She Draws

Lucy's been taking art classes at a local studio.  She has always wanted to, and has loved art since she was tiny.  She has a whole craft/art desk full of stuff to make things with and has always wanted some direction in how to use some of it.

I can't remember if some of these are from the fall semester or last year (woops), but most of them are from this spring semester that just ended.  These classes were her Christmas present and she ADORED them and really wants to take a camp this summer!  It was fun to occasionally get to take a pic through the little window they had in one of the classroom walls :)

Her first class was in pencil drawing...

 Her second class involved trying out different mediums like pastels, oil pastels, waxes and dyes, fountain nubs w/ inks, watercolors, acrylics and more....

I really went over the top with the pics, I know, but I didn't put them ALL  on here ;)

There's just nothing neater than watching your children create!

We Always Called Him Spiderman

....because he tried to climb walls as a toddler.  He technically climbed before he crawled.  He climbed our bedposts, the tv...anything really, well before crawling forward.  When trying to climb a flat surface at age 2, he simply gave him self a boost by flying INTO the wall....before sliding down.

So, I suppose rock-climbing should have been a natural progression.  But Stephen and I made the mistake of trying to give him martial arts classes for Christmas.  Those lessons quickly turned into a climbing gym membership.

So he's been climbing all semester.  Stephen says Clyde doesn't believe it, but the boy is a better climber than his Dad.  His siblings joined him a couple of times, which he loved.  He likes to "race" them, but he always stops right before winning and lets them win.  He's just not the competitive type :)

bouldering...

 tying his own knots (he's not technically old enough, so Stephen double checks them as a formality lately)  And like his father, he takes all the safety protocols VERY seriously...

 climbing with occasional company from his biggest fans...

After the semester was over, we enrolled him in a climbing camp.  He LOVED it!!  But since it was a camp, I wasn't there and I have no pictures :(

But he told me about it excitedly every day when I picked him up.  They let them leap off of ladders and boulders while being secured to the ceiling by ropes.  They broke into teams to design protection for an egg dropped from a second story balcony.  Only Clyde's team's egg remained intact!!  There were many other activities, and I think he was sorry when it was over.  But he is really looking forward to picking it back up in the fall!

End of the Frontier

We have come to the last of the Prairie School Days and there were several more fun and exciting events that I wanted to share on here...

The girls went back to the local nursing home at which they had previously sang during the Christmas season.  This time they put on a fashion show.  To add some variety the girls split into groups to model colonial styles, prairie styles and Civil War styles.  Civil War era dresses were divided into Civil War girls' fashions and Civil War ladies' fashions...

Each girl walked around the "runway" by herself while their teacher described the dress she was wearing and the accessories she carried, but at the end they all gathered for some group pics.

Lucy modeling her Colonial dress...

Mrs. E demonstrating how "foundations" worked back in the day...

Lu & friends...

Serving the residents....

To cap off the year, we had a cookout/square dance. 

There was dancing...

Roasting marshmallows for smores...

Dads shooting the breeze...

Fun was had by all!
Looking forward to Victorian Girls next year!!

Mother's Day

Following our annual tradition, we went to church with my Mom on Mother's Day.  (I was a little worried this might not happen, since Iris had a fever late the night before...but YAY!...it went away by morning.)

When asked where she wanted to lunch, Mom chose a local Chinese establishment that is always very yummy, filling and Lucy-friendly.  So we ate and then busted out the cards and presents.

Here are Sherry & the kids with the card they picked out for her.  I was quite shocked at how easily they all agreed on this one  for her...

Iris bought me a mug...she put great thought into this, because yellow is my favorite color, I love to drink tea, and I love TJMaxx.  And she made me a card...

Clyde spent a couple hours picking out my present, according his father.  A good bit of that time was smelling candles...he picked very wisely!!  Love the scents!  And he picked out a pretty funny card...a very Clyde-esque card :)

Lucy crafted me some flip-flops by tying bandana strips around the straps, using several bright colors she knows I like.  And she made me a card in her art class....

The three sweeties!!  I am so blessed!!  Can't even explain what a blessing EACH ONE is!!

Sherry got Mom several tops...that's always scary...picking out clothes...yikes!  She did SO awesome!

So, umm..I went a little over the top with garden decorations because I'm so willy-nilly, I couldn't settle on just one.  No, I am not trying to turn my mother into the garden sculpture lady.  But, to her credit, Mom found a home for each one very elegantly  :)

Lucy made Nena a card...

Clyde and Iris picked one out together...

And they all picked out this hummingbird window hanger for her, because she's fond of window humming birds...and window hangers...

Official 2013 Mother's Day shots...

We spent a good bit of the afternoon at a park and it was lovely!  I actually felt well enough to walk a little while, which was nice.

Then Stephen took me out to get a Mother's Day radio installed in the van!!  It was SO exciting to finally have one that works again!!  I've been putting it to good use.

Hope everyone had a beautiful Mother's Day!!