Sunday Best and Birthday Surprise!

This picture makes me happy.
Where did our little baby go?

 

 Geoff and the kids surprised me the night before my birthday with dinner, flowers, and a fun cake!  We had parent teacher conferences in the afternoon, then I drove straight to the gym and Geoff and the kids ran to the store for the flowers and balloons and picked up our favorite Thai food.  He even made the cake all by the time I arrived home.

Busy lighting all 29 candles.  :)

 Jack is really interested in that balloon back there-I love it.

 3/4 of the birthday surprise crew!  Thank you so much!

Just Cause….

Picasso

We found out about an art class in our town kind of last minute.  We lucked into a couple of open spots in a class Thursday night for the boys.  I am so excited about it.  A lady in town calls it "art in my backyard and holds art sessions at her house.  In the summer the sessions are outside literally in her backyard.  In the winter she has a small building in her yard that looks like a large playhouse with tables inside.  (The next two photos are from Ashley's blog-we arrived when it was dark so I couldn't take any pics then)

 

Ms. Ashley has a theme for each class for her fall art schedule.  The theme for Thursday was Pablo Picasso.  I had no idea how she was going to teach a little history lesson on Pablo Picasso to a dozen kids.  The class we found a space in was for 4-6 year olds...and she has another class for 7-9 year olds.  But it is the same theme and she said she ends up with both ages in both classes.  There was even a 3-year old in the class.  The kids were completely silent and listened well the whole time Ashley was teaching and instructing.  She showed a couple of slides on Picasso and talked about him on a really basic level.  Then she put this picture up:

They used oil pastels.  She then took the kids step by step through different shapes and techniques first using a pencil.  Then she showed different techniques on layering colors, outlining the drawings, using white, noticing specific details on the rooster, etc.  Jack's rooster is on the left and Wyatt's is on the right.

I love seeing how they each view the rooster.  The are similar but really different.  They talked about the "comb" on the rooster's head and the sharp spurs on the rooster's legs.  Ashley urged them to press hard with the pastels even if they would break.  She told them they could have the beak open or closed.  They could add a tongue or leave it out.  The boys seemed to really enjoy it.  As soon as it was over they said they liked it and wanted to go back.   I have really missed the great art they brought home from preschool (their preschool teacher was an art major) so they did some really creative projects.  They haven't done too much art in kindergarten and first grade so far.  Finding this class was like discovering gold!  Yay!

Lion and Knights

   Happy Halloween!!  The kids didn't have school today-which was such a treat after Halloween night.

   We couldn't ask for better weather for trick-or-treating last night.  A recap of our Halloween eve..our  

   little lion emerged for pictures.

roar.

Then one of our brave knights arrived.  Introducing...Sir Jack.

Sir Wyatt arrived and all were present and accounted for!  The boys' costumes came about because my good friend Emily sent the boys wooden shields and swords from Germany maybe five years ago.  They are so neat and even have their names burned on front of the shields and on the swords.  I have kept them in a safe place all this time...because there was a high chance they would get broken, or lost, or someone would get hurt if they had them before now.  But it was time to bring them out and knight our knights!!!  The shields aren't in these pictures because the boys hid them away somewhere (see, I told you-lost) and we didn't even have them for trick-or-treating.

The knights had a little chat....

 

...then the dueling began.

Little lion wanted in on the action!

Protect!  Defend!

They really got into the dueling.  

And I had the most fun watching them.  Seriously.  My favorite part of Halloween night.

They were in their own little dragon-slaying, sword-fighting, defending the universe-world.

Slayed.  Well done, Sir Wyatt.

Sir Jack returned to life and took out Sir Wyatt!

Who needs action films?

Another battle ensues...

  Protect your face!!  

Arrrr!!

 My work here is done.

    ...until the next battle.  

Outtake:  Happy Lion in the Sun.