Color Me Mine

I love love love what we did today.

I mean like best day ever type of love.

So fun.

We spent the morning at Color Me Mine.

{pottery painting store in Fresno}

Looking back, it was actually kind of silly to think we could take this place on with 6 kids and 2 adults{1 craft nazi mommy, 3 big girls who were very serious about their projects, 2 babies, 1 very active boy and 1 "just-had-hip-replaced-can't-walk-without-walker-yet" Grandma} but it actually went really well and I give us an A+ for making it happen!

Oh and did I mention I was in heaven?

I loved every minute of it.

When I grow up I want to live there and paint all day long.

ok ok enough about me, here's the pictures...

Mailee splatter painting her jar with the sweetest employee ever.

Grandma occupying small busy little people.

With Grandma's help, Caleb's tiger mug turned out great!!

{he wanted to paint the ceramic motorcyle bank, considered the Woody dish, then changed to the ceramic quad figurine but I am into useful items... I *might* have persuaded his decision just a little bit...}

We have made a plate with newborn feet for every child.  Today was Cambri's turn.  She's not exactly a newborn but her feet are still tiny and cute.

She actually really liked the whole process.

The very beautiful Annie assisted us in getting the footprints just right.

*smoosh*

Then Annie offered us $5 off if we let her use Cambri's foot to finish a plate she was working on for the store's display.

I was just fine with that:)

Painted up baby feets!

Thank you Grandma for a special day of fun!!

Can't wait to see how Mailee's splatter paint turns out!

We let Caity paint her plaque on her own for most of the time.

{this is the part where I leave out the multiple tantrums she had over various tragedies and offenses including "I want da pink one", "Me yike da cup better", "Not dat one Mommy", "I want more pink paint, no me yike da blue paint", "I hung-ee", "you not touch me brothee", etc, etc.}

Moving on...

I stepped in at the end and added a few details and we finished it off with her handprint.

She was all over the handprint idea after watching Cambria get her feet painted!

So proud!

Pretty cute:)

Mikayla is usually the first one done when it comes to crafts.  

She finishes the task and moves on.

I noticed that with this she was really enjoying herself and taking her time.

{I love her concentrating feet in this picture}

Here's Maddie with her goblet.  She has a cool plan for this goblet when she gets it home.

We all had a blast, the kids kept bringing it up the rest of the day.  They can't wait to see their finished pieces!! 

When Two Schools Collide

Today is our last day with Tammy's kids {AKA J. Stang Elementary}.

After seeing how fantastic it can be to have this many children in the house, I am definitely  gonna be working on coordinating this to be a weekly occurrence.  Imagine if I had the kids one Monday and Tam had them the next?  One Monday of 8 kiddos in the house doing fun things together, the next Monday a day to yourself?  Oh My!  Not sure why it has taken this long to come up with such a brilliant plan!?!

Here is what our Monday looked like thus far...

{kids are playing outside...a little extended recess because I needed to put my feet up for a bit.  Remember that cleaning project?  Well I *might* have overdone it yesterday...I am feeling it today!}

Rainbow paintings,

made completely with their hands!

Some of that green paint on those there hands ended up on my brown hoodie.

I was not so happy about that.

Did you know that if you wipe it off with a wet cloth right away it comes right out?

I was really happy about that!!

Pots of gold...St. Patrick's Day is coming up after all!

I am gonna cover these with contact paper (mac-tac) and use them for place mats during our St. Patrick's Day/ 100th day party.

Sliding down the stairs!

This is a regular occurrence.  

It is loud.

It is fun.

No injuries have been sustained as of yet:)

They're rippin!

They got a push off the top from the girls.

Mikayla and Jenaya made this cute dog for Maddie's Twinn doll Paisley.

Have you met Paisley?

Here she is with her new pet.

I love that sometimes the kids will get an idea in their head of something fun to do and as long as their work is under control, they can go off on a tangent like this.  

Making a dog out of household items ended up taking a lot of problem solving and because there were two girls working on it there was also a lot of listening, explaining, disagreeing, convincing and agreeing going on.  I don't think these kinds of little experiences can be discounted.  I love that two tweenish aged girls spent 1 1/2 hours doing this project and were so proud when they were finished.  They even asked me to take the photos!!

This is the kind of thing that kids their age should be doing for fun!

Can you see them?  

This is the view from my house...all the kiddos out at the park playing soccer. (with obstacles)

They are still out there, I have written this entire post without any interruptions.

This is what my living room currently looks like.

Our house is the biggest casualty of school at home.

Today I don't care.

Today my feet are up and I am good with that:)

Many hands make light work...I am gonna be using my power of parental delegation on the crew before they get their snack:)

Oh, perhaps it will actually be more of a power of bribery...

...I'd better go figure out a really great snack!!

Artistic Adventures With Maddie & Cait

Yesterday my two younger ladies and I had a fun afternoon together painting a great big canvas for their room.  I "nakified" the baby, set out 10 pre selected colors, gave each girl a pile of paint brushes, sat down and enjoyed the mess!

It's amazing how great kids' art can be.

Kids don't worry about perfection or place unrealistic expectations on themselves.

They just like to have fun!

Have you painted with your kids lately?  

It's so fun!

Grab a gigantic canvas and go to town!

Maddie discovered she could make a circle by pushing her brush down and spinning it.  

She went crazy with her circles!  

I love how it turned out!

Maddie was really generous with her blank canvas, she let me and Cait do whatever we liked. 

 It was a big free-for-all!

Here are some of Cait's cute paintbrush marks:)

More beautiful circles!

Here's the finished product up on the wall!

And here's our little baby just a bit messy after her fun painting project:)

First Art Project at Home

On Tuesday of last week we made memory verse posters.  The kids rushed through all their other work to get to this fun project.  I gave them each the freedom to choose whatever color of cardstock they wanted, opened up the craft box and announced that they had free reign of everything.  I taught them how to salvage the excess glitter and then promised I would not get involved.  

I actually left them alone at the table during craft time!!

This may not seem like a feat of great self control but if you know me or have ever done crafts with The Craft Nazi{eh hem...ME} then you would know how much resolve it took me to allow my children the freedom to enjoy craft time on their own and let them do it their own ways!!

I am quickly learning that my kids can do a lot of things and their way does not always have to be my way.  Eeps.  This year I will hopefully learn to find a happy balance between being in control when the time allows and stepping back to watch them succeed at the right times.

I have not done so much thinking, figuring, reading or measuring since I was in school myself.  I have discovered where the line is that divides the continents of Europe and Asia and I have helped draw a "to scale" map of a bedroom.  

All 4 of my oldest kidlers said John 3:16 by memory and although the older two already knew it, I loved the look of pride on Caleb and Maddie's faces when they had accomplished this task!

Maddie said "Mom, I have John 3:16 in my head AND in my heart!"

How sweet to hear those words from an excited little 6 year old and how rewarding to be home for her exciting discovery!

Caleb asked me if he could say the verse.  

I really hadn't planned on him doing it and I had no idea he knew it.  What a good boy!

Cait was so excited when we sat her in her high chair with her own box of crayons and a blank sheet of paper!  We all watched her as she worked those crayons.

Two handed grip!

Action shot.  Look at her little hand go!!

Ribbon Necklaces

I found these fantastic beads and had to do something fun with them!  I had seen the idea for a ribbon necklace a few years ago in a blog tutorial and I have been waiting for the right inspiration to make my own version.

I put a whole bunch of the finished necklaces on Caiter-gater and she was very interested in her pretties:)

Pretty pretty!

Did you make this for me Mommy?

Pretty girl, pretty necklaces.  What a satisfying weekend!