The end of Feb Recap!

So it's the end of February and I haven't posted in a LONG time (sorry). We have been very busy... starting with going to see Thomas the tank engine at the train show at the Cobb Galleria with some great friends of ours, the Wolkows.

Darren and Tobin playing with the slot car train

Tobin in the VERY back of the train-- Weston was just a little too little to ride by himself, maybe next time Thomas comes to town.

There's Tobin!

Darren enjoyed the festive free hats!

Matt carried Weston in our new backpack carrier--- but he got a little fussy, so Matt bought and pieced out a giant pretzel for him to munch on-- he was satisfied

Matt also gave Tobin an Oscar Meyer Weenie Whistle... note to Matt-- loud "treats" need to be parent approved first.

There was a kids play place that just had a pile of plastic train tracks and a bunch of trains for the kids to play with-- Weston enjoyed playing with Thomas

He also enjoyed tearing up other kids' train tracks

Jamon just enjoyed conquering the mountain of tracks!

Weston made up for breaking this kid's tracks by "sharing" with him every single train he picked up. They hugged and made up-- but I wasn't quick enough with the camera to capture that moment

We also went to the Zoo with Tracy and Lee and their brood when my Dad and Carrie were in town last weekend.

Weston loves hanging on Dad's back!

Ryan, Laine, MC, Tracy, Luke, and Jake watching the flamingos

Ryan showing Matt and Weston how to attract the birds in the bird house-- they gave out sticks with seeds on the end. We didn't attract any birds, but on the plus side, no one was pooped on either

Sara's favorite part of the zoo-- the warthogs.

Sara had SOOOOOOOOO much fun at the Zoo. She often clung to the fences at each exhibit and cried when it was time to move on.

Ryan was being a good cousin and let Weston tug and pull and take his hat

Matt took Weston to the petting zoo-- he liked the cross eyed goats... until a pig bit Matt! Seriously-- Matt was hog bit

Afterward we enjoyed a low country boil at the Culloms-- the best way to feed a mass of people. It was so yummy.

Notice Matt's face.... then notice the lone potato rolling off the table. He was devastated

But he got over it. We found we prefer Dungenous crab over snow crab for the boil

cousins at play

This was just Weston being really cute one morning

I'm a WALKING boy! He is so proud of himself every time he takes a few steps on his own. It's precious!


***I apologize for the over use of the exclamation point in this post. Everything way just so exciting this month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WonderMan and the Shelf

We have these great 12 foot ceilings in our garage, but we haven't been using them to their fullest potential-- we have been using our basement for storage (like most people do), but since we would like to eventually finish our basement, we have to find a new storage place. Over the past year, we have slowly been accumulating identical clear plastic bins from Target and putting our storage-ables (I know it's not a word, but you get the gist) in them so that we can see what's inside.

This past weekend Matt, aka WonderMan, devised a plan, proposed a budget, and created a storage shelf around our garage above the garage doors-- in two days (really just Sunday and Monday nights), without deviating from the plan, without going over budget, AND it only took one trip to Lowes (sorry Home Depot, you didn't have the wood we needed)! Below is documentation of just how awesome he is....

the before picture

the first frame

the first half section installed

measuring and installing the second section with the help of our awesome neighbor who came over to give Matt an extra hand or two

night one done!

Night two, Matt's brother Mike, came over after work to help install the support beams (he had a compound miter saw that made things MUCH easier

the top finished!

putting the first of many storage bins up

admiring his handy work

Voila! DONE!

There's just enough space for two storage bins to stack so that they are not rubbing against the ceiling... hmmmm almost like it was planned that way (it was). So now all of our Christmas decorations are stored propperly and some of the clutter in the garage is off the floor-- we are waiting for some warmer weather to really reorganize the garage, then, hopefully our garage organization will be complete!

Anxiety

Tomorrow three of my students are going to the state level of the Governor's Honor Program interview. For those of you unfamiliar, the Governor's Honor Program (GHP) is a highly competitive summer program for high school sophomores and juniors. Students are nominated in different subject areas and interview at the school, county, and then state level before being selected to participate in the 6 week summer program at Valdosta State. As such, it is a very prestigious honor to be selected. Art students have to not only interview well, but also submit a portfolio and take a written exam as well.

I nominated four junior girls this year and all four went on from their school interviews to the county level. From there, three girls continued and are interviewing tomorrow morning at Pebblebrook High School. They have been working very hard outside of class assignments to build their portfolio and have stayed after school one day each week since the end of November to review material and fine tune art pieces.

I know they are prepared well. I know they will do great, but I am still very anxious about their interviews. Even though they are the ones interviewing, I guess I feel like their performance is a reflection on my teaching capabilities. I mean .... it is. So I'm anxious.

Since I'm the only art teacher at my school and I don't get to really meet with the other high school teachers in my county, I sometimes feel like I'm in a vacuum. I think my students' work is good, maybe even really good-- but compared to who? So I have been trying to enter them in a series of student shows.... expose them to other high school artists. The Scholastic Arts Show was this fall and I had one student win a certificate of merit-- which sounds like a participation award, but not everyone who entered got one, so it's still kind of a big deal. I had another student (one of my GHP girls) win a certificate of merit and a Silver Key award. It was a good start.... tomorrow is the Paulding County Fine Arts Association Art Show. I have a handful of stuff I'm going to take down there and I'm hoping that my GHP girls will be done with their interviews in time to submit a piece as well. Another thing I am anxious about-- how well will my students do compared to other Paulding Co. students? Oh well.... it will be over-ish tomorrow.

In the mean time.... this is a painting one of my GHP girls did and while it took her a long time to conceptualize, create, and eventually like it-- which she still waffles on, I really like it. The complementary colors are great, the subtle circles behind the angular branches creates an interesting contrast. I don't know... I just really like it. What do you think?