Yay! Signs of Spring at last!

Although the weather has been up and down the past week, I've spotted a few welcoming signs that spring is finally on the way. Last Wednesday, I noticed the first two of my early spring iris blossoms smiling up at me...a wonderful, cheery sight to be sure! And today, several more little blossoms added more color to the garden. It won't be long before the tulips add their pop of red and yellow to the mix.

Over the weekend, just as St. Patrick's Day dawned, I noticed a second harbinger of spring, my sweet little shamrock plant waking up after a winter nap on the bottom shelf of a plant stand in the living room. It will be a month or more before any little white blossoms appear between the leaves, but I'm happy to see that my little plant has survived to see another spring, especially since I don't have a very good track record when it comes to house plants! I bought this plant exactly four years ago this month when I saw a display in the grocery store. It spends the warm months on my back deck, then winters over on that bottom shelf. My one and only long-term success with a house plant!

As I write about my little plant, I'm reminded of the legend surrounding St. Patrick of Ireland. According to tradition, he used the three leaves of the shamrock to teach his followers about the Trinity...God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So with this in mind, my little plant with its cheery green leaves is more than just another sign of spring. It is also a sign of our faith in God, our hope in His promise of salvation, and the love of His only Son who came to dwell among us over two thousand years ago.

When the sun rises on the first day of spring, may you be blessed with the gifts of faith, hope, and the love of the Lord.

Happy Spring!

Snowy solitude...heavenly peace!

When you're a teacher, a snow day is a gift. When you know about the snow day before you go to bed, it's a heaven-sent gift! And when you wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep (bad cold, not a gift!), grab your camera, and snap a few photos in the dark, that's just plain heavenly.

 The first thing I noticed when I stepped outside, was the stillness. Heavy flakes of snow were still falling and hitting my camera lens, so I only took a few photos before deciding to put the camera in my pocket and just enjoy the moment.

It's amazing how many sounds there are in silence (Simon and Garfunkle, anyone?) when you take the time to listen. The first thing I heard was the sound of the birds nesting in the evergreens that dot our front lawn, a reminder that this is March and spring truly is on the way! The crack of a branch falling in the wooded area behind our house was a sudden reminder that I needed to be wary of where I stood. Heavy snow was taking its toll on the older branches in the trees and there are a few near our driveway that were precariously hoovering above my head. And in between the birds and the branches, I could hear a soft, delicate sound as the flakes settled on the bushes near where I was standing. So heavenly!

 This morning, when I woke up around 7 AM, I grabbed my camera again to get a few shots before the increasing winds blow the snow off the branches of the trees and bushes. Without the flash, the early morning light cast a blue glow over the entire landscape. So pretty to see, although I'm not sure it is quite the same through a camera lens.

 As I've said in a few previous posts, these months of winter are always tough on my spirit. I can't help but think that my gift of snowy solitude last night was a reminder from above that God is with me even when I feel most alone, that life is around me even when I feel most deadened and lifeless in spirit.

 

So today, I'm going to appreciate the beauty of this late winter "time out", thankful for these simple gifts, and mindful of just how fortunate I am to be alive to enjoy them. My wish for everyone today is that you, too, can find beauty wherever you are, whatever the weather, whatever the circumstances that surround you.

 

 

 



Little Leprechauns at Play

I'm not at all Irish, but when it comes to school, kids, and fun, it's hard to resist all those bright green shamrocks, colorful rainbows, and smiling little leprechauns dancing around their little pots of gold!

Right now, my first graders are busy painting pictures of the colorful monsters they created on their iPads using the Yay!Monster app, so we're not quite ready to "go green" yet, but I've been scouting Pinterest and a few of my teacher blogs to see what I can find.

One of the cutest, and simplest, ideas came from Blog Me Mom. This creative mom had her kids use heart-shaped cookie cutters dipped in green paint to create the outlines of shamrocks that were then colored in with green paint. It doesn't get much easier than that!

For the complete directions and lots of good pictures to follow, check out this link:
http://www.blogmemom.com/st-patricks-day-activities-shamrock-printing/

While searching for shamrocks and little green elves, I came across some good blogs for parents and grandparents with young children. Check out the links on the side to Brick by Brick (so nice to see a male role model teaching kindergarten kids!), PreK + K Sharing (a collaborative site with lots of good ideas), and Blog Me Mom (source of the shamrock printing idea- this site is full of great projects for young children).

 

Now, if food ideas are more to your liking, check out this great blog with some yummy and colorful ideas for serving healthy lunches and snacks for St. Patrick's Day. This mom blogger serves up plant based meals that would be fun for even the pickiest of preschool eaters.  Actually, I think I wouldn't mind eating these lunches myself!

http://www.bentoriffic.wordpress.com/

Happiness is not a place

"Happiness is not a place. Therefore, you can't get there. You can only decide that you are there."

I read this a week or two ago in a newspaper horoscope column, jotted it down on a notepad, and then forgot about it until yesterday when I was doing some cleaning up on my desk. It got me thinking about my annual February blahs and how hard it is for me to feel upbeat about much of anything this time of year.

So this morning I decided to take stock of the first half of February and see if I could possibly already be in my "happy place". Using the words "happy place" reminded me of my dear friend, Alice, who was the first person I heard use the term. So, Alice, thanks for kick-starting my mid-February happy place list!

 Right now the sun is shining and I'm enjoying a cup of coffee by the window. It's Day 3 of a four day weekend and that is certainly a reason to be happy!

 Yesterday, I spent the morning building some new shelves for my crafting supplies. In the evening, mom and I went to church, then she came over for dinner and the Duke-Maryland game on TV. I'm not a huge fan, but she and my husband had a great time bonding over basketball.


While mom was here, we enjoyed some iPad face time with my two grandsons. Gotta love that!


Friday morning was sunny and slightly above freezing so I took a morning walk, a rare treat for a full-time teacher.

Last Thursday afternoon, my first graders had a Valentine party, so I had the free time to participate in a crafting webinar with Cloth, Paper, Scissors.






Not bad at all! Five happy events over just four days in February...I think just might be in a happy place after all!

Hearts, Flowers, and Valentines...it must be February!

There's simply no way to ignore February 14, is there? Between the television and radio advertisements for greeting cards, flowers, and diamonds, shows like "It's Valentine's Day, Charlie Brown!", and paper hearts in storefronts everywhere, there's simply no way to avoid the day.

One of my classroom samples

In the spirit of the holiday, I like to introduce my second graders to artist Jim Dine and his lovely prints and paintings of hearts. This is an easy project to do at home if you happen to be spending time with the grandchildren, or your own children. All that is needed is some heavy drawing paper, oil pastels or crayons, and watercolor paints.

 

I made heart-shaped patterns in several sizes out of discarded cardboard from cereal boxes. Cookie cutters work great for tracing, too. After tracing, color the hearts with thick layers of oil pastels or crayons, then brush watercolors over the background. We make our classroom projects on 12-inch squares of paper, but the project can also be scaled down in size to make pictures for  homemade Valentine cards.



Student Work

If you're looking for a quick and easy gift idea, the 12-inch square pictures can be placed in frames designed for record album covers.

What parent or grandparent wouldn't enjoy this special Valentine?

                                              



 Happy Valentine's Day to all!

 

 



28 Day Challenge!

Friday was the beginning of the longest short month of the year...February. By now, the anticipation of a white Christmas is long past and our oh, so pleasant two-day January thaw ended very abruptly over the past few days. The first day of spring is still a long way off, especially here in Ohio.

 I love December, with the anticipation of Christmas, and for that month, don't mind the shorter daylight hours because they are warmed by the soft glow of holiday lights and candles. But once we've said "Happy New Year" the bottom just seems to drop out of my life. I can usually make it though January, although with each passing week I find myself spending more time mindlessly surfing the web and watching television, and less time in active pursuits. By the time February rolls around, I'm mired in my own enertia and it takes every ounce of willpower I can summon just to get through some days.

 

So for the 28 days of February, I'm going to try to do one positive, constructive, creative, or uplifting action each day. I know there will be days when it will be more than challenging not to fall into my February slump, days when the gloomy clouds don't part to let the sunshine through, but that's ok. I know that once March arrives, those first early blooms will poke through the soil and spring will be on the way once again!

So far, I've cleaned up my crafting space and storage closet, so hopefully some new art projects will take care of the constructive and creative part of my goal. And while cleaning, I rediscovered "Through Artists' Eyes: An Exploration of Bible-Inspired Art" by Joe Garland, Cindy Garland, and Jim Eichenberger, a three-book series I purchased a few years ago and never quite started. I'm looking forward to working through some of my favorite painters first, starting with my "main man", Vincent VanGogh.

One more "find" during my two-day cleaning frenzy was a set of two cute little cross-stitch pictures made by my daughter when she was little and I was still doing cross-stitch. With just a simple frame, they will be a cute addition to grandson Jackson's bedroom! Hard to believe, but I do think that this year February just might be a very fine month!

What about you? If you're like me, and don't live in a warm and sunny climate, how do you get through the dreary winter months?

Mission accomplished!

With my Janury 12 post, I set a goal to send my grandson, Aiden, a little piece of snail mail every month. Today, I'm proud to say "mission accomplished", at least for the month of January! It actually started with a thorough desk cleaning in my rather messy art classroom at school. I discovered a box of those random, unsolicited "gifts" sent from charitable organizations in the hopes of getting a donation to their cause in return. As luck would have it, I found 12 cards that each had different animals on the front and a blank space inside for a personal message.

I decided to start with the African Elephant. For some reason, Aiden has been fascinated by this animal ever since his first visit to the zoo last April. Lions and owls and dogs are interesting, and he loves checking out all the animals on the 3D Zoo for Toddlers iPad app, but it's those elephants that he goes back to time and again.

Aiden's other fascination is with trains, presently Thomas the Tank Engine and all his little "friends" on Sodor. After my Christmas visit, I had the words to "He's a Really Useful Engine" dancing in my head for several days after my return home, so of course I included a set of stickers that will let Aiden build a little train...hopefully somewhere that mommy says is ok for the home decor!

 

The other day, Tara told me that Aiden loved getting his own mail, so I'm happy to say that it's "mission accomplished", at least for January!