Wordless Wednesday: Happy Halloween!

A big spider-ly 'hi!' and wishing you and your family a safe Halloween.

Families That Doodle Together Stay Together

Daytime & Nighttime Dancers

Ok, doodling in and of itself is not the secret that binds families together.  However, this week, I was reminded of just how important shared interests and family fun are in encouraging strong bonds.  A friend of mine was talking on Facebook about a cool free site that she loves to use for doodle breaks: Pixlr.com.  After seeing some of her beautiful drawings, I HAD to check it out for myself.

Although not the most talented, I am an artist at heart.  Years ago, I regularly painted and sketched as hobbies.  But with the chaos of motherhood, I’ve sidestepped these interests for now.  This site seemed like a small, much less expensive way to appease my creative desires (much like my recent discovery of the joys of amateur movie making last month).  So I eagerly punched in the web address and set to work at figuring out the many tools of the Pixlr Editor.

Curious to see what I was doing, my 5-year-old daughter came to watch.  Seeing all the beautiful colors and neat designs I could make on the screen, she immediately started spouting ideas for things that I could draw.  As I was randomly doodling, a face started to appear in my drawing, and my little girl exclaimed, “Mommy, we HAVE to make a girl!”

As I let inspiration and her suggestions guide my hand, in time our shared project took shape and we decided to make it a doodle of daytime and nighttime dancers.  It’s not a masterpiece, but the smiles it brought to our faces were.  It was so incredibly fun to do something randomly creative with my little one and to see where our combined ideas could take us!  Within a half an hour, we had created something new and unique—something that neither of us would have been able to make without the other.  In this little drawing, I still see my princess’s excitement and enthusiasm and I can still hear her giggles and squeals of delight.

We have already made plans to print this doodle out, frame it, and then start our own wall of family art.  With a simple site, we have ignited a common family interest and years from now, we will have these memories and art to share.  There is something about hands united in a mutual activity that reminds us of how lucky we are to have our family and of why we work so hard every week to keep our family happy, healthy, and provided for.

What do you do with your children to help keep your family strong and connected?

PLAY-DOH . . . Sometimes More Like Play-Don't!

In 1956, a wonderful creation was born: PLAY-DOH!  You can twist it, smash it, cut it, and roll it.  You can mold it into anything your imagination can fathom.  Yet, you can ball it back up and start all over again.  As long as you make sure to reseal the container, the fun never ends!

As a child, I could sit for hours experimenting with my PLAY-DOH.  My mom gave my younger brother and I a bag full of cookie cutters and other utensils to use to cut, slice, and texture our little projects.  Out of all of my childhood toys, I think this was my favorite.  In fact, I still enjoy PLAY-DOH today and have passed my love down to my own children.

Unfortunately, though, my children have caused a lot of mischief over the years with this wonderful modeling compound!  They have gotten it stuck in our family dog’s fur.  They have shoved it in their noses and ears.  I have found it hardened in the carpeting and inside of toys.  They have even eaten it a time or two.  (My daughter, almost 5, still insists that blue PLAY-DOH tastes the best!)

I have walked into PLAY-DOH “food” fights. I have found it stuffed into the floppy disk drive of my old computer.  I have found PLAY-DOH “CD's” inside the CD player of my stereo.  I even have had to plunge dried PLAY-DOH out of the bathtub drain.  Yes, it has been one wild adventure with my son and daughter!

I often wonder if perhaps I was guilty of some of the same PLAY-DOH disasters when I was young.  For the life of me, though, all I see in my mind’s eye is a sweet girl, tranquilly playing at the table.  Knowing the curious and rambunctious child I was, I know better!  I can almost guarantee that I, too, left lots of PLAY-DOH “surprises” for my own parents.

Now that my children are a little older and I a lot wiser, PLAY-DOH time has become a wonderful family activity.  All of the compound stays well out of reach until it is time to play.  I have also learned to watch for the warning signs (i.e., when my daughter starts licking it, it means trouble!).  Now, I can sit back and enjoy watching my children’s creativity take shape, as well as join in the fun myself.  Ultimately, I have to conclude that life wouldn’t be nearly as fun or as interesting without this ingenious invention!