Our Family Circle

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...I SERIOUSLY love my kids!  Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of fights/whining/crying/annoying each other that happen in our house, but I swear, when things like this happen, it just makes me feel like I'm living in some sort of surreal world.

Today Bart and I thoroughly enjoyed some peace and quiet, as the girls played outside.  After a while they came in and announced that they had something to show us.  When we got out there, this is what greeted us:

It is a family circle.  Addison drew it with the help of the other three girls.  Around the outside it says, "Families can be together forever" and "I Love my Family."  Then, it's split into six pieces, one for each member of our family.  Each section is filled with a picture of the person, and things that person likes.

While we were out there, the girls remembered a few more things that dad and I like. 

Starting with the baby:

Lilly likes:
Sunshine, Flowers, Bananas, Shark-o (a stuffed animal), Butterflies, and Her Snowman.

 


Maya Likes:

Squid-O (her stuffed animal),  Perry the Platypus, Her Snowman, Ladybugs, Butterflies, and Sunshine.



Hannah Likes:

Rainbows, Sunshine, Flowers, Fishing, Bananas, and Her Blankie.



Addison Likes:

Rainbows,  Butterflies, Flowers, Art, Fruit, and Sunshine.

 

Mom Likes:

Taking Pictures, Flowers, Her Kids, The Beach, Sunshine, and Gardening.

 

Dad Likes:

Sunshine, Art, Reading, Playing Video Games, Playing Board Games, and Fishing.

 

A Joint Art Show

So this year Bart contacted Addison's first grade teacher and asked if her class would be interested in doing a joint art show with his high school students.  Mrs. Boles said, "Absolutely!" So the show was on!

Addison's class drew pictures of monsters and then Bart's ceramic class sculpted them.



I picked up the pictures from Mrs. Boles, made copies of them, and dropped off the copies at Bart's class.  When he saw them, he got sooooooo excited!  They were so good!  He couldn't believe first grader's had drawn them!



The whole sculpting process was a bit stressful for Bart...especially since there were more students in Addison's class than in his, but several students did multiples, and a few teachers helped out too, so every first grade picture had a great sculpture that went along with it.   And when the kids came to the art show and were soooooo excited to see the sculptures of their art work, it made all of the hard work and stress TOTALLY worth it!!!



 Bart got to sculpt Addison's monster, so that was pretty cool too.  :)



Bart's class took a vote and they elected to give the sculptures to the elementary school students, so they took a field trip over to the elementary school to give them the sculptures.  It was so awesome!  The kids were so excited! 

They put the art on display at the school for the last few weeks of school. 






I got WAY more pictures than I posted here, but I didn't want to bombard you with a million pictures. 

Needless to say, it is something we hope to repeat in the future!!!  :)

I'm Going to Brag a Little Bit

Today...well, today was not the greatest day.  For many reasons, but the most significant of which involved much throw up and an unhappy baby and daddy.  (I'm just PRAYING nobody else gets it).

That being said, there is one member of our family that seriously just shined today.  This little girl:

I cannot tell you how many times I asked her to get diapers, towels, bowls to catch throw up in, disinfectant whipes, etc, or to get food for or play with/entertain her sisters that were feeling okay, and EVERY time she did it with a cheerful, "Okay mom!" Seriously she is a saint!  I truly do not know what I would do without her.

At one point when everyone else was taking naps.  She entertained herself by drawing some pictures.  After everyone was in bed for the night, when I was finally able to pick up the inevitable mess of a day like this, I ran across what she had drawn, and just about melted.

I don't think she meant for them to be, but I swear, these are totally self portraits.  It shows exactly how she was today: A little mother bird.  Helping wherever she could, whenever she was needed.   I know I've said it before, but I'm SOOOOOO grateful for (and proud of) my little mother bird!

The Way I View - Fatherhood

Good grief, how is it July already?  Well, I'm not going to lie, my plans for my Fatherhood posts turned out much like my plans for my Motherhood post.  Except I didn't realize I hadn't fulfilled my plans until...well...today...which was a bit too late for the month of June.

Fortunately, Bart is out of school for the summer, so we've been doing lots of stuff as a family, so I had lots of pictures of him.  There are some definite benefits to being a school teacher.   :)

We started off the month visiting the Children's Art's Festival in Springville.  And honestly, I'm pretty sure I couldn't have planned on pictures that are more illustrative of the special bond Bart has with our girls than these. THIS is their thing.  This is what they do together.  What they bond over.  Bart is an art teacher, and the girls absolutely LOVE it when he does any type of art with them.  And I KNOW that the feeling is mutual.

I was horrified when we got to the art's festival and realized I had left my camera at home.  Fortunately Bart had his iPhone, so all was not lost and I was able to capture the day with that. 

Just like Motherhood is not all fun and games, neither is Fatherhood.  This month we had to replace part of our fence that had blown down in a windstorm.  It had blown down a while ago, but Bart had absolutely no time to work on it because he was trying desperately to finish his Master's degree.  Technically at this point he wasn't done, but he had submitted it and was waiting for a response from the Dean, so he thought he'd take the day he had to put up the fence. 

In the process of digging the holes for the posts, he realized that the roots of a dead tree were right in the way, so pulling down the dead tree moved from relatively low on his to do list to first priority. 

Unfortunately, pulling out the tree wound up breaking EVERY SINGLE sprinkler connected to the sprinkler box right next  to the tree.  So fixing that was added to his to do list that day. 

It was a long (although quite productive) day.  He NEVER would have been able to do it all without the help (and positive attitude) of our good friend.  Seriously Jake, I'm pretty sure we owe you for the rest of our lives!  Thank you!

Fortunately, the good things tend to outweigh the...trying things.  Ice Cream with the girls.  AWESOME. (Don't worry, that's face paint on Hannah's face, not some sort of crazy scratch.)

And going to the older girls' performances, and seeing them dance and sing and have a great time...a total perk of fatherhood.

Even if life isn't always sunshine and roses, I sure am grateful I'm going through it with this guy.  And I'm so grateful he's my girls' dad.  They are so lucky to have a father who loves and adores them so much.  I love you babe!

Head on over to Candace's blog to see her take on fatherhood (I promise it'll make you smile). ;)