Connor’s lesson was on Friday morning at the start of the day.  The other mom had the supplies ready the day before, therefore the morning was easy with no prep needed and I just showed up at line up to walk in with Connor.  The topic of the day was another element of art, shapes.  I started the lesson first; we talked about geometric and free-form shapes, and man-made vs natural shapes.  I discussed one painting, then another mom showed another one and explained the project to the kids.  Next the children returned to their seats to start.  They could either cut or tear out shapes with construction papers to put together a scarecrow.  The class did extremely well during the entire lesson; they were engaged in discussion, listened well for the instruction, and carefully put together their unique scarecrows.  Since everyone was so focused in doing their work, the teacher allowed the kids extra time.  Connor was proud of what he did; he called me over to check it out periodically and ask me to take a picture to show daddy. 

    On a side note, I noticed some classroom desks had been rearranged, and it turned out that Connor’s tablemates were chatting too much and the teacher made a change for the day.  Connor however really enjoyed the new individual desks as he felt it was like being in an older classroom.

     On Saturday morning, Connor saw my materials for the lesson, so he wanted to lead the class too.  He had me make a scarecrow while he taught me steps by steps.  What’s also made me happy was when I saw one of Connor’s classmates today at a birthday party, she said “Mrs. Brown, when will we get our scarecrow back?”

I took off the morning to volunteer at Logan’s class today.  We had our second Art Vista lesson, and the topic was masks.  My partner mom and I arrived shortly after school started and began preparing for the lesson.  We had to cut out 30 balls of clay and laid out all the tools.  When the class arrived to join us, I began with the introduction about masks and showed them a painting with masks.  I brought an iPad and showed some pictures of cultural masks.  The kids were excited to see the images.  Next my partner demonstrated making a clay mask, then it was the kids’ turn. They rolled out a ball of clay, cut out the shape. Then they drew in or cut out eyes and mouths. Some attached big noses and added different feature to the faces.  Logan had a slower start but he came back strong.  When I returned once, he was excited to show me the cool mask he was making.  At the end, all the artwork looked awesome.  Some kids loved their masks so much that they were worried as the parents helped transported their precious creations onto a tray.  The masks are now waiting to be fired in the kiln. We are looking forward to see the final products soon.

    Logan had a home project to make an adorable turkey in hopes of being chosen to be pardoned in his class.  When we were at Michaels that day, we suggested some materials for Logan to buy.  Then he put together a turkey on his own a little bit at a time over the two weekends.  He was proud of his Wimpy.

    Connor wanted to make something as well, so we bought a turkey craft set for him at Michaels too.  Over the weekend when he and I walked over to the farmer’s market, we also picked up many pretty colored leaves to add to his turkey project.  At the end, he made a nice Thanksgiving greeting card for his teacher. 

    The boys and I had a three-day weekend; it was a much needed break and a time for me to catch up with some housework.  We started it out with Rohan coming over to play on Friday morning.  Stuart had to work, so I was in charge watching the kids and making sure that they were not overly rowdy.  The three of them were easy together, I just needed to remind them periodically to take breaks from video games, so they played Two-square in the yard and ate some snacks.  In the afternoon, after Rohan left, I took the boys out to get a haircut.  We also hoped to go get Logan a new pair of eyeglasses, but since there was a long line, the boys and I opted out and went home instead.  We waited for Stuart to be done with work so we could go out for a dinner.

    In the next two mornings, we played our recent favorites, tennis and driving range.  Stuart and I are happy that both boys are sharing our interests.  But on Sunday when we were at the driving range, Logan was not as into it and in a bit of a huff, but Connor continued to do a great job listening to instruction, watching and taking his time.

    On Saturday night we had a movie night the boys had been asking for awhile.  We watched the 5th Harry Potter movie.  The boys enjoyed it, even though they both, especially Connor, were scared at times.  But that night Connor woke up and came to our room three times reporting having bad dreams.  So I guess that ends our Harry Potty movie series for a while.

     A couple of weeks ago, Logan asked to learn how to knit.  He had seen some kids knitting at CDC and was interested to give it a try.  We finally made it to the Michaels store over a weekend to check out the supplies.  I was debating if knitting with needles or crocheting might be a bit easier for kids.  Fortunately I had spotted the equipment the girls were using at CDC once, so we decided to pick up these knitting looms to try too.  After dinner, Logan could not wait to give it a try, and of course Connor was excited too.  I tried Logan on crocheting, and quickly realized that it was too hard.  Then we moved on to the knitting looms.  Logan managed to get started on it, and I worked with Connor on his.  I guess it was late by then; Logan got frustrated and started tearing up which was very unusual.  It was bedtime for all of us.

    The next Sunday morning, Logan came to our room and asked me to help him to get back on track.  Since then he asked to knit a little bit every night.  He managed to learn how to do almost everything on his own with a little guidance from me periodically.  He enjoyed it when I sat with him, so I ended up trying this loom thing myself and keeping him company.  Connor was excited initially, and half of the process he needed my help, so we usually sat together when he worked on it.  His excitement did not last as long as Logan’s, so his hat was only a quarter underway.  For Logan, yesterday he completed his very first hat and it was made in just one week.  He was so proud to wear it all evening.

     Both Logan and Connor were invited to Maxim’s house on Sunday morning.  We dropped them off early and Stuart and I managed to find a store that opened early so we could do some clothes shopping.  We had a very productive morning without the kids, buying something for ourselves and for Logan as he has been outgrowing his pants.  We also purchased some Christmas lights for the house, and had a quick lunch before picking up the boys. 

      We let the boys have a snack at the house, then I accompanied Connor to attend his classmate’s birthday party at a bowling alley.  Connor wanted me to stay at the party, and I was happy to sit down to take a rest.  Connor was low key there; he quietly went up to get the ball, throw it out and walk back to the seat.  Even after he got one strike and two spares, he still just quietly showed his excitement to me.  He was happy that his score was catching up to the birthday boy’s.  Next it was pizza time in the party room.  Connor found a seat with one of his friends and enjoyed some pizza and a cupcake.  The party ended quite shortly after; Connor thanked the host and received a gift bag before we headed home.