Cooperation

To say my son is obsessed with Legos is an understatement. With the exception of eating and watching/playing hockey the boy would build Legos 24/7. I can't say that I mind because it is such a nice quiet activity..especially when he does it at 6:30 in the morning which allows me to get a few more minutes of sleep. But even better than building Legos...building them with somebody....anybody.

So last week while I was making dinner both Daddy and Quinn sat down and built with Greyson. The rule: each person could only put on two pieces then had to pass it to the next person. So around and around they went until dinner time when they presented me with this...

It's a boat, it's a plane, with the tree on top it is clearly environmental. Quite impressive what three brilliant minds and a little bit of cooperation can come up with.

One Fish, Two Fish

We have completed Week 1 of swim lessons and as you can see from my little fish, it appears to be money well spent. I would have taken a picture of Greyson but he was FAR too busy playing with his BFF Yohannes to be bothered with his Mom.

Trainspiration (A Week of Art by Greyson)

Happy Father's Day...

To an amazing husband and father.

Love you babe!

Things That Go (A week of Art by Quinn)

(A UFO (or as Quinn calls it a rocket ship for aliens), a rocket ship for humans, a plane and a hot air balloon)
(School Bus)
(A Train)
("Stained Glass" Train)


And stay tuned as we get her clay pieces back in mid-July.

My little Clairee

I am a girl of the 80's which means by law, one of my favorite movies is Steel Magnolias. One of my favorite lines from my favorite movie is when Clairee Belcher slyly bemuses "If you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me."

Yes, on occasion, I might have a, shall we say, SLIGHTLY derogatory comment to make about a person or two. And generally my husband is the only one who is lucky enough to hear my personal commentary. I mean, my children who are only 4 and 5 years old, they can't possibly really listen and comprehend what I am talking about, right?

Last night as Raif and I were eating dinner and telling each other about our day, I MIGHT have mentioned my slight frustration with the woman sitting at the table with Quinn and I at art camp. I might have told Raif that I was slightly annoyed at the fact that she was doing all the projects herself and her son really wasn't doing, what was suppose to be her child's art project. I mean, we talked about a lot of things last night, so I can't really remember whether I actually said that or not.

All that being said, I have no idea where the idea came from when my daughter, in her very straight forward and a tad condescending voice, piped up during art class today and said "You know, you should really let your son do his own work." to the woman across the table from us (who by the way was doing all the work). Where do kids pick this stuff up....must be TV (oh wait Quinn doesn't watch TV)....must be school (oh wait, she is out of school). Hmmm, I must look into this further.


(Oh, and Grandma, lest you think that I am the only one guilty of said crimes you may need to help me figure out who put the seed in Quinn's mind about the little girl who screamed in class because yesterday while out on our daily walk Quinn kindly informed the Mother "Your daughter shrieks a lot.")

The Perils of a Multi-Discipline Education

Out of the blue Greyson asked me today.....

"Can we play Chihuly?"

(For those of you who don't know, Dale Chihuly is a master glassblower. His work is amazing and we saw his exhibition here last summer at Cheekwood.)

Hmmm, that is an interesting request but I thought, well he is in art camp this week more than likely they are talking about Chihuly so perhaps that is where he picked it up.

"Absolutely Greyson, go for it."

He ran off and I was expecting him to come back to me with some art material requests. After a few minutes he returned, walking on his feet and hands with his butt up in the air.

"What are you doing?"

"Playing Chihuly."

"Then why are you doing that?"

"This is how Chihuly walked when he was a little boy."

Hmmmm, I am pretty sure that Chihuly did indeed NOT walk on his hands and feet with his butt up in the air when he was a kid but I went with it.

"How do you know that?"

"We read it."

"Really, did you read that in art class?"

"Mmmmm" (Not really paying attention.) "OK Quinn, you do it too."

Now I had two butt walkers.

"Seriously, Greyson, where did you learn that?"

Very exasperated at this point "We read it in the book, Mommy."

"What book?"

"The book about his life."

OK, we have a Chihuly book but we haven't read it to the kids and I know it doesn't discuss such topics. Then it dawned on me.

"Are you actually playing Mowgli from The Jungle Book?"

"Yes, Mowgli."

Master Glassblower - Man cub raised by wolves. It is tough to keep all those people straight in one's head, I suspect, when you are 5.