L'Artiste

This is my little artiste.  She has gotten very into art classes at the Des Moines Art Center, one of my favorite places in this city.  And she often has a crayon, marker or paint brush in her hand at the kitchen table in her free time.  This is her rendition of a Christmas tree.

Two Hearts

My funny little valentines.

Crafty Workshop

We spent a snowy Saturday recently working on valentines.  After putting them all together, AJ decided not to hand his out in the end.  He did not want to give them to the girls, and there is a rule at school that if you give any valentines, you must give them to everyone.  I tried to encourage him that it is more fun if everyone gives and that all the kids would bring them, but he was adamant.  He would not be giving any valentines to any girls, thank you very much.  If you would like a paper airplane valentine, we have about 24 extras.

Snowy Day Fun

Snow + cookie cutters = indoor fun on a snowy day.

Chocolate Sodas

Grandma Julie, a fan of chocolate sodas growing up, has introduced Julia to the chocolate soda at Bauder's Pharmacy in town.  I think she approves.

Velma Dinkley

Like her brothers before her, Julia is fully into Scooby Doo.  It is one of the few shows that all three kids love to watch together.  Julia's favorite character is Velma Dinkley.  The other night she grabbed my glasses and then we had the following soundtrack all night: "Hey, I look like Velma Dinkley!...Jinkies, I think we have a mystery on our hands.  Let's look for clues, gang!" I think I like the glasses even better on her than I do on me.  And in my next meeting at work, I will be wearing my glasses and giggling to myself thinking about Velma Dinkley.

Rainbow Bright

Something about this picture just makes me happy.  And I need a pair of those shoes.

No Fair!

The boys did the science fair again this year, and like the first year that AJ did it, the fair itself was cancelled due to a snowstorm.  So much work and pfffffft, very anti-climatic.  The boys were quite proud of their project, though, and they did get to show it to their classes during the school day.

The trickiest part this year was coming up with the idea.  Yes, you read that correctly, the idea.  As in one.  I heard this year that kids are allowed to do a joint project with a sibling or a friend and wondered why the heck we did two last year.  The boys happily agreed to do one together and share the work.  But this meant they had to agree on the idea.  Just one.  AJ wanted to do something with chemicals, specifically baking soda and vinegar.  David wanted to do something with animals.  After many Google searches of "elementary school science fair projects" we rejected about 27 ideas that came up that way.  They couldn't agree.  Then I realized that we needed to come up with an idea that involved something both boys already were fascinated with, obsessed with even.  And it was clear.  Nerf guns.  We needed a science fair project that involved (no, required!) them to shoot Nerf guns.  Once that was decided, it all went pretty quickly from there.  The scientific inquiry?  At what angle will a Nerf dart go the farthest?  Of course.