clay!

For this fall, the boys wanted to try some new classes/activities. Of course the challenge is that asthma boy is not supposed to be in crowds of kids during cold/flu season, and we have to be *really* careful (not to mention that my other sensory boy can't do loud/crowded anyway).


One of the activities the boys have wanted to do is clay/pottery. We found an awesome local studio that has open studio hours during the week days and we can go whenever we want to and not worry so much about crowds of kids and loud and too much and viruses. PERFECT.


We went to our first open clay studio last week and the got familiar with the setup and how things work. Both boys really enjoyed themselves, and we will definitely be going all winter. We even hope to have a private lesson so they can learn the wheel! Fun!


And the bonus is this mama can participate too - love it.

moments.

I love parks with the boys. They are getting bigger, so we often do other things. But sometimes they remember a park with a certain something (zip line!) or want to get out in the SHADE during the hot summer days, and so we go.


I think when they are playing together this way is the only time I can really take relaxed photos of them anymore. They are of the age of making faces and holding silly poses (trying to get booties in every photo).


But when they are just happily playing together they don't care or notice if I have a camera.


And when they do notice me it is in a moment, a spin, a giggle. Just what I like.



So while I do enjoy taking pictures of nature,


I really like this better:


Happy boys playing on a beautiful summer day in a park in the woods.

a little of this...

It is HOT! We have been working in the garden and getting outside during the cooler hours, and tucking in the house when it is the hottest. Of course we have had to make some trips out for cold treats. And the week just keeps getting hotter, so many more treats to come! Who doesn't love gelato or popsicle runs?


The boys have been busy busy. I think they like the inside outside of our days. There has been a lot of good stuff going on.

Books (wombats! frogs! Australia!), games, playing, drawing, writing stories. Library runs.


Building things (hovercraft!) and playing with color and surface tension and all kinds of experiments (goo!).



Experimenting with sound, tracks, digital audio, effects and recording.


Building things, putting on shows, and pretending to be every character they can think of.


Seeing a movie in a nice dark cool theatre. Visiting our neighborhood farmer's market (the season has begun - yay!!!!).


And of course getting outside whenever it cools down in the evening to run and roam and play hide and seek with the neighbors and water the garden and ride scooters and bikes and FLIP!




And of course harvest yummy things from the garden.


And find yet more ways to use rhubarb.


I think we have some more of *this* to come.

What have you been up to?

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brothers.

May 2011

Do you ever dig through your photos and find photos from every year at the same time? I find myself every few months thinking...hmmm, I wonder what we were doing last year at this time. And then I keep digging and going along.

May 2010


May 2009


May 2008


May 2007

Today I looked through photos of my boys - best buddies, brothers. And yes, every year at this time I have photos of them together (of course). I imagine this going on and on and on, through the years, looking back, sharing, how big they will be, how much they will grow.

Can you imagine?

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distracted.

I intended to take a picture of that frog. I really did. But I got distracted. Beauty does that to me.


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home weekending.

I think (?) we are in the final stretch of cold, snowy, wet weekends. It is so nice to snuggle up at home together, knowing soon we will be in the intense minute by minute of summer. I even enjoy the snowflakes. The long slow goodbye.



The boys seem to realize this inside-ness is not going to last forever, and busily fill the time with games, projects, crafts, drawing, and everything they can think of. They help in the kitchen, the knead and roll dough, they chop and stir.


They scour books for science projects we can work on together, or pull out costumes and props for shows or story lines. Piles of books on side tables. Displays of the latest LEGO creations. Fleeces and hats and boots still by the front door for bike rides in the alley.


And a few mutant scar-faced bunnies.


Just a little more home weekending. Which is a good thing.


But I'm almost ready.

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eggheads, revisited.

There are some 'traditions' the boys leave behind, growing out of without a single glance. And then they sometimes surprise me - why haven't we done X yet? The eggheads is one of those things. They made them each spring for years - with wheatgrass - and this year they asked why we were not making eggheads? I had no idea we needed to do that again. So we did!

This year we put a twist on it. They wanted to try something other than wheatgrass, and they liked the name of the "wrinkled crinkled cress".


We pulled the biggest eggshells out of our collection (we save them to crush for the garden). The boys painted them - we used red and blue metallic acrylic paints. They painted faces on them, and then drew over that with a metallic marker.


They spooned a little potting soil in there, added a sprinkling of seeds, and watered.


The first few days we kept the egg tray holding them inside a large baggie - just misting water inside to keep them moist. Once they started to sprout, we took them out and the boys put the tray in a sunny window.


They have been growing steadily. With so little soil and a sunny window they need watering and/or misting really regularly or they wilt (and we add a little kelp fertilizer in with the water every few days), but they grow and grow and look very cute. We'll see how big the cress gets, and if that is enough soil for it to do OK for a while. It will be fun if the 'hair' gets huge and wavy!


I can see why they didn't want to let this one go yet!

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garden markers.

I must admit that at 6 & 8 the boys are not always interested in mom crafts. They LOVE watercolor painting, drawing comics, woodworking, tools, paper airplanes, building things...but 'lets make some garden markers!' Um, not really. So I usually get supplies for things that I know we need, but keep it simple and just ... start. Somebody comes over to help. Somebody picks up the supplies and starts doing it too. Every time.


I needed some garden markers. Not as much for the traditional plants that are very easy to recognize, but for the medicinal herbs that seem to always look like the odd 'weeds' growing thanks to the resident chipmunk burying all the bird seed throughout the beds. So markers keep me from pulling it all until it is big enough to recognize.


My first thoughts are *always* elaborate, but really, it is a garden marker. I found some shaped wooden sticks which had enough room to write on. Perfect. I always have indoor/outdoor acrylic paints. I always want to reach for the neutral colors but remind myself I won't find them once the plants start growing if they are not BRIGHT!!! So we painted bright cheery colors as a base layer.


Once dry, I wrote in perm. metallic marker right on the stick. And then painted over with a coat of water based varnish (test it first on your metallic marker to be sure they are OK together and don't smear). Really easy. Really quick. They look good. The boys helped happily (and giggled HYS-SOP, HYS-SOP, HYS-SOP over and over and over and over!). And they were quick and inexpensive enough that I won't care if I lose a few in the garden this summer!

And of course since the paints were out...the boys were on a roll with their own creations! That involved hiccups and other bodily sounds. ;)


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