On the Auction Block...

One of my very favorites parts of volunteering at Nolan's school is being an art docent in his classroom. I've done it for a five years now and I'm finally at ease being up in front of the class. It was torture for me in the first year or so... Public speaking is NOT a favorite. But I've been fortunate to be able to have the same group of kids for three years straight. If you ask me, his class is worthy of winning an award for being practically perfect in every way. Love them!

Each month I go into their classroom to teach them about a preassigned artist and painting that was chosen by the head mucky-muck art docent leaders. I give a little spiel about the artist's life and then we discuss the painting we are learning about for about 5 to 10 minutes. Then the real fun begins! I have to come up with an art project that somehow ties into the artist/artwork or style of art. We roll up our sleeves and get to work painting, drawing, using chalk, making collages, or whatever medium I've got on the docket for that day's art lesson. Don't worry, I had to go to a couple of classes at the local community college before they unleashed me in the classroom. I have little to no artistic ability, but I do love kids and I like to have fun so it's all good.

This month our school is holding an on-line auction to raise money to buy much needed things for the students. I'm not sure what this year's goal is, but in year's past we've raised $25,000 to buys new playground equipment, library books, etc....

The PTA asked the art docents to create something from each class that could be auctioned off at the auction. I always panic a little when this time of year rolls around. What to make??? What could we possibly create that someone would want to buy with their hard earned moola?

I went to the number one source. The Internet! I stumbled across an art lesson that looked pretty cool so I gave it a go.....

Basically, I chopped up a perfectly good 16x20 poster of Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" into 24 blocks. Gave one piece to each student in the class along with a matching black piece of paper. They were instructed to copy their portion of the poster onto the black paper exactly using oil pastels (very bright, creamy crayons). Then I would assemble the black paper back together to recreate our version of "Starry Night" and frame it! Genius, No? It turned out to be a pretty cool mosaic version of the original. I love it and I hope someone else will love it enough to pay a pretty penny!

My little Air Jordan

Another basketball season has come to a close. I loved watching Nolan play basketball for a number of reasons. First, it was fast paced and exciting to watch him race around the court having so much fun. And Second, it was indoors...warm and DRY.

I swear I did not sign Nolan up for a bowling league...this was taken at their end of season banquet!

Their team name was "The Heat", which Nolan was never very fond of. His vote was for "The Swishers" with "The Slam Dunking Hobos" as a distant second.
His team was comprised of nine boys of all shapes and sizes, they were a great group of kids and a lot of fun to watch.Nolan's basketball skills really improved over the past year. Last year, he used to be a little gun shy of trying to make a basket and would rather pass the ball to a teammate. But now he's more confident in himself and was taking shots whenever he could.

See what I mean? Not shy. He clearly wanted possession of that ball!

His team worked well together, constantly passing and making great plays!

When Nolan wasn't at basketball practice or at a game, you could find him in our driveway trying to improve his accuracy. I found myself out there with him shootin' some hoops constantly amazed at his ability to dribble around me like I was standing still and making shots I thought I was blocking... Basketball is not my forte.

I hope he continues to play in the future, but for now... it's time to try on the baseball cleats and get ready for the sunflower seeds and cold days in the dugout. :)

Who Says Today's Kids Lack Imagination?

Well whomever it was obviously did not meet my children.

Take a gander at what I saw outside my front window this afternoon...

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Nothing says fun like a carboard box duct taped to a skateboard.
Priceless...
And so were the expressions on my neighbor's faces.

It just makes me happy!

Arizona Vacation, Take Two

We had what I like to call the "do over" vacation a few weeks ago. After missing our chance last November to visit Arizona because of the nasty influenza virus, we rescheduled for a fun-filled germ free vacation in February!

We really love Arizona for many reasons...

First and foremost is getting to see so many wonderful family members whom we love dearly, but a close second would have to be this...

It's BEAUTIFUL.

(and the warm sunshine pouring down isn't too shabby either)

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The first half of our vacation we were treated like royalty at Connor's aunt Marylou's home in Scottsdale. Her ability to make her guests feel so at home and welcome astounds me. I wish I had an ounce of that skill. She fed us the most wonderful meals, lent us her SUV for the entire week, and even surprised us with Valentine's Day Baskets the likes my kids have never seen. She's a sweetheart.

The boys had many opportunities to play with their "Arizona cousins" Miranda and Kennedy who happen to be 11 years old and perfect companions for Nick and Nolan. They had so much fun shootin' hoops, playing hide and seek, and just being kids.

Connor's uncle Lloyd has a yard filled to the brim with wildlife. He feeds almost everything that crosses the property line. You never know what you're gonna see walking across the back patio... quail, coyotes, even javelinas are frequent visitors to their pal Lloyd's door.





Here's a little rabbit munching on some celery left behind.

Marylou and Lloyd took us into downtown Scottsdale one day. We went out to lunch and did a little shopping where we encountered this lovely trio of chairs. My boys thought our home could use a little Southwest flair complete with
antler armrests and cowhide upholstery.

Nick made the mistake of asking why the garbage cans had bars over them... Connor of course had to show him that it was to deter people from throwing kids into the cans.

We also had a nice evening at Connor's cousin Lisa's home in Phoenix. For some reason she was able to escape my camera's viewfinder... But here's a picture of Marylou watching the kids play at the neighborhood pool.

Please notice that my son is the only one crazy enough to jump into the UNHEATED pool. It was a huge pool, and Nolan was the only nut job in the water. He loved every minute of it!

While dining on a delicious Valentine's dinner comprised of a myriad of red foods (including a stellar red velvet cake made by the twins) we were treated to the sights of hot air balloons flying overhead. It was really neat, this one was close enough to see and hear the fire used to keep it afloat.

The second half of our vacation was spent with my parents. Within an hour of arriving on their front steps my boys found some really cool geckos running around the front yard. My boys are ALWAYS finding lizards... I seriously do not know how they do it.

My parents threw Nolan a belated birthday bash and treated us to lots of fun while we were with them. I just wished I had taken two weeks off instead of one... there just never seems to be enough time.

We ventured into the White Tank Mountains to check out a waterfall. It was a lovely Spring hike among the cacti. It's fun to walk across terrain that we rarely get to see, very pretty.

In this park, there are many petroglyphs from hundreds of years ago scattered around on giant boulders. It was fascinating to see the symbols the Indians used to represent their surroundings.

We also hopped in the car to go see Montezuma's Castle, an old cliff dwelling high above a lovely river filled valley. You can't tell from this picture, but it was quite large. Large enough for several families to inhabit.

My parents taking time out to pose for their annoying camera happy daughter.

After the cliff dwellings, we headed even farther North to Sedona. The red rocks and cliffs were unbelievable. They almost don't look real. I was really camera happy in that town... I have a ton of pictures of red cliff walls.

In Sedona there is a cool park called Slide Rock. The river cuts through a crevasse of red rock to create a natural water slide. It was too cold for us to give it a go, but apparently the place is teaming with people slip sliding down the river in the summer.

In the summer months the amount of water decreases quite a bit creating a perfect water slide. The boys would have LOVED to try it out... maybe someday!

Love this guy! It was fun hanging out with my parents for a little while... I wish they had never moved away.

We knocked a few golf balls around when we weren't hiking. Dad swears he never uses the mini-golf courses in town... But he beat the pants off of all of us on two occasions. Makes me a little suspicious of what he REALLY does in his spare retirement hours.

This lovely gal is a treat to sit next to at the dinner table. My Grandma Ruth (AKA Grandma Salty) is a kick. She's so lively, funny, sweet, and entertaining. I hope to reach the age of 90 with as much vitality and good health as she has. LOVE HER!

Visiting Arizona in February is like fast forwarding to Summer for a little while. The weather was in the mid-70's every day with hardly a cloud in the sky. We saw many lovely sights and spent countless hours talking with our loved ones. It was a wonderful do over for sure!