Artists and Authors + Pigtails

This morning Caroline's school hosted an "Artists and Authors Day." It's a time for parents to come and see some of the things their kids have written and/or created. The kids in Caroline's class had displayed on their desks, their portfolios, writer's notebooks, animal research projects and Coffee Can Theaters.

Here's Caroline holding up her portfolio. That's Abe Lincoln's hat next to her face there.

No serious writer can create without a messy pony tail atop her head. Well, that might not be a factual statement, but if you must know, 75% of all of my (brilliant) blog posts have been written with my hair in a messy ponytail. Coincidence? I think not!

Caroline is holding her Coffee Can Theater. For the uninitiated, a Coffee Can Theater is a coffee can (duh!) that holds little props to aid in the telling of a story. The kids were asked to create a story, decorate the outside of their coffee can and include some small props to illustrate their stories. Caroline used Legos and her story was about a family who went on vacation and encountered a tree in the road as they tried to drive up to their mountain retreat.




The dramatic reading of "The Vacation," written and illustrated by Caroline Smith.

Oops, she dropped the mom in the story, Mrs. Maria Ball.



Whew, found her!



Guess one hour with the parents, is enough. Doesn't this kid look bored?

This event was lots of fun. A lot of parents showed up, which is great. I always feel bad for the kids whose parents can't come, due to work and such. I took some time to listen to the stories of those kids who couldn't share with their parents; that made them feel a little bit better.

I actually had a busy and productive day today. How unusual!

After seeing Caroline's masterpieces, I took Craig's car to get an oil change at Wal Mart. While the car was being serviced, I bought some cotton balls and gummy vitamin D chewies. Captivating, eh?

I then drove home, in silence, because I still haven't retrieved the stereo activation code for Craig's radio. Upon my arrival at the homestead, I ate lunch and then went back out to Border's to get Caroline some math workbooks. Christopher, a boy in her class, has some grade 4 math workbooks and Caroline, a smarty mcmathpants in her own right, didn't like the idea of being upstaged in math awesomeness. So, I bought her some workbooks. But not the 4th grade kind, because those looked kind of hard. For me.

We'll work on subtracting big numbers and multiplication, first. Third grade stuff.

And then I went to Target. And then I went home.

And then I went for a run. In the afternoon.

I don't usually participate in afternoon exercise. I much prefer morning exercise. But, I missed the gym the past two days and the weather is gorgeous, so I did it.

The wind kicked my butt. Running on a flat, windless treadmill is much easier, albeit BORING. I battled the elements, but enjoyed myself, nonetheless.

I tried out a new running hairstyle today: pigtails. I haven't worn pigtails, like ever, but I thought it would be fun.

Pigtails are fun, but trying to photograph them, is another story.

The pictures are weird, but you should be thankful that I took these before I ran. The post run pigtail situation isn't nearly as lovely.