Art in her heart

The Nugget continues to amaze me every day with her passion and talent for the arts.  She loves to sing and dance and truly enjoys arts and crafts projects.  The thing that fascinates me is her creative ability - she sings songs that she knows, but she also makes up a lot of different songs, sometimes right off the top of her head and either puts words to a made up tune or to a tune that she knows.  She will sing stories, instructions, thoughts, etc., and sometimes play the electric keyboard (with no real music but keeping the tempo) and she can certainly carry the tune.  She got a CD player with a mic for her birthday (it is shaped like the coach from Cinderlla)  and loves to sing along and dance and get others involved in the party!

The creativity flows on the art projects as well.  She seems to be constantly thinking of new and different ideas for projects involving drawings (markers, crayons, etc.) or using scissors/construction paper and other supplies to make a variety of art.  She took a small paper plate the other day and made several cuts around the perimeter to give it the look of flower petals and she cut out a stem and leaves and used glue/tape to complete the flower.  She also used glue/glitter and markers to give it some color. All of this on her own, without any real help from mommy.  We'll keep an eye on all of this and keep giving her the tools and the time to let the juices flow.

That's my Boy

The Bomber certainly has his mind made up when it comes to the things he wants, or doesn't want for that matter.  He is definitely strong-willed and will cross his arms and furrow his brow when things aren't going his way, but he is also very cuddly and snuggly and expresses his feelings differently than the Nugget does.  Sometimes he is just playing me, and I know it, but I don't care - the other night I was going to put him down for bed and as I was getting up from the chair to make the transition to the bed, he said "dad, will you cuddle with me?"  How the heck do you say no to that?  I know it won't last forever, so I gladly complied.

Down by the River

Okay, so maybe it's not a river, but that just sounds better.  Uncle Joe bought the Nugget a starter fishing rod for her recent 5th birthday and included one for her brother as well.  The kids were both excited to go fishing and we were finally able to pull it together over the weekend at Johnson's Pond.  It was a hot, steamy day and we went at high noon - not the ideal time to catch fish but with just enough wriggle in our worms, we had some luck.  It probably pained Uncle Joe, experienced fly fisherman, to use bait, but we had to make sure the kids caught some fish so they would want to come on back the next time.  Liana assembled her outfit and got dolled up for the occasion but didn't shy away from touching the worms or the fish.  Henry rocked it too, and his very first fish was a calico bass.

A Fourth of July One!

It's been a while since I have updated anything here and just wanted to share a couple of quick blogs giving some updates about the latest and greatest fun we had over the long 4th of July weekend.  The kids had so much fun going to the fireworks at Patriot Place and watching the parade in Bridgewater.  The fireworks were great because they were in the parking lot at Gillette Stadium and we didn't get eaten alive by bugs.  The kids were mesmerized and teetered between sheer awe with serious faces and utter excitement with pointing and yelling.  Liana saw a red, white and blue firework and declared, "it's a 4th of July one!".  Of course, they all are, right?  Anyway, Henry shouted that statement over and over and pointed with excitement anytime he saw a red, white and blue one.  I didn't even watch a lot of the fireworks as I was busy taking pictures and watching the excitement through the eyes of the kids.