off with those training wheels

tpl

the potential lunatics are exactly the type of "thing" i am on the lookout for. that "something special thing" whether it be an author, book, skill, craft, topic or "whatever it is thing" that i can share with my camp fire groups. ever since i became a leader, i look at everything as "potential fodder" for a lesson, a meeting a ??? so, when i stumbled on to this band last year i instantly thought about how cool it could be to have our very own camp fire concert. well last weekend, thats exactly what we had! it goes even further, thanks to emma, i am taking guitar lessons and she inspired one of my camp fire kids (amber) to take lessons as well, directly from emma. during the show amber was called up to the stage to perform and she amazed us with a song she had written herself! emma also called the audience up to sing with her. at first just a few trickled up but then in a burst of energy, a dozen or so rushed the stage. emma made jokes, she played a great verson of the "circle game" song, she blended slow and fast songs. more than a few parents said, "wow! who is that kid! how old IS she again?" she's 14 and her brother is 11 and yes they are sooooo rockin cool! thank you TPL for making me look like the hip leader i think i am, ha ha!!

 

 

on a side note, this is my 800th post! egad!

A Slam Dunk Weekend

last weekend was awesome. it was much anticipated and somehow everything went down even better than expected which is not always the case. first off: this was the first time in a couple years i was able to get camp fire groups to come together at one time for a wetlands restoration event. this is HUGE to me. we actually had enough response to split the participants between two dates (the next one is may 1st) which i love even more. i heard more than a few leaders say this was "an amazing place" "wow! i never knew this was out here!" and "i can't believe how quiet it is!!" plus many thank yous came my way. it gives me chills to hear those comments and i hope sooooo much that they can inspire other leaders, friends and families to come out and see the wetlands for themselves.

 

the kids learned about the difference between a puddle and a wetlands (do you know? i do now!)


we have had a lot of rain this year so there is much to see where the water remains


this is unrestored wetlands and has working oil rigs and pipes running between. i still see the beauty though, the birds and plants just doing their thing


pulling out non native plants. there are several endangered plants that live here as well as birds and butterflies that live and nest in those plants. these plants, birds, and bugs are specific to the wetlands. with 95 percent of the west coast wetlands developed (99 percent in California), there isn't much hope for their survival.


this is the biggest crowd i have seen here, so nice to see!


and lizzie loves the guys who run the event!

silk

inspired by amy karols book, i silk screened a t shirt for my kinder group using a design by aaron my stepson...their name is the "rocket cats" and we had a couple different versions of this design before deciding on this one. i like the print EZ product, but honestly, it wasn't as easy as i had hoped. for one, the ink dries so fast you have to rinse and then dry the screen between maybe two or three shirts (not really the print EZ's fault). super time consuming BUT the result was great.

 
 

we spent the week of spring break at the cabin and hosted some guests i met on flickr, the kids were such a great match i couldn't believe it! us parents got along as well, which was nice!
we still have a lot of snow and with another storm coming maybe a little more is in store?


back to work tomorrow...

spring is here

 
bye bye snowman

things i like

this movie

this camera

this tv show

these photos here and here

my new favorite magazine

my new favorite way to cook veggies 

ready to try this recipe

my new favorite website (lots of guitar practice going on around here and a long way from playing this song well!)

obsessed with watching you tube videos

just a few things i am liking right now, including this amazing family.

:)

 

spring break

wow, i have really let this blog go haven't i? i'm still here, plugging away at life, working on a ton of projects as usual. having two camp fire groups has been interesting, pretty much i doubled my workload with the addition of the kinder group. the two groups are so different, i can't double up on any of the crafts although i have borrowed from past projects which makes it easier. the biggest challenge has been to get the 5 and 6 year olds to sit and listen to me after they have had a long day at school, major ants in the pants syndrome. we are on our 7th month together and i saw some real improvement at our last meeting. since we are having issues at school right now (lizzie is mixed up with some kind of "you're not my friend, i am her friend, you can't be our friend too" crap with lots of tears and hurt feelings) we tackled "what it means to be a good friend" at the last two meetings. i think the repetition of talking about this at home, school and now camp fire is finally getting the message through to lizzie. i am surprised to see this starting so early, the drama and manipulation and peer pressure. parenting is tricky business for sure!

 
 

we are settled in for a week at the cabin, i have never been up here that long and have brought up supplies to paint, carve, stamp and do some printmaking. my original plan was to do a spring cleaning but now that i am here, i am feeling pretty lazy... oh! the easter bunny found us!





we still have snow on the ground and there is a lot of projects being revealed as the snow melts away (roof, deck, painting, trees) lots to do!
Happy Easter!