Mother's Day surprises

My daughters made me the best mother's day gifts!  They each painted a picture of a raven, and they are in completely different styles. I knew they were making me something--that's our deal--I don't want anything purchased, so they can make me something, give me their time, or give me nothing. I'm glad they respect my gift-receiving preferences!  They spent several days over at Dej's house working on my gifts as well as my mom's.  I didn't know what they were making for either of us, though.

When the big day arrived, I was so curious to see what they had been spending so much time on. Besides the fact that I love birds in general, and I like ravens as they are one of the more unloved birds, I had fallen in love with a raven painting I saw in a gallery (Raven's Wish) over a year ago, and I've been stalking the painting since then.  I thought it was so sweet that they remembered. I resolved that I was very happy with the ravens and wouldn't need to go visit the other painting anymore.

*Dej says her painting isn't quite finished.  She needs to add some thing(s) to the flowers. Much to her dismay, I'm enjoying it as it is and will not wait for her to finish it up.

My mom got a set of owl paintings from the girls, and though I wanted to keep them, I have settled for getting to enjoy them when I'm at my mom's several times a week. :)

We had our Mother's Day get-together at my mom's, and when we got home L was very pushy about picking a spot for my ravens.  I tried to discourage her, because I was pretty sure I wanted them in the dining room but the dining room was a mess as we were in the midst of stripping the wallpaper (YUK!!!), and there was no point hanging them yet. She was so excited, so I went along with her to walk around the house and site the perfect spot for them, figuring I would just temporarily stick them up in the dining room someplace and pick the perfect spot when the room was done.  As soon as we walked into the dining room, I was immediately confused, followed by shock. The raven painting I had been stalking was hanging on my dining room wall, and I had no clue how it got there.

Obviously L was in on it, which explained her pushiness about marching me around the house, so I asked her if grandma & grandpa had done this. My parents frequently show up with surprises for me, especially if I make the mistake of saying I like/want something.  She said they were not responsible. That left my husband, which was odd. We don't exchange gifts (I'm not his mother), and I do the household finances, and I would have noticed a purchase of that size.  He had squirrelled some money away, managed to pick up the giant canvas, hide it in our home (L's closet) for a week, and get it hung on the wall without me having any clue. I would not have thought that surprise possible.  I still find the whole thing a little mind blowing and confusing!  

It's awesome to have 3 raven paintings in the dining room that I absolutely love to look at.  The wallpaper is completely stripped now, and the three paintings are hanging up so I can enjoy them.  I'm planning to get the dining room painted this week, and then I can hang them in there permanent locations and get the placement, spacing and leveling taken care of. I can't wait to get the walls painted and the ravens hung on a wall that will complement and offset their beauty!

L's raven is done in the galaxy style, which she has been experimenting with lately. I love it. She made herself a pair of shoes (plain black Tom's painted and sealed) and also used the galaxy pattern on the sun she painted for this year's Rotary Gardens art fundraiser.