Black Light Paintings

It was my turn to come up with an activity for Achievement Days.  For those of you who do not know what that is, Achievement Days is a church function for girls ages 8 to 12.  We get together about 2 times a week and do an activity to enrich and strenghen.  The three of us rotate turns with conducting an activity.  So, it was my turn.  Because it was the only activity before halloween I wanted to make it fun and a little halloween oriented.  I also wanted to do a painting activity with them, not a craft, a genuine painting activity. 

I googled halloween art activities and found this amazing blacklight painting project.  Check it out at:  http://www.incredibleart.org/lessons/SubPlans/hween.ht  This page is full of Halloween art ideas.  You will find this one a little way down on the page under Ideas Submitted by Anne in Illinois.  Great Idea!  First I showed the girls a picture of Edvard Munch's "The Scream".  He was an early 20th century norwegian painter who was part of the expressionist movement.  This movement involved artists portraying a meaning in their painting or emotional experience instead of focusing on realism.  If you haven't seen "The Scream" you should:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream

I did a quick lesson on 20th century expressionism and Edvard Munch.  Then we painted our own "screamers" in black and multicolored flourescent Tempera paints.  While they were drying we enjoyed a Halloween treat.  Then we turned off all the lights and turned on the black light.  WOW!  Here is my painting in normal light and black light.  I painted mine ahead of time and took some pictures.  I forgot my camera the day of the activity, so I don't have any pictures of their paintings.  I know, I know....I will do better next time.  Then of course Bill has to remind me that I have a camera on my phone!  I felt like a real idiot. 

Normal Light

Black Light

Standing Back

Oden in Black Light!

We had a lot of fun.  The girls enjoyed creating art that was easy and left them open to create without restrictions or judgment.  I'm thinking of letting my kids paint flourescent pumpkins tomorrow!

Try Try Try Again

It has been exactly 2 months less than four years since I last posted on our blog.  I tend to avoid the blog because I feel so bad that I don't do anything with it, which in turn makes me feel worse because I want to do so much with it.  I also put it on the back burner because I don't have the time to learn more about linking emails and making sure it gets to everyone.  I found myself writing in the blog and then sending out emails to family to tell them that we blogged today and they need to check it out.  Well, that just became a nuisance. 

So today I found the link to our blog in my favorites column and decided to bite my tounge and do something with it.  I figured out how to link emails!  It only took me and hour to figure it out.  I'm home sick anyway, don't want to do much, so what's an hour to figure out email linking??  So, this blog is being emailed to family as soon as I push the publish button.  What a great way to say "Hey, I wrote something, come check it out!"  Now I don't have to email you all on top of writing this.  Unfortunately it would only let me put in 10 emails.  So, I had to leave out Landon, in hopes that Caitlin checks her email more frequently and would share it with him.  I had to leave out BJ for the same reason.  Nancy please share it with him. 

My goal is to blog at least once a week.  I don't think this is unreasonable.  I must have an hour to spare each week to post the highlights.  If you don't want to receive an email every time I post a blog, just let me know and I can take you off the list.  You can always wander into our blog when you find a minute to spare. 

Now for a little update:  We are here!  We are doing okay!  That is the most important part. 
     Bill is doing really well this year at school.  He is still teaching 8th grade integrated science, but he is also teaching 2 courses of 9th grade physics.  He is loving it and the kids are loving it.  I want to take his class!  They shoot of rockets, burn things with a GIANT magnifying glass, play with iPads, compasses, thermal readers, blinky cars, etc.  He's had students from past 8th grade classes tell him he is their favorite teacher.  This has really helped boost his confidence with teaching.  He really has a gift to reach these kids. I know I couldn't do it. 
     I am home taking care of the two little ones.  Right now I am trying to clean out and organize all the stuff that has piled up over the years.  I didn't realize how freeing it is to clean out your bathroom drawers.  I can't wait to clean out the medicine cabinet.  I'm also helping Q with her new found knowledge from preschool.  We work on her name every day and I'm helping her with her alphabet.  I am also helping Q and O both with various art projects.  Oden LOVES to paint while Q is away at school.  It is our special time together.  He is even painting faces all of his own creation. 
     Quickyn started preschool this year and is really doing well.  She can now write her first name and Oden's name too.  I love that her "c" is backwards and her "k" is droopy.  She is making lots of new friends.  She is also becoming quite the know-it-all too.  Hopefully I can keep up with her.
     Oden is now 2.5 years old.  He is just starting to assert his authority, so he is also just started to understand what it means to be put in his room.  He is talking so well now.  We worried earlier because he really didn't talk much, but now we have no worries.  His favorite phrase right now is, "no fair!"  He is also over his fear of being left without Mom or Dad.  We can leave him in the nursery now!  YEAH.  That was the worst 9 months of staying in the nursery with him or having him in Relief Society.  We usually ended up in the hall.  It is also nice because Bill and I can go on a date night without Oden in tow.  He is a delight to our family.  We couldn't do without his constant smile. 

So, just a little update.  No pictures this time.  I will work on loading them from the camera and phones for next time.  (Picture loading and saving is also another reason I avoid the blog, I need to learn this better so it doesn't take me an eternity.)

Love to you all!
Bri