Artist du Jour

I did something new: I went to a sip and paint event! I've wanted to for a LONG time but I didn't know where to go or who would go with me. But last night was my monthly "Women, Wine and the Divine" group meeting at church and they had an artist come host one at the church! So much fun and easy for me to participate.

I had little hope of doing it well, but Renae has done them several times and swears to me that ANYBODY can do it! So I only had one and a half glasses of wine and tried really hard to pay attention.

It really was about doing what she said to do, although she made it very clear that pretty much anything goes! The lighting was terrible, which made it tough to know what colors you were actually doing. The hardest part for me was that she said to keep your paint wet because it would work better on the canvas...but then I found it wouldn't STICK to the canvas. So I think it would have turned out better if I had figured that out but I think I still managed:

I don't think I'll be displaying it anywhere, but I have to admit...it was fun! I haven't done anything artistic in a long time (other than cakes and sewing...which isn't the same!). But it was stressful too because I was afraid with each step that I was going to ruin it! Ha!

Thanks to my friend Rochelle for organizing the event! We'll have to do another one some time!

Field Day

Yesterday was Field Day! And while it was a little hot, you could not have asked for better weather (in past years, its had to be reschedule several times OR last year, it was so hot, everybody was dropping like flies!).

Korri with Mrs. Erger

Finn with Mrs. Halverson

Jim was able to block off the afternoon and come along so we divided and conquered. The nice thing about this year was the Mac was old enough to go along and participate, which was a lot of fun to see (thanks to Mrs. Erger and Mrs. Halverson for letting him!). Have I mentioned lately how we hit the jackpot for teachers this year?!?!

I started out with Korri's group. Here are some of her activities: water balloon toss (everybody's favorite!), Comet rocket, shoe kick, sprints, limbo and tug-o-war (and one tuckered out kiddo!).

Then we happened to find Finn's class, so we switched groups (and Mac went with me for a while). Here are some of Finn (and Mac's) activities: three-legged race (with daddy!), sprints, shoe kick, Comet rockets, egg race and bocce ball (and one tired boy!).

I didn't get pictures of the three-legged race, potato sack race, or the chicken race (because I missed those for both kiddos!). I had a blast, even if it was hot. I made sure the kiddos had sunscreen on, but not me. Oops! Looking forward to next year already! And then the following year we'll have two in elementary and one in middle school (and they do them the same day). Maybe Ramma will need to come!

And look who we found...REAGAN!!! She and Mac did the egg race together.

Broken Board

We had Finn's green belt meeting tonight and set some goals for him to work on personally, academically and with karate. At the end of the meeting, Finn asked Master Chris when he could break a board (this is something he's wanted to do since Day 1). And Master Chris got up and said, "tonight!"

He went to get a board, gave Finn some instructions and...Finn did this:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/N7a14qRivvhkybcs1

I was so proud of him, but more importantly, as you can tell from the video...he was proud of himself! And it was a "medium" weight board not just the beginner board!

Now we need to decide if he's going to join the Master's Club, which is for lifetime and enables him to go to as many class he wants and to go to the specialty classes, like weapons, sparring and kickboxing.

And he starts his goals next week...we'll see how that goes! If he succeeds for two weeks, he'll get his discipline patch.

Mother's Day Spa

Today, Korri's class hosted a spa day in honor of Mother's Day! It was so adorable and so much fun! There were four stations: hair, makeup, nail polish and relaxation. I loved the one-on-one time with her and she loved being able to do all the activities TO me!

And the best part of the day for me was reading with Korri on the rug! This event made me realize I need to do a better job of putting things aside and truly being present and doing things with my kiddos.

And Korri gave me two gifts: A poem with a painted flower and picture and a My Mother "fill-in" sheet (which I just LOVE!):

My favorite part of the fill-in was when I walked into the room, Korri asked me how much I weighed. I was like, "um, why?" She said she had to write it down. I asked how much she THOUGHT I weighed and she hesitated (clearly very worried about saying that I weigh too much!!!) and said, "30 pounds?" I was like, nope but that's great! Later I told her I weigh about twice as much as she does, to which she responded, "So you weight 2,000 pounds!!" Um, let's go with 30 pounds, girl!! LOL

I had a Spa Day with Finn when he was in First Grade, too:

Graduation!

Well, karate graduation, anyway! All five of us graduated tonight! Finn received his green belt. Jim, Korri and I received our gold belts and Mac received his double stripe gold belt. It was a long night but so rewarding. The kiddos were super excited for their new belts, especially Mac. He's been talking about it for over a week and telling everybody he's getting a double gold belt!

Mac was first.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/gbZQJh3vU2dF0FD32

Then it was Korri.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/0cVBBa5udB3MXHQr1

Finn's turn.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/0aAWusTGhXKHDprd2

Then after a quick dinner break, it was Jim and my turn. Video taken by Korri! She's the only one of our children who actually wanted to watch our graduation.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5YXbN7bt8betu2eE2

No individual pictures of Jim and me, but here are all of our graduation group pictures! (Where's Waldo!! LOL)

Notice how happy Mac is? Mr. Newman (the one in red with his arm around him) might be his favorite person on earth!

So now Finn will be working toward his purple belt; Jim, Korri and I will be working toward our green belt and Mac will be working toward his double green stripe belt! Each belt gets progressively more difficult, so we'll see how things go!

Our First Piano Recital

Finn and Korri (and me as a parent!) had their first piano recital today! To be fair, I feel like I forced their piano teacher to have one...but...I mean...isn't that kind of the point of lessons? To be able to show all your hard work and how far you've come? Honestly, it didn't take much coercion on my part and once I planted the idea, I think she really took to it (this was her first time giving a recital!).

So today was the day. There were nine students, which is a great number for a recital. Each student had two songs and they all used their sheet music, even though I think most had their pieces memorized. It was FAR more casual than any of my piano recitals were, which I loved. We were out of there is about 45 minutes and that is with Belinda saying really nice words and acknowledgements for each student and handing them a certificate and personalized piano bag! So thoughtful.

Korri's first song, Busy Bee by Michele Aylen:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sEMRWJTEoBhTjq8c2

Finn's first song, Forest Drums by Nancy and Randall Faber:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/fDR6THZtR4N4y2tr6

Korri's second song was Bear Dance by Jon George and Finn's second song was SpyBot by Susan Paradis. Korri just finished her first year and Finn finished his second (Korri didn't want to wait until Second Grade to start...and she's done really well!).

They both did so well. Neither seemed to have stage freight at all (which is shocking for Finn!). It might help that their piano teacher is the nicest, kindest person! She is so encouraging. She is such a blessing. Here's to a summer of no lessons! They'll both be back at it next fall!