Curly Kids Unplugged

Yesterday I banned the kids from all electronics.

It probably wasn't the smartest move - I had gotten up at 5:30 to go walking again and at 7:30 was already craving a pepsi, or bed, or both.  But Monday they had spent all day either in front of the TV or the computer screen.  Yes, I got a lot done, but it wasn't so great for them.

So Tuesday - no TV, no computer.

Which also meant no cleaning, because being creative also means being messy.

BUT we had fun anyway (for the most part, school was another issue) so here are the pictures:

The new store window we created out of the bunk bed boxes - in this picture it is a pet store that specializes in grooming and training.  I wanted an animal that had oposable thumbs I could train to cook for me and Curly Girl informed me that the monkeys are for old people, but offered me a nice cat.

After we painted, we moved on the stamping and cutting.

Curly Baby's First Painting!

More of Curly Baby's work - with no VeggieTales, and thus no music to dance to, he decided to shred all the styrofoam from the bunk bed boxes.

Curly Girl teaching Curly Boy his letters - Z is for ZIPPER!!

Budding artist....

Curly Girl received an easel for her 3rd birthday and has just painted up a storm. This past weekend, Curly Boy finally got his shot....

(and unfortunately, though his curls are coming back, here they are all smooshed down by sleep and haven't been revived yet)

Someday She'll Have A Butterfly Tattoo

Curly Girl is obsessed with butterflies. I believe this obsession came about last summer on an evening's walk. We came home to find at least a hundred butterflies nesting in the lower branches of the tree at the end of our driveway.

This July 4th, the obsession began anew, when one butterfly kept landing on my shoulder or my hair as I played with Curly Girl and Boy in the back yard.

Soon, Curly Girl was demanding "Find butterfly, land my arm." This is her 2.5 yr old speech for "Mom, find me a butterfly to land on my arm."

So, being the marvelous mama I am, we began a butterfly hunt. We didn't have a net or a basket or any other gear, but we did have an improvised Butterfly hunting song! Sung to the first two lines of the chorus of "Dwelling In Beulah Land", here is our song:

Oh we're hunting for butterflies to land on Girlie's arm

Yes, we're scouting for butterflies, and we won't do them any harm

Later on I added these lines:

For we love those pretty butterflies who flutter 'round our lawn

Oh we are hunting for butterflies.

When we couldn't get a butterfly to land on Curly Girl's arm, she desolved into tears. This was not one of my favorite things, but I was able to stop the tears by asking "Would you like to paint a picture of a butterfly?"

Fingerpainting is one of Curly Girl's absolute favorite activities, so she skipped inside, completely happy to paint a butterfly picture. That picture is on our dining room table right now. I'm searching for just the right frame to hang it in her room.

I've also written this story out in my journal of "Things I Don't Want You To Forget" (where I record my wisdom and little stories for my kids to enjoy when they're older and I'm not around, hopefully a long long time from now).