Last Day of School 2010

It came all too quickly.

I can't even believe the school year is over.

Where did it go?

For Teacher Gifts the kids made thumb-print cards.

They wrote a little note on the inside.

They were really cute.

I think they turned out so cute!

They also did tissue paper flowers.

(We drew the flower on paper, then glued small pieces of tissue paper onto the design.)

I LOVE how these turned out.

They all chose their own colors.

Anders had two teachers, so he had to make two.

His one teacher loves pink and the other loves blue.

{We also gave them jars filled with Hershey's Kisses that had their initial etched on them, but I forgot to take a picture. Of course. My friend Heidi helped me so maybe she has pictures of the ones she did.}

First of the last day of school celebrations was Isabella.

Her last day of preschool was a pizza and swimming party.

She talked/asked about for...oh maybe a month before it actually happened.

I was relieved the day finally arrived.

Getting ready to go down the waterslide.

She loved her teacher --  Teacher Lynda.

Quite frankly, so do we. 

She is the best!

Next up, the boys.

Max had such a great teach -- Mrs. Werner.

I love her.

Finally Anders.

He was lucky enough to have two teachers this year -- Mrs. Mattinson and Mrs. Nelson.

(They each taught for half of the day.)

We are excited to have some fun this summer.

The kids are already excited for their next grade of school.

(Really?! Aren't you tired of school?)

I guess that is a really good thing.

We are lucky to have such great teachers and such a great school. 

It was a great year.

Dance Festival 2010

The last day of school for my kids is always a Dance Festival.

Each of the grades does a different dance.

This was Max's first year.

His class did the Jell-O dance -- a crowd favorite.

(Not to mention the kindergarteners are so stinking cute.)

The boy has moves!

Next up....Anders.

His grade did Tinikling

Thanks to my mother-in-law, I actually have pictures that aren't blurry and are close enough to actually see.

A Few of the spectators...

Good times. 

Good times.

An introduction to my newest....project.

I wanted to introduce you to my latest venture -- a new blog.

I have been working on it for awhile now, but I finally feel it is time to launch.

It isn't perfect yet, but I'm really excited.

So,....drumroll please............

Here it is:

As you can see it is called InGood Co.

I thought I'd share just a few of my thoughts and how this all came about:

BEWARE: This is a bit lengthy.

Several months ago, (during the dead of winter), I read a book that really inspired me called "Do One Nice Thing" by Debbie Tenzer. It really hit home with me.

I have been looking for something that was....I don't know...for me. ??? I guess that's the best way to describe it. I was immediately inspired and overwhelmed at the same time. I have a busy life. I want to do so many things, but I realize that my reality right now is that I am busy with lots of other "good things" and therefore, some of my extra interests will have to take a back burner for a bit. As I read the book I had thoughts of wanting to do so many good things for other people and organizations, but that would require a lot of sacrifice of time from my most important "good things" -- my kids. So, I thought a LOT about all of this and I had some strong emotions. (*Yes. There was some shedding of tears.)

Finally, it hit me. I realized that I could do little things all of the time, but how do I do something....bigger?

I could start a blog!

(For those of you who know me, I'm sure you are laughing, because I am not the most consistent blogger as it stands now, but....nonetheless, that's how it is.)

Throughout my life as I've thought about different things I have wanted to be involved in, I have realized that the toughest step is usually the first. For me, just getting the information of who to talk to, where to go, what to do....is so taxing. So, I decided that this blog could be (hopefully), a great source of information that makes it easier for people like me, who want to find things here and there to do. I also hope it will be inspiring and make "doing good for others" a simpler process and task.

I am hoping that all of you, my friends and family, will participate as well by sending me stories of things you've done or witnessed being done for others or for yourself, that have inspired you. I'm hoping you'll send me information when you need help gathering donations or volunteer-time to help with one of your own causes  (i.e. an eagle project or YW project, or youth/ward service project.)

I am really excited about this. It has been on my mind a lot lately as I've tried to slowly piece this together. I didn't want it to overwhelm my life and force me to cut out time with my kids. So, I've put it together little by little. Since it has been on my mind so much, I have been surprised to see how many opportunities I have found in my daily life, that are readily available for doing "good."  It is not hard to find ways to be kind, giving, and compassionate, but I hope this blog will make it even easier.

So, stop by. Grab my button if you like and spread the word. The more the merrier. 

{If you click on the "InGood Co." button over here on the right of this blog, it will link you directly to my new blog and the button is available there to put on your own blog.}

I forgot to tell you -- the address is:
http://in-good-co.blogspot.com/

Baked Chicken Bacon Alfredo Penne

I made this....

from here

DeLIcious!!!

(You have to sing that in a high, heavy-on-the-vibrato, opera voice to really understand.)

So good.

Go here for the recipe.

P.S. If you haven't tried their Guiltless Alfredo sauce yet,.....stop it right now. Go try it. 

I LOVE IT! Recipe is here

To the Weather...

Dear Weather,



Boo. You stink.



Sincerely,
Me


I do not like this one bit. Where oh where is the end-of-May-springish/almost-ready-for-summer weather??????

Anders Class Play

They studied South America and their teacher had them put together a play based on an Incan myth.

It was really cool.

Anders was a narrator and did a really great job.

They put A LOT of work into this.

They did it over and over and over and had lots of classes from the school come to watch.

What a bunch of characters!

They made animals from the rainforest out of paper and put them around the room. 

I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of that.

The best part was this HUGE tree the teacher made as the main backdrop for the play.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

I loved it!

Way to go Anders!

Somebody needed a haircut

I cut my boy's hair and sometimes I put it off for a very long time. If you look through any of the other recent photos, you'll see that my boys desperately needed a haircut.

I finally plunged in.

I wasn't even coherent enough to think about taking an "after" picture because all I could focus on was this....

(warning: potentially repulsive picture to follow)

Wo.

That is a lot of hair.

(See my foot. That should give you some perspective as to how large that pile was. And that's not even all of the hair that was stuck to my socks!)

If you look at the lighter spot, that is from Max's head.

The rest,.....Anders.

That kid has some SERIOUS hair.

This is why I put it off -- it takes me forever to chop through all of that.

I'll have to find a reason to take his picture again before it grows all back out.

Dancing Queen and Dorothy Wanna Be

This girl LOVES herself some Wizard of Oz, so she was really excited to do a Wizard of Oz dance concert again this year.

(Is she channeling her inner Molly Shannon Superstar?!?!)

She was a Munchkin from the Lollipop Guild (one of my kid's favorite parts from the movie.)

She was being a bit of a stinker and wouldn't let me take her picture. 

So, sadly for her and her future-self -- I don't have many pictures of her, but she was pretty stinking cute.

(P.S. To the lady in the background -- cute shoes!)

She's holding the flowers.

(My camera is unfortunately not very fancy and doesn't do well in settings like these.Where is my mother-in-law when I need her? Sadly, she was out of town. She has an amazing camera and when she attends these types of events, I never even take my camera out.)

She pretty much insisted that we bring her flowers -- because that's what you're supposed to do.

At the last concert several of the older girls got flowers and she really wanted some to.

Daddy came through.

Scary Smile. Makes me laugh.

Enough pictures already people.

Isabella, you are one adorable Munchkin.

Great job dancing your little heart out.

Now to get started on the Dorothy costume for Halloween -- she won't stop talking about it.

Anders Class Play

They studied South America and their teacher had them put together a play based on an Incan myth.

It was really cool.

It was about corn and how people were created. 

Really cool.

Some of the kids had multiple parts and took on and off different pieces of costumes.

Check out this awesome tree!

She puts it up on one side of the room. You can't tell from here, but it is HUGE! I love it!

Anders was a narrator.

Great job Anders!

You are probably one of the cutest Incan kids I've ever seen. :)

School Art Show 2010

This is by FAR one of my favorite events at their school.

They put on a HUGE art show of all of the pieces that the children learn from two different art teachers.

(Actually, one teacher does K-2 and the other does 3-6).

Anyway, this event is so big. 

They set it up in the gym and it is always so amazing to walk in.

First, we're off to see the kids' pieces. 

The one thing I LOVE about this show is that every child gets 2-3 pieces at least.

Plus, they put up a sign telling you what they learned about as they created each piece -- an artist, method, or type of art. 

Love it.

First up, Max.

I love these masks. So cool.

I didn't get a picture of the sign, but they were studying movement I believe. 

The Eric Carle wall is ALWAYS one of my very favorite!!

I love me that monkey in the tree!!!

His self-portrait. 

These are another one of my favorites. I now have a set of 4 trees (each in a different season) from Anders and Max. I hope to do a really cool display with them sometime. They are so beautiful.

Next up,...Anders.

I didn't get photos of all of the signs telling you the artist or style. Woops.

The skulls were way cool -- in the style of Georgia O'Keefe. But, this print titled "The Bucktooth King" is probably one of my favorites. I love the title, I love the piece. So funnny!

His haunted tree and some impressionist geraniums and more from his class collection.         

A few of my favorites that weren't from my own kids' classes.

I loved these cheerful still-lifes.

These black and white flowers -- so cool. 

The bugs were some of my favorites as well -- they were new to the show. (Most of the grades do the same art year after year so you basically see some of the same stuff.) The rest are pictures of the show itself. It is hard to document but the sight of all of this hanging on the walls and dividers when you walk in is just awesome.

See anyone you know? (Two somebodys? Three?)

{Don't worry dear. I won't tell anyone you have a thinning spot up there.} :)

They had several three-dimensional projects that were really cool -- one was a sculpted chess set. Each of the students sculpted a piece. Rats. No photo. But I LOVE these masks.

What a way to finish -- these Andy Warhol McD's fries. Love 'em.

So cool.