O-W-I-E!

Tin Grin

Brace Face

Metal Mouth

Given my lack of sympathy for Marc when he was Man Sick...turn about is fair play!

I am wondering WHY I thought this was going to be such a great idea.

Maybe I'll remember in about 18 months!

Pendleton School District Art Show

I love this time of year at school...Spring Conferences are over...fun activities are getting lined out. Field trips are being planned...and I take a day off from the daily grind and set up the Pendleton School District Art Show. This is a project that has been near and dear to me. I love art. I love to teach art. Nearly every student I have ever had loves to DO art, regardless of their level of talent or success.

When I begin unstacking the layers of banners I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. I had a lot of wonderful help this morning and there weren't too many glitches.

Photos don't really do the event justice...so come by the Pendleton Convention Center the next few days and be AMAZED by the talent of these kids.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday...

Guess what I call this?...

Think Jeopardy and phrase it in a question please?

"What are the essentials of Conferences?"

Student files...organized...check

Conference agenda...check

Starbucks...check

Bottled water...check

Post-it notes...check

Advil...check

Spring! Amen!

What a wonderful - glorious- fabulous - spectacular spring weekend we had...

Friday Night
Athena & I participated in - witnessed - the First Annual Cattle Barron's Saloon Crawl. We didn't go from saloon to saloon. We walked ourselves two miles down to the Rainbow and watched as the hard core crawlers came and went. It isn't often that Athena & I have kid-less adventures. This was a night full of fun stories that will carry us through the rest of this school year!

Saturday
The girls went to the Art Center and made homemade paper from pulp and added their own creative elements. It was a fun morning. Each of my girls enjoy crafts and art as much as I do...so we try to participate in the classes at the Art Center as often as we can. A perk...they received a grant recently so they are doing a series of six-weeks of free classes. Check them out. Week one was a huge success!


That afternoon the girls ALL got to make cookies. All three will be entering cookies in the Milton-Freewater Fair on Mother's Day Weekend. Reagan choose to make Pumpkin drop cookies. Grace is making Oatmeal Coconut Crispies. Taryn made Lemon Tea Cookies. All the recipes passed my inspection. (OK, so I'm not that rigorous of a judge but I had to try 6 of each to make sure they were perfect!)

Marc was busy in the basement most of the day. He hired a crew to do the drywall for us. Marc had already hung the sheet rock, we just needed the mud & tape done. We thought it would save time and be worth the money, it was not! The guy worked incredibly slow...and his quality of work was not up to Marc's standard. We paid him half of the agreed upon amount and left with the job only half done. In-between layers Marc got the lawn mowers ready for the year and I mowed the lawn for the first time. I am happy to report, I only found one lost Easter Egg, and it wasn't even in the grass. I always worry when I pull out the mower for the first time.

Sunday
Sunday was another beautiful day. Grace, my alarm clock, did not get up until 7:30...I knew it was going to be a great day. We attended church, ate donuts, visited with our friends. Then, Marc and the two little girls tackled laundry, while Taryn and I tackled her 4-H record book. That took a lot of patience on both our parts. We nearly finished...and almost made it without tears.


We spent an hour at showmanship class in Athena. Taryn is doing a much better job handling the lambs. Max, her lamb of choice, now weighs 90 lbs. This is a good number. We need him to weigh at least 95 lbs. by show time. Minnie, the back-up lamb, weighs in at 86 lbs. Taryn is learning a lot and her enthusiasm is contagious.

The Johnson family joined us for dinner and Marc BBQ'ed. He is chef extraordinaire when in comes to the BBQ or prime rib, or salmon, or heck any meat-and-potato-type of meal. We dined on paper plates so cleanup couldn't be much easier.


Have I mentioned, what a wonderful - glorious - fabulous - spectacular spring weekend it was?

Even the squirrel's were soaking up the spring sunshine!

Grace in the Spotlight...

To my friends and family who do not blog-hop ... check out Grace on Athena's blog. It made me cry. I bet you will too...(okay, maybe not you Jason.)

Anne loves a D-U-C-K?

I think I have established that I am a Beaver...I bleed Orange and Black. Now that I have that established. Let me introduce you to my very own duck.

Reagan began Junior Jam this year. She was excited to be joining and getting to dance and perform. On the day of sign ups I learned that the group Reagan would be in was

Ducks Dance Too!

I was slightly comforted when I saw that the outfits had some orange in them. I may have had to make her quit if the outfit was green and gold.

She has enjoyed her year of dance. I think it may be her thing. She is thrilled that her two BFF's are also in dance.
.

With tonight's recital a wonderful success...I can officially cross DANCE CLASS off my to-do list for this year. Now that is something to celebrate!

Artist?

(Reagan...3 years old!)

What about your dash?

I am not always 'into' the chain letters I get on the internet. Some days they make a mark on me. Today I got a 'forward' that spoke to me. (Thanks Danne') This is not a long movie, it has beautiful pictures...but the words...I LOVED the words.

http://www.dashpoemmovie.com/preview/

A Penny Thought: I hope to make the most of my dash!

• Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us. -- Thomas L. Holdcroft
  
• We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. -- Winston Churchill
  
• Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. -- Gandhiji
  
• Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies. -- Ann Landers
  

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

I have been blog searching...and have seen some things that I really love...one of them is Wordless Wednesday. Do any of you out there think I can pull this off? You know,me...wordless. It'll be tough.

I love that I could (might...might not) post any random picture I like, without any explanation or detail. Here is my first...(Almost) Wordless Wednesday post.

Fort Roscrans National Cemetary

My Grandfather is buried here.

9/8/1919 - 9/11/2007

I'm getting a tattoo...

Not! Happy April Fools day!

I'm Pregnant...

Not! Happy April Fools Day!

I'm Getting Braces!

I really am doing this. What was I thinking? I am excited to finally get to have straight teeth. Pictures will follow...

Me eating corn on the cob...spinach...all those good things!