Art show

One thing I love about our town is that it is SMALL.  There are about 30,000 total people in the town (there were more than that at each of the two universities I attended!), and about 6,300 total students in the school district - one high school, two middle schools, six elementary schools and one kindergarten school.

So when the district-wide art show rolls around each year, there is a good chance if one of my kids isn't featured in it then definitely many others we know are.  It's very fun to see - they hold it in the high school gym over a couple of days.  Most classes (at least on our side of town) take quick field trips of walking to the school to see it, and everyone is welcome to stop by and look at the art.

This year Alex had a piece in it and Grace had one that she did as a group project.

Alex posing in front of his picture (it's the one up high above his head). He was reluctant to originally have his photo taken because he said people wouldn't know which was his.

Closer view of Alex's artwork.

The 4th Grace classes at the kids' school made plaster people.  This is the one that Grace did with three other classmates.  She was quick to point out that whoever got to take it home also got Maggie's stuffed dog that is on the leash. I then began to try to talk her OUT of getting custody of the piece (where in the world would we store it?), but she told me they are going to flip a coin to see who gets it.

Alex almost always finds a piece displayed that he thinks is really cool.  This year it was a robot created by a high school student.  I know he would like for it to be shown off a little more here too.

A post about the first one we attended can be seen here.  Like Alex, Grace got a picture in it when she was in 1st Grade.  My talented kiddos!

Tanorexia

I was going to do a blog posting about volunteering, because that's what has just about worn me down over the past few weeks, but I'll do that another time (though after that Daddy/Daughter Dance I must admit I've gotten REALLY good about saying no to stuff).

What I really want to address is this:

Yes, the lady from New Jersey charged with bringing her 6-year-old daughter into the tanning room with her.  Now honestly I don't know if she actually did it or not - it's not for me to figure out.  But I think everyone agrees that the woman needs a wake up call to the fact that her skin is SCARY.  And I even picked one of the least-cringe-inducing photos floating around the Internet right now.  I'm assuming when she looks in the mirror her mind plays the same tricks on her that mine does when I think "Oh, I haven't gained that much weight."  Of course once I see a photo of myself someone has taken I start to rethink that idea right away, and there are certainly enough photos of her out there that maybe she will have the same change of heart.

But once again I tried to use a sensational media event as a teaching tool for my kids.  I showed this woman to Grace and pointed out how she and I are the SAME AGE (at least until tomorrow!).  Grace couldn't believe it, so I then read her the couple of facts about using tanning beds that were in the accompanying story - that tanning beds can transmit 12 to 15 times the ultraviolet radiation that the sun does and that some indoor tanners are more than four times likelier to develop melanoma than non-tanners. 

While I certainly didn't as a teenager (baby oil while tanning, anyone?), I very much embrace my pale skin.  And luckily genetics have given me a good enough color base that I never fall under the ghostly category.  So if you come to the town pool looking for me, be sure and look either underneath the trees or in the part of the pool shaded by the tarps, because that's where I'll be these days.  And maybe my daughter will too.