Sunday, July 5, 2015

Rebecca - Ms. Laurie's Class 2014-2015

Rebecca is like one of those great Renaissance artists who seemingly has masterpieces in several mediums in just about every famous museum in every great city. She is never without inspiration or energy to create. As I sit on the front porch writing this while the kids play in the spinkler, she has painted her hands completely pink with wet sidewalk chalk and announced to me:
Look, now I am the art!

Self-portrait from Hillcrest MDO last summer.
A card she made for me
You'll notice the ninja/princess theme hasn't gone away. The left one she called "her poster" and she asked me to make 20 copies so we could put them around the neighborhood. Somehow I talked her out of it.
She tapped into her tomboy sensibilities to make this for Blake (Mel - did we ever deliver, send it to him?)
Life-sized.
Weather was another big theme.


She was working on copying the alphabet from little cards w/ pictures but was more interested in writing the whole word of the picture. Look long enough an you'll see it:  
Ant, Ball, Cat, Eye, Frog, Giraffe...
A newer obsession - Ninja Turtle related art.
This hung in our playroom all year (fun paper frame - part of the paper) and I forget the exact significance but I remember that the Moose Day Show had been very significant.
Her princess flag.
Loves to type more than write. Me too.
Functional art gift bag. We gave Kyle his birthday present in this one and I saved it so we can give a gift to Rebecca on her birthday in it.
Box art. One of MANY.
You're familiar the parties she plans. Some of her lists - the 2nd she had me type for her.
Bee helped her with this one.
 
Rebecca is all about neighborhood involvement in her art - this was a sign she put on the front door thinking that anyone who came over could have some of her art - for free of course.
Rebecca's "cow squeezers" aka utters made from rubber/medical gloves filled with you-guessed-it milk. She made one and then decided it was so awesome she should make more and you-guessed-it sell them. I think she actually got distracted during this project so I didn't have to talk her out of it.
A sign she made to put up in the neighborhood to help find a missing cat that is not ours.
That same library thing w/ D/P - can you see the pic they took of her??? Who let her go out in public looking like that!? Grandparents...
A sweet Dahdo/Rebecca date that included a movie (she remembers which one and still talks about it but I can't remember).
My mother's day card
Art related to her turning 5
More princess art
Metomorphosis project from Ms. Laurie's class.
Rebecca took over the two small drawers in the console table in our entry way - they are filled with her nail polish and "hairdo" supplies (squirt bottle, q tips for curing your hair once she sprays it with water, towels to clean up the huge mess). She offers nail and hair services and made these signs for our front door. And charges very reasonable rates from $1-$6 depending on how much you love her and how gullible you are.
Fairy art
Okay, this is super special. This is the little album Ms. Laurie made for her to document their year together. It is a very special keep sake (yep, made it into the box). Funny part is when I was filing it I discovered that she had made one for Owen too - I kept it but it didn't occur to me to scan the pages and have it on the blog. Ms. Laurie and Rebecca had a very special bond - so chalk this up to one of the few things the 2nd born gets down for her that the first born didn't. ;)
So thankful for the time Rebecca spent at WPDS, particularly her last year w/ Ms. Laurie. It's one of the blessings of school to get to see your kids through someone else's eyes - to see how the parenting parenting challenges (e.g. art art everywhere) are really beatiful, God-given parts of her personality - and its a blessing to get to "deal" with them. :)

Owen - Ms. Boyd's 1st Grade Class 2014-15

Seems like the last week of school or so my kids each come home w/ a giant paper bag full of school work, art work and other miscellaneous stuff from school. If I were a teacher I think I would find it cathartic to finally get all of that (precious) stuff out of my room. As a mom I find it somewhat overwhelming. I love cataloging memories (hens the blog) but I also love purging actual stuff. So...here is my attempt at both. Some of these things found a permanent home in a file box for each kiddo. Others will only live in blog-land. And obviously some of this is actual school work and some is random stuff they made/did around the house. Enjoy!

Not sure if this got posted before - Owen and his sweet 1st grade class. 
He's more sentimental than I am and saved this sticker and had me write it what it was.
Rocker Owen self portrait.
My dog ate my homework.
A message to us...two sided.
Note to a friend.
Emotions.
A boy needs his calendar.
He died laughing when Katie showed up to my house and we were both (shocker) wearing chambray/denim shirts. He ran off and made us this.
Thanks to the Foshea kids the Netflix version of Inspector Gadget is a regular in our house.
O & R wanted to make a book together - they had a story all worked out. This is the cover - and its all that got done - because they discovered what a slow process waiting for paint to dry actually is. Maybe they'll finish in another medium.
A folder from school - I love the sticker montages.
Owen was sooooo excited to bring home his history notebook, and when he did I could see why. It's such a fun sample of what his first grade year looked like. It's filled with pictures he drew to represent events in history they studied along with his description. Priceless.
I think this got featured in a post back in the fall (TX Mammal Day) - he was a porcupine - but just in case.
On our ski trip we watched Dolphin Tale 2 (having never seen 1) so we watched the first when at some point when we got home. We had to pause it and he was extremely concerned I wouldn't remember where we had left off (top drawing). Then they finished it with Marisela the next night when Kyle and I were out and as you can see by the note he left me - he did not know what the point was. Unfortunatley, neither did I. (Like mother, like son.)
A thank you note for a sweet gift all the first graders received - he really does wear it every day.
For the beloved Mrs. Boyd's memory book.
One of my favorite first grade activities - Flat Stanley. His went to visit friends of ours in Marakesh, Morocco.
American Flat Stanley, Moroccan Flat Stanley
You'll see one of these for each of the kids - best I can remember they went to a library thing w/ Dahdo/Pam in Comfort and it had something to do w/ stuffed animal friends.
He drew flowers that looked almost exactly like the ones Kyle bought me.
His art portfolio from school.
A study in shade and tint.
A very realistic creepy little bug.
The sketch and the final product - an Owl & Two Babies.
Another owl project - sketched then created using tiny pieces of tissue paper.
The kids discovered my label maker and each had a few requests - Owen's had to do w/ his map for their club "Guardians of the House" (which deserves its own post - perhaps I'll have Owen write it)...stay tuned.
Yay for 2014-2015 school and artwork!!! (done.)

From Kyle's phone

Some June things that got left out because the pics were on Kyle's phone. 
Kids posing behind some fun cut-outs from church during our Armor of God series - On Guard!
Rebecca the Brave looking a little frightened (?)
Owen the Honorable
Maggie the Jubilant
Owen (with Kyle) collecting their massive winnings from a Father/Son "Blazer Tag" outing - Owen's code name = "Blank Boy" and Kyle's = "Total Domination"
Towards the end of school Kyle and I divided and conquered one morning: I went to Owen's last chapel where grades K-6 of his school each recite their grade's corresponding chapter of the Book of Ephesians so that the entire book is read. Awesome. And Kyle got to go to Rebecca's gymnastics performance. Our proud little performer. :)
 With her buddies
And a few more from our Ranch trip post-Paris. While Maggie and I napped (I sacrificed for the fam, I know) Kyle and the big two did some shooting.
Oh, and how could we leave this off??? Doctoring Maggie's many many oooozy leg booboos - Rx antibiotic cream plus tons of bandaids to keep the ooze contained and keep her from scratching (she has had a history of picking at mosquito bites and excema/dry skin patches until they bleed and and she got an infection called impetigo that pretty much gook over). She wore pants around the clock for a couple of weeks and we doctored them 3xs a day and her legs have never looked better! :)
End of the school year photos and artwork from 2014-2015 coming soon!