A Week in Art

We spent one of our school days last week spring cleaning, so to make up for it, we took a Saturday field trip to our local art museum.  The boys took along sketch pads and watercolor pencils to copy some of their favorite paintings.  I had not taken them to an art museum before, because I thought it would be pretty boring for them.  Boy, was I wrong!  They loved every minute of it!  They oohed and ahhed appropriately at the Victorian exhibit, and discussed the different paintings in the "Perceptions of Reality" exhibit.  They didn't know what the different styles of paintings were called, but Grayson could tell me whose style was similar to Van Gogh's or Monet's.  He was able to tell me who he thought used oils or colored pencils, and which paintings held his interest and why.  It was a fantastic trip which we will be repeating as soon as the exhibit changes!

Since coming home, the boys have both been more interested in painting, sculpting, drawing... Basically anything that they call "arting."  I had grand plans to bring out Grayson's pottery wheel this week, but I've yet to work up the courage to face the mess that goes along with it.  Instead, we have been making a lot of play doh sculptures.  Both boys have a knack for it, and I'm wondering if I should bring home some "real" artist's modeling clay!

So!  That's our week in review!  What creative ventures have you and your little ones taken this week?  If you've done something new, share it here!  If not, take the time to do something creative with them today!  All it takes is a blank paper, a wad of clay, even shaving cream and a black garbage bag, and a little bit of time.  You'll be surprised at the creations of their bright little minds!

Grayson's Iliad

Homeschooling has become so much easier this second semester.  We seem to have our feet under us now, and I have gained enough confidence as a teacher to do what I know my kids need, rather than what everyone else thinks they need.  One of the things we are doing is taking more time to enjoy the subjects we are studying, rather than trying to rush through them and check them off the schedule.  Grayson is particularly interested in History right now, and I find that the more crafts we do along with it, the more he is likely to remember the lesson. 
Yesterday, we studied the legend of the Trojan Horse.  Today, we re-enacted the legend!  Here is a nice pictoral of our battle:

The city of Troy.  Impregnable fortress wherein the beautiful Queen Helen and Paris of Troy are hiding...

The war council between Helen's first husband, King Menelaus of  Sparta, his brother Agamemnon of Mycenae, and Odysseus (and some random other guy)...

Their brilliant plan.  A peace offering of a giant wooden (or cardboard and duct tape) horse.  Incidentally, how on earth did they make the original without duct tape?
Little did those silly Trojans know, there was a surprise waiting for them inside...

Game over.  Spartans 1: Trojans 0.

So Many Books, So Little Time

I am a reader.  The story I have heard from my parents is that I learned to read at the age of three, while listening to my mom teach my brother.  I remember gathering all my stuffed animals and dolls around me for story time in my preschool days.  I would take requests from them and then read with as much expression as I knew how, stopping after each page to show them the pictures, just like the children's librarian at story hour used to do.  The times in my life when I've been between interesting books, or when I have read a particularly captivating story that I wasn't ready to muddy up by starting a new one, I have spent reading educational or how-to books.  A book taught me to knit, to tie knots, to mix any skin tone from four colors of paint.  Books teach me to cook lots of new and healthy things for my family.  Books inspire me to be a better mother, daughter, wife, and christian. 

Nothing is so exciting to me as when a book captures the imagination of my children.  The current trend toward retro toys and remakes of old video games gives evidence to the fact that we love to see children enjoy the things that we loved as kids.  Sadly, the books that have captured the imagination of my kids have been few and far between.  Grayson loves the Harry Potter books, and we are currently reading book number three (The Prisoner of Azkaban), but I am not comfortable with progressing any farther than book three with him for a couple of years.  We are reading it slowly, trying to make it last!  He also loved Roald Dahl's books for a while.  The BFG  and James and the Giant Peach in particular.  He liked Treasure Island as well, but I didn't realize until too late that we were reading an "adapted" (that's book code for "stripped of anything that adds interest or excitement") version.  In addition to Harry Potter, our current readings are:  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (which we are listening to on Librivox, and which Grayson surprised me by absolutely loving), Night of the Ninjas (a Magic Treehouse book, which he is reading aloud to me), and Pilgrim's Progress (which I am enjoying, but which is a tremendous waste of breath, since Grayson is grasping none of it.  I think we'll try one of the children's versions, or at least an illustrated copy!).  These are just our recreational readings...  There is a whole separate stack that we use for school!

On my own, I am reading Atlas Shrugged which was suggested by a friend.  I was very skeptical at first (when I hear the words "economics" and "philosophy" in relation to a 1,000 page novel, I can't help being wary).  It has gripped me from the first page.  Go figure!  I'm also listening to Vanity Fair on Librivox.  I am embarassed to say that I've been listening to it since November, and am not even halfway through.  I have precious little time to spend with earbuds in my ears, and it's hard to choose between music and a book.  More often than not music wins that battle.  I am reading Pilgrim's Progress on my own as well, because I am thoroughly enjoying it, and don't want to stay at the slow pace I have to keep for the boys.  Last, but not least, I am reading Helping Children to Understand the Gospel from Desiring God Ministries.  I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who struggles with what, when, and how to tell their children about the gospel.  There are even family devotions in the back that walk you through speaking to your children about your faith. 

Leave me a comment to tell me what you are reading now!  If you aren't reading anything currently, tell me your past favorites, or what's sitting on your shelf waiting to be read!  Give this bookworm some future goodness to chew on!

Phun Pharaohs, and a Little Grantinese

Okay, so this will be a two part post.  The pictures are from a fun craft we did this morning to aid our study of King Tutankhamen (and ancient Egypt in general).  Most of the body of post will be the latest installment of Grantinese! 

The craft was a fun replica of Tut's mask suggested by our textbook, The Mystery of History.  The boys went glitter wild, which I fully expected and used as a good excuse not to get out of our jammies until after school today!  Grayson's mask looked particularly awesome. 

Okay, for some reason, after posting that picture, I am no longer able to left justify, so the rest of this post will be centered I guess! 

Now, for those of you who are new to my blog, my younger son is Grant, and he has always spoken a language all his own.  He has trouble pronouncing r's, s's, th's, l's...  Basically anything that involves putting your tongue against your front teeth or the roof of your mouth.  We're working with him, and it's getting better.  These speech impediments along with the usual cute kid mispronunciations of things have led to some of the cutest sayings ever, many of which have become sort of family catch phrases.  So from the time that he started speaking in sentences, I have recorded his cuteness in the form of his own language, "Grantinese."

Last night Grant was waiting for Grayson to finish something or other so he could have a turn.  He started getting impatient, and said,  "Oh come on!  What's the woad off?! (He was saying "What the load off," but meant,"What's the hold up!")"

As part of our homeschool, we have been talking about birds, and this week we've talked about eggs in particular.  The other day, we broke some open, felt the air pocket inside, and then the boys took out the membrane.  So this morning, Grant was helping me cook breakfast, and after he cracked an egg, he took it to the sink.  After successfully peeling the membrane off in one piece, he said, "Aw Mom!  Look at this air brain!!"

After messing with the egg's air brain, his hands were all gross, so he went to wash them.  I usually buy the same lavendar scented dish soap all the time, but the store was out of it on my last run, so I picked up some orange scented stuff instead.  When Grant saw it this morning at the sink, he said, "Ooh, you got new dish-a-washin' soap!  Is it... is it... is it... caymul (caramel)?!  Cause it wooks wike caymul!!  Mmm... yummy yummy dish soap!"

What is this, Antarctica?

We here in 'bama are moving into our second week of below freezing temperatures!  Weather men spent last week preparing us all for a "blizzard".  All they spoke of for a week were the five inches of snow impending for North Alabama.  You couldn't get near the bread, milk, or eggs at Walmart or Kroger.  The hardware stores were pulling out fifteen year old sleds from the storeroom and selling them like hotcakes.  The buzz among school children was whether they would be at school on Friday, or at home taking a "snow day."  Grown men and women across five counties were praying that the bridge would ice over, so they could skip work without consequences.

Thursday afternoon and its accompanying cold front finally rolled around.  There were pretty white fluff balls flying everywhere.  It seemed that meteorologists around the state had finally gotten a snow prediction right.  The problem was, that while there was snow falling constantly through Thursday and Friday, it was more like floating than falling.  There was always snow in the air, but precious little was making it to the ground. 

The little bit that made it to the ground was put to good use by the Keith boys, however.  They played in our yard until they used our tiny bit of snow up.  We then moved on to my parent's house, where there is more shade and therefore more unmelted snow.  The boys played until their frozen little bodies couldn't take it any more, and we spent the rest of the afternoon huddled in front of a nice, warm fire.  Overall, not a  bad way to spend a Friday.

Change of Plans!!!

Okay, this is my blog, so you're not allowed to laugh at my fickle-ness...  fickinality...  fickilitude...  Um, tendency to change my mind.  I know I just reclaimed my old blog (JustJessie) over at Typepad.  Here's the thing, though.  Typepad has gone all greed monster in the time I've been away!  All the nifty book lists and things I had on my sidebars?  No longer available.  Well, they're available, but I would have to get a $90 a month pro account!  Kinda pricey for a hobby.  There were lots of other things that were no longer available to blogging grunts like me, so I figured, why not give Blogger a try?  I have had this name reserved for a while now, and I think I like it.  Little Monster Pages has a kinda nice ring to it.  And I have a couple of perfect little monsters to talk about everyday, so that works well.  Also, if my Sugar Monster book ever hits the big time (puh!) I will have this nice monster-y blog name to go along with it!  Oh and there's the song by Kimya Dawson called "Little Monster Babies" that my kids just happen to love right now, too.

So anyway!  Welcome to my new, new blog!  And remember- no laughing at the Fickle Fanny.  I'll leave you with a picture of my guys looking there monster-est on Christmas morning!