Wine and Canvas

Back in July I had the chance to do something really fun with some friends: a Wine and Canvas painting class. Basically there is one instructor at the front of a room, and then about 20 people who each get their own easel, brushes, and paints. The instructor walks everyone through how to recreate a painting. Sometimes they do famous paintings, but the night I was signed up for was just a yellow background with some flowers.

Although I love to do crafty things, I have never really tried painting before (except for art class a zillion years ago in school). It was really fun! And you don't need to know how to paint at all, since the instructor tells you things like "pick up the biggest brush in front of you, add a little green paint, and then make a line from here to here."

The classes are held in different restaurants in Fort Wayne. The wine part of their name comes in because you can order food or drinks from the restaurant and they are brought right to your painting station. Wine and Canvas is a franchise, so if there is one near you, I'd definitely recommend checking it out. It was tons of fun!

Here are some pictures from the class:

1st grade

School started here this Wednesday. Samuel is now in 1st grade, which is a little bit of an adjustment for him since it means he will be there all day (instead of just the morning like he was in Kindergarten). Here he is before getting on the bus that morning:




Boarding the bus:
















Checking out his locker (we took this picture last week during registration):

At back-to-school night this week, his teacher had hung up self portraits that the kids made. Here is Samuel's:

So far he seems to really like his teacher. I know it's only been 3 days, but things are off to a good start!

Mission Accomplished!

Check out what Samuel figured out how to do yesterday:

We have been working on this off and on for a long time, so we are all thrilled he figured it out!

Why she gets a bath at least once day, sometimes twice

Although you can't see it in the pictures, I did actually give her paper to paint on. Apparently it is much more fun to paint yourself...

Rhyme Time Video

Here is Samuel's part from Rhyme Time (sorry it isn't the best quality. The only way I could figure out how to extract part of the movie was to view it onscreen while recording it with our camera.)

And here are a few more pictures from Kindergarten:

Field Day:

Eating Lunch in the Cafeteria Day (this was such a big deal for them since they were normally just in school in the morning. They felt like such big kids when they got to eat in the cafeteria one day):

Kindergarten graduate

School ended here last week, so Samuel is all done with Kindergarten now. He is officially a first grader. How did he get to be so old? Here is a picture of him with his teacher on the last day of school:

He had the most awesome teacher this year. She did some of the neatest things with the kids in her class. The shirts they are both wearing in the picture above are kind of hard to see, but it's a picture of all of the kids in the class (on the front) and their signatures (on the back).

On the last day of school, the parents were invited to come in and watch a movie called Rhyme Time. It featured each child in the class acting out a nursery rhyme. Samuel did The Itsy Bitsy Spider. I have a copy of the movie, but I'm not sure how to just show his part, so for now a picture of him in his costume will have to do:

If I can figure out how to post part of the movie, I will do that soon. It is really cute.

Bored with Breakfast?

If you're stuck in a breakfast rut, try something new: eat like a cat.