Open house

Every now and then, Rip stick Boy has a school function he ACTUALLY wants us to attend. Last night proved to be one of those times.

Here are a few photos from his 8th grade open house

I didn't post everything...just too much, but here are a few neat ones.....



Here is one thing the class did:


check out how they represented the elements, with wire and seed beads....pretty crafty, huh!


here he is showing some of his handy work to Dean and Curly Girl...


and another section.....


check out these cool masks all around the library.......

hmmm.......

Remember THIS?


now, he does THIS!

even when I'm IN THE TUB....silly cat!

Polka dotted pretties!

I was in Shawnee's latest apron swap, Polka Dotted Pretties!

Here is what I sent my partner. She is such fun and adores sea turtles as much as I do!

I couldn't resist making her this apron....even the shells and buttons have polka dots on them. I thought the trim looked polka dotty too...



I included a crocheted sea turtle pincushion. I liked him so much! I made another one just like him for my next toy drop.


and here is the other 'stuff'....most of which fit into the cute polka dotted container I found.

Birds!

I assigned songbirds as April's YOE theme.

Here are the two ornaments I created for my partner...she loves paper crafting so I incorporated that into them.

and


Here is the other stuff I sent....I kept with a few things from her list...pattern, lemon drops, etc. I did include a large piece of a lovely hand embroidered vintage table cloth.


On to the activity.....What do you get when you mix dryer lint, shiny shred, bright feathers, eyelash yarn and an onion bag?

Nesting materials for the birds of course!



Just fling it up into the tree and see what happens!

Happy Saturday!

Strike a pose...

Someone once told me that a rescued animal KNOWS it is loved.
Whenever I see Suki, I am blown away. We got her last July.
Even though she was pretty, her coat was like wire and really pale.

See?


She was so skid-dish, afraid of everything! As 'tough' as she pretended to be toward the dogs and Leo, she was terrified of everything else.

Over the last several months, she has taken to being a loved family pet. She doesn't try to rush out anymore, although she has slipped out a time or two...only to come back in quickly.
Now, her coat is gorgeous!

She is playful and loving. Curly Girl carries her everywhere over her shoulder, like a mother burping a baby!
When Curly Girl isn't home, Suki seems genuinely lost. Sleep overs are so hard on her that I bring her princess bed into my room....but she usually sleeps at the foot of the bed....actually ON my feet. (Leo REALLY hates that.)

Just look at her now....in the photo, we were playing cards and she wanted to be part of it but didn't want to sit on the floor (I know, we just KNEW...)
Curly Girl got her bed and put her in it.
Instead of curling up, she flipped over into this position and stayed that way for about 30 minutes!

Now THAT is a trusting pose!

A walk through the art...

Sunday, we attended a small exhibit for gifted art students from our school parish.

Curly Girl's art was just a copy of the otter that is awaiting display at the Governor's mansion. (There was 1 other child who had a copy of their work too.)



Here are some other things that were on exhibit!
They were all amazing but I just couldn't take photos of everything.

here are some masks made out of milk jugs...SO creative!







and I loved these.....remember how you would doodle and then color within the lines?
These take it a step further, you cut out the doodles and lay them over one another, creating a 3-D piece of art...

The photos didn't turn out well because of the glare but you can get the idea...


some papier mache ornamental sticks....AMAZING!






this was our favorite...it looks like a yellow Pink Panther!

and two colorful works that I just loved!

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” Pablo Picasso

Happy Birthday to youuuuuu....

Yes Virginia, there IS a reason to smile on April 15th

.......its DEAN'S Birthday!
I bet he used this smile on his mom a LOT! And yes, it always works!!!

This is the man...
who I can't stay mad at....even when he throws the ball for Ginger the DAY she got her stitches out ,who will pull me into his lap when I start to cry, who hands me a tissue in movies BEFORE I start to cry, who makes sure the kids walk on the outside, while he walks on the inside....if you're a parent, you know what I'm talking about, who brings me Star buck's hot cocoa...even in summer because he knows I want it, who understands that underneath that tough girl exterior is a real softie that just wants everyone to get along ,who moves the furniture...again...and again...and again, who takes the kids to the mall because I HATE the mall, who fills the tub and lights the candles and lets me have some ME time while he tucks the kids in bed,
This is the man I thank God for everyday!
Happy Birthday honey, we love you!!!!

You're getting sleepy.........

going...

going...


gone.

something special

Yesterday at work I had a VERY nice surprise....you KNOW how I love nice surprises!

I had been asked by the art teacher to come see her in class.
I went in and she handed me this year's financial report for the parish.

It was opened to a pretty picture.....that Curly Girl had drawn!

I was soooooo excited. A picture she had drawn had been selected to be shown in the report...which is a pretty big deal.
I thanked the teacher and told her I couldn't WAIT to see the original and have it framed.
Then said told me there was ANOTHER surprise! She had submitted the picture to an art exhibit being held in the Governor's mansion. The exhibit showcases art from all the schools in the state.

Guess what? (you know already...right?)

Curly Girl's was ACCEPTED!

She told me that you never know when (or if) you'll get the original back so that is why she gave me a copy of the report.

Now we wait to find out WHEN the exhibit is so we can all truck over there...and see it in person.

So...forgive the picture of the picture (taken at night)...but I'm so proud of her.

Congratulations sweetie!

A Fairy Went A Marketing

Remember this post?... well, I got my package and everything is so cute. Missy even made us all little catalogs.


here is a close up of some of the goodies.

Many of these items are going to end up on my YOE tree...they are just too cute!

Thank you for hosting Missy!

April's Toy Society drop

I fell in love with these bunny finger puppets I found at purl-bee's blog.

Here is the link to make your own....

I made one in a hurry to take with us into New Orleans to the City Park. It was super easy which was great because I only had a few minutes to put it together.



We left it at the entrance to Story land.


The wind kept blowing the box between the lamb and Mary so you couldn't see it....I was tempted to move it but Dean convinced me to give it a while.

We went back about 2 hours later and drove up in time to see a little girl run off with it.

A day out.......

Dean had Good Friday off so we all went into New Orleans for the day.

Since Rip stick Boy's ankle was still messed up, we couldn't do too much walking.

Besides snowcones and lunch, we also went to the Sculpture Gardens in City Park.

Here are just a few of the photos Dean took.

This tree reminded us all of Mardi Gras....there are beads in trees EVERYWHERE this time of year. I really thought this one would be entitled "Mardi Gras Tree." But the artist called it the "Tree of Necklaces."


This spider was HUGE



I loved this one...called "Overflow"...reminded me of how my brain never stops....


This freaky one is called "Monkeys"....the texture on the hands and faces was disturbingly realistic. It was one of those sculptures that you could look at for a long time....weird!


I loved this one....but I'm a sucker for horses.


Of course, we had to check out Blue Dog....which had a yellow and red side...

anyone who knows me well, knows I ADORE tortoises and turtles. I would love to have this giant in my own garden....


RB's ankle was getting tired so instead of going through the Botanical Gardens, we took a paddle boat out...it was so much fun!

Here is a sweet little duck nest right by the paddle boat dock....


one of the many swans.....

here is a pretty bridge...there were 2 wedding parties here and both brides were getting photos taken on the bridge. One groom was crying...kinda loudly. We couldn't tell if they were tears of joy or regret!

a view of the Museum of Art...

make way for ducklings...


You could go back through part of the Sculpture Garden from the water..


and this one is in the water.....gorgeous. It was about 30 feet tall.

the kids enjoyed themselves...while Dean tried to soak them in the fountain!


We only rented the boat for an hour and all agreed that next time, we would rent it for much longer...there was so much we didn't get to explore!

Happy Easter everyone!