Rock On Samuel!

Here's my little Samuel... Already 10 weeks old. We had the swing in the kitchen and he hated it... good thing he seems a little happier in this rocking chair! 

Happy 5th Birthday Jacob!

Holy moly the boy is five! He was quite sure about what he wanted for his birthday. The only gift he wanted was Fruit Loops and he wanted a smartie cake (specifically with smarties inside the cake and a five on top made out of smarties).

So we had Fruit Loops for breakfast and then we were all cranky because we had a massive sugar high and the subsequent crash. This is why we don't have sugary cereal! But it was so worth it to see him this happy.

We waited to have cake until after his favourite supper (fajitas). My kids don't eat cake. They lick the icing off and that is it... Which works great for me because I don't like icing so I just eat their cake. Anyways, I decided to make the cake part a Rice Krispie cake with smarties mixed inside. Both boys thought it was delicious... Also way easier to do the whole cake the night before this way. 

We had so much fun celebrating him on his special day! 

There Be Dragons!

Another book inspired project that the big boys have been wanting me to do with them is dragons from "Jillian Jiggs." We've been waiting to get a cardboard box that would work and we finally got one that when I cut it in half worked perfect.

ROAR!!

Let Them Be

So I have been doing a lot of research and learning lately about early childhood education. I'm not really going to get into my insights or opinions here, however, TODAY I learned something pretty profound all on my own.

I found THIS activity and thought it looked like fun. Painting fall trees using egg cartons to stamp leaves. This appealed to me because neither of my big boys like any arts and crafts that require getting their hands messy, so finger painting or hand/foot prints are always out. Plus I love the colours of fall.

So I painted two trees so Daniel could stamp one and Jacob could copy the other. I put the appropriate colours out on a tray for them, cut up an egg carton, and had everything all set to go before I called them to the table. NOTE: they have been asking to do a craft for awhile, it has just been hard for me to get organized. Anyways...

This took Daniel about 4 seconds.

Jacob painted his tree, not listening to me at all, and then spent 2 seconds stamping the leaves.

I was annoyed. 

Then Jacob wanted my other pre-painted tree and gave it some "pokey" branches and a face before adding the leaves. 

Notice the addition of green paint that he asked for.

Meanwhile, Daniel wanted to paint his own tree and I ended up with this masterpiece entitled "Daniel (who has a beard) Hugging A Tree" ... I love it. 

I begin to realize that I should just back off and let them be.

And then when I back off completely I get this beautiful piece of artwork. 

"For Mommy" he says. I want to cry.

And this. When Daniel saw Jacob's dragon fly he asked for another paper and he painted "The Dragonfly Gets a Bandaid at the Hospital" ... And that is his signature at the top.

Stupid fall tree with stamped leaves. My kids' original, no mommy help or direction, paintings are way more awesome and totally worth hanging on the wall.