Princess Artsy Fartsy

I love my Erin! To say that she marches to the beat of a different drummer would be an understatement. From the day she was born she has done her own thing and makes no apologies for it. Over the years, it has been a bit frustrating at times, but as I watch her grow into a young woman, I am so humbled and grateful to be her mother. She is a good girl. She knows what is right and what is wrong and she is very compassionate. We have always thought of her as our little Florence Nightengale. She tries very hard to make sure that everyone is happy. If there is a younger kid around who is unhappy, she will share with them or take the time to find out why and try her best to solve the problem. This is something that I greatly appreciate with the baby. When Will is fussy or needs to be fed or changed, Erin can always be counted on to help out and make things better. This is definitely one of her talents.

Another one of her talents, and one that she is quite proud of, is her creativity. She loves to create.... ANYTHING. Throughout the years she has been an artist first and everything else has been secondary. This year, she has been lucky enough to participate in a program at school known as the MAC program. MAC is short for Multi-Age Classroom. Since Erin functions so well with other kids, we thought it would be a great fit for her. Another focus of the MAC classroom has to with an emphasis on enrichment and project-focused activities as opposed to daily homework, although she has that too. She has participated in some fun events this year, the latest and greatest being a Greek Wax Museum on Friday.

Erin and her classmates were all assigned a Greek god, goddess or mythological character to research and spotlight. On the appointed day, they would dress up in their costume and take their place on their pedestal to be discovered by the other students at the school. Erin was given Artemis, goddess of the moon and the hunt, twin to Apollo, daughter of Zeus and Leto. As a side note, one of my favorite things about these projects is the fact that they are intriguing enough for her to embark upon on her own. She came home a couple of weeks ago and finished her report in one afternoon. She spent the next couple of weeks brainstorming about her costume. The big day was Friday and this was the final result....



We weren't able to take the bow and arrow to represent the hunting part of her domain because of the "no weapons" policy, and I was a loser and didn't get a large moon made to go on the front of her outfit, but she is very forgiving (thank goodness) and was just happy to be participating.

Here are a couple of pictures from some of her other projects... some at school, but most at home.






As you can see, this kid likes to dress up. I wish I had room to show you even a small smattering of the numerous pictures and paintings this girl has made over the years. Always one to keep life interesting, I can't imagine what our house would be like without her and every day, I am in wonder as I watch her grow. I love you Erin!