Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Art Fair!

Tonight was our homeschool groups art fair.  The entries were amazing.  Such a talented group.

My artists were so excited to enter again this year.  They just love art!  A. was inspired by the 2010 games and started creating her masterpiece in February, while the games were going on.  One day she asked me if I wanted to see what she'd been working on, I honestly had no idea what she had been spending all that time on back in her room.  I was amazed to see her Olympic Venues coming to life.  She has always been amazing at working in miniature, this takes the cake.  She was making a down hill ski venue, a speed skating venue w/ a figure skating venue to the side and a snowboarding venue, complete w/ snowboarder in the half pike, all out of clay and random bits of cardboard she had been collecting.  Her clay pieces are the size of a pin. They all have faces, hair and clothing.  Once she finished the main venues, she started working on the crowds.  They, too, were complete  people w/ hair, faces and clothes.  She even made little clay figures of everyone in the family.  I'm holding the baby. *grin*
Here are some pictures of A's work.  She spent many hours and much worry over whether she'd get it done in time.  I am so proud of her for her diligence and dedication.  It paid off, she got 2nd in her category and 1st for People's Choice. I have more pictures of her work simply because of the detail.  It was just amazing and you have to get in close to truly appreciate it.  It's so big, I couldn't even fit it into one picture!

A w/ her "2010 Olympics" behind her before the judging

Down hill skiing

Up close of the downhill skier (the gates are toothpicks broken into teeny-tiny pieces, her snow is felt and pillow stuffing. :)  )

can you see the mask on the skier?

Half Pike w/ the crowd in the foreground

Closer view of the crowd

Closeup of snowboarder going through the half pike

Speed skating rink, aerial shot. LOL (she used foil for the ice, broken up sticks from our old yard for the rink border and lots and lots of clay for the people)

Close up of speed skaters.  I love how one arm is back while they other is tucked in by their side.

Other end of the rink w/ the flags and torch. (more toothpicks, paper and, of course, clay)

The Olympic Torch

The Podium

The detail is just amazing, photos really don't do it justice.  I need to take a picture of her figure skaters.  She made a pair w/ the man holding the woman up and her hair is flowing back behind her.  I think they were my favorite out of all her clay pieces. :)

She worked so hard and created this incredible work and yet was surprised she won something, that is so very much my sweet gal.  

A also entered a pencil drawing:

A's pencil drawing, "Faith"

A w/ her ribbons. :)

E. is my quick draw artist.  She can produce art faster than I can think of anything to draw, paint or sculpt.  Not that I can do any of those things, I'm just sayin'. LOL  She entered a painting and a pencil drawing.  Her pencil drawing won 3rd.  She was very excited to have won. :)

E's pencil drawing.  "Untitled" because she didn't know what she was going to draw when I entered her in the contest, she just knew she was going to draw something in the pencil category. :) She got 3rd place for this entry.

E's watercolor, "A Dream"


E. w/ her ribbon

R was very excited that this year her entries were going to be judged.  She entered a piece that she'd been working on for quite awhile and had finally finished. She had one entry in the Mixed Media category, same as A's, only in a younger age bracket, entitled Wall-e and Friends.  It was quite a menagerie that was finally accomplished today! Phew,  just in time. :)


You can see part of "Auto", 'Eve (Eva), Wall-E and I don't know the other characters name LOL  Gotta ask R who that is.


and of course, WALL-E , himself :) I don't know if you can see but on Wall-e on the left is his friend/pet Roach and in the middle is a plant for Eva. :)  I just realized I don't have a good picture of Eva.  She was the one R worked on this weekend and agonized over just what she should use for the body.  The head was made ages ago! LOL  R got first in her age category for her "Wall-e and Friends". 

R w/ her ribbon

Both A and R used items from around the house, which I thought was pretty cool.  

R. also entered a painting entitled "Before the Game".  You can tell soccer is still a major theme in our lives, even in the off season. *sigh*

"Before the Game"
S and J (because he couldn't be left out! :) ) both entered drawings in the non-judged category.  They are both looking forward to when they are old enough to have their art in the "big kid" category. Personally, I'm not.  I like them being little. ;)

S's  watercolor "Sunrise"  I love his use of color.

S's "The Road" I think he used markers and a little paint, but I'm not sure.  I'll have to look again at the picture.

J's paint and ink masterpiece entitled "Friend"  


I just love my kids creativity.  Each and every one of them.  They are such amazing kids and that's not just because they are handy w/ a paint brush.  No, they are truly amazing kids in so many ways.  I am truly blessed. 


Saturday, March 20, 2010

Blog Giveaway

Go check out my friend, Marcy's blog give away.  There are four ways to enter to win these great books!

Thanks Marcy. :)


http://locustpointeacademy.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-first-blog-giveaway.html

Saturday, February 13, 2010

TeenPact

A few weeks ago my two oldest got to participate in our states one day Teen Pact.  They were looking forward to spending the day at our State Capitol w/ their dad. :)


They headed downtown in the morning to meet with the other teenpact participants.  The meeting took place in the old State Capitol building.  I remember going on field trips here when I was a school kid.  Only when I went, it wasn't the "old" building, it was actually a building that was in use and the state legislators were  in session!  LOL  Now, it's a museum and the new buildings are just behind these buildings.


Weather vane on top of the copper dome.  They were told that, back in the old days, the cowboys would shoot their pistols at the weather vane to watch it spin around.  Perfectly natural, this was the wild west afterall. :)

checking out one of the statues

starting the session off w/ prayer on the capitol grounds. :)

After learning about parliamentary procedure and the process of walking a bill through legislature, they had a scavenger hunt through the capitol rotunda where they learned more about the capitol by reading the placards, looking at the memorabilia and talking with the guards.  

State Seal

E and A looking down from the 4th floor of the Rotunda.

Cool view from the top floor looking down.

Looking up through the copper domed roof at the weather vane

Observation deck

A looking down on the floor of old House of Representatives

Aren't the desks cool. :)
Old House of Rep.

They had a great day, learned a ton and are looking forward to next year. All three of them, Mark included, highly recommend checking out Teen Pact for a great intro to government. 

Today is my birthday

I had a hair appointment and when I came home, look what greeted me. :)

door leading into the house

Walking into the house

Heart shaped hamburgers

Cake made w/ love by my 8 year old (notice the 'L' carved in the cake :) )

Even KA's face has a heart made from chocolate!

Thank you to my wonderful family.  I love you all so much.  You made my birthday a very special day. XOXO

Monday, January 25, 2010

KA's first birthday

An Introduction to chocolate


















Thursday, January 21, 2010

She's ONE

Well, 11 days have flown by and my baby girl is officially one.  What a year it's been.




My sweet little gal.  You have brought such a ray of sunshine into our lives.  We love you so very much.  Your laugh, your frowns, your adorable curls in the back, everything about you is just so special.

I thank the Lord everyday for sharing you with me.

Happy first birthday my special little gal!

Stay tuned for more posts as we celebrate our little girls first year on earth!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Golden Years

Thoughts are funny things.  Sometimes they gently come whispering, teasing around your brain.  Other times, they come and wallop you on the side of the head! LOL  You know what I'm talking about.  A moment of epiphany.  An "aha" moment.

I had one of those tonight.  A vision with unmistakable clarity that, right now, the age my children are at, could be called our "Golden Years".

I had 4 kids in 5 years.  Those early years are just a blur.  All the kids needed me all the time for everything.  Loved it then and I often miss those early days and would love to go back and do it all over again.  #5 came along when I had an 8, 6, 4 and 2 year old.  Still a lot of work, but things were easing up a little bit.  #6 came when I had an 11, 9, 7, 5 and almost 3 year old.  What a difference!  I had independent kids.  I had kids who could pick up after themselves, hold a baby and if need be, make a meal for themselves or a sibling.  They could all use the bathroom w/o assistance (except the baby of course ;) ), which sounds silly but is HUGE. LOL

The road looming right ahead of me that I can see in the distance but not quite touch, is the windy, rolling hills of adolescence.  We haven't hit that yet but are oh so close.  We have a little bit of the preteen attitude, but honestly, it's not that bad.  She still listens to us, she still takes what we have to say and does it, eventually. ;)

The road ahead is an unknown.  With 6 children getting ready to hit that road you can be sure that we will hit those emotional highs and lows quite a few times in the next 18 years.

That's why I'm saying right now, these are the golden years of my life with my children.  As they continue to get older, and they keep doing that despite me telling them to stop, they are going to stretch and grow and move on.   Yes, I am looking forward to seeing who they become and pray for their futures but for now, for this brief, fleeting moment in time, I am going to stop and really live in this season.  I'm going to soak up every ounce of these special years, our golden years.  I'm going to tuck these special days into my heart and hold them there to look back on and remember a time when my children still called me Mommy, held my hand when we walk places and just wanted to hang out with me.  Where snuggles in bed are a must, mushes and hugs are given and received with great joy.

These are our golden years and I'm not going to waste them.