Wordless Wednesday

Art Attack!

Last year towards the end of the school year, I talked to the principal at Kaleb's school about art in the classroom.  She mentioned they had the Meet the Masters program, but nobody was using it, so I volunteered to get it started again. After looking it up online, it looked like a program similar to Art Masterpiece, which I grew up with in Oregon. I was referred to the PTO president, then led on a wild goose chase to track down the program.  I ended up finding it in the bottom of the janitor's closet a month or so into the school year.

I recruited volunteers at the annual curriculum night, then recruited more through out the year.  We decided as a group to have a monthly meeting where I would teach the volunteers the lesson and they could make their sample before teaching their classes.  We originally had 14/15 classes, but the program was going so well, we convinced the last teacher she should join in after the first few months. We became such great friends... I just love the spirit of volunteerism and it was so great to meet people outside of my normal (LDS) circle. We made short power point presentations to introduce each artist, since the program we inherited had slides. Sandy took this on most months and did a fabulous job!  After the first meeting another Wonder Woman volunteered to be our supply manager, and she was beyond helpful!  Kendra is one of those type A, super organized people, but in a good way. She ordered cut, collated, and counted out each lesson for each class, so we'd just have to grab supplies and teach. The program wouldn't have run so smoothly without her... or I would have been a complete basket case with no balance at home.

We taught lessons on Van Gogh, Mondrian, Homer, Cassatt, Picasso, and Monet.  We had so much fun!  The students really looked forward to our monthly visits and would always ask when we were coming again whenever they saw me. We submitted 50 entries to the first annual MUSD art walk, and Kaleb's best friend, Rylan Gray won for the elementary category.

Early in the year we decided we'd put one on of our own. We displayed 2 pieces of artwork for each student of their own choosing.  My volunteers then helped make displays outside the teacher's classrooms.  There was over 800 pieces of artwork up on our big night!  Kendra and I also put up displays on each artist, and Jennifer displayed some of her artwork and demonstrated what a "real" artist really does.  I love her and her artwork and bought the black framed one below. :)

Since it was the end of the year, we were asked if we could combine the night with a musical performance and volunteer recognition. The students displayed musical instruments they made of found objects. Kaleb's was "The Loud Guy" and he loved making it!  Mrs. Ledbetter asked me to present the certificates to our art volunteers and talk about our program a few minutes before the event started. I was very nervous, but I guess did okay. The mic kept cutting out, so that was fun, too. Anyway, it was a HUGE success with a HUGE turnout and I was thanked countless times by so many people.  We were gifted the money we needed to purchase another track of 7 new artists for next year, and Jennifer Hawkins will be my replacement. She's a lifetime artist and just so sweet, I'm sure the program with go onward and upward with out me.

 Jennifer's display

 Jennifer painting...this is a canyon she's painting for her father to honor her stepmom who passed away this year.

 Kendra and her daughter Aubrey

 Sandy and Jennifer team taught 3 classes, most of the upper grades.

 Monet, advanced.

 Hilsinger's class...intermediate

 Cassatt

 Picasso and Mondrian

 Kaleb's Van Gogh...A Starry Night

 Kaleb's entry in the MUSD artwalk, Sunflowers.  Tami & I taught Mr. Davis' class and came in twice the month we did Van Gogh and she taught this lesson. 

 Bros in front of his Loud Guy

 So happy I look pregnant here! K pointing to his art on display with the rest of his class.

 Kelly, one of my new friends and volunteers, and her cuties.

 These are her kids in front of a kinder Cassatt display.

Here I am blabbing away.  I did get to share the big news that we'd be purchasing another track which was so exciting! We were trying to get donations that night, but PTO agreed to give us the money RIGHT before I took the mic.  My friends also gave me flowers after I passed out their certificates.  So sweet!  I will really miss them and my "baby."

How I Feel Right Now...

Wordless Wednesday

Mother's Day

The kids and Ben let me sleep in (well sort of, we do have church at 8:30 am) and made me breakfast in bed. They also had lots of cute cards for me, with my fav. chocolate bar, a movie, and an itunes gift card. Ben gave me a "good for" an iphone, which I just got a few days ago.  Ruby calls it my pink phone. :)  Being a mom means so much to me, and my kids and Ben make my life feel like a dream....most of the time!

I'm pretty sure Ben was getting ready & we were running late, so the kids took pics of us together before church.   Here's girls club with our matchy dresses and purses.

Here's my sweet little ones, taken by K.

And my only pic with K, taken by D. :)

After church, I took the kids to visit my grandma, while Ben stayed home and studied. She's 82 years old and who knows how many more Mother's Days we'll have with her.  She's also rarely here in May, so I thought we should take advantage of it.  I'm so glad we did! We gave her a cute gray purse which she loved, had pizza with her, and watched the new version of Footloose.  It was so much fun!  I feel so blessed that my kids really know their "Grandma-Grandma." She's one great lady who loves us all to a fault.  

LOVE!

Grandma Ray & Ruby Rae

Miss, Grandma, & me

 We were tuckered out after our hour drive home. 

Side story:  Grandma LOVES to garage sale while she's in AZ. It's like her favorite past time and only hobby aside from snooping on the neighbors! She gets a little twinkle in her eye whenever she shows me something new she's found and how much (I mean little) it cost her.  She and Uncle Ron recently went in together for a small RV. My kids think it's AWESOME!  Mostly I think they love the loft bed over the front driving seats and climbing around in it. Kaleb was talking to Mom about it, wishing we had one to go camping in, and told her he thought they probably bought it at a garage sale. :)

Father's Day

We have the BEST dad ever and surprised him by celebrating Father's Day a week early! Even though I had him run to the store the night before to pick up steaks, he really was surprised. Ruby and Dylan helped me make funny face pancakes and lemon bars early that morning, while Ben and Kaleb slept in.  Each of the kids also made their own special card for their daddy. We gifted him an all weather deck box he'd been eyeing, a box of Diet Mt. Dew, and he gifted himself patio furniture!  (Seriously, I have the BEST husband ever!) We had steak, corn on the cob, and salad with lemonade, to celebrate that night. It was a great day for our big daddy!  He really is the perfect combination of super-silly-fun-one of the kids, and I-mean-business-serious-talk kind of dads. He rarely loses his patience or temper with the kids, which I really admire, since it's pretty much the opposite of my upbringing. Oh, how I love him!

China from the Eyes of my World Travelin' Man

Ben left us yesterday for an eleven hour flight to Beijing. We had to get up at 4:30 AM to leave by 5 so he'd be to the airport on time. Happy we're so close to the airport now!  He flew from here to SanFran, then straight to Beijing. Don't feel too sorry for him...he flew business class on the biggest plane he's ever seen. He spent the day being waited on with lots of food alternating between reading his school books and watching movies on his ipad.  I'm so thankful for technology... we were able to skype this afternoon for a half hour and have been messaging since via skype.  So fun! I told him we wanted to see everything, so BE that stupid tourist that everyone makes fun of.  

Here's what he's come up with so far...

 "Breakfast of Champions"

$15

Although I miss him like crazy (and it's only day 2 of 10) I'm so happy for him...finally living his dream and following in his father's footsteps! 

Dylan's Preschool Grad

Dylan is such a sweet boy and loved his time at Busy Bee Academy with Miss Stephanie and his best bud Ethan.  Dylan led the processional. He and his school mates performed a few songs and said what they liked best about preschool. D liked snacks and singing best. He was the cutest little guy there!

Havasupai, Part 2