Graduation

I have to start this post by telling everyone how proud I am of my husband. The thought of going back to school scares me, and he did it with very little complaint and really good grades! Yup, my husband is a big graduate. He is now officially a corrections officer. 10 weeks of hard work (mentally and physically) paid off! We started off the day with a spouse class. This is what I saw when I walked in. It was an hour of statistics of the probability of law enforcement officers to abuse substances, be abusive, have depression, commit adultery, and commit suicide. They want the families to be aware of any warning signs so that these things can be helped or avoided. Then they had the ceremony. Our County Sheriff (Ryan's boss) spoke, and one of his classmates also spoke. They were supposed to be sworn in, but the guy leading it must have decided that they shouldn't have to repeat the whole thing. Kind of weird! Oh well! The bottom line is, he is a Graduate! Good job Ryan, we love you and are so proud!

AAARRGGGGHHH!!!!!

I am so far behind on this thing, I am not quite sure where to start! I think that cronologically, I should start with oil painting class. There was a grant that was received in our county for some arts classes. The first one was an oil painting class. I am not artistic, but Jace has always loved "drawling" so I really thought that he would love it. Branden, Jace, Jarom (one of the neighbor kids) and I went to the class. I was hoping to paint myself, but had to take Keira with me because Ryan was still at school, so my painting skills will just have to wait dormant till I have enough time and money to discover them. So, here I am with 3 painters and a grumpy baby. I was trying to help relay the instructions (the teacher went much too fast for the little ones), mix paints for all of them, and explain how to use the brushes. By the time we had finished one step, the teacher was 4 steps ahead of us! It was pretty overwhelming! Jace started to notice that we were behind and that his picture didn't look like anyone else's. Not so good for him! He started saying that he was no good at painting, and that his picture didn't look anything like it was supposed to look. I was trying really hard to encourage him, and keep up with the teacher. I told him that every painter will do things different, and that his wasn't supposed to look exactly like everyone elses. At this point, the teacher starts walking around the room to "help" people. She looks at Jace's painting and tells him that he's doing it wrong, and that the gray color we were using was supposed to go around the sun, not on it. That was the end of Jace's artistic career. He won't even sketch anymore. I am so upset! He used to draw me pictures all of the time, now... nothing. He tells me that he is no good at art. I have continued to encourage him to try again, but he wouldn't even go to the art basics class with me a few weeks later. Here are the boys' paintings. I am really proud of them! The first one is Jace's. At this point, he had grandma come and pick him up.

Branden's finished picture. I think he did awsome!

Creative Arts

Branden and Jace both entered the creative arts contest in school this year. In my day it was called the "Reflections" contest. They came up with their idea's and did them almost entirely by themselves (I helped with things like spray paint and hot glue). I am so proud of them. They both did an awesome job. Jace got a participation ribbon, and Branden won 2nd place for his grade and category. He was so excited!

Here is Jace's ultra cool art work. He used my star punch, but the rest was done by tracing circles and cutting them out.

And this is Branden's paper mache' globe. I tried to talk him into trying to make the continents look like the real ones, but it was a no-go. I still think that he did a wonderful job

Here are Branden and his friend Jarom receiving their awards. I am pretty sure that it is the coolest trophy ever! At least that is what Branden thinks! Good job boys! We love you so much! Oh, and for all of you who are thinking, "I haven't paper mache'd in a long time, that sounds like fun" No, it isn't! Just a friendly warning!

Picture princess

My cousin had this on her blog, and I thought it would be fun. Shabby Apple is having a "Picture Princess" contest. I may be a little biased, but I am pretty sure that Keira is the cutest baby girl ever! Keira has brought a light into our home that is unexplainable. Her beautiful blue eyes and gorgeous eyelashes are so perfect. She has the cutest dimples which help to emphasize those chubby cheeks! I love the way that her face lights up when her brothers come into the room, and the adoring way she looks at her daddy. She has a way of grabbing the attention of everyone she sees. There is no mistaking her "Princess" status in our family. We love her so much! The little girls and little girls dresses from Shabby Baby are so cute, I love this one.http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-84-queen-of-hearts.aspx I think it would look so perfect on Keira! I am sure that Keira will always be a picture princess!

Fun, or something like that

This past weekend, we got to go to Chuck E. Cheese with my family. It was a birthday party for my niece Paige (3) and my nephew Conner (1). Fun was had by all! Thanks Lori and Becca for inviting us and including us in all of your fun!

LIAR!!

What a liar I turned out to be! I told Keira that avocados were yummy, apparently she does not agree!

Poor baby! She just held them like that in her mouth untill they all got pushed out by her slobber or her tongue.

What a stubborn little stinker! I wish I knew where that trait came from!:)

Shots and Razor blades!

While getting the boys hair cut last week, our hair dresser finds a mole behind Jace's ear with a black spot on it. I am pretty paranoid, and I know that the spot wasn't on it during the summer when I buzzed his hair, so we went to see the doctor.

When we got there, I told him in the car what a black spot could mean and that the doctor was going to have to cut it off to test it and make sure he is still healthy. He FREAKED OUT! He was NOT going to go in! He decided that he would rather have cancer than get his mole cut off! So, I offered him a piece of gum. It worked! He did really good. His eyes got good and watery when they gave him the shot to numb it, but nothing spilled out. He said later that he couldn't even feel it when they cut it off, and it still didn't hurt. What a trooper. He earned his favorite candy bar for all of his bravery, a plain Jane Hershey's bar. We will know in about a week if they find anything wrong.