back to school

It's that time of year again. My favorite time of the year... A time for new backpacks, school supplies and (to quote my favorite movie) bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils.

Avery and I made a special banner to celebrate the start of the school year.

And, like her Momma, Avery could barely contain her excitement for the start of a new school year.

Here's how Charlie felt about it.

sweet.

d is for dance party

My sister Katharine is in college...and just recently decided to pursue a degree in Education. 

Something that I could not be more thrilled about.

So, since she got out for summer break a few days before we did, I decided to give her a little taste of what one can really do with a hard earned degree in Early Childhood Education.

 I think I'm doing some sort of hillbilly move in this next picture...

 Dancing is serious business in my class.

Good times were had by all. As usual.

I'm pretty sure she left feeling the weightiness of her decision.

mosaic crosses

This Mother's Day, Avery and I made mosaic crosses as gifts for her grandmommies. I've never done mosaic crafting before, so this was a little bit of an experiment in craftiness for me.

We found these wooden crosses at Hobby Lobby in the VBS section. I decided that they were just screaming for something cute in the middle.

And they were.

The first step was to paint the crosses with acrylic white paint.

Avery got all decked out in her super fancy art smock and got to work.

As the paint was drying (because I'm crazy impatient when it comes to crafting), we mixed the grout and water. There were no instructions on the box about the water to grout ratio, so I just winged it (wung it? wang it? - no not wang it. definitely not. yikes.)

Looking back, I could have probably googled the answer. But - like I said - I'm an impatient crafter.

Seriously impatient.

I pretty much always just "go for it" and fix my mistakes later.

I do a lot of fixing.

A lot.

So - after Avery and I mixed the grout, I spooned the mixture into the intentation in the cross.

After that, I just kinda let Avery work her magic.

She loved that part.

When the grout was a little more dry - but not completely dry - I wiped the excess away with a damp paper towel. The grout box said to use a damp sponge, but I'm cheap. There's no way I'm buying a sponge just for grouting.

Plus, that would have required forethought.

And planning.

And yet another trip to the store.

Which would require me to dress two children.

And coax them to the car using bribery and veiled threats.

Then strap them into their carseats after chasing Charlie down the driveway and wrestling Avery into her seat.

Then I'd have to actually drive to the store.

Where I would have to find a cart.

And listen to Avery whine about how SHE wanted to ride in the baby section of the cart.

Then I'd have to try to convince her that all the cool big kids like to ride in the basket section of the cart.

Maybe I'd get lucky and she'd buy it.

And we would get to business.

For about 2 minutes.

Then she'd have to go to the bathroom.

Even though she went before we left the house.

And our house is just 2 minutes away from the craft store.

So I'd have to abandon my cart by the bathroom door, remove Charlie from the seat, and try to keep him from reaching into the toilet while hoisting Avery to the potty seat.

After which, we'd all have to wash hands.

But the paper towels would be empty.

Cause that's how it works.

I'd get everybody situated in the cart again and head over to the tile section.

Things would be going well. Untill we saw the stickers.

Then Avery would whine about how she needed Jasmine stickers.

I'd try convince her that she doesn't really need them, she just wants them. PLUS, we're only there to get a (stinkin') sponge anyway.

That wouldn't work. Because she's three. And everything is a reaaaallly big deal.

But we'd keep on truckin' anyway.

We'd finally make our way to the craft sponge section only to discover that the one I needed was sold out.

Cause that's the way that Michael's works.

Then we'd go home.

And I'd use a damp paper towel to finish the project.

So, yeah...the paper towel worked just fine.

After the grout was dry, I noticed that it had cracked a little in a few places.

I had to re-touch the cracks with extra grout - but that seemed to do the trick nicely.

Who knows why the grout cracked. I probably did something wrong. I told you I should have googled the answer.

Oh well.

Once the grout was dry, I added a bit of grout sealer that I bought in the mosaic tile section at Michael's - just to keep it from cracking in the future.

I think they turned out cute.

So cute, in fact, that my Preschool class made them for their mother's day gifts too.

Don't you just love all those colors?

art show

I love Art.

Maybe it's the Preschool Teacher in me, but no other kind of art in the world makes my heart happier than kid-created art: the freedom, the messiness, the simplicity, the pure creativity - it's just the best.

Each April, our Preschool hosts an Art Show featuring the student's art projects throughout the year.

We line just about every square inch of the school with beautifully imperfect preschooler-made lovliness.  

This year, one of my favorite displays was my 5-year-old class' beginning and end-of-the-year self-portraits.

I love seeing the different ways that kid's depict themeselves on  paper:

Some kids draw themselves with enormous arms or crazy spider-like fingers and gigantic heads, while others draw a mouth full of crazy, jagged teeth.

Then there are the precocious few who go to great lengths to include the most minute details about their anatomy.

Those are the ones Ms. Jennifer has to sensor.

And then hide.

But only after sharing a giggle with mom and dad first.

Because honestly, who doesn't giggle over that?

Another of my favorites was our class-created alphabet chart display.

We worked on it all year, and the culmination of my class' individual efforts turned out just too precious. The crazy, hodge-podgi-ness of it all totally screams "preschool" to me.

Avery and her little friend Faith enjoyed the art show almost as much as I did.

Dressing up is the ultimate when you're three.

That and a few shots of super-sugary lemonade.

Right before bedtime.

Gotta love that.

After I said hello to the parents and kiddos in my class, David, Charlie, my mom and I headed over to Avery's classroom to check out her Art work.

Thankfully, the lemonade-induced sugar high was starting to wear off a little by that time.  

My kiddos collapsed in the car on the way home - which is the ultimate Good Times Litmus Test.

Until next year, Art Show!