Where The Wild Things Are!

Lilah and Jax were in a first grade school performance, theme being, "Where The Wild Things Are!" It was based off of the movie.  The kids were asked to dress like any animal.  Lilah was a red panda and Jax was a tiger.  Their costumes were thrown together literally two days before the event.  The parents were warned far enough in advanced, but I just couldn't find anything that I liked or it was too pricey, in my opinion, for a one hour program.

Lilah borrowed a handmade, red panda from her friend Lillian.  Lillian's mommy made the costume for her at Halloween.  I recalled how cute it was and I asked her mommy Lauren if we could borrow it.  She was very happy to let us borrow it.  I contacted a face painter, who lives in our neighborhood, and she was available to paint both of my kiddos faces at the last minute.  Her name is Cheri.  You can check her out at Creative Expressions Face Painting.  We were thrilled after finding her at Halloween.  Cheri painted Lilah's face to match her witch costume.  I was blown away when I called her and found out that Cheri lives less than 1/4 of a mile from my house.  We were able to come to Cheri's house again! 

Cheri gave me several options in advanced via email.  I was able to show the kids what she was offering and the twins basically picked the face painting that they wanted.  

 Liley chose the red panda face.

Look how cute she turned out!!!!

Jax went second and chose the cheetah face!

Look at how on point this tiger is!

 Cheri finished in just the nick of time and off we went to Fort Lewis Elementary School we went.

When we arrived at school, I was so impressed by everyone's costumes.

I am really proud of ALL OF the students, but of course I am especially proud of my twinsies. They were really brave to perform in front of an entire gymnasium of parents staring at them.

Brady Smith, a neighbor friend, below.

The program was so adorable.  The kids performed a ton of songs by singing, playing instruments, and doing hand motions.  My favorite song they sang was "Skinnamarink".

*A special thanks to Grandad and Grandnee for coming to cheer Lilah and Jax on.

I recorded the program with my cell phone, but one of Lilah and Jaxon's friend's daddy recorded it on his video camera and provided me with a copy.  Feel free to watch it below. There is probably an extra emphasis on Evelyn (Lilah's friend) since it was Evelyn's daddy's footage.  LOL!

Lilah and Jax Birthday Celebration AT SCHOOL!

Lilah and Jax's birthday was the day that school let out for Spring Break. There was soooooo much going on and I felt like celebrating their birthday at school would be too much for Mrs. Thomsen and the students.  We postponed their celebration until the Wednesday AFTER they got back from Spring Break.  I ordered 30 mini birthday cake flavored cupcakes from Bubblecake.

I wasn't thrilled with how "plain" they looked so I did ask Bubblecake to give me 30 red hearts to add on top! They were so obliging.  

I reserve my lunch visit with my kids for birthdays ONLY.  This way they are really anticipatory!!! It's all they talked about the week leading up.  I feel bad at times that that's the only time I eat with them, but after eating lunch with them this time, I don't feel bad one bit anymore. Lilah and Jax just don't sit still. They run around the halls, go the bathroom, peak in the cafeteria windows, at their peers.... etc.  They are just happy I am present, but there isn't much "value" in eating with them.  LOL! I bet it would be different if I actually ate in the cafeteria with them verses at the tables offered for visiting parents.

Their peers made them each a homemade birthday card.  WOW! So they came home with 24 cards each. The students were asked to complete this question... 

If I could give you anything for your birthday, I would give you...

I got a BIG chuckle out of one of the cards.  It read, "I would give you a BIG, SHINY, COOL, AMAZING, PENEY!" I know how I read that at first.  It took me a while to read it properly.   

At the end of the day, each of the students received either a blue or pink heart shaped lollipop from Lilah and Jax!!! ALL of these photos were taken with my iPhone, hence the poor image quality.  I always feel the need to say so.

Field Trip To Roanoke's Taubman Art Museum!

The first grade class, at FLES, took a field trip, last week, to the Taubman Museum of Art! I'll be honest...I wasn't really EXCITED about going because I am not the artsy farsty type.  I think I am just jealous that I don't even know how to draw an apple.  LOL! The twins were very excited for me to join them.  We took some goofy, iPhone pics while heading to the museum, on the bus. Sorry for the poor image quality.  

When we first entered the art museum, we were greeted by this beautiful and colorful, I think FLAG, hanging in the foyer.  Ok, so I knew there had to be more to the story of this "flag".  LOL! I just went to the art museum's official website and found this. This "fabric" is actually a piece of art.  Read here. 

The kids seemed to be excited to be anywhere other than school, but I don't believe they knew just how much fun they would have.

Up first, they were taken on a very informative, but child friendly, tour through the Normal Rockwell exhibit.  I was blown away. I began having a wonderful time immediately.  Our tour guide was phenomenal, especially with the children.  She spoke VERY clearly and slowly.  She was very patient with children.  The students were SOOOO obedient to the rules of the art museum and kept their voices very low.  Mrs. Thomsen even said, "Boys and girls, I have chill bumps at how well behaved you are being!"

The tour guide chose a few of Norman Rockwell's photos and asked the children questions about it.  This got them really thinking about what an artist's perspective must be when painting or drawing.  

I loved this photo.  The power of prayer is amazing and we are so blessed to be able to come into the presence of a HOLY and LIVING God.

We explored all of Norman Rockwell's magazine covers.  I was so impressed.  He really was so very talented.

This is a famous painting of Norman Rockwell.

This photo was really engaged.  We learned that this was ONE photo, split in two, by a divided frame.  It shows a painting of a day going TO the lake and a painting of a day coming BACK from the lake.  

The exhibit below was INCREDIBLE.  Would you believe me if I told you that this structure was put together using coffee sticks?  Check out ALL OF THE DETAILS here.  It's called the "Eye Of The Needle" If you look closely, you will see that this entire exhibit is made up of coffee stirrers. AND... the craziest part of it all is that they are not connected by any form of BONDING material such as glue.  They are just woven together.  

 They even used a bench to weave the stirrers into.  

I wish I had information on this exhibit, but I do not and neither does the art museum's website that I can tell.  But... this was really colorful and fun.  We took a S-L-O-W detour through this art exhibit.  Hands behind our back.  Not touching a thing.  Our view from every angle was very interesting.

While on the second floor, at the Tubman Art Museum, the grown-ups were given permission to take photos from the rooftop. I was able to capture some of downtown, Roanoke's most popular sites from up high. 

This is a painting an artist did of downtown Roanoke.

This kids took a break from viewing the artist hard work, to create artwork of their own.

On the field trip with the FLES first graders, I took an elevator ride with 22 first graders.  It was like a clown car.  I am just glad it "arrived" or "landed" safely.  LOL! 

When the tour was over, the kids got to enjoy an section of the art museum where they got to explore, discover, and participate.  

Dress up!

Puppet Shows.

Art.

I had a really nice time.  I think this field trip was a great idea and I look forward to going back to the Taubman Museum of Art this Summer.  The kids are finally old enough to enjoy this kind of stuff and somewhat understand how talented these artists really are.