Happy Birthday Sicily

Today is my littlest sprite's birthday.  She's nine.  She's a mess.  I started calling them all sprites when she was about two.  She brings out a playful sparkle in everyone.  She's a mischievous mystery.  She's incredibly fun yet sensitive to a fault.  She's strong and competitive yet affectionate and tender.  No one can hold back a giggle when she really starts to laugh.  It's a belly laugh that fills her whole face.  She cries big crocodile tears when she's wounded.  She's graceful on her toes.  She'll take hit after hit after hit but, after a few from you, she'll knock you out so fast you won't know what happened.  She moves fast on feet or wheels, as if she has wings that no one can see.  Her favorite place in the world is cuddled into my shoulder.  She collects little, shiny things.  And lalaloopsies.  I think she loves those funny little dolls because they are put together with mismatched patterns and disproportionate parts.  She loves things that seem just a little bit broken but are still in need of a good home. She believes in fairy tales and the great guardians of childhood. She fills multiple journals a year with drawings and stories and taped down feathers and leaves and pressed flowers.  She's a sprite.  A genuine sprite of faery folklore. She can't be pinned down and she'll love and live where she chooses.  Like I said, she's a mess.  And I love her for it.  

The Finishing Season

It's that time of year again.  The finishing season.  In the past two weeks we've had a band concert, gymnastics finals, school finals, end of grade testing, and our big Masterpiece performance and gallery show!  It has been a crazy few weeks as we prepared for all of that!  So you'll have to excuse the lack of posting around here.  If I haven't lost everyone, stick with me.  The next few posts are going to be big. Ending with a big announcement.

Let's start with band...

Earlier this spring, the boy auditioned and was moved up to bass clarinet from clarinet.  It was a pretty big deal around here!  He worked really hard for it and was rewarded for the hard work.  (Life lesson? Check!)  He started this school year not even knowing what a clarinet looked like.  He walked into his first band class not knowing how to play an instrument or read music or even how to really keep a beat.  As I watched him at this concert, it struck me just how far he had come.  He has not only learned how to play one instrument, he has learned to play two by the end of the year!  I'm so proud of him.  (And props to his teacher!  Teaching that many students to play such a wide range of instruments is no easy feat.  Seriously. That woman deserves a raise.  Or a box of chocolate, since we all know teachers are under paid. Can I get an Amen?!)

And now on to gymnastics...

My little gymnast.  She's awesome!  This year she was at the gym for over two hours every week (and in the dance studio for an hour and a half each week.  She's in amazing shape!)  Her final assessments happened over the course of two days.  Day one was for gymnastics.  That means she went through a series of exercises on the equipment such as the bars and the balance beam.  Her biggest achievement this year was learning to do a one armed  round off dismount on the balance beam.  She still needs a spot but it's still impressive.  I'm pretty sure that if I attempted that move I would crack my head open!  Day two was for tumbling.  This was the first year that she was in a tumbling specific class.  She wasn't a big fan.  She definitely prefers the bars and the beam.  However, I can see the benefits of the class in her overall performance.  She's stronger and tumbling helped with her flexibility.  I'm so proud of this girl.  She's a born athlete.


Dance and Art classes at the studio also ended....

The girls have danced at Masterpiece for the last five years.  This is the first year that they were in the same class.  It was fun for me to watch them dance together.  They both have such different strengths and weaknesses. And they have grown so much in the last five years.  Sicily started at the studio when she was two!  Both of them have developed into lovely young ladies in our time at the studio. They are both beautiful dancers.  We owe that to their teacher of the last five years, Jackie.  She is so great with them and loves them like they're her own.  I love her for that.

This was my strongest teaching year yet.  Each year I feel like I figure out how to do this whole teaching thing a little bit more.  This year I took a completely different approach with my older students.  I spent the first half of the year introducing them to the technical elements of art, such as color theory, composition, line, and form.  The second half of the year I introduced them to conceptual art and encouraged them to develop their own unique concepts and styles.  The art work out of that class reflects the change.  Their art is edgy, unique, and conceptually intelligent.  They amazed me!  I will definitely be trying this approach again.  I loved watching their mind's work.  Children are able to see so much more in the world than we give them credit for.  The piece above is my boy's.  It' s a deconstructed clock representing the decay of time.  The pieces get smaller and more deformed as your eye moves across the piece.  I love it!  I think it's brilliant.  He's a great artist....

but more on that later.  I'll save the big show for tomorrow.  As a teaser though I'll say this:  It was our best show yet.  We took the theme and the artistry to a whole new level!

Confidence Building On Stage

Analiese has been a part of the local Playhouse for the past two years.  This fall she was given a part in her first small cast production, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  Honestly, it's been exhausting with rehearsals just about every day for the last two months.  But she has absolutely loved it.  The cast is a wonderful group of kids who all get along very well.  As the youngest cast member, she has loved being doted on by her theater family.  They are definitely her kind of people.  Loud, gestural, and oh so dramatic.  I've loved watching her grow into herself through this process.  I think this has been a defining time in her life.  Her attitude is different on days when she's at the theater.  She happier and more confident in herself.

A couple of years ago she was struggling.  She's the kind of girl that feels other people's emotions and reacts accordingly.  If the situation calls for tears, she will cry.  If the situation calls for joy, she will laugh.  So when our family is in a difficult place, she feels the distress of it.  She was also struggling in school at the time and she didn't really have an area in her young life where she could build confidence in herself.  She isn't academic like her brother or athletic like her sister.  I found myself thinking that she needed a place to shine.  She needed a stage.  At the time, I didn't know that she would find that place on a literal stage.  But she has.

Confidence has the ability to change who you are.  No, that's not right.  Confidence strengthens who you are.  Analiese has always been a creative girl.  She lives in a world of color and imagination.  School and athletics, with their rigid rules, are a hard fit for a girl like that.  Don't get me wrong.  She's incredibly intelligent and a very healthy little girl. She does fine in the classroom these days and she's not opposed to playing kickball with her friends.  But she doesn't shine in those arenas the way she does in a creative setting.  Give the girl a stage or a studio and she lights up.  Who she was made to be comes alive in those spaces.  It's a beautiful thing to witness.

As I said, she's been to a lot of rehearsals in the last couple of months.  And anyone familiar with theater knows that there's often a lot of down time if you aren't in a particular scene that needs to be worked through.  So it's best if you have something to occupy yourself with while you're waiting in the wings.  About a week ago, she came home with an entire tea set that she had  been working on slowly between scenes over the course of about two weeks.  It's made from model magic packs that I had been putting in her bag.  I had noticed that they were disappearing, but I didn't know what she was doing with them until she brought the whole set home.

Doing something you love is a powerful thing.  All of a sudden you have confidence and the encouragement of others.  Your strengths begin to shine.  For this creative girl, finding her stage has sparked other creative parts of her brain.  She's stronger artistically right now.  She's dancing more.  She's even reading more.  She wants to read books about drama and dancing and art.  It's a spiral of momentum.   One that I hope continues.  Sleepy Hollow is almost over, but she has auditions for another play later this week.  I want to see her continue to grow.  She is becoming an amazing girl.  I can't wait to see all of the wonderful things she will do.

What Preteen Boys Are Made Of...

Last week I gave you a glimpse of the girls in this moment.  Today I wanted to capture the boy.  But when I walked into his room, I struggled with the image.  What do I photograph in a room that's a collection of little bits of things strewn about?  Then I spied his night stand.  It seemed to be the perfect glimpse of what preteen boys are made of, or at least what my preteen boy is made of.  

He's a collection of parts that he's trying to form into a whole right now.  This is an awkward stage of life.  It's about self discovery and independence but it's also about learning boundaries and responsibility.   There's a lot of falling down as you try to walk.  But thankfully it's all done with a mom not far behind ready to help you up, (not that you would admit to anyone that you need help with anything).   It's a whole lot of ego contrasted with a whole lot of self consciousness.   Adults don't usually have fond memories of middle school for a reason.  It's a messy in-between stage that's hard to navigate gracefully.  

But we're getting through it, one meltdown at a time.  And each day gets a little bit easier, (as long as you ignore the challenges you know will arise tomorrow).  He's a great kid. And a pretty cool one at that.  Let's break down the night stand, shall we.  

• Middle School style makes me laugh.  Note the cookie monster hat.  He's also really into neon yellow.  His shoes are so bright that they reflect light.  He gets comments everywhere we go.  People think he's cool.  He thinks he's cool too.  Until late at night, when self doubt gets to him.  I wish I could will his self doubt away.  
• The Vita.  He got that for his birthday from family members who thinks he's awesome.  See, he had been saving for one for awhile.  But then for Mother's Day, he decided to spend all of his savings on a camera for me.  So my family all chipped in to buy him the Vita because they were so impressed with his generosity.  So was I.  And I remind him of it daily.  
• Note the purple.  Not many boys will claim purple as their favorite color.  He does. Proudly.  This year he even put a streak of purple in his hair.  It was his "rebel without a cause" moment.  Sadly, that's against middle school dress code, so he has to grow it out.  This made him question authority and why they make up silly rules.  I tell him to respect authority and he does because he's a good kid, but really, it is a silly rule, and I don't fault him for calling them out on it.  
• Yes, that is a whole box of cookies on his night stand. He was sick all week, so one of his friends brought him a box of cookies.  OK, actually, it went more like this.  "Hey, I'm sick. I want cookies."  So the friend went and got cookies.  (I wish I could get chocolate milkshakes delivered on command.)  He's not bossy.  He was sort of joking.  But see he's charming and a good friend.  (He did say thank you, by the way.)  He's also shy so he doesn't even realize how much people like him.  Some days when kids are being kids and he's in fight with his best friends, he claims he has no friends.  Now I can say, remember when you got a whole box of cookies from that guy.  People don't do that unless they're your friend.  
• Finally, socks.  Yes, I said socks.  I find socks all over this house.  What is it with boys and socks?  That has absolutely nothing to do with his character.  Just a mom note.  

He's in a questioning stage of life.  Questioning everyone and everything.  Mostly himself.  But my hope is that if I keep telling him that he's great, maybe he'll survive middle school believing it.  Because he is.  He is one fantastic kid.  Sometimes I'm amazed that he's mine.  No matter how hard this middle school thing gets, I'll be right here to tell him that he can do it, even if he's convinced that he can't.  

This Is What Little Girls Are Made Of...

This bookshelf says a lot.  It may look like an overstuffed jumbled mess but it tells a story.  It's the story of where my girls are right now.  As I stopped by their room this morning to collect their laundry, I was struck by how much of who they are is explained by the things on this shelf.  I wish that I had taken more time to chronicle these things.   Because the bittersweet thing about having children is that they grow up.  And as they grow the shelf changes.  A doll today will be gone tomorrow replaced with something else meant to fit their changing personalities.  So today I'm pausing to write down who they are in this moment.  It's a twist on the normal "this moment" Friday post.  This moment is one I want to savor, for I know how quickly it will pass.  So let me tell you what's on the shelf.

• Tumtum and Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall by Emily Bearn.  This book is simply lovely.  It has been our bedtime reading for the past month.  We're all very much caught up in the stories and all very much sad that we're nearly done.
• Meet Kit: An American Girl 1934 . Analiese got Kit for her birthday this year.  She has begged for an American Girl doll for a few years now, but I had a hard time paying so much for a doll.  I finally broke down this year and bought the one she wanted.  Watching her love that doll has made it worth every penny.  And, an added bonus is that it opened up a new book series for both girls which makes me love it even more.
• Dork Diaries  by Rachel Rene Russell.  Analiese has struggled for a while with reading.  She just wasn't a huge fan.  I felt like that was largely because she couldn't find books she liked.  And then we stumbled on the Dork Diaries and everything changed.  I was hesitant at first, for the same reason I was hesitant to let Chris read Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  It just seems so dumbed down.  But both series hit a comedic nerve with this age group.  And most importantly, it got my girl reading.  She has now discovered that she loves graphic novels.  Maybe its the artistic side of her merging art and reading.  I'm just glad she's reading.  I think she just needed a kick start with something she really enjoyed. 
• Ivy and Bean.   Sicily has read every single book in this series at least three times.  She loves it!  Now she's started on The Boxcar Children and  Dragon Slippers  which she is loving.  Of the three sprites, she is the most likely to sit down and read for pleasure.  She just really enjoys reading.  Sometimes on Saturday mornings I find her sitting on her bed with a stack of picture books, reading through the whole pile.  Her favorites right now are Curious George (a long time favorite) and Berenstain Bears.  
• Baby Beluga has been on our bookshelf for years.  It may seem a funny book to still keep around given the ages of my children but it has a funny magic to it that we can't get over.  When Chris began preschool at Montessori, his teacher would play the Baby Beluga song right before nap time.  I picked it up about that time and occasionally I would sing it to him at bedtime.  About the time Sicily came along, I began singing it to the girls at bedtime as well.  Now, many years later, when the girls are very tired, one of them will pull the book off of the shelf and ask me to sing Baby Beluga.  I've sung it to them the last three nights.  We are all very tired as the back to school schedule is starting to wear on us.  Last night, as I finished singing, I found the boy curled up, just about asleep, at the end of the girls' bunk bed.  He had crawled in silently when he heard the familiar melody from his room.  I'm telling you, the song is magical.  
• Legos.  Every room in our house contains Legos.  Legos are just awesome.  They never get old.  We have recently starting purchasing the Friends sets, which are geared toward girls. Though the girls love the Creation sets as well.  That way the Friends can have fast cars and airplanes too.  I love seeing the creations that come out of those buckets of multi-colored bricks.  
• Lalaloopsy.  Those funny little dolls are a hit with both girls.  They save up money just to buy new ones.   Each doll comes with a poster and those posters fill the walls of their room.  And to think, everyone thought those dolls looked so weird, if not a little creepy, when they first came out. 
• Acting Out, a charades type game.  Dramatic girls need dramatic games.  Need I say more.  
• And finally, a word about the giraffe.  Analiese won the giraffe at the fair this past weekend.  But she gave it to Sicily almost immediately.  Why?  Because, "she's sad that she didn't win anything. And I had fun playing the game so it's OK."  I thought it was a sweet sister moment.    Now it sits on the shelf for them both to share and remember a fun afternoon.

There's so much more that I could unpack on this bookshelf.  The Eiffel Tower, Strawberry Shortcake, other books, a bug microsope.  There's just so much there.  I fear I could go on for hours trying to describe every item.  But I feel I've hit the highlights so I'll leave the picture to tell the rest.  

It is a picture that captures this one moment in their lives.  Next month the shelf will look different.  New books will be the stars.  New animals will be put in the place of honor.  New Lego creations will be laid out before the books.  As parents we have to stop and capture these moments while we can.  Otherwise we'll turn around and they'll be gone with no record of their existence.  And time will wear down the memory so that we can't remember the special books and beloved toys and most importantly the story behind them.  This is why I take pictures of "stuff".  Events and holidays are certainly important photo-ops, but sometimes it's the daily stuff that tells the story that corresponds with the growing portraits of their beautiful faces.  

Twelve

Today my son turns twelve.

We recently took a trip to meet my little sister's daughter.  I watched my son hold the baby, so small in his large hands.  He was so gentle.  With someone so small cradled in his arms, he looked closer to a man than a boy .  I was transported back to when I could hold that near-man in my own arms.  He was just about her size once and fit snug in a sling wrapped tight to my chest.  Today he would have an easier time carrying me around than the reverse.

I've watched him mature in the past year with growing admiration for the person that he's becoming.  He was born with an old soul, logical and quiet.  He's not openly affectionate or overly emotional.  He carries it all in his inner heart.  There, he sorts through the confusion and anxiety of growing up.  In that quiet heart, he holds a fierce protection for the people he loves.  He shows love rather than tells it.  He is also a pre-teen boy and therefore my quiet, mature twelve year old can also be ridiculously goofy.  He shares my love of British wit but will also quickly laugh at bathroom humor and appreciates some good sarcasm.  He's a bit James Dean, though at the moment he's a rebel without a cause.  His social rebellion has shown itself in the splash of purple he's kept in his hair this year.  While he questions the norms occasionally, he is also one of the most respectful kids I know.  He is perhaps too cynical for his age, but he will often be the first to remind us at the dinner table that we are very blessed.  He thanks me for making dinner after almost every meal, even when he doesn't like the food, and he apologizes when he needs new shoes because of the expense.  He's hard to raise sometimes because he has a stubborn streak like my father and a quick logical tongue like his father.  But he's also easy to raise because he willingly acknowledges right and wrong with little prompting.  He is intelligent and handsome and healthy, things all parents wish for.  Things I am incredibly grateful for.  But it his spirit that I appreciate the most.  Therein lies his greatest potential to be a wonderful man one day.  A man who has the potential to do good in the world.  A man that I will no doubt be very proud to call my son.  Just as I am proud to call him my son today.

It pricks my mother's heart to see the years pass away.  But it is my greatest joy in life to watch this boy become a man.  My Christopher.  My firstborn.  A child poured straight from my soul into the reality of his own.  The depths of my love for him are immeasurable.

First Day/ Last Day

First day of school...

Last day of school...

Oh, my.  My beautiful sprites of growing up.

Graduation (or Growing Up)

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to great places!

You're off and away!

Today is your day my boy.

You are off and away,

To new adventure unknown

Exciting and daunting

Butterfly moments and Confidence moments

It all awaits you.

But no matter what comes

I know you'll be fine.

You are strong

and courageous.

You are kind-hearted

and good.

I'm proud of you

for the young man you are becoming.

I'm proud of your spirit

and who you are in your soul.

I'm proud of all you've done

and all you've yet to do.

Kid, you'll move mountains!

Of that, I am sure.

Keep your eyes straight ahead,

your head held high.

Be a good friend and keep good friends.

Walk humbly and love openly.

And Remember

should you stumble or even fall,

I'm here.

To help you up and set you back on your way.

Because you are my son

whom I love, in the very depths of my heart.

Your mountain is waiting.

So...get on your way!*

Oh the Places You'll Go - Dr. Seuss

Blue and Gold (Part 2)

Today was the boy's last Blue and Gold field day at Matthews Elementary.  It was a bittersweet day.  We started in their classroom.  As soon as their teacher started crying, all of the moms, who until that moment had barely been holding it together, started crying as well.  The kids all rolled their eyes and we laughed at ourselves as we passed tissues around the room.

 These kids have grown so much in the past year. They're our babies, and yet so far from being babies.  Most of them are as tall or taller than some of their parents.  My boy is one of those tall kids.  Their bodies have filled out this year.  Where last year at field day they were a mess of gangly limbs, today we noticed that their bodies have caught up.  They were more athletic and sure of themselves.  The baby-face cheeks have all but disappeared.  There was confidence in their stride.  They are ready for middle school.  Ready to shed their elementary skin.

But for one more week we get to keep them in the safe community that they have spent the last several years in.  For one more week they will sit in a classroom with classmates they have spent a straight two years with.  For one more week they will have a teacher who has spent the year molding them for middle school.  A teacher who truly wants to see them at their best.  For one more week they will be 5th graders.

As mom's we cried because we know that week will be over quickly.  We cried because they're growing up.  We cried because we want to keep them in a safe bubble as long as we can.  But most of all, we cried because we're proud of them.  Proud of all that they have achieved.  Proud of the little men and women they are becoming.

Today was a milestone of sorts.  The last elementary school field day.  It was a good day.

My Little Gymnast

And the finishing continues.  On to gymnastics.

Sicily had her last gymnastics class last week.  My little athlete pushed herself hard this year.  She finally got to put that tough girl spirit to good use.  At one point this year she was running around with a bruised heel from the gym and bloody, peeling toenails from ballet.  And I do mean "running".  Because those kind of injuries don't stop tough girls.  They push through.  Sure they may shed a few tears but they get back up again.  That's Sicily. She can rock athlete in a prom dress pretty well.  Some people say ballet and gymnastics are girly sport.  That is, if they think of them as sports at all.  To those people, the girls of the world say thank you.  Because those "girly" sports require stamina, strength, and perseverance.  And you know a man would have been on the sidelines with an ice pack if he had gotten a bruised heel or ripped a toenail off.  Sisters, can I get an Amen!

If you doubt the power of the tough girl spirit just walk into a gym or a dance studio sometime.  You'll see girls wrapped up in various bandages pushing though routines.  Because that's what tough girls do.  I witnessed one girl work through an entire floor routine with a cast on her broken arm.  That's commitment!

Now, I'm not knocking boys here.  I have a tough boy.  I know boys get hard core too.  But there's just something inspiring about a hard core girl.  Maybe it's the life preparation in it.  Women have to be strong.  We endure.  We carry life and give birth.  We are born to be warriors of a different sort than men.  A sort that carries families and holds crumbling worlds together.

So you see, I'm incredibly proud of my tough girl.  I see in her an endurance that I know will carry her though life.  Her spunk and her spirit make her a force.  My crazy, wild sprite.  She makes me smile.  I just can't help myself.

Drama Queen

So on to more finishing.  Analiese was part of a drama program this year at our local community theater.  She got to be in two productions throughout the school year, Babes in Toyland and Children of Eden.  A few weeks ago they had their last performance.  It was just a small play put together by their class.  A sort of fractured fairy tale involving Hansel and Gretel, the seven dwarfs, and two peculiar godmothers.  Analiese was one of those godmothers.  She was the fairy dog-mother.  And her best friend Campbell was the fairy frog-mother.  They make my laugh regularly.  And this performance was no exception.  They were adorable and funny and perfectly quirky.

This class has been wonderful.  We will definitely be signing up again next fall.  Not only was it fun and a good experience, but it grew my girl in big ways.  Analiese had a rough year last school year.  It was a confidence shaking year.  A year that left her questioning herself in deep ways.  Am I smart enough?  Am I pretty enough? Am I good at anything?  Those are big questions for seven year old to ask.  And really, questions a seven year old shouldn't be asking.  But she was put in a position in school that left her asking these hard questions.  (It still gets my mama blood boiling to think about.)  So I knew this year we had to do something to rebuild what had been broken.  This is my creative girl.  My slightly (no, let's be honest, overly) dramatic girl.  So I thought of the stage.  She started off shy and reserved.  During the first production she felt silly and questioned everything she did.  I saw some of that disappear with the second performance.  But I really saw how far she had come during the Studio recital.  She was all confidence.  Don't get me wrong.  She's still her mother's daughter.  She picked at her work and listed ways she could improve it.  But she did this with an air of knowing she really could make it better.  And that's the key.  It's one thing to want to improve yourself.  It's another thing to not feel like you can improve yourself.  She moved ever so slightly past the latter.  And for that I thank this drama class.  There is just nothing quite like putting yourself on stage in front of lights.  The adrenaline flowing through you and the butterflies working their way out.  It's a pride making moment.  A moment my girl needed. I love my lovely little hippie drama queen so very much.

The Masterpiece Recital and Gallery Show

Oh my. I've neglected my writing.  Again.  But you see, it's May.  And, as all mothers of school-aged children know, May is "the finishing season".  The finishing of school.  The finishing of activities.  Finishing it all so that we can all crash hard in June.  June, which I will hereby refer to as "the crashing season".  And this year, with mama in school as well, we've all been finishing.   So there has been much hard crashing earned this school year.

But that means there is also so much to reflect on from this school year.  And so much to be proud of.  Too much, in fact, to share in one post.  So I'm going to spend the next few days sharing the May highlights. By the time I'm done we will have melted into June and popsicles and playing in the water hose.  And watermelon and laziness and, oh yes, I'm so looking forward to June....

We'll start with the most recent event.  Last weekend was the end of the year Recital and Gallery Show for Masterpiece Studios.  The Studio is, as you know, where I teach art.  It's also where my girls learn to be beautiful ballerinas and jazzy tappers.  It's where they grow as artists.  And it's a bit of a home away from home, considering the time we spend there.  So finishing the school year at the studio is a really big deal around here.   This year it was an even bigger deal.  I poured myself into the show this year and so did the kids.  Our studio does some unique things for our visual artists.  They not only have their artwork displayed in a gallery but they also get to practice performance art, something I can't teach in the regular studio setting.  This year I wanted to go big with the performance art aspect.  So we built sets and cut out crazy amounts of cardboard props.  I put a lot of thought into each piece and we rehearsed many times.  And I have to say, I'm so incredibly proud of my artists.  They were amazing!  And the gallery art looked fantastic!  I'm really thrilled with the work my students did this year.

I'm particularly fond of three little artists I know.  Sicily was in two dance pieces and two art pieces.  She was beautiful in all of them.  Analiese was in a fun dance number and she was in two art pieces.  I've seen her confidence grow this year.  I've loved watching that happen.  And Chris was part of a "living art" piece.  He was awesome.  Cool, calm, and subtly funny in perfect Chris form.

This was Sicily's jazz piece.  She loved this one!  I learned that she can move her feet very fast from  watching this!  You can also see one of the sets in the background.  These two students are performing as Rockwell's after the prom.  They had to hold perfectly still for the length of the song as if they are part of the painting.  They were awesome.  And the set itself is me putting my own art work out there.  I'm not great at painting faces, but I'm rather pleased with this one.

This is Analiese's art piece.  It's a single-line drawing that she did with  another student.  This piece is where I saw her confidence come out.  She strolled out on stage and just drew it.  No big deal.  And I think they did a great job.  This was our 5th recital and gallery show, thus the 5.

This was one of my favorite pieces from the entire show.  Our Degas piece.   So many beautiful ballerinas.  Three were dancing.  The three sets were stationary.  They were performing as two of Degas' paintings and Sicily is "The Little Dancer".  She held that position for nearly three minutes without blinking.  She's the perfect performance artist!  The whole piece was incredibly moving.  I was crying by the end of it. The pictures cannot convey how absolutely beautiful it was.  

Chris performed as part of "New American Gothic" based on Grant Wood's  "American Gothic".  We played with  this piece a bit.  They had funny little sketches they did once they were on stage.  For example, on one she was supposed to blow a bubble and he would cast her an annoyed look because they're supposed to be a "painting".  In dress rehearsal it didn't work.  We were all a little worried.  But on the day of the show she blew a bubble as big as her head and his look was perfect.  It was subtly funny just like planned.  One of their other bits was a Hunger Games tribute.  He's Finnick and she's Annie, but all of you real fans already knew that.

This is my hippie girl's collage.  "Just Add Flowers"

Gallery Show.  The Van Gogh inspired trees are Chris'

More Gallery Show. The Whimsical Tree is Sicily's

Analiese's tap number.  I loved these costumes.  And I love that smile.  This year was the first year she was confident enough on stage to really enjoy it.  More on that in the next post.

This was all of the pictures that I was able to take as I was running around crazy backstage.  (Can I just say that my feet still hurt and it's been almost a week!) I really wish I had gotten a picture of my younger student's performance art piece, especially since the girls were part of it.  It was absolutely adorable.  One "artist" made a "picture" out of the other students who were holding cardboard painted flowers, butterflies, and trees.  They performed to my "Own Two Hands" by Jack Johnson.  Also one of my favorite pieces of the show.  They were just so cute!  

All in all,  it was an amazing show.  I'm truly so very proud of not only my own lovely children but of all of my students.  My head is already spinning with ideas for next year!