Susan Richey

After our morning exercise and meditation, we worked in art classes. I helped some of the members paint a landscape of the forest and mountains!

Today I was at the Blair Center and we painted in our art class. We used a similar technique to the leaf rubbing, but this time we used oil paint instead of oil pastels, and we drew patterns on a piece of paper before filling in sections with water color to create abstract patterns. I helped one of the students with the craft and we had a nice time.

Today we watched a movie called CODA, which was about children of deaf adults. We talked about what it would be like as a CODA, and how we can be kinder and more intentional with the deaf community. It was a really neat lesson and I liked how we learned by watching the movie and making real world connections. I think some of the members really liked it!

Today we went outside and picked out rocks, which we then painted. We learned about mixing colors and watched a tutorial on how to paint realistic eyes. We talked about eye colors and it was cool to see everyone's different finished product.

Today was my first day at LifeStyles and I got to meet all the participants and staff! We went outside and gathered leaves to do leaf rubbings with oil pastels and watercolored over it. I enjoyed it!

Today we worked with Kids Crop again and we made smoothies with carrots, mangos, and bananas. Some kids liked it, others not as much. But they were still really excited and I think they enjoyed the process, especially using the blenders. They also planted some carrots in the garden. We also spent a lot of time outside since it was sunny and nice, and the kids ran around a lot and played tag. I threw the football with Chase and chatted with him for a while. I also helped Evan and Joaquin look for their necklaces that they lost in the grass, but we only found Joaquin's. Towards the end, I played with PlayDough with Daelyn and he made a really cool dinosaur out of the PlayDough - I was impressed.

my favorite service project - excited to deliver them to people in need

Today was so much fun, especially for a rainy day! We didn't go outside but we tried a new game called roadkill. The kids weren't really into it, but they did try it out (and it was kind of funny to watch). Afterwards, some of the kids went to the computer lab while other kids came into the craft room, where I had helped set up balloons, flour, plates, cups, and DIY funnels at each seat. We made stress balls and talked about stress, what it is, and what stresses us out while we made our stress balls. It was definitely a messy craft but it was so much fun. I think the kids really enjoyed it. IFC came and played basketball and soccer with the kids. I played volleyball with some of the girls and I threw the football with Chase, then I helped clean up the craft.