Today the kids and I made traditional sugar skulls at the farmer's market to add to our altar downtown.




I tried snapping a few more photos of the altar to capture the details, but as luck would have it, it was another gorgeously sunny day and I couldn't get the photos I wanted due to the bright window reflection. I sort of squeezed my arm around the corner to awkwardly snap these!

My uncle Paul in a frame painted by Isabel, and a quote of his old Navy tattoo.

The wonderful painting by my friend, Jen.

Beautiful painted frame by Jen. The photo is of her grandparents and a quote her grandmother used to say to her created by her eldest daughter, Zephyr.

My grandpa and mom with the quote: "And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation"

Painstakingly made mini flowers!


Our kids created almost all of this part, all the mini sugar skulls, mini Caterina dolls, pets, and the field of tissue paper flowers.

My apron and the paper mache heart made by Jen.

Here are our little personal details. The photo of my grandpa and I, coffee beans inside Jen's grandmother's cup, the little box of cloves from her kitchen, the doll Isabel made of my mother next to the heart my brother painted, the cross box my other brother gifted to me, the clay sugar skulls the kids created with their ancestors in mind lying on my mother's wedding china.

Christopher who died when he was 4 years old, my childhood dogs, my grandpa and I in a hug.