Still photos of life

I don't often include photos here. I never seem to have the photos loaded, titled and organized when I'm ready to write about what's fresh in my mind, or I don't have the time to upload them to the blog while I'm grabbing a few moments to write.

But today, with the boys napping and myself feeling quite refreshed, I will give you a few still shots of life lately.


Here is a photo of my brand new magnet wall in the kitchen:



It's a lovely shade of sage green which compliments the yellow walls beautifully. (Cameras never capture the right colour, do they.) 6 quick coats of magnetic paint and one top coat of the green and I have a fantastic place to hang the kids art work and our homeschool work. You can see we are working on the letter "C" this week. In the top corner you can also see our "B" craft still hanging, because it's just too cute to take down so quickly. This paint is brilliant, and easily solved the problem of where and how to hang your kids' work. This keeps the fridge clear and keeps tape/tacks off the wall. Eventually I want to put a trim around the green paint, so that it looks more like a large picture frame, but since we currently use the wall to write on (I hang chart paper up so the boys can colour and write easily in a large space) the trim would get in the way.


These are the beautiful little pink flowers the bloom outside our front door.

Each flower is only about an inch in diameter. Every time Caleb passes these flowers, he picks one to give to me. He gives it in such a caring manner, each one is "just for me." He is so thoughtful about it, really using this as an expression of his love for me.


The other day as our weekly exploration activity for the letter C, I bought the boys magnifying glasses at the dollar store and we went on a walk to examine "creepy crawlies." The boys first of all thought it special that they were able to use an adult tool, not just a toy. I wanted to buy magnifying glasses that specifically were not toys, so that they could feel as though this was a real grownup activity to do.


They had a great time on our walk, keeping an eye out for things to examine. The purpose of the activity was to really help them open their eyes and see the world around them, not just walk through it. I loved this idea, because I am the type to notice the varying shades of green in a line of trees or the different quality of the sun on a cold winter morning, or the busy activity of a colony of ants. I want to pass on this love of the world around me, and specifically of nature, to my boys.


This is a spatula.


Okay, you knew that already. But this is no ordinary spatula. You probably can't tell, but the end of it (the flipping part) is quite thin and extremely wide. I bought it the other day for James, who is our pancake maker in the home. We've been trying to give the boys heartier breakfasts than just bowls of cereal, because they always seem to be hungry an hour after cereal, and Colin needs to last a good while at school before he gets snack time. So now the boys have pancakes at least twice a week.

But I err in that sentence. James makes "mancakes" twice a week. He started making these giant pancakes like you would get at a diner for breakfast, and he jokingly called them "mancakes" one day, and the term has stuck. Let me tell you how funny it is to hear your children jump up and and down begging for mancakes. And so now we have a spatula that makes the flipping of said mancakes, well, a piece of cake.


And this is Caleb dressed up as Mr. Incredible. (The mask broke and so he found these sunglasses were the perfect substitute.)


Yes, that is his scooter, and yes, we did go for a walk/scoot around the neighbourhood while he was dressed that way. And then we went to the library, dressed like that. A few days later we hit Wal-Mart with him dressed as a puppy dog. I like to pick up Hallowe'en costumes the day after Hallowe'en, when you get them for $5. They are great for dress-up. Usually it's only around the home, but when he asked to come with me in costume, I figured, why not? Everyone thought it was adorable, Caleb had a blast, and it was actually much easier to tell the puppy to keep close to the shopping cart than it is a two-year old!


This is Colin with his lego camera.


This kid is seriously brilliant with lego. No pre-fab kits or anything of that ilk. Just a big bucket of generic lego pieces and he can go to town with it! This is just the latest of his creations. He generally builds from the world around him. The other day he built a hands-free head set that goes over his ear (like his Daddy's). He also recently built the world from the film "Wall-E" including tall buildings of boxed garbage, Wall-E's home with shelves of trinkets, Wall-E himself and also Eva. Colin is very aware of the idea of scale, and he often asks how tall things are (we tell him in feet) and then he uses the ratio of 1 lego block per foot. He came up with that system all on his own about 6 months back, when he was building the world from the film "Monster's Inc." He wanted to get the height different of Mike and Sully and the doors just right. Yesterday he was building Auntie Jennifer's apartment, including the beds and the TV where they had breakfast in bed (a year ago now, but recently being relived through the scrapbook story she made for him.) He then proceeded to make a large suitcase out of lego and filled it with lego clothes and such items. I'm taking photos of much of what he makes and I want to put them all into a little packet album for his memory box.

Well, that's a sampling of what we've been up to here. Stay tune for an entry on a dream that is forming in my mind, a passion that is growing into a more solid idea that I hope will become a reality not too far down the road. But for now I have pushed my luck with time - both boys woke up early from nap and are needing Mommy once more...I knew I was pushing my luck when I wanted to include photos!