High School Halloween

Today is the first day I really miss elementary school. I looked forward to elementary school Halloween all year. Sarah and I would always coordinate our costumes and keep it a surprise until the parade. All afternoon was devoted to getting dressed, parading around the school, and parties!

Halloween at high school is not nearly that cool. It's just a normal day! So I borrowed my mom's awesome headband and wore my Halloween shirt. In my first hour Cooper was worried that I was trying to be cool with a feathery headband and then realized it was a Halloween headband. I guess I'm right on the edge of strange and cool.

Because I knew I would be a little sad I'm throwing myself a Halloween party so I have an excuse to wear a costume. More on that later.

Happy Halloween!

The Rodeo!

I had never been to the rodeo before this past Friday. Luckily, Kate got free American Royal Rodeo tickets! Here is Kate showing off her cute belly. Although Kate isn't sharing the name of her baby boy, she did tell us proudly that none of the cowboys bore her son's name.

And here are Anne and Nanette. We enjoyed to privacy of our own private box at long forgotten Kemper Arena. We were glassed in to separate us from the common folk. There weren't many people at the Rodeo, but we had a great time nevertheless. Since I had never been to a rodeo before it was a good thing we brought Nanette along. She told me all sorts of fun facts. For example, do you know why the bulls and horses buck the way they do? It's because they tie something around their balls and of course they don't like it!

So the rodeo is hard to photograph and here are my attempts blurry as they may be. My favorite event was the mutton busting. This is where little kids ride sheep like the cowboys ride bulls. It was pretty cute. I also enjoyed when all these kids had to wrestle calves to ground, tie a rope around their neck and then drag them to the middle of the arena. I was impressed, as I don't think I could do that.

Parent Teacher Conferences

In high school everyone treats you like a real teacher. And with this new status comes real conferences. I got lined up just like every other teacher in the commons with a little table, two chairs for parents, and a sign with my name on it. Parents stopped by and I pulled out their grades and talked about their kids. Mostly, these went really well, because most kids do really well in drawing. But there were a few special conferences. Here are a few of the highlights.

After showing her son's failing grade due to the fact that he just choose not to turn in half of the assignments, his mom said, 'Oh he is so grounded for like a month!'

One student was doing really well but ended up getting a C because he didn't turn in a big project. To which his mom says, 'You mean he just threw away an A?' I told her he could do extra credit by visiting different museums around town. Her response, 'Oh, I've been wanting to go to the Nelson. There is going to be some forced, family, museum time!'.

Another mom asked my to let her know if I discovered the vitamin to motivate. So if anyone if out there who knows if this exists, let me know.

Other than that the conferences went a little like this, ' I really like your student. They are doing really well. Is he/she signed up for drawing 2 or painting?' I've got to keep building my program and one way to do that is to put the bug in parents' ears about signing up for more of my classes.

I believe conferences were a success. I guess we'll see next year when I see who enrolls in my classes.

Follow Up on the Cup

We are delighted to inform you that you were selected as the owner of a cup from the Forever exhibition by British artist Clare Twomey. You requested ownership of Cup #711, but it was awarded to another visitor. We hope you will accept ownership of Cup #705 in its place.

Please come see your Cup on display in the exhibition and bring family and friends to see your new acquisition while it is installed at the Museum.

So I DO get one! So can you! My offer still stand if you really want one too or just want to stop by the Nelson and see my cup, #705!

CUPS!!

Last night Lisa and I headed to the Nelson, first to redeem our groupon member coupons we purchased and second to check out some art. There was some art we didn't really appreciate, but the opening of Forever was fabulous! There are rows and rows of cups. And the best part is you can become the owner of one of these cups. So we filled out the paperwork for the raffle and choose our cups carefully. They may look at the same but we still had to look around and choose.

Here I am pointing to my choice. I'm so excited about the prospect of owning something that was in the Nelson! The deed we filled out says you are not supposed to use the mug and only display it. Oh well...I just want one!

Well, unfortunately I wasn't this excited this morning. I didn't get one. But my sadness is a little less because Lisa did get one and there are more to win. So if you want one of these beautiful mugs come to the Nelson with me and I'll try again!

Milley vs The Hibiscus