christmas

i was busy this christmas having surgery on my foot for two (of three) long standing problems (click on two and problems for the specifics if you dare/care) but i managed to take a few pictures (though my memories of christmas day are very sketchy and vicodin tainted).

art work by olivia (14)


check out the art of imitation by peter (5)
olivia made the tree outline and he spent a looonnnggg time putting all the "ornaments" on it, then he drew baby Jesus in the manger
(isn't that the sweetest thing?)

what karis has been up to...

before she leaves for AFRICA on thursday.
she was asked to make a 40th anniversary cake for some people in our church.

here's how it turned out:



nice, huh?

one afternoon......

i turned these:

into these:

(click to enlarge)

so easy! so fun.
and i finally figured out something to do with those shelves i was given 3 months ago!

book review

a recent library treasure is this book published by the metropolitan museum of art.

titled, "can you hear it?" it features 13 songs on cd that accompany art pieces and challenge kids and parents alike to hear what the composer was trying to convey in his piece.

we enjoyed this book (and boys will be boys, pete and mike liked the war one best). highly recommended!

for the budding artist

we've enjoyed jan brett's blog for a while now and sometimes she posts things that really inspire us.

check out this video (click on link to go to it): how to draw a stork.
there are more following that one. we've especially enjoyed the hedgehog one (she shows us her real live pet!) but be forewarned, she makes it look so easy!

it's long, but worth it. she just returned from a trip to africa. check it out and be inspired!

(pete, making his wall mural to go with "the three snow bears")

the pete-ster

peter-3 drew this picture of me, his mother-- who apparently loves footballs so much she wants to be smothered with them. but look at the smile on her face! how could he be wrong?

he also takes a while to wake up.... my beautiful baby boy.

Original Art

Can you guess what it is? I'll give you a hint. It's a famous monument given to America by France. Yep-the Statue of Liberty as seen from inside a computer. We finally got rid of our first computer in our city's "cash for trash" program (they gave us $5 off our ridiculous electric bill). However, Dad Ru, being the conservative that he is, didn't want the memory going down with it (you never know who will go dumpster diving in the city dump. ew.) So, he took the memory part out, and told the kids to have at it. They had a great time. I think in all, it was smashed into about a bijillion pieces, and what was left, O. made into this masterpiece using hot glue. Who told her she could get old enough to use a hot glue gun by herself? Pretty inspirational anyway. Maybe she and her like-aged cousins could open an art school. Doesn't that sound like Lea and Sar would enjoy?