ArtPrize

Last Friday Brodey and I took a trip to Grand Rapids to check out ArtPrize, the worlds largest competition of its kind. It is a fairly new event in the city, but it's growing rapidly and from what we experienced on Friday, I can see why. Artists from all over the world display their art (of all kinds) throughout the city within a three mile radius. It is awesome! It's like an art buffet! From paintings to sculptures, to hand built trucks.Then the thousands of people that go, get to vote on the pieces. I haven't voted yet because I'm a little indecisive.

I enjoy art, and this was an opportunity for me to see some of the coolest pieces that I have seen in a long time, while enjoying a little time in one of my favorite places - Center City.

Brodey had such a good time as well. He loves to go downtown and see all the big buildings and the busy streets. In his eyes Grand Rapids is a big city; and because we live on a dirt road and have a corn field in our back yard, it's a big deal for him to go there. I can understand his enthusiasm though, I am a big fan myself; it is such a charming little city.

Here are some pictures we snapped on our adventure:

These pillars are made from pieces of cut-up paper. It reminded me of a forest and I love trees, so I loved this. Brodey had fun walking through them too.

This wall was covered with tiny colored circles that looked like to be about the consistency of a guitar pick. Then in front of the wall were these circle magnified pieces of glass that were hung from the ceiling with fishing line. You could like through the different circles at the colorful wall behind them. So simple, but so amazing!

 This piece was just a bunch of twine hung from a frame suspended from the ceiling. I pushed Brodey through it and he held out his hands and let the twine go through them. It was neat.

 This "Tonku" truck was made by a guy from just about scratch. The only thing he didn't make was the frame that the truck was built on. It was made exactly to scale and yes, it even worked! I would have loved to see him drive that into the parking lot! I think this one got Brodey's vote.

 This Pray Mantis was as big as it looks here in this picture, HUGE! I can't even begin to describe the awesomeness of this piece. I'm sure this artist will have no trouble selling this one. It looks like something that should be outside of a zoo or museum.

Oh my goodness, I loved this guy! He is using colored sand to make that design on the ground. You can view a really cool video of him doing this on the ArtPrize website. He erases his work at the end of each day and starts a new one so that people can watch him do this. Every single day that ArtPrize is happening - for two weeks! Now that's dedication!

This was a neat little building that was made out of wood from an old building that had been destroyed in a fire.

I can't remember much about this piece, just that I really liked it and I stood there forever staring at it. Brodey even said "Mommy can we move on now?"....

A Wonderful Weekend

I definitely feel like the past two weeks have been a whirlwind with the start of this school year. I am learning so much and I am convinced that God is using this teaching opportunity as a way for me to grow. I am sure that I will learn more from these kids than they will ever learn from me. I am so thankful for where God has led me in life; and I can't even begin to explain the peace that I have with where my life is right now. It is such a blessing. God is so good.

Although my heart is filled with peace, my brain has been completely overloaded and I was in much need of a relaxing weekend. And a relaxing weekend is exactly what I enjoyed! A four-day weekend too! I was thankful to spend some time with my grandma and her sister Evelyn who is visiting from Tennessee. Brodey and I had lunch with the ladies on Friday and I really enjoyed listening to them share stories from their childhood and catch up with each other. You would have thought they were teenagers with the way they carried on and laughed about "the time when ________". They were cute.

We took our first trip to the Cider Mill for the season. Uncle John's had their annual craft show and festivities. I got this cute bench that I can't wait to dress up with pumpkins and gourds. We of course bought fresh cake donuts and apple cider!

I was able to spend some time getting caught up on house cleaning. I know that doesn't sound relaxing but I can not relax in a cluttered house and when you get behind on cleaning, you appreciate any extra time you get to catch up. Well I do anyway. I don't think "ugh, I have to pick this up again?", instead it becomes more like "finally! I get to clean my house!"

Gabe fired up the wood stove! I can't even tell you how much I LOVE the smell of our wood stove, and now I will be enjoying it until March! Brodey and Gabe and I spent lots of time relaxing outside. We are totally taking advantage of the beautiful weather we've been having. We have spent just about every evening outside for the past week just trying to get our fill before the snow flies. I even soaked up some sun on the lawn mower Saturday. 

And last, but certainly not least, I got caught up on sewing! Yay! I finished two aprons and whipped up some burp clothes for a couple sweet baby girls! I can't wait to get them in the mail and on their way. The mommies don't know they are coming and I'm hoping they will brighten their day.
Even though my weekend was busy, it was relaxing. I spent time with the people I love, doing things I enjoy. What more could you ask for?

Hot Potatoes

I was really looking forward to canning potatoes this year. I can't wait to use them for homemade potato soup, add to stews, quick mashed potatoes for dinner, potato salad....lots of possibilities here. I may have to do another round of these. Of course Brodey was a big help. He always has fun with me in the kitchen. It's good for him too! He was with us when we planted, weeded, and picked the potatoes - and so it was a little learning lesson for him to see the same food that we grew was the same food that we were washing and canning and eventually eating. And he would say "did we grow these mama?". So cute.

 Lots of peeling! Gabe came to my rescue on that one.

 

We ended up with 14 quarts

Happy Harvest

Although I thoroughly enjoy all aspects of keeping a garden, my favorite by far is gleaning. And boy did we glean this year! I have to say that our garden really did well and it was such a joy. On Labor day we went over to pick the last of some things that had popped up. We were able to get lots of tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, and watermelon. 

I didn't get enough carrots for canning, but who doesn't love fresh carrots? I'll have no problem eating them up before they go bad. The watermelon and cucumbers will be a breeze too :-) Last time I went to Meijer and bought some produce the cucumbers they had were just awful! So I'm happy to have my own fresh ones.

The tomatoes and potatoes are definitely getting a water bath (I know potatoes are supposed to be pressure canned, I'll take my chances). And onions are getting froze.

No Feeding The Bears

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since my last post. Okay, well maybe I can. I have to admit that I have been giving myself a little grief for not posting anything. I kept thinking "oh I'll get to that tonight" .... and 3 weeks later... I'm gettin to it. Give me a break though, preparing a classroom (for the first time ever) is no easy task. It has completely consumed my life (in a good way, I think). But now that the preparation phase is over and I have officially survived the first week of school, I feel like I can take a minute and just breath ::deep breath::

So let me just share with you what I have been working on. My classroom. I won't share all the details about the curriculum and lesson planning (although I could probably write a book about how much fun it was to figure all that out). I'll share with you the fun part. The decorating! What I loved most about creating my room theme was that I was able to do all the crafty things that I like to do. I got to paint and sew! And paint, and paint, and paint. I'm definitely done painting for a while. 

My room theme is "The Northwoods". Think:  up north, lodging, camping, etc... This is not shocking to anyone that knows me as I am very much an "outdoors" kind of gal. But as far as classroom themes go, for the age group that I have, this wasn't as easy as I thought it to be initially. I could have never accomplished this awesome room without the help of many teacher blogs that are filled with great ideas, my mom who donated many items (the carved bear is my favorite) and everyone who had to sit and listen to me contemplate the choices of bulletin board trimmers, and color combinations. And Pam Snyder, for donating her precious buck for me to hang on the wall, I think it completes the room. And btw yes, I do think it's awesome but not in a braggy sort of way, I just really enjoy the atmosphere of the classroom and I think the kids do too. In fact, I am having so much fun with my theme as I am able to incorporate it into my lessons and my reward system; I may just hang onto it for a few years. We've already taken a "hike" to find leaves so that we could study the parts of the leaf for science class. So fun! I'm telling you, I'm just loving it. God is so good!

I was actually going to wait to share this blog until I could get some better pictures because I wasn't happy with the ones I got off my phone; however, I'm not sure the room is worthy of a professional photo shoot and frankly I just don't have the time so I am making due with what I have.

 These were sitting on the desk with the books on the first day of school. I filled them each with a whole Hershey Bar and all the rest of the fixins to make a s'more. Most of the kids made and ate their s'mores at lunch! I had fun making these.

 I wish I would have gotten a close up of the curtains. I made them and they are brown with little green leaves on them.

 At first I thought I had maybe gone a little "trimmer happy" but after it was all up I was pleased with it. I still have lots left over, and I'm always looking around the room and thinking about what else I could do with it.

 I painted the letters at the top there. It reads "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might" Ecc 9:10 It's our class verse.

 Supposed to look like a cabin...A lot of prayer went into laminating the paper that I had painted to create this. Sometimes the laminating machine and I do not get along.

 Outside of my room in the hallway

 This is my rewards board. It's a work in progress...

 How cute are those owls? Very.

 I love that tree!It has two squirrels on it and they are holding acorns. I think I'm going to put something over it like "We are Nuts About Reading"

So there are still some things that I'd like to do, but I wanted to share with you what I've done so far. It's been fun putting it together and I am looking forward to having a great year.