Art Museum

Long and windy but a family memory:

Several weeks ago the kids (Jackson and Abygail) were fighting. Abygail was putting construction paper on the fridge and Jackson was taking them all down. To stop the fight I quickly suggested that we play.... (thinking, thinking) ART Museum! I explained to them that we could make pictures on all the construction papers and then hang them all over (in my mind it was to just be in the kitchen with a few pieces of paper). Then we could walk around and make interesting poses as we looked at the pictures and say funny things. They were excited and agreed to play

They colored on EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF CONSTRUCTION PAPER we had and then they were ready to hang them up. While in the process of hanging them up ALL OVER THE HOUSE their friend James came over and he was excited to play too. (scene, I was at home with all the kids and watching James, I knew that Jason would be home soon...hopefully) They had more fun hanging up the pictures than they did making them!

Once all the pictures were hung we walked around the house just as if we were in the art museum (which they have never been to...yet). Our front entrance has a mud room and there were several pictures in that small room so we called it the HALL OF HONOR, or something like that. There was a picture of the Leaning Tower of Pizza (that's what we called it) and the Leaning House of Carrot (James suggestion), and even the House of Brocolli (also James).

After a short while the three of them began fighting again so I quickly suggested that we make a PICTURE OF HONOR and hang it in the FRAME OF HONOR (right on the TV). They agreed and I proceeded to fold a piece of paper in to fours then we each made a picture in one of the squares. They loved it. Then we put it on the TV. They were convenced that playing Art Museum and making pictures of honor was the best game ever, we even pretended to drive to and from the museum. Abygail and James drove and let me tell you, they are two crazy drivers!

Well, We made a few more pictures of honor later that week with Daddy instead of James and we decided that a trip to the real art museum was in order. Luckily every Friday is free and they have special programs on Fridays too. We missed several Fridays because of being sick.

Finally this last Friday we/they went. It was late and it was the girls bed time so we decided that I would stay home with them and Jason and the big kids would go. It was also a hit. Jackson liked the bell they heard before going in from the bell tower across the street and the hip hop dance program that had really loud music. Abygail's favorite was the 'Silly Mommy' picture that was a naked woman (nice huh?!).

Saturday they wanted to paint so Jason took them to the craft store and bought lots of paint and things that they could stick to the pictures; puff balls, pipe cleaners, foam letters, etc. They picked out some colored poster board and painted to their hearts content and then got a bath, which is one of their favorite things about painting.



All in all I would say we had a successful Art Museum experience. This is something that just came on the fly and it's probably one of their most memorable things. I'm so glad this idea came up and that they love art even more now.

I'll upload a picture of their paintings once I get a chance.

Every Piece of Me

Abygail: Mommy, hold me!
Me: Hold you? Hold you?
Abygail: YES!
Me: OK. (then I pick her up by her arm pits and swing her onto my back for a piggy back ride hold)
Abygail: NO! Not like that!
Me: Not like this???
Abygail: No! I want you to hold every piece of me!

Isn't that sweet, funny and endearing?

Random Updates

Madelyn (pink) and Caitlyn (white) a few months ago... before they started moving around.

Caitlyn is crawling - army style. She does enjoy rocking on her hands and knees (as does M) but she prefers to get around by pushing with her feet and pulling with her arms.

Madelyn still loves being a rollie pollie. She gets around so well that when you think about it there is no reason for her to try crawling yet.

Sisters

We went camping this past weekend (er, I started writing this a last week...can you tell) at Seneca Lake and it was gorgeous (a bit hot but still beautiful). Jason and the older kids had lots of fun in the canoe and swimming off the floating island dock while I stayed in the air conditioned van with two sleeping beauties. We enjoyed looking at the stars the first night and singing around the campfire with friends. I made some yummy foil pack dinners with fresh from the garden veggies and a hamburger patty each. The kids preferred roasting hot dogs but we knew that would be the case. That night it was a little warm for blankets so we put a sheet on and took the top off the tent. It was amazing to sleep under the stars and fall asleep watching for shooting stars. We did see our share of shooting stars and Jason and I both saw one satellite a piece. They had their solar panels turned in such a way that it made them look like super bright shooting stars (mine looked like a double, super bright, shooting star). The milky way was gorgeous too but we couldn't help but remember that it was even more fabulous in Yellow Stone.

The girls did fine in their pack and play. I think they would have done even better had we separated them into two different ones. They kept rolling onto each other when they were falling asleep so it took longer for them to fall asleep.

Caitlyn enjoying being outside

We did have an awful scare in the morning... Aby and her friend Sam disappeared and they were not in their usual hiding places (cabin or van) ... or so we thought. Jason and I ran down to the creek with our hearts racing the whole time. Turns out they WERE in the van. Jason checked and he looked in the wrong van when he did... that's what happens when 2 families in the same ward have the same van! We were so glad she and Sam were there and not in the creek. Before we went to the lake we spent a little time down in a small swimming 'pool' in the creek. It was up to Jason's waist and the kids just loved it. Mommy didn't though, too many mosquitos and no place to sit! All in all it was a great weekend and we are glad we went (and it really was worth the long drive too).

Our second week of the Farm Share

Our garden is producing a ton this year. We've frozen a lot of green beans and even squash. We've gotten a lot of zucchini from our neighbor so we've frozen a lot of that too. Now we wish we had gotten a bigger freezer (I should have listened to Jason).

We love our neighbors, and not just because they give us food! They are a wonderful older couple with kids our age. They really are quite amazing people and their children have kids that come over and play with our kids ... everyone enjoys one anothers company.


There are lots of other things I could write about but... I'm done, too tired to write anymore and I know you are all awaiting an update anyway. Here are snippets of thoughts I had:

giving and receiving during the harvest season
air conditioner season
playgroup and swimming
caz park and the splash pad
chunky monkeys and cereal (twins)
garden veggie lovers and eaters