Navajo Sand Painting

Joseph chose to create a Navajo sand painting for his Social Studies project (as mentioned in this post).  We looked around at lots of images on the internet before Joseph settled on this one:

Let's be clear: even though I am a total crafty dad, I do not want to be one of those parents that does their kids' projects for them or insists that they have to be perfect.  Other than ordering a $7 package of multicolored sand from Amazon and tracing the image onto the canvas, this work of art is otherwise 100% JT's effort.  He is an artsy kid, and I loved seeing him be so enthusiastic about working on it a little bit every few days over a more than 2 week period.  The glue and sand had to dry before he could layer on another color.

Really, isn't it fantastic?!?!?  He also had to write a description of what his artifact was and how it symbolized his tribe.  Click to enlarge so you can read (and see his awesome penmanship!).

You can see it's far from perfect, but yet it's absolutely brilliant.  Or maybe I'm just a very proud crafty dad.

The Social Studies teacher organized the first ever "museum walk through" in the cafeteria, where the kids proudly displayed their artifacts and descriptions for families and other grades.

Joseph's was even chosen by Ms. Hunter to be shown for a longer term in the hall display cases!

Random #9

Some of these pics have been hanging around in blog limbo for quite a while.  Like this batch that was eventually forwarded from Brent's BFF Leonel after I had already posted about Pride back in June.  Look at JT's eyes!

I think I've lost track of how many plumbing disasters we've had in our house.  Leak #2 from the same place in the ceiling of the basement, the shutoff valve to the outside hose.  Lord knows how long it had been slowly leaking behind the wall until one day I found it soaking wet.  I ripped out the wall and isolation, had the plumber repair it again, and called my savior, Mauricio, who always makes it look like nothing ever happened.

My girl Joce brought me a variety of sea salts from Angelsey a while ago and I was never sure what to do with some of them.  But then I made salted caramel brownies again, and this was a perfect pairing.

Here's a pic from Nolan's mom.  Monday mornings, Safety Patrol holds the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance.

My FlagStar!

Have you heard the Best. News. Ever?!  My prayers have been answered and Michael's craft store opened in Friendship Heights!  (Actually, I would have much preferred a Joann's to satisfy my fabric needs as well, but this will do nicely, thank you very much!) And as Joseph's request, we bought some spooky decorations (at 70% off!) to get us in the Halloween spirit.

Swing On Over!

My adorable godson, Will, is seven already!

Here's the birthday boy at his trampoline park party, channeling not only Spiderman but the Flash and Superman too!

Uncle Matt takes no prisoners when it comes to dodge ball.  That man is in it to win it.

Happy birthday, sweet Will!

The East Building

Last week my BFF was in town for a visit and we spent an afternoon at the newly renovated East Building of the National Gallery of Art, home to the museum's modern and contemporary collection.  Coincidentally, Lance and I were together exactly the same time last year, although that was in Las Vegas when we did a Tough Mudder and saw Britney Spears.  I think this will have be become a tradition!

Loved the Photography Reinvented exhibit!

More faves:

There are 2 new Tower Galleries (one with a Calder exhibit, the other Rothko) connected by an outdoor sculpture terrace with a 14.5 foot blue rooster.

We didn't go through the West Building but did pass through the light sculpture that connects the two.  Always so much fun with my crazy friend, who just couldn't resist grabbing his p**** as we walked by the new Trump hotel in the Old Post Office Building!