The Keene Family

I was able to chaperone Haley's field trip to the Tacoma Art Museum today, and we had a great time. The museum docents did an amazing job. Our first station was reading the book Blue is My Happy, which I now love. Then we talked about how color evokes emotion, and we analyzed this painting below for colors. Our next station took us to learning about line. The kids drew on blank paper the path their eyes followed as they looked at this huge painting from the public works era. Finally, we stopped in the Chihuly glass area and the children got to bend pipe cleaners to make shapes. We also had free time to explore the museum, and these are some of our favorites. I also just like spending time with Haley.     Our final station was hands-on art. The students had to complete a brainstorming page (on color, line, and shape) and then complete an art project. Haley took it seriously and really enjoyed her final product. ...

Three days after we got back from Utah, we drove to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for Haley's competition called Great West Gym Fest. We were blessed to stay with my cousin, Cora, and her two kids with my aunt and uncle right next door. We enjoyed Tubbs Hill Park and a two-mile walk on Saturday morning. We had lunch at a German brewhouse in town that Cora suggested. It's like Belgium will never end - more beer and frites. Jim and I decided to give up on February and start fresh again in March! In the afternoon, we enjoyed some quiet time relaxing at home before the big day. On Sunday, Haley competed in the morning. We were at the resort on time and ready to go! Our CDA family came to watch Haley compete, and JT led the "how to watch gymnastics" lessons for Magnus and Heidi. The awards ceremony was unbelievingly long. Instead of calling maybe four or five places out for all around for each division (7 ...

Our family left after the holidays and JT wanted to get moving on the Christmas tree, so he offered to set it up. We had two hours before we needed to leave for basketball, and he was a man on a mission. The kids put up trees while I did the rest of the house, and in that limited time we had everything done except ornaments on the biggest tree. Sunday, they finished that up and then we were done! Then Haley and I went to see The Nutcracker at Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle Sunday evening, and we loved it. It was magical to watch Haley enjoy ballet. She understands the story, the emotion, and the difficulty of the movement. We had such a great time together. This week I also stopped into Snowflake Lane in Bellevue. It wasn't crowded at all and I got to see Jim at work for a bit. Impromptu date night!