Oh my. I’m so far behind schedule I’ve started lumping entire seasons together.
Well, Christmas happened.
Soon after the holidays, Anna jumped right into daily rehearsals for her school’s production of Les Miserables. Being a junior and not a senior, she didn’t stand much of a chance at snagging one of the leads. But she was pleased as punch to have a solo in “At the End of the Day”.
Photography was not allowed during the production but I managed to sneak into one or two dress rehearsals and snap a shot or two.
The production was WAY beyond a typical high school’s and brought me to tears. Anna literally looked like an angel in the final number and sounded like angel too, when her high soprano sailed into the heavens as she sang, “tomorrow comes”.
Although the kids got all the glory, the parents were no slackers either as we all got roped into one thing or another from building the set to arranging/mending costumes to heading up the dinner. I was in charge of the dessert auction-which is a HUGE fundraiser for the choir department. So no pressure.
Let’s just say I was glad when it was over.
I moved right from that into my second year of heading up our elementary school’s Art Night. With the help of some amazing volunteers, it went off without a hitch and thank the heavens, we managed to pull it off less than a week before the first case of coronavirus was diagnosed in the state of Idaho. Phew.
Art Night has kind of been a big deal every year for the last nine in our family. I would describe my relationship with Art Night as a love/hate one.
I can remember one year-it was the year all four of my daughters attended elementary school and I taught art in each of their classes. I spent pretty much every waking hour at the school, draping the walls with black gallery wrap, mounting, labeling and then hanging every stinkin’ piece of artwork. (Can you sense the fatigue?)
I arrived home that Friday night, sick (literally) and tired. I sent my husband out the door with the kiddos so they could revel in pride over their masterpieces. Without me. I’d seen enough.
I’m sure most art teachers at our school feel similarly. We love our kids so we volunteer to teach art in their classes (which is the fun part, of course). Then Art Night rolls around and the prep is so exhausting we end up cursing the day we ever agreed to such a thing.
Except…the children. Our beloved children. Art Night is the single event at our school that highlights the work of every single student at the elementary. That’s pretty darn awesome.
So I keep going back for more. Year after year. After blasted year.
In fact, this year I enjoyed the added pleasure of being in charge of the whole thing. Lucky me!
Truly, it was a joy. And here’s why:
I had an amazing team of volunteers. I simply gave them individual assignments and they ran with them.
I maintain an attitude that if people want to complain about how I run things, they can do it next time. I don’t get paid a dime for what I do, which doesn’t mean I do a crappy job, but it does take a lot of the pressure off of everything having to be perfect, you know?
The school have us the red light on a couple of “traditions” that, in the past, characterized Art Night. (Wrapping the hallways in black paper and serving food). This was a bit of a downer for some, BUT, it freed up a lot of time to do other things to spice up Art Night.
So what went well? The Doodle Wall was a big hit, student music performances generated a lot of participation, the art auction earned a healthy chunk of cash.
We also had a photo op (using Munch’s “The Scream”), lined the walls with posters of works by the masters and quotes by other famous artists, and each member of the Art Night “committee” wore awesome aprons so everyone knew of whom they could ask questions.
We also have the most amazing art teachers a school could ask for. Our kids are getting regular art instruction from some of the very best.
What went wrong? Well, Tim ended up having to travel to Michigan for the weekend for his grandpa’s funeral. It was, of course a wonderful occasion for him to visit with family, but it definitely made an already busy/stressful weekend into a one-woman show.
Even that turned out to be a blessing because without my slave labor, all my friends kicked it up a notch and saved the day by supporting me every step of the way.
Sometimes Valentine’s Day is pretty special. Other times, heart-shaped chocolate chip pancakes is about all you can muster.
The seats were comfy, and it was a good thing. The adults mostly slept through the movie. Fun to join Noah for his fifth birthday!
Cousin time
And more cousin time.
The long-awaited Art Night. It might have been one of the busiest weeks of my life. With artwork from all three of my elementary student’s classes to display, early morning practices accompanying the sixth grade choir, and a huge youth fundraiser to pull off the following week, I’m just lucky I didn’t get sick. Eve looks pretty stoked, though!
