Proud of my craftiness!

I am not crafty. I took a lot of art classes in school but I don't consider myself an artist. I just don't have the time or the energy to pursuit craft projects. My kids love it when I break out the paints.  They are deprived of creative outlets.

Speaking of creativity..... I am also not good at coming up with my own projects.  I depend on the creativity of others. This project of course isn't original. I found it here and thought I needed to give it a try. She used this activity to go along with the phrase from the Family Proclamation that reads  "All Human Beings are created in the image of God". We did our full body tracings the day we talked about that. Instead I used this idea for the phrase "each has a divine nature and destiny". 

I thought the profile silhouettes would look lovely on my wall. I was lucky and while out shopping found some little painter's canvas'. I was just going to use a watercolor paper or something but these turned out so much better.

I did Molly's for her

I let the kids decide on the color scheme. They decided to use all the colors of the rainbow.  A rainbow is full of possibilities  so I gave them the colors and let them go. Their profiles were printed out and stuck on the canvas.  And the kids were instructed to start in the middle on the cutout and paint outward. Sophie did great and didn't require any touch ups, but the boys' didn't quite turn out as well.

Sophie

When they were done and I pulled up the profile cutout there was all sorts of paint that had gone under and the profiles weren't going to work. And just to make it worse Henry came to look at his and put some paint on the edges where he didn't get paint touched his paint covered finger right in the white part of his head leaving a lovely blue fingerprint. My gasp made him feel so bad and he was almost in tears. I let it dry and tried to think of a solution to the problem.

Henry's before touch up.

Ian's before I cleaned up the edges.

I ended up painting white over the edges of the boys profiles and over the blue fingerprint. They turned out alright and they were all proud of the finished products.

I know they aren't quite hanging straight but I am not a perfectionist and it was hard to line up four boards. 

I think they look great hanging on the wall. And my kids love it that they match our rainbow rug as well.




I am entering this in the Family Proclamation celebration and blog hop. You can find other ideas at Chocolate on my Cranium or We Talk of Christ.

Lending Support when Needed

When I read the Family Proclamation I usually think about the family I am in the process of cultivating with my husband and my children. But so much of who we are and how we raise our children has to do with those that brought us up. The Family Proclamation includes these Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It simply lumps them all together as extended family and then explains that their role is to "lend support when needed".

Today I thought I would highlight a few of those people that give me advice, a listening ear and what ever "support" I am in need of at the time.

This is a picture of my parents surrounded by their grandchildren. This is a somewhat old picture. There are three more that have come since. Lots of little girls!


Here are my kids enjoying a little time with my husband's father.


Grandma loves to watch the kids perform the Christmas story for her.

This is one of my favorite pictures. My Dad snoring away with a very sleepy Henry.


My mom is put to work when she is at our house. She is almost always reading books to the kids when she comes to visit.


I am often surprised by how much my sister Julie loves my kids. She has always been rather motherly with them.

These are the cousins and that my kids get to see and play with most often. Good kids, all of them. (Notice it is mine that are acting up.)

These cousins live a little farther away so we don't get to see them as often but my kids love them and wish we could see them more than just once or twice a year.

I wish this sister didn't live so far away then we could lend her the support she needs while she starts her family. We don't get to see that little niece very often except through pictures.

I have a great extended family that does support me, not just when needed, but always.

Thanks!

We need another Vacation after our Vacation

We headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the 4th of July weekend. The small community holds a little parade.
There were all sorts of old time cars, horses, people walking through just waving flags. And these jokers.
Almost turns your stomach!

Our kids had such a great time playing with their cousins.

Fireworks are never allowed in the county but especially this year. There was already enough smoke in the air to give everything a sort of hazy look. So Grandma arranged for a 4th of July Pinata.
My husband made the comment that this was a funny way to celebrate the 4th. A mexican game where we beat a flag? Well the kids had fun and ate a bunch of starbursts and skittles afterward. We found them stuck to them, the floor and many of the chairs in the house.

And there was lots of swimming. Grandpa's pool got a work out. All the kids had a great time jumping off the board over and over, squirting each other with water guns, or just toodling around the pool.

Ian shows no fear when jumping off the board. He just flies through the air like superman.
I never could get a picture of Henry jumping off the board. He did it several times but he would often get up there and bounce and then get off and let one of the other kids jump in.

Swimming at Grandma's is a highlight of the summer.
Every night while at Grandpa's house we take The Walk. This is just a stroll up their street. It is good for the kids to burn off some energy and the adult to burn off a few of the calories of all the good food served for dinner.

Cousins make the walk so fun!

The kids also helped Grandpa harvest some of his garden. They all love to go out with him to check his crops. This was a funny carrot they found.

They called it the Love Carrot.

So now we are back home. I still have to unpack everything and get it put away. The kids are sleeping in, which is great! They sure need it. We have had a number of late nights.

Thanks again, Mom
We had a great time.

A Holiday

It is Martin Luther King Day and my husband didn't have to go to work. Sophie of course claimed that because it was a holiday we didn't have to do any school. As I went to the gym this morning, I passed the elementary school and it was closed. So I guess we too could have a day off of school.

It is also raining, which isn't the most exciting for a holiday, so my husband decided to take Sophie and Ian to see the new Veggie tales movie.
This was Sophie's 2nd movie ever and Ian's first. We knew Henry wouldn't be able to sit through it so I stayed with him while they all went to see the show. Not having seen it myself I can't tell you much about it. But the kids came home all excited about it and said that it was great. Even my Husband said it was very clever and like all veggie tales movies, taught a great moral, Faith, prayer and trusting in God. It looks like I will have to put it on the netflix queue so we can watch it again once it is out on DVD.

Sophie then decided she had to have even more of Dad's attention so she asked him to help her play Civilization. She claimed it was for School is she was the greeks this time. I thought we weren't doing school today?

I also decided to rearrange the furniture in the boy's room. I have been meaning to move the bunk beds because they have been right under the heat vent. Ian has had a very nice cozy bed but the heat doesn't distribute through the room well. He got it all. So now everything is shifted and the boys are thrilled with the new arrangement. Change is good!

So it has been quite a holiday. It feels like we got a few things done.
No school though. Just as Sophie wished.

Oh.. and Happy Birthday Auntie Kewan

A Small Birthday Party

We planned Ian's Birthday Party for today. It was meant to be a small party since we planned it to be inside. We have had rain for the last two weeks so had no idea what the weather would be like. Ian invited just 4 friends. That is all he wanted and that is about all we could handle inside our small house. Ian had been very excited all week about his party and to have his friends over.

I didn't plan a whole lot. 5 four year olds don't need much entertainment. I got our train set out and built a great track and thought that would be good to start with. We were going to have a little lunch, some cake, a pinata and a lot of free play time. Well.... the night before the party one of the Moms of one of the friends called and said they wouldn't be able to make it. I thought oh... well there would still be four kids. I was wrong. We only had one little boy come over for the party. At first I was a bit worried. I thought Ian would be upset but he had a great time playing with his friend. They spent an hour getting out every toy we own and covering the living room with them. Then they ate their lunch. We all sang happy birthday and Ian happily blew out the candles on his cake. The kids had a great time hitting that pinata. Everyone got lots of turns. We even broke out our plastic swords and they all went at it. Finally when the pinata burst open they all got way more candy and toys then they needed. Even henry filled his bag with goodies.

So even though the party was small Ian had a great time.

Favorite Birthday Gift

Ian has been wanting a bigger bike for some time. He has been sharing the trike with Henry but he really didn't fit the trike anymore. So with some money sent him from Grandma we went and picked out a brand new bike. I had to put it together when we got it home and boy did he have a hard time containing his excitement.
This is what he picked out.

He rode it up and down the driveway over and over, back and forth for a really long time this afternoon. He figured out the brakes quickly and loved showing me how he could make himself stop by pushing backward on the pedals. He also loved attempting to ride without hands and even standing up on the pedals, or as he put it "without his bum on the seat".
Henry was happy to have the tricycle to himself. He has only recently figured out how to pedal it. So the boys raced back and forth and back and forth.
Sophie got her scooter and joined the boys for a ride around the block. I actually made them wear their helmets. I have been lazy and allowed them to ride around with out them a lot of the time. But now that Ian has a bike I am going to have to be more diligent about the helmets.

Celebrating Ian

Ian turned 4 years old today. Here are a few fun facts about this big/little guy.As a baby he was a very happy, mellow little guy. This is one of my favorite pictures of him as a baby. He was just giggling and giggling. That roll around his neck and chin were just so ticklish I guess!

Ian crawled forever. He started crawling about 6 months old. Well rolled first for awhile and then developed his own style of crawling. One foot and one knee. He was so fast! He didn't walk until he was almost 15 months old. He got around so quickly crawling and crusing the furniture he didn't need to walk I guess.
Ian was the only one of my kids to take a pacifier. He used it at night until he was about 3 then it suddenly wasn't needed any more. We never really had to do anything to get him to stop using it.
I don't think Ian likes to get his picture taken. As I was looking through my pictures I found a lot of pictures like this one. Where he makes a funny face or he looks away just as you take the picture. So he is a little difficult to get a good picture of.
Ian is a bit shy, but he does like to get attention. I really hope he doesn't get some sort of middle child syndrome.
Ian is not usually an adventure seeking little guy. He will try something, like hold a large iguana, only after other people have done it too. He isn't the one to initiate the adventure.
Ian loves hats. I hadn't really thought about this fact until just now. As I look at all the different picture I have of him, he is wearing a hat in a whole lot of them. While at the dollar store the other day he found a new camo hat since the one he is wearing in this picture is now too small. He couldn't leave the store without taking it home. He now wears it in the house all the time. Either that or his dollar store cowboy hat that he got around Halloween time.

Happy Birthday Ian!

Calm

I read a great post about new years resolutions awhile back and have been thinking about it ever since. In it the writer explains that resolutions tend not to work for what ever reason but usually because we are trying to change things that we Do rather than things that we are or what to BE. She also explains that in order to make these changes we should find a word to focus on. This idea has stuck with my the last few days and I have been thinking about it.
What word would be my theme for the year? What word am I going to chant to myself and help me make the changes I want to see in my life. I thought about "order", or "organize" because I would like to see less clutter in my house and I need to get more organized with school and such too. But I kept comming back to the word "calm". I want my life to be more calm. I can't even count the number of times I say "calm down" each day.

I looked up the word "calm" in the Thesarus (thanks Sonja for the reminder to read and use such a useful book). I saw words like soften, tranquillize, peaceful, undisturbed, equanimity, still, tranquill, self-possessed. These are all GOOD things!

My little family isn't totally out of control it just feels like it sometimes. My kids are very active and are young (I have to remind myself that they are acting age appropriate, more or less). And when the noise, fighting and chaos goes on for too long I find myself losing my "cool" and these are the moments that I need to start chanting "calm" to myself. Maybe if I was more "composed" or handled things more "collectedly" maybe my kids would be more "serene" and "sedate".

This idea of "calm" will also roll over into our homeschooling and even housekeeping. Everything can benifit and run more "smoothly" when done with a "cool" head and "unruffled" attitude.

A few product reviews

Here it is Friday already. We have done little except play with all our new things since Christmas day. The kids just haven't gotten tired of anything yet. They play with these things over and over again sometimes for hours and hours. Here are a few of the toys that we have being enjoying the last few days. We are just enjoying our vacation time and doing nothing but play, play and play.

Sophie of course got her Tabby Cat Vmigo. She loved the dog Vmigo that she got for her birthday but she LOVES the cat. I have to agree with her. The cat is a bit more fun. I don't know why exactly maybe it is just the novelty of it but the graphics are better on this one for one thing. Maybe it is newer. I found the dog on ebay. It was new in the package but it might have been an older version. Anyway.. the cat gets played a lot!

I got Sophie a latch hook kit for Christmas and we attempted it yesterday. I used to do these when I was little and she is always asking me for projects so I thought this was one we could give a try.
It may be a little beyond her but she can do it. She just gets bored with it after only about 3 stitches. It is going to take a long time before this one gets done. But she really wants to make a pillow out of the puppy and kitten picture so maybe she will work on it a bit now and again.
This marble run was added to our box of blocks and the kids have enjoyed building all sorts of runs using the blocks that came with the set and all our old blocks as well. Thanks Grandma!
We haven't actually finished a game of River Roads and Rails yet but we give it a try each day and the kids love it. Henry just really wants to play a little too much and ruins the layout after awhile and we don't have the drive to start over again. But the kids keep getting it out when there is a lull in the action. They even taught Dad how to play it last night. He LOVED it and wanted to keep playing until the end of all the cards but as usual Henry got the better of us and "Monstered" the layout. So one day we will actually finish the game.

Because Henry loves to throw things he received this little hoop and ball to hang on his bedroom door. We have a bunch of hand made cloth balls as well. The boys love to just go in there and shoot baskets. They have figured out that the little tramp in their room is fun to bounce on to get a little higher for a better shot.
I don't know about this horse. Sophie seems to think it is always sick. She has had ear infections, a burst ear drum, a number of leg breaks and even a few belly aches from bad hay. This poor horse is always having to go to the vet for all sorts of check ups and medical interventions. She is languishing on a pillow bed with a blanket over her right now. She needs a good rest to get over her latest illness. Again... Grandma I think this one is a hit!
This wasn't actually a Christmas present. We returned an item and ended up getting this Playmobil castle set. Ian loves it and even got up early this morning so he could play with it again. He loves to play knights and has gotten out out old set of knights and has them storm the castle over and over again. Henry loves the catapult and has the little flames flying. This is the first Playmobil set we have ever had and we really like it. They are already planning the sets that they want next. Maybe this one was a mistake after all. It is going to receive hours and hours of play over the next little bit.

It hasn't been all play and nothing else. We have also been reading the new books we got for Christmas too.And we also made our weekly trip to the library and checked out a number of books as usual. Even when we don't "do school" we still end up taking home a bag full of books.

We are enjoying our vacation time but I am actually looking forward to getting back to our normal schedule. Days seem to go on forever for me when we don't have school to do. I also seem to get a lot less done. The kids want me to play with them more so I get even less time to read my book or do what I need to do. So maybe we will get back to the books next week with a light bit of school work to ease us back into it.