Awesome Art Supplies for When You Don't Want a Mess

I love art supplies and I love when my kids "do art."    But I don't love a mess.  When I say "mess" I'm primarily referring to the "P" word... Paint - the paints that children's art supply companies advertise like this...

I mean Come On!  He doesn't even have a smock on...

but every real mom knows it's false advertising.  It's really this...

Poster paints and finger paints, "be gone!"  

So what can I give my kids when it's not a good time to paint?  (Oh wait.  I never let them paint.  I should probably work on that.)  What can I give my kids when I want them to be creative, but am not in a position to deep clean the house from floor to ceiling after a half hour's worth of "art time??"  

Here's what we like around here: 

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Stockmar Beeswax Crayons

A new find for us this year.  They feel nice in your hand and they "feel" great going on the paper - smooth and clean.  The colors blend well together.  It's hard to explain, but there really is a difference between these and your standard wax crayons.  I'm thinking about getting them in the stick variety also since the kids enjoy them so much.

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Rock Crayons

These are Clare's crayon of choice.  Their performance isn't really anything out of the ordinary, but everyone likes them because they're just plain fun!

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Colored Pencils

Sort of an obvious choice.  They seem to be the preferred medium of Dominic, who has been my partner in crime as we scour the earth for the answer to the great questions of life such as, "Are all colored pencils created equal?" 

Dominic and I will astound you with our findings in a future post.

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Chalk Pastels

It's only fair to admit that these can get pretty messy.  But I'd much rather wipe down the table and vacuum up the carpet than deal with paint.  

Aaron is my chalk pastels kid.  He loves to use them (and rub his fingers in them), and he likes "how realistic" he can make things look - and he'll tell you all this over and over while he's drawing. 

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Oil Pastels

We still haven't perfected the art of oil pastels.
But we press on experimenting with them, and I've kept them on this list b/c they seem like an important art medium that we should love...
In a way, the kids and I feel like they're just glorified crayons.  They break easily when the warmth from your fingers softens them, and they also wear down quickly.  Perhaps our difficulties are because we're using a very inexpensive set??  Any input?

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Do-A-Dot Marker Paints

I use the term "paint" loosely because there are no paint bottles to spill or brushes to flick with these Dot paints.  I even sometimes let Clare use these *gasp* and then I remember maybe I should supervise her when I do because the other day she walked around with a very blue mustache for the entire afternoon.

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PlayColor "Paint" Sticks

There's that word again, but be not alarmed.  These things are awesome.  Sticks of solid tempera paint offer all the vibrancy of poster paint with non of the mess!  They go on smoothly, don't run and don't bleed through the paper.  And they dry almost instantly. Love!

What types of art supplies do you like using with your kids?
(it's ok if it's paint!)

Why My Big Kids Still Have Afternoon Rest Time

Every afternoon of every day this family has rest time.  The baby, the toddler, the "bigger kids," and the mom.  It has always been this way, and I suspect it always will be.  It's my intention that there will always be a family-wide afternoon rest time. (Though I admit,  I can't really speak to the future.)

Afternoon rest time here is not optional.  You don't grow out of it.  You don't get out of it. (Except maybe on Christmas.  Maybe.)  

Rest time for the "littles" is a no-brainer - babies need sleep.  Kids in this family take two naps a day for as long as I can possibly finagle it ('till somewhere between 12 - 18 mos.) and one afternoon nap until they need to drop it (typically around 5 years old).  When a child begins to eschew afternoon sleep, not much changes.  He (or she! because we do not discriminate and no one is exempt...) quiets down in a room with a closed door, is not permitted to come out for any reason (other than toilet use or an episode of low blood sugar), and must stay there quietly until the kitchen timer goes off.  (The kitchen timer is regularly set to 99:99 minutes because that's the highest it can go :)  )

Several people have asked me why my "bigger" kids still have a daily rest time.  I humbly submit my reasons...

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Because Sanity.

I need to know that every day there will be at least an hour and a half that I will have to myself.  This is essential for me to be the best mom that I can be during every other part of the day.  I am a bona fide introvert, and if I don't have alone time to recharge, I will be as useful as Stanley Tucci's  Patrick Stewart's  Bruce Willis' Samuel L. Jackson's hairbrush.

I typically start my afternoon quiet time with a Seven Minute Cleanup, and divide the rest of the time between some combination of the following: "business" (phone calls, emails, etc...), prayer, blog writing and reading, book reading, crocheting, sipping (instead of guzzling) coffee, and all the other things that re-energize me for the rest of the day... or at least until 6 pm when my mind typically turns to this...

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Because It's Important to Learn How To Rest

We think it's important to spend time in relative peace and quiet every day.  But it's  fairly counter-cultural.   "Siesta" is not a concept generally embraced by Americans.  Kids, like adults, have increasingly busy schedules: busy school day, after-school activities, athletics in the evenings, music lessons, and club meetings to attend.  And weekends, during which we're theoretically supposed to take a break from it all, fill up with more enrichment programs and scheduled events.  

Kids can spend so much of the day go-go-going.  Who will encourage them to slow down?  Who will teach them to rest?

We obviously encourage activity in learning, exercise, and recreation.  It's good for them.   But there is intrinsic value in restfulness as well.  We live in a culture of going and doing.  Without an imposed quiet time at home, there may be very few moments in a day when a child is afforded the pleasure of being awake but not busy.  Teach him early the art of resting and he will have a valuable personal skill that will benefit him the rest of his life (or at least a couple hours every day :) )   

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Because Restfulness Can Be Fruitful

Rest time helps kids appreciate the fact that even though there is no jam-packed schedule or super-fun agenda, this time is still valuable.   Often when we "take it down a notch" with our bodies, our minds have the chance to settle, and then to wander and to ponder.  Quiet rest time allows kids to leave behind the frenzied activity that is "being a kid," and offers them opportunity without distraction - the opportunity to be reflective, thoughtful, contemplative.  Or to at least deeply consider the next crazy activity they'll get into as soon as rest time is over :)

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Because There is Value in Being Alone

It's ok to be alone.  It's even ok to be bored.

It's time for yourself.  Make the most of it.

Rest time is best done alone.  These days, though, our "big" boys have their rest time together because there aren't enough rooms in our house for everyone to have their own space.  It's really not the best scenario though.  Some of my children have occasionally asked me for "alone time."  Rest time is one way I can help meet this individual emotional need in a 7 person/3 bedroom home.  I just have to get creative and we play "musical rooms."

There are some rules for rest time, the big ones being Stay Put and Stay Quiet.  But other than that, the kids know that there are no expectations placed on them during that time.  They do not have to do lessons.  They will not be called on to do chores.  I will not interrupt their time.  However, I will not be readily available to them either (barring illness or emergency.)  I will not entertain them, and I will not answer questions like, "how do you spell hippopotamus?" and I will not dignify, "I'm bored" with a response.

The time is theirs.  They may choose to do nothing.  Typically, though, they find quiet things to do like, Legos, drawing, crafts (that under no circumstances involve glitter), and puzzles.  Often, Creativity wins when the kids are alone and Mom reinforces the fact that she's not the cruise director.

Dominic doing a rest time puzzle (taken about 1 year ago)

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Because It's Just What We Do in Our Family

Since afternoon rest time is a non-negotiable activity for everyone in the household, there is rarely any resistance or whining or crying or negotiating at rest time.  The younger ones, who are expected to sleep in the afternoon aren't jealous of older siblings who get to stay up, because... they don't.   Everyone does rest time.   Your age and the level of trust you've earned from Mom and Dad may affect what you get to do during that time, but no one is exempt, and that makes it easy to enforce.  Everyone's doing it.  There's no need to look longingly at the others as you're toted off to bed.  They're all headed there soon too.

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Because Audio Books

Afternoon rest time means listening to something.  Sometimes it's music, but it's usually audio books.  We are unashamed book readers listeners.  (And now with the iPads, woah!  There's no stopping us!)  There's an awful lot I'd love for my kids to be exposed to, but I can't do it all; there are dinners to make, and babies to nurse, and mittens to crochet!  Even if I could read to them for an hour and half every day, they wouldn't sit and listen for an hour and half; there are bike obstacle courses to be built, and science experiments to try, and scooters to scoot.  But, if it's quiet time and they have to stay put anyway, they'll listen to almost anything.  Score!  

* here's my updated list of our favorite things to listen to at rest time or in the car or anywhere *

Aaron listening to "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (I think) during rest time.
(taken about 1 year ago)

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Because It's Fuel for the Afternoon

Typically by lunch time, we've all had a good dose of each other.  I think we all appreciate a little daily guaranteed "break' from one another.  After rest time, the kids are recharged and ready to be back together again with an enthusiasm that usually lasts long enough to get us to dinner time!  Their bodies have been refueled with rest.  Their spirits have been refueled with quiet.  We're all better equipped to take on those last few hours of the day which can prove to be such a challenge. 

And that is why even my big kids still have afternoon rest time.  

Question for you: Until what age did your big kids rest?  Maybe they still do...

Why?

Of Wizards, Wind, Wings, and Weaning Ourselves Off of "The Magic School Bus" (The Cool(ish) School(ish) Stuff We've Been Up To)

Have you ever looked back over the last several weeks and wondered how is it possible that we've watched every episode of "The Magic School Bus..."  *twice* ?"  I think that you'll probably agree that this is an unfortunate situation in which to find oneself.  Granted, we've learned an awful lot from The Magic School Bus (Netflix and books) but there comes a point when science has to be more than just taking in the adventures of Ms. Frizzle and Class.

We had a pretty wet and rainy week and were inside a lot, but I declared this a No Magic School Bus week and here's what we did instead...

Of Wizards...

The boys have been Wizard of Oz crazy for over a month now.  They've listened to the unabridged audio version, narrated by Anne Hathaway, at least 10 times.  Literally.  It's really a great  recording and I highly recommend it.  She does voices!  

I decided to "run with" their enthusiasm, so we read a biography of author L. Frank Baum, drew pictures of our favorite part of the book, practiced using our chalk pastels to make tornado pictures, watched The Wizard of Oz (I really don't like that movie, but it's one of Russ' favorites, so I gave in), and ate "Emerald City" popcorn.  

The Road to Oz: Twists, Turns, Bumps, and Triumphs in the Life of L. Frank Baum

by Katheleen Krull

Of Wind...

I recently read the  kids an abridged version of Jules Vern's Around the World in 80 Days.  So we watched that movie too (the 1956 David Niven version, a favorite from my own childhood!)  It took us four nights over two weeks to finish it, but it was still fun!  

Yesterday, inspired by the scene in which Fogg, Princess Aouda, Passepartout, and Inspector Fix travel in a railway car rigged with a sail, the boys built Lego cars and experimented with different size sails as we zoomed them across the kitchen floor.  It's science.  (We even weighed the cars on our kitchen scale first to make it even more science-y)

Of Wings...

Monday we periodically checked in at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to see what was going on with the red-tailed hawks via live nest cam...
Thanks to the fabulous and lovely Nella and Heather for reminding me about the Cornell bird cams :)

We saw a lot of interesting activity, including two cute fluffy babies pecking away at each other (as well as at a dead mole/vole (?) thing) and one of the adults eating a rabbit it had brought to the nest.  

two chicks, one egg, adult in left foreground, dead rabbit in right foreground, dead mole/vole (?) thing in right background, unidentified dead animal in background

Since the photo, the last egg has hatched and today we even saw all three little chicks hopping around the nest and being fed by one of the adults!!!!  (teeny little beaks open, bloody raw meat goes in...appetizing.)


Of Weaning Ourselves Off of The Magic School Bus...

Today we did an activity to really, truly get our recent dependence on Ms. Frizzle under control.  Look, it even says so on this bottle...

We made Soft n' Silky Clay following this recipe here.  (all you need are hair conditioner from the Dollar Store and cornstarch)  The kids really loved the clay, much more than play-doh! 

Now, thankfully, everyone is outside doing science experiments involving mud and muddy water, and dirt that will soon be turned into mud.  Lucky me ;)

And that is the end :)

A Fabulously Long Day Book (and Some Answers for Curious Kendra!)

Outside my window...

It's gray and cold.  It's that time of year here when is 70 degrees one day and 35 the next.  Today's a 35 day.  Oh wait - it took me so long to write this it's now sunny and 43.  

I'm hearing...

Mostly blessed silence.  It's my peaceful afternoon time.  The three youngest are sleeping and the boys have their quiet time in the basement.  All I can hear, apart from the tapping of these keys, are strains of Jim Weiss' voice regaling the boys with his version of Kipling's Just So Stories.  We're big Jim Weiss fans around here :)  We have several of his recordings already, but I've started plotting which new ones I'll buy for our summer road trip to Cape Cod...  I'm thinking "Good Luck Duck," "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea," "Treasure Island," and the "Adventures of Tom Sawyer."  

From the kitchen...
We certainly feasted on Easter!  We had a big brunch after Mass (which included my favorite homemade baked good of all time - orange kisses.  If only I didn't have kids... I could eat the whole batch myself!) and a delicious grilled salmon dinner.

For the rest of this week, not a whole lot.  I've been struggling lately to keep the grocery bill within the grocery budget.  It seems like by the time I buy all the fresh fruit and vegetables that we eat for breakfast, lunch, and snack, I have just enough left for everyone to have a grain of rice and a black bean for dinner.  I know plenty of "larger" families eat well on a budget, but I haven't yet mastered the art of thrifty grocery-getting.

Anyway...  I just got a loaf of bread started in the bread machine for tonight. Soup is what's for dinner.  It's cool enough for a soup night :)

Around the house...

Things are in a bit of a state around here as I transition the clothes and gear from winter to spring.  In addition to the messy confusion that inevitably accompanies the wardrobe switch, things are also a bit crazy as I experiment with a new laundry system.  We've always kept everyone's dirty laundry separate and washed each  load once a week.  It's not working so well anymore because (1) the kids get really dirty outside but I won't let them be around the house with dirty clothes, so sometimes they change two or three times a day and they run out of clothes before their designated laundry day and (2) I want to stop buying as many clothes for the kids as I have in the past.  So, we're testing out the old everyone-throws-their-clothes-down-the-chute-in-the-evening-and-it-all-gets-washed-together-overnight system of doing laundry.  I still have to figure out when we'll work in towels, linens, and adult whites...  It's a work in progress.  

I'm watching...

Woah.  There's a lot on my list.  Having given up Internet movie and tv show watching for Lent, there's much to catch up on :)  - a few episodes of "Elementary" on cbs.com, and waiting for me at Netflix are "Foyle's War,"  "Endeavor," "The Paradise," and "Upstairs, Downstairs."  Oh, British television, how I love you!  

Books I'm reading...

I just finished Dumbing Us Down, by John Taylor Gatto and The Hurried Child, by David Elkind.  Lots of thought-provoking stuff to mull over on parenting, childhood, and educational choices.

I have a gigantic stack of books out of the library right now.  I think next I'll be cracking open  Evangelical Catholicism, by George Weigel and a few John Holt classics - Teach Your Own and How Children Learn.

Books I'm reading with the kids...
The Horse and His Boy, by good old Clive Staples
The Story of Money, by Betsy Maestro (we all really enjoyed this one as a social studies / history supplement)
and I just bought a long-time library loan favorite, The Library Lion, by Michelle Knudsen.  (For this and other kids books that we love, check out this post here!)

From the Interwebs...

Listened to, and loved this:  How to Teach Boys and Other Kids Who'd Rather be Playing in Forts.

Another thought-provoking read: Newsflash: Motherhood is not the World's Hardest Job.  (If you're a mom and think that it's the hardest job in the world, you're doing it wrong.  And you're probably also doing your children a disservice.)  Read it.  It's good.

I'm pondering...

Oh so many things. 

Kids and money.  We're on the cusp of giving the boys (and maybe Ruth) more responsibility over their own piggy bank money.  I know how we are going to organize it; just have to do it.  But also, the boys in particular, are interested in earning some money to save up for Lego sets they have their eyes on.  I'm still unsure what type of work around the house would merit payment.  We certainly won't be paying them for their daily chores, but I'm having a hard time dreaming up other tasks they could do that I'd be willing to pay them for.  Any ideas?  Russ and I were thinking of 50 cents per extra "chore" (they're still young!)  

Our home and yard.  They are feel considerably smaller than when we moved in here five years ago with just two children!  What accommodations can we make so that our house continues to serve us well?  What can I do for my kiddos so that they can have more outdoor space to explore and create and learn?  

Planning for the summer months...

Stuff to do in Cape Cod.  Really, the only things on my "must do" list are the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and taking the kids to do some really good tide-pooling.  We don't travel a lot, but when we do, we're going to do some awesome location-specific educational things, goshdarnit.  You can't explore tide pools in Western New York, so that's what we're going to do.  How one goes about finding a really good place to go tide-pooling, I do not know.  Maybe ask at Woods Hole, I guess...

I'm also committed to finding another hot air balloon launch we can go to.  Maybe we'll see you at one!  (Here's a schedule for you!)

I'm looking forward to...

My sister, brother-in-law and nephew are moving here this weekend!  Yipee!!!!  And I'm praying for their safe travels and a smooth transition!

I'm creating...

Two crochet blankets, simultaneously.  The boys asked for them, so I jumped right on it!  I chose the pattern and colors according to what I thought would suit each boy.  Here's a sneak preview.  I'll post more when they're done.

I am so very happy that I rediscovered crocheting last fall!  I've enjoyed it so much and I really need "creative time" to re-energize me.  It's much easier to pick up a crochet project around the house whenever I get a spare moment than it is to find time to get up to my attic sewing space.  

What's up with the kids...

One day a couple weeks ago Ruth asked Russ to take the training wheels off her bike.  Two minutes later she was flying down the street!  What a girl!

Dominic has been begging me to do a sewing project, so I just got him started with something simple.  (Ruth joins in doing lacing.)

Aaron's progressing with reading.  He read an entire "Billy and Blaze" book yesterday, and enjoyed it!  Yay!

Clare is a cute handful.  She learned to climb out of her crib.  'Nuf said.

James is so smiley and talkative!  I think he's ridiculously adorable, but I'm his mother, so what do you expect!  

*  *  *  *  *  *

And Curious Kendra asks... (via "Answer Me This" at Catholic All Year) 

What did we wear for Mass on Easter Sunday?   

It's actually a wonder we were even all wearing clothes at Mass on Easter Sunday.   Getting out the door for 8 o'clock Mass is cuh-razy with kids who don't know how to button and buckle and zip and tuck in on their own.  But we made it.  Barely.  I was getting dressed as Russ was buckling the kids in van.  I had wet, unstyled hair and I slopped some makeup on during the 3-minute drive.  As for what we wore, we went for thrifty over nifty this year.  Here it is...

I wore the green dress that I wore when I was the Matron of Honor at aforementioned sister's wedding two and a half years ago... when I was pregnant with Clare.  In fact, that was the last time I wore a dress at all (if you don't count a hospital gown...)  (If you know me at all, you know I'd be perfectly happy to wear sweats all day every day, even Easter if I thought I could get away with it...  Oh  wait, I did change into sweats after Mass when I remembered one of the reasons I don't wear dresses is because they make it very difficult to nurse a baby...)

Russ wore the suit and shirt he wore for our wedding. The boys wore the same shirts and ties they wore last Easter.  Ruth and Clare wore dresses that were lingering in the attic.  I had to buy them new shoes :)  And James, well, he's baby no. 5.  He wore hand-me-downs.  

Easter Bunny - thumbs up or thumbs down?

Thumbs way down.   We just don't do stuff like that around here.  

The "significant" reason (insofar as it applies to me and my family and I don't apply it to anyone else's personal or familial practices...) is that we try to avoid a thing that might minimize or distract  from the Truth of the celebration.   I have a hard enough time with the monumental task of dispensing the truths of the Faith to my children, I hardly need to juggle the confusion that holiday "characters" breed.  (Easter Bunny!!  Breed!!  Get it?!?) There are other serious reasons, but perhaps another time...

The casual, flippant reason, is I just don't get it.  And I don't want to spend my time cultivating... whatever it is.  And if the Mom doesn't want to do it, we don't do it.  (I didn't even manage to pull together an Easter basket this year.  The kids got bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and a chocolate bunny in a plastic shopping bag.  I don't think they're scarred for life...)

Do you prefer to celebrate holidays at our place or elsewhere?  

HERE!!  Absolutely, here!  I am a homebody through and through.  Then there's the convenience of being where all our "stuff" is - the diapers and wipes, clean clothes, cribs and favorite blankets.  And there's also the breath-easy aspect of being at home - if something gets dirty or broken, it's ours, not someone else's thing that we dirtied or broke :)  

Favorite kind of candy?

This question is killing me, as I'm trying to avoid candy right now...  what a dumb idea.  (Have to avoid it because I love it too much!)  I love Sour Patch Kids and Take 5 candy bars.  

Do I like video games?

I don't know.  Does computer Tetris of the 1990's count?  I've never played a real video game.  Sometimes I wonder if my kids wouldn't benefit from something like a Wii Fit, but when I start talking about it I realize I have no idea what I'm talking about.  Russ says maybe they'd like an Atari.  But I don't know what that is either.  It must be really cutting edge if I haven't heard of it yet...

Do I speak another language?

Huh.  I have a degree in French.  Do I speak it?  I used to be decent, but now?  Non.   I can say my prayers in French, so I do that occasionally to keep up the accent.  Once in a while, I bust out with a mean and melodious rendition of Frere Jacques.  But these days, with the boys doing Song School Latin, you're much more likely to hear me going around the house singing (to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic), "I am a mighty miles, I can swing a sword.  My gladius is my best friend when I go off to war... A bellum is a tragedy, but a miles still must go.  Pugno in rain or snow!"  So, yeah.  I speak Latin.  Er, I mean, Dico Latin.  


And if you're still reading all this... wow.  You must really be a fan!  Thanks!  

Happy Wednesday!  

Easter Sunday Photo Album

He is risen, even as He said...

Happy Easter!