The Painted Cat Challenge

My boys and I were reading a children's book called Chester today and the main character is a cat. We all just loved the pictures so we decided to try and paint our own cats. My 8 year old son painted the picture on the left and I painted the picture on the right. We just used the cheap little watercolor strips and I just love the way they turned out. I think I will try and spend the summer challenging them to create different pictures. I can't wait to see what they come up with

Funny Comic Strip Created by my 8 year old Son

I am so proud of my son and his creative talent. Just about a month ago he started created his own cartoon called Joe and Skratch. He has been coming up with all the ideas himself and then drawing all the comic strips. Sometimes he does a few at night and sometimes he does just one. Some of them are very funny to me and some of them are very funny to his 6 year old brother. I told him maybe I just don't get some of the kid jokes (i usually get an eye roll for this). I also don't usually laugh hysterically when someone says poop and both of my boys do. They have a great sense of humor.

We have since taken the time to edit and turn some of the comic strips into videos on Youtube so we can share them with everyone. He has gotten great feedback and is so happy when people comment on his videos. He narrates them all and it is really funny. This last one had great sound effects. I also thought it was really funny. I just really wanted to take the time to brag about him. As a parent its really cool to see your child push themselves to become better and more creative. So if you have the time please watch the video and leave a comment if you like it. Thanks so much

Matching Sweater Maddness

I confess, this year I bought my 6 and 8 year old matching sweaters. I have never done this before but I just couldn't resist when I found one of each of their sizes. I think children dressed up a like is adorable but my boys have never fallen into that category because they have very distinct different taste in clothes. In fact they both have had a strong opinion about what they want to wear since they were able to communicate. My youngest has always liked to dress like a skater or a grunge rocker. He does not own a sweater (until this Christmas). My oldest has a thing for collared shirts and he loves sweaters. He is very skinny and tall so he is always cold so the sweaters are just right. He always looks like he is ready to go get the family pictures done. He loved the new sweater I picked.
So when it came time to go visit the grandparnets I asked both boys to put on their sweaters. Mason didn't mind but when Cody had to put his on there was a bit of eye rolling and moaning going on. It was pretty funny. I made him a deal and said he only had to wear it long enough for me to take some pictures and then he could take it off. This picture is one of the cute ones I got. Cody asked his big brother to hop on for a piggy back ride. I think this will be the one and only set of pictures with matching sweaters but I LOVE IT. And.... Cody never did take his sweater off and wore it all day when we were visiting family untll bedtime. Perhaps there is a least one more matching sweater picture in my future

Kids Christmas Creations Are Done

The boys finally got their Christmas presents made and they turned out wonderful.

First they picked out mugs for everyone and then they made "Special Hot Chocolate".

I created the labels on the computer with the names they created for them. Then we dipped coffee stir sticks in baking chocolate for stirring the drink. We packaged everything together and put them in small paper bags. Next the boys created reindeer labels with their thumbprints. They turned out too cute. Then we tied everything with a bow. They are so excited to give away their presents tomorrow and I think everyone will be super happy with them. We did these steps over the last two weeks because I only get about a 1/2 hour of focused work from each child. The great thing about the hot chocolate mix is that is also taste super good added to your coffee. Which is how my husband and I have been sampling it since it was created.

We hope everyone has a great holiday and a very Merry Christmas.

Creative Kids Christmas Presents

Every year since my first son was 1 we have come up with a Christmas presents the kids can make. I feel it is so important for them to have the joy of giving at Christmas. Especially something they have made with their own two hands. Every year I have the pleasure of watching them present their family and friends with their creations. You can see the pride on their faces when they say they have made it all by themselves. I remember having that same pride as a child. My mom and I would always come up with something I could make that was affordable and not too time consuming but really cool in my eyes.

For the last couple of years my boys have made tie dyed socks for everyone. We would pick the really heavy duty socks that you want to wear around the house and I would get those great kits from the craft store that have all the dyes in bottles you can squirt out. It was a challenge to make the two socks match each other and we had fun trying out different methods. Last year my son Mason actually drew pictures on each sock with something he thought the person liked. It turned out great. The socks held up great and we didn’t have any incidents with the laundry turning colors.

This year we are trying something different. The boys are creating specialty hot chocolate that we are going to package and stick in mugs. We have spent the last month and a half collecting cool coffee cups from thrift stores. We plan on doing different flavored hot chocolate. So far our favorite is the Cinnamon Hot Chocolate. We designed labels with instructions and their names on it so we can mark each flavor. We are also going to dip wooden stir sticks in chocolate so the Hot Chocolate can be served with it. The mugs have been fun to choose for the different people. I am amazed at how accurate the kids are in picking mugs. Each boy is picking someone in a couple. Mason is doing his Uncle and Cody is doing his Aunt. I look forward to putting the whole thing together. We have been doing it in phases the kids don’t get burned out. I have found that they do best when we only work on one thing for about a half hour. Then it stays fun. I will make sure to post some pictures when we get it all put together.

Crafting through the Generations

I recently was talking to my Uncle and we were discussing parenting. I wrote to him that “Parenting is a constant exploration in emotions for me. My kids crack me up daily, frustrate me endlessly and make my heart grow bigger everyday”.

Well yesterday my 6 year old son gets up and asks if he can have a glass container. Of course, it being glass I ask why and he says “I want to make something”. I am very curious at this point and want to know what he is making. He says that he would like to make it by himself and can he have some glue and go down to our craft cabin. He is a very responsible little boy and very serious when he is creating so I let him. We end up needing to go into town so we hit the craft store and the dollar store. He very sweetly asks for more supplies and we get him a very inexpensive glass container, plastic jewels and a bag of shells. When we get home he goes straight back to the craft cabin and asks to be left alone again. I can’t wait to see what has happened and what he has made. About ½ an hour later he announces that we can all go in and see what he has done. He can’t bring them to us because the glue isn’t dry yet. We go in and see and he has created to glass scenes with shells and colored sand on the inside and jewels glued to the outside. One of them has a fish he cut out from a toy wrapper that he glued to the outside of one of the glasses. He has also created a sunset picture out of colored sand. My heart just got bigger. I just love it when he lets his creativity flow and that every little thing he picks up he thinks of something to do with it.
My youngest son just turned 5 over the weekend and he lets his creativity flow threw when you hand him a piece of clay. He loves to create new people, aliens, transformers and anything he can battle with his existing toys. Play Dough used to be a favorite when they were younger but it dries out to fast and ended in the carpet. Now he has his own clay board and we share the Fimo clay with him. Sometimes he likes to cook his creations but mostly he just makes one, plays with it a while and then starts over with another one. He makes his people with all their parts and very proportionately. He is very energetic and incredible adventurous but with a piece of clay he can sit and play for hours. It is like it transforms him. I feel that he is just in his element and I think as the years go by my boys will continue to amaze me in all aspects of life.