Just got back from the district-wide art show. I love seeing all the kids' work, from kindergarten to senior high. What's sad is you can see the difference in teachers by the artwork the kids do. Brody is extremely talented, but has had only one art teacher whom I would consider excellent. He had her in kindergarten and first grade. She 'got in trouble' for putting Brody in Gifted and Talented art when he was in kindergarten.....one isn't supposed to be in that until first grade. She stood her ground and continued to take him with the older kids in the school. Brody has gone through several art teachers....they seem to be switched from school to school frequently. Other than his first art teacher, I have not been terribly impressed. I can't wait until he gets into the high school art department.....they have an exceptional group of teachers up there and the work that comes from the students in the high school is quite impressive.

Brody had only two pieces in the art show this year. They were told to cut down on the displays....why, I don't know....but I think it is sad. I am sure many kids, especially in the elementary schools, were left out. Brody's G/T class made ceramic tea pots of their own design. Brody made a sneaker with sock teapot. The sock folded down over the front of the sneaker to form the spout. He said they tested them to see if they held water....they do, but Brody said his is a bit messy when poured! LOL His teapot was incredible and won first prize. I can't wait until he brings that home.....I plan on displaying it in our living room. He also did a pen and ink drawing of a scarab with intricate patterns on it. He won a second prize for that drawing. We are extremely proud of him!

Since I am already in kid bragging mode, I can't leave Marna out. We got a letter this week inviting us to the Academic Excellence Banquet because Marna has been selected for the second year in a row. This award is given to students who get all A's on their report card every marking period. The students' teachers select the recipients. Marna and another girl from her class are the only two from grade 3 in her school. Actually saying grade 3 is misleading. Marna attends an 'ungraded' school. She is in a 3rd/4th grade classroom. Chronologically and on the books she is a 3rd grader, but she has been working with the 4th grade half of her class since September. So her straight A report cards are in a grade higher. She is one smart little cookie. It all comes terribly easy to her.....but her writing is barely legible and she can almost tie a shoe lace that will stay tied for more than 10 minutes. Can't have everything, I guess.

Oh and how could I forget? We also got a letter today saying that Brody has again been elected to the Middle School Honor Society. Brody is a good student, consistently earning A's and B's, but he is getting to the age where we need to prod him a bit more to do his best. I know it's an adolescent boy thing, but it doesn't make me like it.

Mike and I are extremely blessed to have such great kids. We are very proud of their achievements and hope they will both continue to excel. I don't normally do a lot of bragging about our kids.....but with all the good news we have received about them this week, I couldn't help myself!!

I haven't been spending much time at the computer for a few days.....I go through these spells, but always get over it! Consequently I have not been keeping up with my blog.

Marna has been working on her science project this week. Gawd, I hate these things. It is required for her to do one. Brody can choose....thank goodness he chose NOT to do one! Marna seems to have better things to do than to work on this thing....like playing outside, watching TV, having a snack.....getting her to do the work she needs to do on this thing has not been an easy task!

Her project, "Does the Color of the Roof Affect the Temperature of a House?" really doesn't entail too much work. She and Mike put together a wooden 'house' and they put five different colored roofing shingles on it. Black, green, gray, red and white. She has had to put the house in full sun for a hour on three days, then put it in the shade, hang the thermometers on it and record 5 lousy temps.....she goes more willingly to the dentist to have teeth pulled than she does to write down these temperatures. Last night I made her sit down and write in her log book, so I could type it up for the display today. I typed up the the title and sub-titles last night and she cut them out .....but I will be doing the gluing. We use rubber cement for these....it is the neatest glue to use, but I don't want her inhaling the fumes. Now all we have to do is to get her to make a chart of the temperatures.....it should be fun getting her to do that. I can't wait until this thing is finished!!

We attended the wedding shower at Kate's yesterday. It was mostly a back yard affair...it sprinkled at the beginning, but then the sun came out and the weather the rest of the day and evening was absolutely perfect! I met Kate's son Marc's fiancee Laura for the first time, she is lovely and very easy to talk to. We asked not to be invited to the wedding several months ago....it is being held in Elmira, NY....Laura's hometown. Elmira is a 5 hour drive, and the kids wouldn't be invited because they were trying to keep the guest list down to 200. We told them to invite someone they had to eliminate from their list instead. We will be thinking of them on June 30.

Had a terrific time...I always do when I am with Kate and her siblings. Her father had a very good day yesterday, I only noticed him beginning to forget things in mid-conversation right before we left...I imagine he was tired. At first it almost felt like a high school party...the guys gathering around the horse-shoe pit and the beer kegs in the back yard and the ladies sitting around at all the tables. But everyone did mingle later. Vee Jay, Kate's oldest brother and the first love of my life, even managed to get Mike to play horsehoes....not Mike-like at all!! Mike and Vee Jay played against Marc and a friend. Mike really enjoyed it, except for when Vee Jay remarked it was the 'senior citzens' vs. the youngsters....Mike and Vee Jay, of course, being the senior citizens!!

It was so refreshing to see so many 20-something year olds behaving so well.....even with the beer and wine freely flowing. The only time I heard the f-word was from Vee Jay! They were all appropriately dressed in this old lady's opinon, well-spoken and on their best behavior. We oldies were remarking that we still feel like the 20-somethings, but we are trapped in old bodies!

Kate brought out some old photo albums to give to her older sister.....of course we had to peruse them before she took them home. So neat to see pictures of all of us as little kids together....I couldn't convince Marna that it was any of us there, the old people, in those pictures! My parents were even in a couple of photos....photos I had never seen of them. Kate's father even got a bit misty-eyed talking about my parents....they were great friends.

Kate threw a terrific party with lots of yummy food. She made Spinach-Strawberry salad....a combo that doesn't sound like it goes together...but it was SO delicious. I even copied the recipe. A great easy recipe for big gatherings! Of course there was nothing other than tortilla chips there that Marna would eat....so we stopped in a Burger King on the way home at 9:30 to get her some fries.

Looking forward to seeing my dear friends again in June at Vee Jay's surprise 50th (ACK!!) birthday party in June.