Proud of these

Fall collages made by my after school art students! Enjoy!

Yes and No

I can say YES to:
Fruit. When Addy asks me for her third cutie within one hour. 
Art. When Wilder says he wants to make art which means another mess on top of all our current messes. 
Dreaming. Looking at costumes with Gwyneth eight weeks before Halloween.
Letting go. It's ok if you wear two different shoes out of the house...this time because momma's tired.
To starting over. To new days.

I can say NO to:
Saying No. No, Addy it is not ok for you to tell your mother "NO"...even if your brother thinks it is hilarious. 
Wilder's outfit leaving the house. Only my boy could manage tie dye, camo, and stripes in the same outfit. 
Unrealistic expectations. Really, because only so much can happen in one day. 

Thankful for a reflective, relaxing Sunday :)

1st Day of Kindergarten

Sweet Memory

I have been cleaning out my over 6,000 photos in iphoto.

"We’re made of where we’ve been, of who we’ve loved."

I love everything about this photo of my grandmother and Wilder. 
Wilder sleeping, her grin, the pillow/lawn chair combo. Her garage.  
We were having a garage sale at her house. 

Art Camp

Last week was my first art camp. I used my classroom. Most of the girls I had in class but got to know a few new ones too! It was a learning year. At times the week felt long but looking back at all that was created it was totally worth it! We tried a variety of differrent projects and materials. Next year I would like to have some classes with specific themes and maybe do some large projects that would span the whole week...thinking! I had a group of 9 girls that were very enthusiastic and hard working! Here are a few pics from the week.

Back row: Sarah, Baylee, Lauren, Sophie, Faith, Madison
Front row: Allie, Emily, Ella

On Monday we worked with clay. We made two pinch pots and stacked them to make vases. 

Emily and Ella making slip for our clay. 

After a focused morning with clay we let loose and got messy with glue and attached yarn and tissue paper to balloons to make hanging decorations. Some worked some didn't! The goal is to pop the balloon and have the remaining form. 

Because I had all girls at art camp Tuesday was jewelry craft day! One of the several things we did was modge podge unfinished wooden beads. (center bead). I just loved this bracelet made by Faith!

Getting out of the classroom for some sunlight! Girls are getting their boards ready for our corn syrup painting!

Corn syrup and food coloring! I love it! So easy, cheap, and looks like glass or tile when dry. Girls had fun tasting all their colors. 

Emily focused on taping up her tree for watercolor. 

Friday was probably the most exciting day. We made a Dale Chihuly style hanging sculpture with plastic bottles.  The girls worked so hard first washing and painting tons of bottles, then cutting, then hanging! It was exciting to watch the process and see how each girl became engaged.  

I just love how the girls kept mixing paint to make new colors of bottles. 

Bottles were arranged by color to make sure we had an equal number of each color. 

Hard at work cutting. Only a few minor injuries, right Lauren? I told the girls they could cut the bottles into spirals but it was their discovery/idea to cut them into flowers. 

Poor scissors. As if they weren't dull enough already.

In progress.

Madison and Sophie worked SO hard cutting bottles up to the very end.

The finished piece turned out way better than I even imagined. I didn't know if the girls would really embrace the idea. They definitely exceeded my expectations! Thank you girls! I hope you had a great week and will continue to pursue your creative passion. 

Aren't they cute? These are the tie dye shirts they made on Wednesday. They turned out so pretty. I can't wait to do tie dye again!

She really does talk

"The greatest poem...

 is an inventory."

A quote I read in One Thousand Gifts. 

Gratefulness

Thank you for today Lord. It was beautiful in every way.
9 years ago today we were married now look what we have.

"You have to be careful when you got good love because those angels will just keep on multiplyin'"
-Jack Johnson

Seeing

My two year old painted the perfect analogy for my attitude yesterday vs today. I let Addy paint today. She was so focused. She was more interested in dipping her brush into the dirty paint water than the paint which made for a muddy drippy painting. After I brought it into the house I was taking it off the easel and accidentally turned her painting upside down. How beautiful! These two photos are her painting turned upside down. You can see how the paint dripped because of all the water she put on it. I love the cloud like figure at the top that is all marbleized from all the colors running together.

So about my attitude. Yesterday I was my worst enemy. I was sinking deep in a muddy puddle of doubt and negativity. Only focusing on what was lacking. Today I decided to stay in a positive frame of mind.  To try to see as God would have me see. It was like I flipped a switch...turned my thinking upside down. Today was beautiful in every way. I was able to see past the messes, the work to be done, the imperfections that are all tied up into this awesome house. What a gift to be able to spend today doing nothing but playing with these beautiful babies God has given me. (One that included Gwyn's best friend Darci, see below).

 Stories, sun, breezes, shade, colors, laughter, hugs, kisses

...rest. 

...seriously. I couldn't be more happy you're here. 

Best Friends

Can you guess what they're looking for?