Thanksgiving Thankfulness

All three boys have the H1N1 flu, and Randy and Aiden have secondary infections with fevers. Aiden has been to the Doctor twice and Randy has been to the hospital. Mom is exhausted and ready to throw in the towel. Or not .... Aiden has requested that we still have a Thanksgiving dinner. Buck up Buttercup ... pull up the bootstraps and make it happen. Use this adorable creation that was left on your desk chair as inspiration.

Summer

Here is a little taste of summertime for you to enjoy .....

Michigan my Michigan .....

Chalk on black

Back to school and for Aiden a new classroom, new teachers, and new friends. One of the things he is most looking forward to this year is art class -- they get to use a sketchbook and so more indepth art. This one was done in the classroom, not art class, as a break from all of the transitioning, and assessments.

Summer in a nutshell

One piece of artwork for the whole summer? You guessed it! We've made art, written stories, done math and social studies. We did a study with some friends of our local area, and did activities surrounding that. We've eaten fruit, grown a garden, and visited a farmer's market to see where we get local fruit and vegies.

And we've also been swimming, ridden bikes, played in the sun, and a whole bunch of other things that kept me from my scanner and computer to share iamges.

Enjoy this one and consider it a synopsis of our wild and wonderful summer!

Stare into our future 2009

Somewhere over the rainbow

If I had to guess, I'd say that rainbows are Aiden's second favorite thing to draw. He's loved them since the first time I helped him draw one. He told me once that the colors make him happy. And such a beautiful drawing makes us happy too, Aiden.

..... and a funeral

Eight days (and one fish addition later in each tank), we have crying and a little "art therapy" for my little man. He drew this one all on his own ... so he can "keep track of who had died, Mom".

Fish picture 'cuz we got some

Aiden drew this picture of fish to celebrate the new fish tank that he and Keegan each have in their respective rooms. They each have one fish in thier tank, becuase only one can be added at a time, lest we get fish illness and wipe them all out. So, this lovely rendition is what it will look like in the future. Except our fish are all colored, not black. And our water will never be that crystal blue. You get the drift, though.

A song about heaven

At our church's Creative Activities camp at the end of June, we learned a wonderful song that spells out the letters J-E-S-U-S with a special thing about Jesus for each item. I can't tell you the tune of it becuase it was written by a brilliant songwriter in our church, and the tune is not a copy of something I can refer you to. Let's just say it is an awesome song, and if you see any of us in person, we'd be happy to sing it for you. Aiden wrote his own version that lacks perfection with the tune, but achieves highly on originality, heart, and praise!! The words go like this:

H is for the holy you send
E is for the entire world you made
A is for the abyss at the bottom of the sea
V is for the variety of animals you made
E is for the effect in our world
N is for the net of love you carry around us
H-E-A-V-E-N equals heaven!

Arctic fun and some fish

Aiden created these two pencil drawings on the second to last day of school during drawing time. They got to draw instead of attending music class becuase the music teacher was out.

Our skinny family

Love this picture! I don't know exactly when Aiden drew it -- it's odd for me to not be able to date a picture with some degree of accuracy, but this one escapes me. It was sometime in the Spring. Or maybe last winter. We're cute as heck, none the less. And skinny!

Drawing on the back of a placemat ...

... while we waited for our food to arrive.

Three dogs for keegan

He drew this one while everyone was resting and "cooling down" after playing outside for field day at school. Keegan excitedly stood there and watched over his shoulder, pretty excited to see it.

Our front yard

Today Aiden came home from school and wanted some time alone in the office to draw. It's often his "come down" from a busy day at school, and I couldn't be happier that he knows how to manage those emotions creatively. When he was midway through drawing, he asked if it was okay if he used a lot of marker (of course!), if I would stay out of the office so it could be a surprise (of course!) and when he handed it to me, he asked if I liked it (a great big of course!).

I love it!

Scenery from New York

He used to be shy???

And I must add, he's really overcome his shyness. He's quite the showman when presented with the opportunity!

"..... I'd like to thank the academy .. AND MY MOM!"

Performing "Indian Song" for his class

A few days ago, Aiden mentioned to his music teacher that he has been taking piano. Mr. Purrington invited him to play for the class, on his piano -- a double thrill for Aiden to get such an exciting honor.

Today he played his current favorite song from his piano lessons, "Indian Song".

Today's art is a poem about a bald eagle

Bald eagles soaring
Increase your flight
Rapid Speeding
Dark through night
Soaring in skies

Fine Arts Fiesta

Today was a culminating event in Aiden's class -- the Fine Arts Fiesta. The students sang a song on the stage in the gym, and Aiden did really well with that. He actually took a couple of bows at the end, which really made Randy and I laugh ... since no other student took a bow. He's become quite the showman, and quite comfortable on the stage -- something we are quite proud of, given how shy and scared he used to be.

Then, he was the co-host of the Spanish portion of the event -- he got to introduce the songs that the class would sing, and the other components of the performance, and he did it all in Spanish, of course. He was very proud to be selected to do that, and he did a fabulous job.

To showcase what they have been doing in art, they each made a Picasso-styled self-portrait.

And the flip side is ...

On the back of the robin in the sun, a marvelous view of a giraffe.

Spring robin in the sun 4-27-09

When Aiden gets home from school, he generally goes straight to his desk to draw or color. This he drew today in about fifteen minutes when we got home. The yellow circle is the sun, and the reason it is lower than the robin is that it is far away. The robin apparently likes eating those berries on that branch.

Color my world 4-26-09

Butterfly & Starfish 4-23-09

These two were done in school along with the Piston Kid. The kids were instructed to copy a drawing from a drawing pad.

Piston Kid 4-23-09

Aiden looked at a picture in a book and copied this guy from the picture.

Who knew?

I've never asked him what his favorite word is. Wow -- who knew? :