Gingerbread, uh, Graham Cracker Houses

The downturn in the housing market hits Ottwork Academy.

NOooo…We just didn’t want to take the time to bake gingerbread, and so we resorted to Graham Crackers instead. I saw that my blogger buddy steviewren had done it, so I had to try.

We each made our own house…

Doodlebug’s:

 

Junebug’s:

Dr. SmartyPants’ Ferrari Factory – front and back:

My church:

And the whole village of “New Ginger” (so named by Junebug):

 

And much fun was had by all…

Monkey Music

The boys had their first ever guitar recital yesterday evening.  It was a large group of beginning guitarists, all playing (somewhat) together.  Too cute.

Childbloom Guitar Recital from Diahn Ott on Vimeo.

I was trying to embed the video here, but wordpress won’t let me. That stinks.

Chalky Monkey

It was a beautiful day today – crisp blue skies, warm sunshine – just the kind of day that makes a person want to sit outside and enjoy it.  So we did.

We made many chalky drawings on the cul-de-sac pavement, including some wonderfully fun chalk outlines of our shadows.

 

 

 

There’s just nothing like a warm autumn day, the company of the monkeys you love and a box of sidewalk chalk.

Drawing on the Memory

These boys can out draw me any day.  Junebug must have drawn 8 pictures today alone.  Doodlebug doesn’t have quite his output level, but he still manages to beat me in quantity. 

In any case they sat down today and just drew with abandon.  No agenda.  No models.  Just memory and imagination.  My favorite kind of kid drawing.

Doodlebug Helicopter

 

Junebug Ferrari

Guess Who Forgot the Sketchbooks?

Yep.  That would be the mama.  The mama that remembers to bring every last scrap of paper, usually.  Even though we don’t have any more room in the truck.

Not this time, though.  Not to be outdone, however, I picked up a park newspaper and let the monkey boys use that as their drawing paper.  They did a great job, in spite of mama’s oversight.

Doodlebug drew a tree with changing leaves:

And Junebug drew an elk:

Such good little monkeys…

Artober Kicks Off!

And all the Monkey Boys joined in!  My stuff is over at my art blog, but theirs (including Dr. SmartyPants) is here…

First up is the doc – he chose to draw a glass vase we keep on the kitchen counter…

Doodlebug went with the always popular car theme:

 

Junebug decided to draw one of my many roosters…front, side and back…

My personal fave:

We’ll be back tomorrow with my arty fun!  Hope you can join us!

Artober

 

Over at my other blog, I’m doing a month of daily drawings and/or paintings and calling it “Artober.”  I asked the boys this morning if they would like to play along, and they said “YES!”  So – they are.  I’ll post their daily drawings and maybe a story or two about them each day on this blog.  If you’d like to play along, feel free to grab the logo and post it on your site, link back to my art blog and then post your drawings!  

 

They don’t have to be great – just have fun…chalk a sidewalk, make a silhouette of you and your kiddoes, try a blind contour drawing…just give that right brain a workout!

Imagination Station

What do you get when you ban you boys from the backyard so you can stain your deck?

A living room full of race cars.

And complete indignation that they had to clean it up before they went to bed.

I love boys.

No Matter Where We Go

We went downtown today for the “Hola Festival” on Market Square.  It was a big celebration of Latin American culture right in the heart of Knoxville.  The boys picked up a passport and went around to all the country’s tables to learn something about the different countries in North, Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean and Spain.  At each table they received a flag sticker for that country in their passport.

What did they learn?  Well – there are penguins in southern Chile and they are called “los penguinos” in Spanish.  That was the single most interesting (to 7 and 8 year old boys) thing at the festival.  That, and the man who made balloon creations.

Because no matter where we go…a swordfight must arise…

Dig those crazy balloon shadows…

Ouch.

 

We’ve had a traumatic week already.  While playing tennis Monday morning, Junebug whacked Doodlebug upside the head with his racket.  It was a complete accident.  Junebug never saw him – his was just swinging and had a nice follow through for once – Doodlebug was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Thankfully, there as a nice ER physician on the next court who was in the right place at the right time for us and she gave him a thorough examination and pronounced him bruised but not broken. 10 minutes later he was up playing again – so well, in fact, that I suggested we should hit him upside the head before every game.

Then, today, Junebug had to go for his 7-year-old checkup.  And 3 shots.  And a finger-prick.  Lord.  The volume level his screaming reached has not been matched in the natural world.  And that was before they even gave him the shot.  I passed out when they actually stuck him, the noise was so deafening.  I think he broke my eardrum.  Doodlebug had his hands over his ears, big grimace on his face.  Next time, we’re bringing ear protection.  No lie.

Tomorrow Doodlebug gets a flu shot.  Let’s hope he handles it a little better.  I don’t think my head can’t take the trauma.  And someone please explain to me why I can’t manage to schedule things a little better – couldn’t we have done this today while we were at the doctor’s office?  sigh.

We have to take the dogs and the cat to the vet tomorrow.  At least they don’t scream when they get their shots.  

They don’t request the Disney store and McDonald’s afterwards, either.  Guess what we’ll be doing tomorrow afternoon?  Hello mall…