pool balls and butterflies

we are all really enjoying eric's art around here these days. his figures have such a unique expression to them. i snapped these one day after the big boys had played on a pool table. eric's drawings that afternoon incorporated the pool balls (made with a circle stamp we have) into the pictures. he even wrote some numbers on the sides, with a little guidance from leif. not sure how the butterflies figured into the story...i'll ask him and get back to 'ya. i think that might even be tinkerbell down there on the bottom of that second shot...hmmm....there may be quite a story here.

drawing, drawing, everywhere

so, i guess it's a little like training a puppy. how does it go? put the paper where you want them to pee, right? well, anyway, sam's drawing enthusiasm spread throughout the kitchen the other night, so i was obliged to follow with paper. wouldn't want to dampen his creativity, now would we?

sticker stories

were this to hang in some well lit art gallery, i would love to eavesdrop on the passersby as they tried to interpret it. even better, i would like to watch as eric explained to them, in his oh-so-squishable way, exactly what he intended as he created it. since neither scenario is likely, i'd love to share his narrative for him. this colorful bundle of stickers is a bird's eye view of a basketball (or was it soccer?) game. all those fruity square stickers are players, with center court delightful marked by a bunch of happy balloons. looking closely toward the top, you'll see two cutie little girlies guarding the goal. at the bottom: evidence that dinosaurs tiptoed across the court.

these little fairies are gracefully running (dancing) about, passing the ball with perfect sportsmanship and skill.

one of my favorite parts is the "scoreboard" at the top which, eric explained, is being fixed at the moment...hence the screws.

i just love listening to the stories these munchkins tell while they're making art. the story-telling process is such a huge part of what they're doing with their hands. and if you weren't listening closely, you just might miss it all.

surprise!

checking through my posts this evening, what lovely comment did i discover? some words of kindness all wrapped around the notice that an unknown friend had placed make.believe. in her top 15 blogs. how fun is that? i've often thought, as i hop around through blog land, how cool it is that we can connect with each other in so many amazing ways. i've learned oodles about too many topics to list, and the things i see and read have become a driving force in my daily life and in shaping the chattering inside my brain. i'm just tickled to have connected in this way with another kindred spirit, to have put something of my own out into this web world from which i have taken so much. and now, it's my turn! here's my list of 15 blogs i love (in no particular order)...topics include family, art, life, parenting, etc. they each speak to me in some way to the person i am & wish i was...

1.http://embers.typepad.com/
2.http://www.soulemama.typepad.com/
3.http://naturalparentingcenter.typepad.com/
4.http://artfulparent.typepad.com/artfulparent/
5.http://paintcutpaste.com/
6.http://locallocale.wordpress.com/
7.http://talkfeeleez.wordpress.com/
8.http://www.karenmaezenmiller.com/blog
9.http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/
10.http://bohophotography.blogspot.com/
11.http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/
12.http://dinastamps.typepad.com/
13.http://laughpaintcreate.blogspot.com/
14.http://www.kerismith.com/blog
15.http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/

and 7 interesting things about me:
1. i have two cats, fife and melique, both named after the same lead singer of a band i never really listened to.
2. i sometimes get obsessed with finishing things, which is funny considering i hardly ever finish anything.
3. i decided to quit teaching to stay home with my children while listening to a dr. laura (of all people) radio show on the way home from a camping trip one summer.
4. i began researching homeschooling options/philosophies because my 5 year old insists (as he has since he could speak) that he will never go to school...i'm trying to be a "take it one day at a time" kind of person about this subject...
5. i love paper.
6. i have well over 20,000 digital pictures on my computer -- overwhelming and wonderful.
7. maybe someday i'll be a doula.


thank you, gianne...you made my night!

a teeny garden

when you buy a rambling old house that needs tons of work on a sizable lot, there's plenty to do. when you add three young children to that mix, there's plenty that's going to take a long time to do. most of the time, i'm ok with that. a practice in patience, right? well, we've got all kinds of plans for this place, but i just really wanted to get some stinkin seeds into the ground just for fun. manicured landscaping, preplanned gardens, researched species, deer-resistant plants, winter hardiness and all your bedfellows, be darned...we're going to throw some stuff into the dirt, add some water and see what happens. the boys enjoyed plunking their seeds in, covering them up, and beginning the wait. stay tuned...we'll see what pops up.

doodlebugs 7.9.10, leaf & hand print trees

scrolling through the usual blogroll the other day, i came across this via the crafty crow. although the initial description of "kids' crafts" gave me the shivers, i'm sure she didn't mean it that way. ;-) looking past that, i thought the trees were pretty cool. for art group, we did our own version using tempera paint and real leaves. in their usual innovative style, the kids all came up with quite a variety of ways to approach the materials.

opting out of the handprint trunk, eric chose to use a small sponge to make the trunk and glued on the actual leaves, rather than using them in paint to make a print.

leif also created a sponged trunk and did use the leaves (heavily laden with paint) as stamps.

sam was pretty interested in the rest of the kids, but did let me get his sweet little handprint on paper.

and there you have it, young artists' handprints enveloped in leaves. gotta love that.
we read the giving tree by shel silverstein as our opener. i'm a softie, and i always have to choke back the tears on that one.

please and thank you...

we certainly spend a lot of time on various art projects around here, and sometimes, i even get to do some, too. :-) granted, it's not enough of the just-for-the-sake-of-the-art type...it's most often some purposeful, useful thing, but i'll take what i can get! in this case, it was the invitations and thank yous for sam's birthday party. the photo above shows the front of one of the invites. i used scraps of fabric for the birds' bodies, so they were all different. the back included the info for the party.

leif wanted to join in the fun, too, so he drew his own birdie pattern on some paper, and then we cut his creation out of some fabric of his choosing.

there were more birdies to make to say thank you. this time, a little ink, water color, and an old stamp did the trick. i think i like birds as much as sam, so these were super fun to do.

4th festivities

our celebration for the 4th of july was a day-long affair involving homemade flags, random guys in chicken suits, monstrous amounts of candy, well orchestrated naps, sparklers, and a truly wonder-full night of fireworks viewed from atop the van (well, the big boys were up there, anyway). it was busy and hot and fun and crazy (like lots of our days). it was a really good day.

and walking down to the parade that afternoon alongside the wagon, i had to marvel at those three heads, all in a row. three sun hats atop those fuzzy-headed boys of ours. it usually strikes me most when they're all lined up like that...we have three sons...how did that happen? not that part -- the part about how we arrived at this point in time when we can plop our three munchkins in a wagon and pull them all downtown. wow. the days all blend together sometimes, and then these moments hit you...as though you're seeing a snapshot of your life through someone else's eyes. maybe that's one reason i collect these photographs like breadcrumbs in the forest...someday, they'll lead me back to this beautiful life...the one i have today.

embarking

here i go. i'll let you know how it goes.