Tattoo Time!

Grandma and Grandpa Duck sent some big Easter eggs filled with tattoos for the kids and the boys got a little tattoo crazy and wanted me to keep putting more on. We did their hands first and then Ethan wanted his upper arm and then we ended up filling up his arm and moving on to his belly with BUG tattoos. Once these are worn off we’ll move on to the butterflies and cats & dogs from the other 2 eggs!

Banning Spongebob increases creativity

I was very pleased that our boys had made it to 3 & almost 5 yrs old without having any clue what Sponge Bob was. However my 13yr old brother went and messed everything up by showing them it on the computer in August (still mad). Since then Ethan has been asking about it and wanting to watch it but we have never given in. He has seen commercials for it after one of the shows he watches and of course the character can be spotted on any type of product. Since we aren’t letting him watch it and don’t buy it he has gotten creative and is making his own Sponge Bob decorations. He started with rectangular construction paper and grocery bags and made them into Sponge Bob and then he made the other characters (he doesn’t know their names) by drawing and cutting them out. He was so cute doing this and felt like he was getting away with something big I’m sure. He decorated the stairs up to his room with the colored grocery bags and then hung the construction paper characters above the railing (he has added several more since I took these pictures). I was very impressed with all the time and effort he put into this project and I’m glad he did it BUT I don’t plan to let him watch the show any time soon and I hope this gets it out of his system for a while!

The Cow and the Farmer

There are many small farms in our area and when we’re driving to and from town we frequently pull over to talk to the cows. We stopped over the weekend and spent awhile spotting some of our favorites, like one with brown spots over each eye and her nose. All the while the daddy cow was watching us closely.

Seems like this encounter inspired Ethan during his nightly homework drawing. This is one of my favorites! The cow is obvious. There is also a chicken on top of the barn and fence around the cow. The farmer is wearing his hat. I love how all the people in Ethan’s drawings have such big smiles.

A Family Portrait

Ethan made a great drawing of the whole family last night. I just love how everyone is so smiley in his pictures.  Heather is holding Jamie on the left.  Ben and his curly hair are in the middle.  The BIG guy in the back with me…no hair (!) but what must be a goatee and mustache over my mouth.  Ethan is on the right and thats Reuben in front.  He ran out of room for Casey.

Ethan and Daddy

Here’s another one of Ethan’s drawings. I asked him what was on his face and he told me it was his beard.

Kid Art: The Hungry Frog

Every night I read the boys a book and tuck them into bed. Ben likes to look at a book while he falls asleep while Ethan wants to do ‘homework’. I give him a pad of paper and pencil and he draws a picture before falling asleep. Sometimes he’s so exhausted that he won’t make a single line, but lately he’s been drawing some great pictures. We put his pictures up around the house, but we’ve also been making an effort to scan them. This allows us to keep all his art in one place, dated and organized.

Here’s a recent sample. I read them Tuesday by David Wiesner, a book with no words, just wonderful pictures showing the story of frogs whose lilly pads suddenly fly and allow them to go all over town. I made up a story to fit the pictures and we had fun describing what the frogs were doing. Ethan really liked it and asked to look at it some more and draw some pictures of the frogs as his homework. Here’s what I found on his pad the next morning.

A frog flying on his lilly pad chasing a fly.

Now the frog has caught the fly with his tongue.

And last the frog eats the fly.