Catching Up Phase 1: Recent Art Projects

Well, at least they were at one point.  Now that there is only an hour left of November, I think it's time for me to play a little catch up.  What a crazy month!  Each day dawns with new hope of me getting on top of naptimes and bedtimes, keeping up with either the dishes or laundry (I've conceded that it isn't possible to do both simultaneously at this time), attempting to give Timmy a bit of tummy time each day and play with Landon, Callie and Trevy and teach them how to clean up after themselves.  Slow going, but I think that's what parenting is all about.  Either you just give in to having overwhelmingly too much to do each day or you just jump in, prioritize and get as much done as you can each day. 

So what have we been getting done and not blogging?  I'll try to catch everyone up.  Not to mention that there were some very cute and some very special moments that occurred in November.

October was the start of a new phase in the lives of our children.  Not sure if it comes from living next door to an art teacher or what, but it seems like everything is an art project.  I give you...

Toothpaste on latex-covered drywall

(Courtesy of Callie.  She surprised me one morning by coming into Timmy's room with the tube of Colgate I had just opened the night before looking like Gumbi after a tornado.  Most was on the toilet seat, but she managed to spread it around.)

 Yeast water on glass

(Brought to you by Landon.  Another pizza dinner gone awry.)

 And another.  This would be Flour on laminate.  This one took place on Sunday, October 24th, the night before our big pumpkin carving party.  Awesome timing...

 At least there was only one cup left in the big container and they didn't add water.

 Whoops!  Sorry, this one's a little risque, but cute nonetheless.

 Honestly, they had a blast so, though I wasn't looking forward to clean-up, it was still fun to watch them.

 Landon thought of the flour angel idea by himself.

 They did try to help clean up afterward, but it was less help and more mess.

This was our Halloween card to family.  I thought the kids would enjoy making ghosty footprints, but Trevy was the only real participator.  (At least for this part...)

Timmy absolutely hated it.  But most of the cards still turned out cute.

Tempera paint on construction paper

And both twins were eager participators on this one.  I blame myself.  They had gotten the box that held the tempera paints a little wet.  (Unfortunately, I couldn't find just white so I had had to purchase the box of 10 2-ounce bottles of paints.)  I had placed the box of paints on the washer to dry, thinking I would get it put away ASAP, but the kids discovered it before I remembered.

Thus, Tempera on metal, cotton, rubber, molded plastic...

You have to love how kids wipe their hands on their clothes when caught in the act.

 I honestly didn't know where to start.  This picture is a little dark, but this stuff was THICK.  Only one bottle had much left in it.  The brown one, of course.

 The kids were kind enough to try to help clean themselves up with one of my better dishtowels.

 They also got the pillar.

 For some reason, my first thought was to send them to the bathroom to clean up.  Uh...no, I really don't know what I was thinking.

Believe me, it didn't take long for me to regroup, get everyone back outside and turn the hose on.  Fortunately, they only got the one towel and everything else cleaned up quite nicely.

 Oh!  The cat even got in on the action!  Note the green paw print on the edge of the brick third from the left.  She did that while I was cleaning up and I seriously could have drop kicked her over the back fence!

I was just curious to see how a picture aimed directly at the sun would turn out.  This one was taken on the back porch, reflected off the sliding glass door.  (Which looks surprisingly clean, considering I have yet to find the time to remove the yeast water...)

Why all the sudden unsupervised art projects?  Please allow me to defend myself.  I am not neglecting my children, they are just crazy fast!  This is probably the greatest challenge to having an infant with a trach.  I take him back to his room for maybe three minutes for a suction and the older siblings seize the moment to wreak havoc or otherwise delve into their creative genius.  As long as they don't hurt themselves or each other, I'll take it.  And teach them the true power of Windex.  =)