Art, Acorns, and Books

We've been busy around here making art and books and collecting lots and lots of acorns!

Will's class had their first Hands-on Art session on Monday morning and I got to assist with the lesson. They learned all about Jackson Pollock and then did some splatter paintings of their own.

Ready to get messy!

The kids first created a background color by rolling a battery dipped in paint on their canvas. Then they used egg beaters, turkey basters, spray bottles and squirt bottles to add more color and texture to their paintings.

Needless to say, this was an extremely fun art lesson. The kids absolutely loved it and their paintings were all so different. Here's Will's finished product.

Meanwhile, this little guy has turned into a squirrel. The oak trees are dropping acorns by the hundreds and Henry is busy filling his pockets with as many as they can hold.

We've been putting our many acorns in this vase to make a pretty centerpiece, but we still find acorns in the washing machine and in Henry's bed!

When Henry's not busy collecting acorns, he's busy writing books. (Notice how his pencil grip is now correct 100% of the time thanks to his preschool teachers!)

His first piece was in the style of Press Here by Herve Tullet, which is a great book if you haven't read it. The basic premise is that the reader follows the instructions to press the colored dots and gets to watch the dots grow, move and multiply. Henry's book is similar but ends with a surprise monster!

 His next book was about a ghost, which is not surprising since his favorite word to write is Boo!

Such a happy little writer!

I definitely see more art, acorns, and books in our future!

My Busy Boys

These are a handful of snapshots of my busy boys this week.

Will loves library days at school.  He gets to check out books and actually bring them home this year. (Last year they just stayed in the classroom.)  Will is a big fan of Captain Underpants, and he and a soccer buddy started pouring over the book after school on Tuesday.

Henry is excited to have an orange UT chair for soccer games and practice.  He and his buddy took a break from running race and made a chair train while their big brothers played on the soccer field.

Henry and I are loving our special Friday afternoon adventures.  He picked the zoo for our outing yesterday.  It was blazing hot but we had a blast!

And finally I'll leave you with some love notes from my big boy.

I love my sweet boys!

June Fun

Our first month of summer vacation has been packed with playdates, half-day camps, swim lessons, sports class, museum visits, water fun, baking, family time, and more.

June was all about:

watering our garden and watching our plants grow,

going to the neighborhood pool,

writing, writing, writing, 

eating the first cherries of summer,

practicing our correct pencil grip by "writing on the wall,"

emailing Gramma,

getting our first CSA box of the summer, packed with our favorite fruits and veggies,

reading non-stop (this kid devours books!),

coloring Shrinky Dinks

and watching them shrink in the oven,

eating our weight in watermelon,

and doing lots and lots of sticker mosaics.

Let the summer fun continue!

Baking, Writing, and Playing

Able Baker Charlie (aka Daddy) has been busy baking up a storm lately.  Two loaves of homemade sandwich bread lasted us exactly 3 1/2 days.

Gene's focaccia is amazing.  It was the perfect complement to our summer pesto pastas.

Writer Will has been busy writing daily this summer.  His best piece so far was the fairy tale he made up on his own!  So cute and clever.

And when we're not busy working, we play!  This week, after swim lessons, the boys and I discovered that the covered park at the rec center is actually pleasant to play in, even on a hot and humid morning.

Henry was brave enough to go down this crazy sideless slide!

And when the heat is too intense, there's always movie night, complete with popcorn...

or perhaps a fresh-from-the-oven piece of homemade bread!

Love Letters

I knew Will would progress quickly from writing words to writing full sentences. Yesterday, he was just bursting with sentences!

He wrote:
We hav a bisee day.
and
Go too werk. (This was aimed at Gene, who was heading out the door!)

But this was my favorite:
I like how he substituted the heart for the word love. So much easier! Aw...sweet boys! We love Henry too. And we love our big, love-letter-and-sentence-writing-almost-Kindergartner!