the classroom of mediocre children that wait for her. (Only kidding.) So...

Me: "Yes! She is an amazing artist. Her great grandparents were artists, her grandparents are still making art, and her father is an animator and designer, so it kinda runs in the family... you know..."

{silence as her teacher is trying to think of how to write this in her notebook}

Me again: "Seriously, I'm just sayin'... tell her draw you a bird. It's ah-may-zing."

{the secretary who is witnessing this stupid braggart go on and on awkwardly looks down at her paperwork}

Her teacher: "I'm sure she is a fine artist. I was thinking more about what she's allergic to... you know, milk allergy and whatnot?"

Me: "Oh. Nope."

I'm sure she'll change her allergy tune when she sees one of her awesome birds.

{visions of Fiona being lifted in the air by all of her classmates and teachers, crying "more bird!, more bird! more bird!" during art time.}

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T13:19:00.001-08:00

For whatever reason, Fiona drew this on V-Day to post here. It's all about Neve. ???

"Draw What You Hear"

2009-02-05T13:25:00.001-08:00

These are the instructions given to Fiona as we sit down in church. She's only allowed to sketch if she draws something relevant to the sermon or the songs. Based on what she's drawn here, can you guess what the sermon was about?

Yup, you guessed it: vanity. (?)

I've wanted to collect the drawings from all the children sitting in church for some time now, frame them, and put on a little show of their work. I once saw an incredible Goliath being drawn by a little boy in front of me, and some pretty cool unintentional play on words by a girl who just wrote what she heard, and some ah-may-zing abstract pieces by latent artists who doodle just to stay awake.

And then there's Terry. He has volumes of sketchbooks that could be categorized under "Evidence Of How I'm a Bad Example To My Children In Church", if we were more organized.

She Couldn't Remember...

2009-02-05T13:20:00.001-08:00

...what these drawings were about.

They Call Me Fingers

2009-02-05T13:19:00.001-08:00

Fiona Fingers.

Duck, Duck

2009-02-05T13:18:00.001-08:00

Wake Up Little Susie

2009-02-05T13:15:00.001-08:00

Did You Hear About The Pirate That Saw A Movie?

2009-02-05T13:11:00.001-08:00

It was rated Rrrrrrrrrr.

The Way We Party

2009-01-24T19:03:00.001-08:00

Notice the unimpressed expressions on the guests faces below.

Masquerading

2009-01-24T18:59:00.001-08:00

Fiona explained that Mike is holding a silly mask in front of his face, while she runs away from him holding a mirror! She kept saying more stuff about how she needed to get to her sister, but he wouldn't stop teasing her... I began to tune out.

Owl Collaboration

2009-01-24T18:56:00.001-08:00

...between father and daughter. I'm not quite sure what the appendage is that Fiona added to their heads.

Rise and Shine!

2009-01-24T18:55:00.001-08:00

... says Ginger, the chicken.

"Don't Cry, My Darling! I'll Return!"

2009-01-24T18:34:00.001-08:00

...Fiona says to Mike, as she's running to catch a train, in a black and white movie.

Boobie-Collar Hearts Salami-Neck

2009-01-24T18:08:00.000-08:00

I really love this one. This is another drawing of me and Terry. The bumps on the sides of Terry's neck are his collars (in case you had any doubts), and the acorn-looking pelvic ornaments are... jean pockets. I laughed so hard when she told me that.

Top Heavy

2009-01-24T15:38:00.001-08:00

Back To Ballet

2009-01-21T21:57:00.000-08:00

Ballet classes have started back up again! More toe-pointing, more arabesques, more relevés, and more pas de chats. More of mommy flaunting an embarrassing french accent, as she tosses around ballet terms she couldn't identify if someone were to pirouette on her lap.

I'm hoping that some neglected good-dancing-gene will surface in at least one of my children. It certainly didn't find it's way into my generation.

Look at those cute leotarded bodies!

fiona wants to take irish dancing lessons

2009-01-19T18:30:00.001-08:00

genetic jealousy

2009-01-18T20:53:00.001-08:00

Fiona inherited little of her mother's looks or temperament, other than one very ugly characteristic: she's protective of her men. In the most jealous way.

Exhibit A:

Fiona is thinking (that's a thought bubble next to her) about how angry she would be if Mike (her "boy friend") fell in love with HER SISTER! Unbelievable, right? Demented? Well, in her defense, this was drawn not long after she heard Mike say (in the most matter-of-fact way), "if Fiona doesn't marry me, I guess I'll marry Neve." Jealousy can be a muse.

As Mike's mom once sang, "There were two sisters who lived on a hill- what one won't do, the other one will." I shouldn't find that as funny as I do...

affectionately, hopper

2009-01-18T20:36:00.001-08:00

On a more recent visit to Jacksonville, Fiona and Neve caught a frog and fell in love. Fiona was determined to keep him, love him, potty train him, and even feed him flies, if need be. They put him in a tiny little chest of drawers that belonged to my mother-in-law's jewelery collection (like 1 ft. tall, with 3 in. high drawers), as if he were some small Japanese businessman checking into his hotel. While Terry and I realize that small Japanese businessmen choose to sleep in drawers, Hopper (he was named Hopper) did not. So, it only seemed humane to let him free. But after the girls went to sleep. And after writing this:

(the front)

(the break up)

mommy and daddy are hippies

2009-01-18T20:24:00.001-08:00

... at a love-in apparently. Can't you see the positive vibrations that surround us, man?

a spooky house

2009-01-18T20:18:00.001-08:00

... an enormous cartoon spider crawling up the front of the house, an overgrown lawn, and a Model T from the '20's, parked in the driveway. 'Pooky.

flying south

2009-01-18T20:02:00.000-08:00

inspired by the movie, Winged Migration. Ps. I love Nick Cave.

Mermaids

2009-01-18T20:00:00.001-08:00

... are Fiona's friends.

more awesome hair-do's

2009-01-18T19:37:00.001-08:00

Gasp!

2009-01-18T19:32:00.000-08:00

There's probably more to this story, but Fiona has gone to bed without explaining this one. I do like her fancy pants signature, however. I can remember practicing different frilly signatures when I was little too.... ok, actually up until last year. Whuh?

pajama party!

2009-01-18T19:28:00.001-08:00

... "with Grandma Ro" (my mom), says Fiona. Fun, fun.

worst stevie nick's nightmare

2009-01-18T19:26:00.001-08:00

... or Sleeping Beauty.

heart = nice kids / x = mean kids

2009-01-18T19:23:00.001-08:00

...and one big happy teacher.

roller coaster

2009-01-18T19:17:00.001-08:00

... with 2 children (on left) being thrown out "because they didn't wear their seat belt". Frowny face.

what do stevie nicks and winnie the pooh have in common?

2009-01-18T18:53:00.001-08:00

It may be hard to tell, but Fiona said that this is a drawing (in case you thought it was a photograph) of her watching Winnie the Pooh do his "wind dance". To Rhiannon, perhaps?

But, notice her windblown skirt! It's details like that that make me so proud.

love letter to pan, peter pan.

2009-01-18T18:44:00.001-08:00

Fiona went through a Peter Pan craze phase. She didn't like Wendy, for obvious reasons of jealousy. This was a letter she wrote to him about 6 months ago. She is flying in Wendy's place to Never Never Never Land. She likes long necks.

dancing cats

2009-01-18T18:43:00.000-08:00

lady legs on baby birds

2009-01-18T18:10:00.000-08:00

As I uploaded this picture, Fiona was sort of embarrassed by it. She said, "I accidentally gave that bird (the bird on the far left) lady-legs."

crying

2009-01-18T17:46:00.000-08:00