Gladdest Hours

During the Octave of Easter.......

Contemplating the Artist's Life, according to an eight-year-old

Madeleine: 

"Mom, sometimes when you're a real artist and you have a good story to draw, you have to just start drawing.....you can't just sit there and think and think and think!   You have to just start drawing SOMETHING and if you don't like it, well, then LATER you can fix it or change it.  But you can't just SIT THERE forever and ever, STARING at a blank piece of paper!  Because if you DO that, then all of a sudden, your mom will call for you to come help out with dinner or empty the dishwasher, or pick up your sister's mess, or hold the baby....and POOF, your chance of telling your story is finished forever!!!!"

Personal experience perhaps?  

Wordless Wednesdays

I'm considering writing a craft book entitled, A Million Things To Do With Toilet Paper Tubes.  

I guess I failed with "Wordless Wednesdays."  LOL!

Because we are all about COLOR over here

Martha Stewart would be proud.  (Of this ONE TINY PIECE of my house.....definitely NOT of the whole house, in general.  Decorating is NOT one of my talents.)

The conversation that followed the presentation of this coloring project went something like this:

Erika (age 5) :  Mom, can I have MORE of this paper? 

Me:  Uhhhh, you mean more scratch paper?  (leading question....hoping to avoid the inevitable)

Erika: No, more of the paper with the notes on it.   

Me: Sure, I guess so. 

Add "Make copies of Moonlight Sonata" to To-Do-List and try not to laugh too hard or roll my eyes continuously. 

Shape of the Week

Any guesses?  Come on.....just GUESS! 

We're a bit heart-crazy around here these days.  And, these are only the ones that have NOT been distributed yet.  You'd think they'd get tired of this.  They don't.  They just keep working on the SAME thing day in and day out, which is FINE with me.  Pete thinks it's becoming a bit obsessive; I tell him that I keep hoping for a bit of their focus and ability-to-stick-with-ONE-thing to rub off on me.

We've also been reading some books for the Feast of St. Valentine:

Saint Valentine, by Robert Sabuda

Saint Valentine, by Ann Tompert, Kestutis Kasparavicius

And, memorizing the ejaculation, "Jesus, make my heart like unto thine"

On Wednesday, we'll color, cut and paste our pictures of the Sacred Heart , and renew our Family Consecration to the Sacred Heart .

My Valentine

I have a little valentine

That someone sent to me.

It’s pink and white and red and blue,

And pretty as can be.

Forget-me-nots are round the edge,

And tiny roses, too;

And such a lovely piece of lace –

The very palest blue.

And in the center there’s a heart,

As red as red can be!

And on it’s written all in gold,

“To You, with Love from Me.”

      ~Mary Catherine Parsons~

St. Valentine, Pray For Us!

 

Flattering Portraits of my Siblings

Oh my, Uncle Nick, you are SO dashing!

Auntie Senta, what a doll you are! 

And, Uncle Ivan you're incredibly handsome! 

At least she got Ivan's hair right!  (hee!)

And, in case Auntie Becca feels left out....HER portrait is on a page all by itself.  BECAUSE....it required a very large, yellow "M" next to it! (It is in the "artwork abyss" right now, and I just can't locate it.)

Watercolors

We found a videotape at the library the other day that had a picture of "other homeschool kids painting," so NATURALLY we checked it out.  Yesterday we curled up on the couch and watched it.   It was actually pretty good.  Since I am NOT artistically-inclined (and that's putting it mildly) I am always very eager to learn new, creative, art things.  Pete walked in when we were watching it...he thought we were crazy watching a bunch of children using watercolors, but the girls were entranced, so we continued.

This morning, this is what we did.  Blotches of color, mixing, etc.  Let it dry.    

Then, drew in flowers, leaves, etc.  Hmmpph, kind of pretty, if I do say so myself.

Artwork

Each child has a section of our hallway wall that is for their artwork.  Not the most beautiful of decor, but it gives us much joy to stand in the hallway late at night admiring and giggling at the latest drawings.  My kids are definitely "craft-deprived," (a natural consequence of back-to-back-pregnancies) but I console myself by having an unlimited supply of paper, and tons of markers, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, paper punches and ribbon at everyone's disposal whenever they want.  So, we get lots of random drawings.  I display the noteworthy ones in their hallway spot for about 6 months, then take a picture of them and go through them, keeping a few to pop in the page protectors in their notebooks. I have tried to do this at their birthday, then 6 months later.  Erika just had her 4th birthday....this is what is ready to come down! Gotta make room for the new stuff!