Bathroom Mural

As usual, I'm as behind on regular blogging as I am on laundry. This time, though, I have a great excuse. We were out of town for several days, visiting Fred's extended family in North Central Arkansas and Missouri. Great mini trip! Sometimes the short trips are the best; Just when you start missing home, you're headed right back there. :)
After unpacking the van, washing the mountain of clothes, and catching up on other miscellaneous chores, the Painting Bug came out of no where and bit me.

And so, I painted. And painted. And painted some more.

First, a mural on Oldest Boy's wall. It was actually started over 6 months ago, but winter sapped my motivation. I'm waiting until I can get to the store and buy a bright orange to finished it up, and then I'll post pics.

(I'm a messy painter!!)
Because I NEEDED to paint, and couldn't finish the first mural, I started on a second one, in the bathroom:

 Meet Cuckoo.

 More paint, more paint, some finger swirling, paint mixing fun...

 I could paint all day, every day...

 ta da! Cuckoo is complete!

Rock Art

 While at the creek yesterday, when I got worn out catching polywogs with the kids, I found some extra art pens in my backpack. Yay! So I drew tiny homes on tiny rocks. (Naturally, what anyone would do, when you find yourself with art pens but not paper.)

We brought home a baggie of river rocks and sharpied them today. :D

 Rocks + Markers= Art



Be All There

 Chalk art with the kids today. I chose to do quotes, while they drew their pictures.

Then we did an insanely long hopscotch, jumped on the trampoline, went to the creek, swam in the kiddie pool, slid down the slip 'n slide, had a picnic..... I hope they're as worn out as I am! :D

Be Glad.

We had one of those rough mornings that happen occasionally.

A certain child, who shall remain unnamed, was bound and determined to crack me.

But I prevailed. And he had a nap. ;)

I've realized it's often the little things that I let affect me the most. When my husband was without a job, I was hopeful.  When the kids were littler, and one went through ear infection after ear infection, surgery, speech therapy....I was hopeful. I believed he would get better. And he did.

But when a child is having a meltdown day...or when I'm stuck in traffic and running late to an important appointment... those are the times when I am more likely to forget my joy.
As a reminder ( at least until it rains) I wrote out a little note for my driveway:

May we all remember that Joy is portable! Happiness is a choice. Circumstances (big OR small) don't need to set the mood.

Maybe Abraham Lincoln said it best, "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Amen, dude. Amen.

A little bug party

I had a little for-no-special-reason bug party for the kiddos and some family friends, about a week or two ago.

Ladybugs

(crackers, cream cheese, tomatoes, and olives)

Look at the polka dotted cutie, below, eating bug snacks! Aww

~caterpillars and logs~

(grapes on toothpicks, pretzel sticks)

 ~slugs on rocks~

(mozzarella sticks with clovers, cracker mix)

Flower cup desserts

(chocolate pudding, gummy worms, crumbled chocolate cookies)

Draw a Robot

Photos from Compton Gardens

 My sister Amy and I met our mom and Papaw at Compton Gardens, outside of Crystal Bridges Art Museum, last week for a hike and picnic.

Like our straw hats? She was unsure about wearing one with a pixie cut, but I think it looks stunning!-- and  love the yellow rimmed hat she chose!

My Littlest Lad may be a tad spoiled...

It's not every day you get to touch a silver tree.

I always feel Alice-in-Wonderland-ish when we're on the trails there.

So much to love, so many unexpected treasures to see.

Painting roses with celery

Art just doesn't require many supplies, to get awesome results and be enjoyable. Do you have paint & celery? (Or cars, bubble wrap, a potato masher? Anything at all with texture??)

Then you have the materials for art!  

Voila!

Home Sweet Home

Artwork from my sweet MiddleBoy.

I love the way kids' artwork reveals how they feel, how they perceive the world, and what makes an impression.