.reflections.

I told the boys I wanted them to participate in the reflections art contest this year. We spent a few weeks on their projects and handed them in before the deadline. The theme this year was "Diversity" along with having their submissions go with the theme, they also needed to do a short write up of what it meant to them. Gage's idea of the hands was completely original. I was brainstorming before on what we could do when he came and showed me a picture he drew with the same overlapping hands. I told him that would be a great idea to submit so we worked on painting a larger version for the contest. We got and invitation in December for the awards ceremony at the school. Brynn and I went and he won 2nd place in the visual arts division! He got a nice little trophy and recognized in the assembly in front of the entire school!

.he looses another one!

Two day after Gage lost his front tooth...the other one fell out! I know I said last post it dosen't get much cuter, but this proves it does!

Now that the kids are back in school...my pantry door gets decorated with their art once again. Few things give me as much joy being a mother than seeing and displaying my kids masterpieces.

Gage and Brynn fruit ninja tournaments.

Our quarterly RS dinner meeting this month was "favorite things". We had dinner of favorite fall soups and after we went into the RS room, sat in a big circle and took turns sharing one of our favorite things. It was alot of fun and the turnout was excellent. Turns out this would be my last meeting as RS Meeting Coordinator. I got called as the 2nd Counselor in the RS Presidency shortly afterward. Its been a big change and I'm freaking out about having to teach in November! Ahhh!

.summer fun.

I've found a few fun activities and crafts to help keep us busy and happy. One of which was this one where you die rice with food coloring and rubbing alcohol (sets the color) and then pour in a pan to play with afterwards. It was a great two step activity. Brynn also loved to squish around the color in the plastic bags when we were making them. She LOVED playing with it afterwards. It kept her busy for at least a full hour. She got toys and tiny cups to play in it too! I put it in a bag afterwards and have gotten it out a few times since. They boys have also had fun with it too.

The kids set up stand with punch and drawings for sale. They did this a few days in a row and I think their best day was when Rachael's visiting teachers came and bought some too. I supported them everyday with a guaranteed sale to Mom. I think they were hoping to make more money! :)

We also found a recipe online to make bouncy balls. Now, nothing about the final product screamed "bouncy" to me? But it did make a ball shape and the reaction was neat. That in itself was great, so it turned out to be a fun thing. I had everything at home for it including Borax.

.june.

Our RS Meeting for June is all done with, Whew! We had a TV Theme night with mini classes and dinner. Josh and I taught a class on dating ideas. It was alot of fun to research and put together some of our visuals. I got alot of positive feedback, so that is always so nice to hear! I can now breathe a little bit till we get going again for September.

We are still pluggin' away on our art projects this summer. I got this fabulous spin art kit and Brynn and Gage tried it out. It was SO much fun and created some really beautiful paintings!

.jury duty...among other things.

Josh got a jury summons for court. He reported to the Box Elder County court house early Tuesday morning. He said there was about 60 people who were called. The ended up selecting the jury by doing a drawing. Josh said that once he heard that, he knew he would get

picked. Sure enough...he did. Guess being lucky doesn't always work in your favor. :) He was the only male chosen after they went through a questioning process. They had a jury of 8people,
and two alternates. One of the alternates was also male so he wasn't the only one. The trial started that same afternoon and I didn't hear back from him till after lunch when he told me he would be busy that week. It couldn't have come at a worse time. Work was crazy, but they managed. The trial lasted for 4 full days. He was able to come home for lunch. He was good about not speaking about it with me like he promised he would. At the end he was chosen as the jury spokes person and conducted the deliberation. They came up with a guilty verdict. He was finally able to tell me all about it afterwards. It drove me crazy not knowing! :) It was an attempted murder/stabbing case between some brothers from Tremonton.

Brynn and Gage did a few new art projects inside while the weather has been yucky!

Brynn is still obsessed with make-up. She sneaks into my make-up drawer all too often. She usually comes out just like this...with mascara on her forehead!

Here's a picture of my new rugs. I've been working on decorating my front room (finally). Its been alot more fun than I anticipated. I just need to work one room at a time. I was feeling overwhelmed before and this has help me so much!

.pineapple paintbrush.

I stumbled across the best blog recently. Its called www.pineapplepaintbrush.com. She was starting a 4 week online art class and I've been so impressed with it! Danielle has put so much work into everything and her posts are so much fun!
I actually adore ART! I was pretty into in in Jr. High school when I was accepted into an advanced art program. I still have my portfolio and I'm planning on sharing that with my kids this summer. I took a few more classes in High School, but wasn't impressed with the program and sad to say I haven't done much more with it since.
I picked up a few art supplies and we started with the class that first week. Brynn and Gage LOVED it. It was nice too because the weather turned bad once again and it was nice to have something fun to do.
She highlighted a student from her class each week for her "artist of the week" spotlight and we were thrilled when she chose Gage! I took a screen shot of the post but you can still see it if you go back on her site!
We have since slowed down with the class. I purchased the PDF version of it and plan on doing it with the kids from start to finish this summer! Can't wait!!!