Children Festival

Jonas to Eva: "That guy is cool, right?" (looking at the police man)

There was a safety bike course which simulated roads with stop signs, traffic lights and pedestrians. The police men would quiz the kids at each stop.Then there was a fire truck you could climb in.

Those were the highlights for Jonas.

I'm a wide leg pants girl

trying to live in a skinny pants world.

I've been trying to make the Alexander Wang-esque shirts and leggings pairing work for a home uniform for the past six months but the bottom half isn't working for me.

Enter these.

I want to live my summer in these.

At least just around the house.

Brotherly Love

I'm starting to get a glimpse of the future as Jonas, Rhett and Harland begin to play together on their own. What a blessing to have three boys within two years of each other to play together!

A few times a day I hear Jonas say:

"Want to play with me Harland?" or "Rhett Rhett Rooey!"

The other day Harland was fussing next to me on the couch so without a word Jonas brought a toy over, sat next to Harland, wrapped his arm around his shoulders and showed him how to play with it. Every so often he'd nuzzle his head against Harland's as they snuggled and played quietly. It was so beautiful.

Harland was giggling so hard while he and Rhett played peek-a-boo in the curtains.

Isaiah 61:3

This has been such an uplifting verse for me over the past week that I've memorized it.

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give unto them
beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; 
that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD,
that he might be glorified.

I've fallen in love lately with the strange and beautiful language of Isaiah, it is poetry for the soul.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying and fasting and thinking of Harland. The surgery went well and he is healing. The first 48 hours in the hospital were rough but he has turned a corner and is getting back to his busy, happy self quickly, especially now that he is home. This experience has reminded me that there is truly so much to be grateful for!

First Birthdays!

Since we thought Harland wearing arm splints and on a restricted diet was going to put a damper on digging into his first birthday cake we threw an impromptu, low key party less than a week before his cleft palate surgery. 

Four big balloons, a dozen cupcakes and a stack of waffles later we were ready for a first birthday party!

Rhett was so tired he had a big cry right before family came over.

Best expression ever.

I feel like I just got a lecture.

Rhett and Harland's favorite thing to do right now is to push each other around on the puppy bike.

In Beddy's words "it just doesn't get any cuter than that!"

Rhett was delighted by his first ever card. He kept turning it over and over in his hands as he studied the pictures. Then he carried it around, puppy style, with him.

These babies TUCKED into their birthday cupcakes.

I could not believe it.

Those things were slathered in frosting.

My boys for sure!

Galleria

I had two rules for myself for our "Artist" unit:

a) no picture-taking while "art" was being created, just enjoying me and Jonas creative time

b) no reproductions, I studied the techniques of artists, showed Jonas some paintings which we talked about in terms of colours, subject and brush-stroke, then Jonas did what he wanted

Matisse

(painting collage)

"Truck-car"

"Eva, Rhett, and Harland"

I hadn't even thought of Jonas making an arabesque painting after we looked at some of Matisse's paintings, it was all his thinking

Van Gogh

(bold strokes, lots of paint)

"Space"

Monet

(painting a waterfall he saw in Waterton on the weekend)

"Waterfall"

Jackson Pollock

"Scratch"

I never asked Jonas what he was painting until a painting was done and when he announced his names I wanted to laugh. He unveiled each of them with such dramatic flair.

Jonas' artwork feels so pure and fresh to me. It is completely uninhibited and free. He makes it purely for himself and the joy of it.

I only helped him through the art process by holding the paper while he cut for his collage and with the Pollock to show him the flicking action which he never caught onto so we just started pouring paint everywhere which Pollock also liked to do!

We were going to go to an art gallery but it was too busy! So we made an art gallery out of Jonas' artwork instead. Jonas was beaming when he showed Eva around his gallery and was even pretending to read the art cards to Eva about his paintings.

Jonas' favorite art books were "Sky Color", "Mouse Paint" and "I'm the Greatest Artist in the Ocean".

Artists

Typical of his approach to lots of new things, Rhett tackled painting head-first with an abundance of energy and a carefree attitude of just doing it for fun. 

When I rolled out a sheet of paper on the floor he threw himself down in the paint and started body surfing over it.

Harland showed more trepidation. He prodded the paint a little, trying to figure out what the purpose of the activity was. He is a thoughtful, methodical boy like his Dad.

Resurrection Lessons and an Easter Bunny

Jonas keeps telling Matt, Rhett, Harland and I that he wants to teach us a Jesus lesson. 

He corners one of us, grabs one of my manuals and says "Okay. Okay, I'm going to teach you a Jesus lesson". Then he'll talk about Jesus in a singsongy voice.

I taught him a simple resurrection lesson using a printout of an activity in the nursery manual which he taught the rest of us separately. 

He was so proud of himself and hearing him say"resurrection" made me feel like I was going to burst with pride myself.

Easter play dough with Eva.

Matt put together this sandbox that I'm counting on becoming the new "train table" around here. That is, I'm hoping it will encourage Jonas to independently play for a half an hour to an hour at a time.

Easter egg hunt at the farm. Jonas actually saw a bunny hopping through the field away from the trailer just before the easter egg hunt so that played out quite convincingly.

At Waterton throwing rocks in the lake and soaking up the sun on the beach.

Jonas' favorite pieces of art

Jonas and I are starting "preschool" with just the two of us and we're starting with an "artist" unit. We've been poring over art books and these are Jonas' favorites:

Damien Hirst's Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living

That is a real tiger shark suspended in a tank filled with formaldehyde in case anyone was wondering!

Louise Bourgeois's Spider

That boy is all boy!

These are pretty much the stuff of nightmares to me!

The Incredible Tricycle Riding Boy

did 3K on his tricycle today.

When I asked him whether he was tired when we getting close to home he replied by pumping his pistons as fast as he could.