joys of January...

January was a full month. Normally, I struggle with a post holiday slump & the month of January drags on...& on & on & on. This year was nothing like that. January actually flew by with so many activities & fun things to occupy our time.

Chris' hit the ground running & his travel schedule wasted no time in ramping up.

Ashlyn & Landon jumped back into school feet first after the break. Landon continued enjoying his time as the manager of the JV basketball team, attending the practices, games & team lunches.

Ashlyn fought through the illness that made its way through her group of friends & so many others & missed almost an entire week of school. She had a big presentation & a bunch of art projects to complete when she got back including this scratchboard of an old man. I love his crazy hair & how jolly he looks...

Ashlyn inspired me to dust off my pencils & do a little sketching. It's been years since I last drew anything & it felt good to get back to the drawing board...

Her art class had a field trip to Diablo Valley College to learn about careers in the field of art & photography.
They made prints in the darkroom...

She practiced some stage makeup & waited until she got home & walked through the front door to display her work. She had me totally convinced & I proceeded to text the pictures to Chris who immediately called me in a panic...

Landon came with me to serve in the four year old Sunday school class one day & I was struck by just how much he has grown over the last few years. The little boys loved having him in the class...

Ashlyn is in a US history/English combo class this year called, Threads. The books they read in English correlate with what they are learning in History. For example, when they were learning about the 1920's they were reading The Great Gatsby. Once their unit was complete they had a Roaring 20's party at school. They transformed their classroom into a speakeasy complete with a secret password to enter. Every student dressed in 20's attire with some acting out historical characters, both fictional & non, from the 1920's like Amelia Earhart, Walt Disney, Coco Chanel, President Warren G. Harding, Billie Holiday, Gloria Swanson & even Jay Gatsby himself.

Ashlyn was a flapper & her costume was amazing. She looked stunning & even walked in the fashion show!