Phil

I love every other Wednesday.

Every other Wednesday afternoon, Grandma comes to our house for "Art With Grandma."

Joshua and Matthew look forward to this day so much!

I do too.  

After all these years of knowing her 

and spending time with her, 

I should no longer be amazed at her creativity. 

But I am.

Each and every time.

Last Wednesday, Grandma came over with one of the little boys' (and Carrie and William's) favorite books...

I was busy in the house when Grandma and GG came, so I didn't realize they were here.

The kids did though.

And this is where I found everyone when the house became too quiet.

Grandma was hoping for a rain-free day and a good place to read the story.

She was blessed with both!

Look at Charlie.

Even a dog enjoys a good book every now and then.

Everyone is waiting on their cue...

GG enjoys watching the kids listen to a story.

She enjoys watching the kids to anything.  

One pair of shoes goes...

 Clomp!  Clomp!

One pair of pants goes...

Wiggle!  Wiggle!

One shirt goes...

Shake!  Shake!

One pair of gloves goes...

Clap!  Clap!

One hat goes...

Nod!  Nod!

One pumpkin goes...

Boo!  Boo!

And one black dog goes...

Play with me!  Play with me!

Do you want the ball?

Do you?!

And what do you get when you put one pair of shoes, one pair of pants, one shirt, one pair of gloves, one hat, and one pumpkin together?

You get Phil (because he's filled with leaves),

the Scarecrow...

And here is Matthew with the finishing touches...

the extension cord that will make Phil's face light up!

William says that he really isn't a Scarecrow at all.

He's really a ScareJodi.

Just look at him!

You would jump too if you walked out of the house and had that in your peripheral vision!

And don't think that he couldn't 

be called a ScareWilliam too.

I've heard William jump and utter too 

as he leaves the house.

All kidding aside, when Phil is replaced in December with Christmas lights, 

I might cry a little bit.

He is a pretty cool Scarecrow.

Where has Carrie been this entire time?

Ah...working on her research paper.

Now for the finishing touch.

Would you like to go inside and see what that is?

Grandma thinks of everything!

Sorry Phil.

"No cupcakes for you!"

(Said with the Soup Nazi accent.)

Judy, sometimes events and days go by so quickly that I don't say how thankful I am that you are my kids' Grandma...and my Mother-in-Law (that sounds so cold...you truly have become a Mom to me).  Thank you for making memories with us and for loving us so much.  

God blessed me with you.

Enjoying Grandma and her creativity,

Special Time with Grandma

What an awesome Grandma my kids have!

When Carrie and William were younger, Judy would plan special arts and crafts days with them.

She would come all prepared with a lesson and a project.

Some of my favorites were the "My Favorite Things" poster and the string art.  I probably have pictures somewhere...

Now that Joshua and Matthew are older (Matthew will tell you in no uncertain terms that he is a "Big Boy" now), 

Judy planned their first art lesson!

Last Wednesday, when the big kids were doing their library tour for their research writing class,  Grandma came with her special basket ready to teach a lesson on...

TEXTURE!

I left the room so that I would be out of the way a little.

I did have to pop in and out, though, to see what they were doing and to take a few pictures.

Grandma talked with the boys about what texture means and introduced some texture words like 

smooth, rough, soft, hard, pointy, fluffy, spiky, sticky...

Here is Josh wearing one of his favorite 

texture objects of the day.

He has that whole Super Hero thing going on...

He wore it for most of the lesson.

How does this feel?

 And here is a corduroy dress that Carrie wore 

when she was four!

 The next time I came back into the room, 

Grandma was having them close their eyes while she put 

a taste of something into their mouths.  

They were to describe the texture of the food.

Judy got a kick out of Matthew with the Cheerios in his mouth.  

She said that he just chewed and chewed and chewed on them.

She was also impressed with how trusting they were.

They just closed their eyes and opened their mouths.

Well, Matthew would start out with his eyes closed.

Then, just as the bite was coming in for a landing, 

he would take a squinty-eyed peek.

Matthew, how does that feel?

"Smooth.  Feet (Sweet).  Cold!"

It was a bite of pudding.

Good job!

 Here, Grandma asked them to close their eyes and hold out their hands so that they could try to guess what she put in their hands.

Matthew held out his hand and opened his mouth.

Smooth little rocks...

After the lesson time at the table, Grandma took the boys outside with paper and crayons.

They were to look for things that had texture so that they could make a "Rubbings Book."

I wish that I had taken my camera out to capture all of the fun!

Josh was so concentrated on finding things to rub!

Matthew started out that way, but I think that I did his last two pages for him...under his direction.

By the end of the day, the boys understood 

and remembered the word "Texture," 

and they had a book with labeled pages of their rubbings.

Some of the things in their books were 

tree bark, the driveway, the bottom of their shoes, 

the tire of the Monkey Bike, the bridge, a swing,

the air conditioner cage, the siding on the house, and a leaf.

Did you boys have fun?!

Are you super-proud of your books?

As Grandma and the boys made their way back into the house to put their books together, Josh looked at Judy and said, 

"Please don't go home now.  

I like it when you come over and play with me!"

Have I told you what a sweet boy Joshua is?

Matthew is pretty "feet" too.

Silly and sweet.

Enjoying Grandma Love,