As a second year student in the Early Learner classroom, Violet is a learning leader this year! She has been looking forward to going back to school all summer long. And once we were there, it felt like we’d never left. Couldn’t love this program more.
back to school with Willow
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violet, four years old
How much she’s changed. I asked her to go out on a photo date with me, and she said yes! She cooperated (more or less) and then we hit her favorite restaurant after for a special treat. I think the concept of working together to take photos of her was so foreign to both of us that we were both a little stiff, but hopefully this is just the beginning. Regardless, I’m so happy to have a few shots of her celebrating being four.
Actually agreeing to be photographed is hardly the biggest change we’ve seen in Violet over the last year. She has truly grown up so much. We’re amazed at the things she does and says every day. And so, so happy she’s ours.
such a big girl now
love her little heart-shaped face
four!
still dancing
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Four: this birthday was a big deal. It was much anticipated, the milestone as much as the party. Violet couldn’t wait to turn four!
birthday girl in her birthday dress
Violet was so excited about turning four, and I’d been seeing upcycled dresses recently with numbers on them that I knew she’d love for showing off how old she was. Of course once you decide you need a number four dress, there’s not a single one to be found, so I did what any girl in need would do: I recruited my mom. I found a rainbow tie-dyed tshirt, had a number four screen printed on another tshirt, took the scissors to both (as well as one other I picked up at a thrift store) and spent the day with Grandma (who can actually sew) making exactly what I had envisioned for my little girl. Fortunately, she loved it. Unfortunately, so did I. I’m really excited about sewing something else for her or for Ruby. In all of my free time. Ahem.
Violet couldn’t wait to wear her dress, and put it on as soon as she woke up on the morning of her birthday so everyone would know how old she was. I had to wash it that night so she could wear it again for her party the next day. (I am definitely not complaining – so glad all our work was worth it.)
Violet had been describing just what she wanted for her birthday party to us for months: a bounce house, and most importantly, to have a butterfly painted on her face. Also, lots of rainbows. We booked a bounce house, and rainbows were definitely something I could run with, but finding a face painter was a bit more challenging. When I finally came across Stacia Nicholson, the rest fell into place.
Stacia came early so Violet could get painted before any of her friends arrived:
madame butterfly
Almost all the kids (and even some of the adults!) who came had their faces painted – Stacia did some amazing work. I wish I could have captured more of them, but the whole party was such a blur. I did catch a few, though, including Casey, of course:
more painting at Violet's birthday party
batman and butterfly
The bounce house was as big a hit as the face painting. It made the kids very happy, but Mama just a tiny bit sad because we hardly saw them the whole party long (and the inside of a bounce house is hardly ideal for photographs . . .) But Violet and her friends had an absolute ball, which was what we were after.
jump!
As much as they loved jumping inside the bounce house, the attached slide was even more popular, especially with Ruby! Getting to the top of the slide through the bouncy house was not an easy ascent, and Ruby needed help for a while. But by the end of the night, she was able to make it up all by herself. And after the guests had gone, the girls got their Daddy to go down with them!
super slide
And the rainbows? They made their way into most everything else. There were rainbow drinks and a fruit rainbow and rainbow sugar cookies for dessert, per Violet’s request. The ribbon wands the older kids took home as favors were made with an adorable rainbow ribbon, and the hand kites for the littles were made with ribbons in rainbow colors as well. And an adorable rainbow table skirt Violet’s Grandma and Papa made!!! I need to find an excuse for another rainbow party, because I couldn’t bear to get rid of it at the end of the night, and it’s too pretty to stay packed away.
rainbows!
It seemed like it was over in an instant, but Violet had such a great time. Understandably, it was hard to see the party coming to an end:
the end?
But Violet, ever the embracer of birthdays, wasn’t ready to stop celebrating just yet. It was late, it was dark, and the grownups were wrapping up the cleanup, but she was still having fun!
Happy 4th Birthday, Violet!!!
She’s already planning her party for next year.
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Our first family camping trip was so much fun, we knew before we left the campgrounds we’d be doing it again, and soon. We got back out just a few weeks later, this time to the Sagehen reservoir. The girls were every bit as excited as we were to get away again.
home away from home
We left a little earlier on Friday than we had the first time around, realizing that the first-come first-serve spots could fill up fast. We didn’t have any reservations for that weekend, and don’t have any made for the rest of the summer, either. It’s a little nerve-wracking, never being sure of finding the perfect spot, but we prefer the less developed, and more secluded, sites anyway, so we’re willing to take the risk. Once we got into Sagehen, however, we saw that there were almost no unoccupied sites to be found. The girls and I hung out to hold onto the only one we’d come across, while Eric made a quick pass to check for anything better . . . and we got lucky again! He scored us a truly ideal site: perfectly private, tons of room to spread out, far from the road, and with a trail straight down to the reservoir below. Also gorgeous.
another amazing campsite
Even though a lot of the experience wasn’t brand new, the girls were every bit as into it as the first time we went out. Art projects and nature journals were a favorite activity once again, and this time we remembered Violet’s camera, so she used that to document things she saw as well.
drawing moths by lantern light
Violet's nature shots
We were a little bummed that despite the fact that this campground was located on a reservoir, there was very little space suitable for swimming or other water play. But we made the best of what we could get to, and then stopped at another lake on the way home Sunday for some beach time. The tent never seems to lose its appeal; we managed to squeeze in several good hikes; and Ruby was able to stay awake long enough for good times with glow sticks Saturday night!
happy daddy and his hiking buddies
found a caterpillar on our hike!
little hikers out on the trail
sagehen campground, july 2011
One of the most fun parts about this trip was coming home and checking out what Violet captured with her camera. She’s absolutely adorable with it – always asking us to get together so she can take a picture of us, getting frustrated with Ruby when she won’t cooperate, and looking at the image after she snaps it and saying “awwwwww . . . that’s so cute!” It’s just so cool to see things from her perspective. I think we might pass the kid-camera along to Ruby pretty quickly, though. 2 megapixels makes for pretty poor quality even in good light, and Violet’s taking some photos worth preserving. Our point and shoot may have found a new owner (and I might find myself out of a job as family photographer!).
move over, mama, there's a new family photog in town
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Education is something something Eric and I both feel strongly about, and a huge priority for us for the girls. We put a lot of time and thought into what we wanted their education to look like, and when Violet was about 18 months old, we found it. The school Violet attends offers an exceptional program that aligns so well with what we value and want we want to avoid for our kids’ education. We feel so fortunate to have this option available – I think we’d be hard pressed to find anything we were more passionate about, even in a bigger city.
We’ve been looking forward to Violet getting started there for what felt like such a long time, and finally, last fall, that day came. She entered the Early Learner class (ages 3-5) in September, and the year that followed was such an enriching experience for all of us. We were sad to come to the last day of school! Violet is attending a good summer program now, but she still reminds me every morning that “Foothills is my favorite school.” Mine, too, kid. Mine, too.
At the end of the year, we were able to bring home her portfolio, her journal, and her first yearbook. We wondered what to do with the massive amount of artwork she’d created throughout the year, and eventually decided to go through it with her, keep a few favorites, and photograph it all so we could store it more easily that way. I’m finally getting all of that together to share!
Here’s Violet’s first yearbook. The inner pages are standard glossy print, but rather than mass-produced bound covers, the kids made their own. Check out the gorgeous marbled cover Violet made with a special oil paint/water technique her art teacher implemented. The kids even signed each other’s yearbooks. So adorable.
Violet's yearbook
I think my favorite thing she brought home at the end of the year was her journal. When she started school in September, at age 3, Violet couldn’t write at all. Over the course of the year, she learned how to write all of her letters, and she can spell “Violet,” “Mom[my],” and “Ruby,” independently. She likes to write more than that, and can write anything she wants if you help her spell it. Her journal was a spiral bound notebook that contained pictures cut out and taped or glued to the page, and Violet’s own writing described the images she chose. Rather than spelling for her, however, her teachers would work with her to isolate the sounds of the word, and let her spell it on her own, emphasizing the importance of the phonics behind it far more than precise spelling. Like this:
Violet's journal
Here are a few more of my favorite journal entries, “rain boots,” “knock knock,” “dancing,” “man reading,” and “bandaid”:
more journal entries
The learning process, not just the product, is always paramount in her classroom, even when it comes to creative things like art. Violet’s amazing art teacher worked with them to learn and understand the concept of creating multiple drafts before something is finished. Here are three drafts of Violet’s first self-portrait, done in October (teacher helped with the hair):
Violet's self portrait, in three drafts
The kids made portraits using all kinds of materials in the beginning of the year. One of the most fun was making prints using paint and twine glued to cardboard in the shape of a face:
Violet
Their art teacher put all of the kids’ portrait prints together in an incredible triptych we bought the school auction in November. It’s been hanging in Eric’s office ever since.
Early Learner class art in Eric's office
The kids also learned how to draft plans for a project before beginning work on it. Here are Violet’s plans to make a set of wings:
plans to make wings
And of course there were virtually unlimited opportunities for Violet to create whatever works of art she could dream up, using any of the huge selection of materials available to them in the classroom at all times. Real acrylic paints, oil pastels, different types of watercolors, ribbon, tape, glue, all kinds of paper, clay, wire, and every type of writing/drawing instrument an artist might pick up. Violet loved painting, and was also particularly fond of tape and creating collages with it. Some favorite creations from her portfolio this past year:
painting
Titled 'Ruby'
more from Violet's 2010-2011 portfolio
No summary of Violet’s work for the year would be complete without at least one representation of her creations in the hot glue area. She loved working there, constructing all kinds of things out the the random objects the classroom collected for the kids to build with. One random day this spring, Violet decided she wanted to celebrate her birthday at school, so she made herself a birthday cake:
birthday cake Violet made for herself
She also brought home a book she worked on for quite some time. She chose ants as her subject, and her science teacher helped her research facts about ants to write in her book. Among them: “ants are very strong they can carry things much bigger than themselves,” and “leaf cutting ants grow their own food out of fungus.”
cover of Violet's ant book
We may not have a full-fledged art studio at home for her this summer, but we’ve always tried to have a lot of art supplies available for her and Ruby to work with. We’re just amazed at how much she’s developed in her artwork recently. She tells us she’s a real artist all the time, and we love that she sees herself that way. She drew this picture of our whole family a few weeks ago:
Our family, by Violet
And these are illustrations from a card she made for her friend Casey for his birthday just this week:
rainbow flower, oil pastels
portrait of Violet and Casey for Casey on his birthday
She’s learned so much, grown so much. And she’d be doing all of that wherever she was, but we have no doubt that this is the best possible environment for her to do it in. We’re loving the summer, but also counting down the days ’til September!
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A couple of months ago, we decided we wanted to give camping with the girls a go this summer. It was our first family camping trip, but it definitely won’t be the last! We had so much fun, we were planning the next one in the car on the way home. Eric and I were, anyway. Violet and Ruby were sound asleep as soon as we pulled out of the campgrounds.
On a recommendation from a friend, we chose Baumgartner campgrounds in the Sawtooth National Forest for this excursion, and we were so glad we did. We found a fantastic site within minutes of arriving, with plenty of open space for the girls to ride bikes, play and explore, but lots of privacy as well. We had great weather – it did get down to about 40 degrees the first night, but the girls were warm and cozy in their new sleeping bags. From the moment we set up the tent, they embraced every part of the camping experience. We had campfires both nights, and the girls gobbled up their foil-wrapped campfire-cooked meals. Once again, Violet enjoyed roasting the marshmallows, but declined to actually eat any, preferring graham cracker and chocolate sandwiches to fully assembled s’mores. (Mama was happy to help take care of the extra roasted marshmallows). Mornings, Violet had fun watching her Daddy make breakfast while she sipped on hot chocolate. During the days, we did as much as we could manage to squeeze in. The girls went on “nature hunts” (saw two snakes!) and wrote and drew pictures in their journals recording some of what they saw (well, it’s really anyone’s guess what Ruby was drawing, but she did enjoy her own journal!). They rode their bikes, and were able to swing on a small set the forest service guy had built. There was a hot springs pool that felt like a perfect, giant warm bath that we soaked in Saturday and Sunday, and we were also able to hike directly from our campsite to a gorgeous meadow where we attempted to fly the girls’ new kite. We really couldn’t have imagined a better inaugural camping adventure.
I couldn’t narrow down the photos to just a few, so I threw together a slideshow of them instead. If you’re up for sitting through it, enjoy:
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