Crafty-ness

Every day Jayden asks me if she can do an art project. I
love her creativity
and want it to flourish in our home,

But
(and it's a big, neurotic, selfish but)

I often say "no" simply because
I don't want the mess
that follows a 4 year old and a box of Crayolas.

Lately, however, I've been letting the perfectionist in me yield to the reality of my God-ordained calling.

I'm the mother of 3 small children.

And this means my home will be filled with clutter, dirty clothes, grimy fingerprints and the like.

After all, shouldn't childhood be messy, muddy, noisy fun?

So now many morning or after-nap hours are spent with paints, gluesticks, rolls of tape, and fancy scissors.

Cleaning can wait.

This month we've been able to make things with a purpose.

The 1st was a birthday card for 1 of Jayden's preschool teachers.

She chose watercolors and glitter as the medium.

And carefully fashioned a stack of artful masterpieces, and then selected her favorite

which she described as "The
cross where Jesus died. To remind us."

Our 2^nd project was a Thanksgiving-themed craft .

We had a friend gather pine-cones from her yard so we could turn them into turkeys.

They will be the place-cards at our family feast.

Rainy Day Fun

Yesterday the rain poured and kept us cozied up inside.

The kids wore their pj's for most of the day and we entertained ourselves with puzzles, organizing all their toys, and finally hours of creativity in the garage.

I am painting Jayden's and Zach's closet doors with layers of magnetic paint and then finishing with a coat of chalkboard paint so I will be able to hang their school work and they can doodle on them -- no more tape and tacks!

While I worked on this project I set the kids up with a huge piece of paper and some water colors and Oliver chilled in his bouncy seat.
We had a blast!