"Hands up! Nobody move!"

As if my day wasn't colorful enough already, busy and generally overflowing with life. Today started with the motivational warmth of early springtime sunshine, and found us completing lots of errands soaking up of the first glints of seasonal change as the day marched on. Aspen, Birch and I started the day reading stacks of stories wrapped in the scent of the fresh air and cinnamon rolls, and then had a rendezvous at the children's museum with some sweet friends. I was buzzing with good coffee most of the day and checking things off of the to-do list like:

• REGISTER KOA FOR DRIVER'S ED

• ROB A BANK TO PAY FOR DRIVER'S ED! *

• TXFR $$$ FROM SAVINGS->CHECKING TO COVER DRIVER'S ED

• SEND INSURANCE FORMS!!! 

• BUY MORE BOOZE FOR BOOZY COFFEE 

• FIND EYES FOR TAXIDERMY BIRTHDAY BASH!

• BOOTS BOOTS BOOTS

The day would have been complete had it just ended there, but Birch wanted to do something crafty and the new paints we purchased on sale last night (while searching for the eyes for the aforementioned taxidermy birthday bash) seemed like just the draw for him. We didn't find what we were looking for last night but my kid sure did hot-wire one of the Rascal scooters while I patiently waited for the slowest checker on the planet to scan my five items. In the time it took her to complete my transaction Birch managed to knock a chunk of plaster off a wall and bowl over a candy display fixture, one fellow customer, and an entire 6' long magazine rack full of quilting, cupcake and crochet periodicals.

"Mama, did you see me drive?" enthusiastic pride pouring from his dimples.
Yes, Birch, I saw you drive. (trying to conceal my laughter and simultaneous social mortification)
"I drove that motorcycle right past the obst-ta-tles so fast, and it was awesome!"
Yep, that's right... Awesome. It was awesome. That, son, is what we call a euphemism.
"Driving my motorcycle awesome is one moose it isn't?"
Yep, that too. 

Twenty-four hours later I am giggling thinking about the incident and decide to put away the items I couldn't bring myself to look at upon returning home last night. And then there was paint. Lots and lots of paint.

stencils

Aspen hadn't painted like this before in his life, on a canvas all official-like, and Birch was thrilled at the chance to paint me up like a "green kissing paint magic monster" and to have my full and undivided attention directed at meeting his requests for certain colors, tools, or positioning of the canvas. It was messy, it triggered my anxiety about "destroying" our home, it quickly became something I had zero control over, and it was so incredible to see my boys so content. Aspen began painting his body long before he came to understand the purpose of the canvas and Birch seemed content to just mix and mix and mix the paint, happy with the sensory experience of the substance alone.

 

Eventually, though, my anxiety quelled to the sound of pure and unbridled joy as my boys made these incredible pieces. I am really excited to have them, and to hang them in our common space. Not to mention the large sheet of adorable gift wrap courtesy of little hands and feet anxious to dance and covered in paint...

It was simple! I used Frog Tape to secure stencils of the boys' initials in place on the canvas, let them choose their colors and their methods, and stepped back to watch the artistic process unfold before me. Followed up by some mandatory water time--"Hands up! Nobody move! And straight to the bathroom you go!"--this activity quickly whittled away almost an hour and a half. Go on, get messy!

a green kissing paint magic monster

*NOTE: "ROB A BANK TO PAY FOR DRIVER'S ED" never actually made it to my to-do list because, well, obviously I was too busy cleaning paint out of strange places to do anything else today. That's why it's crossed out, just in case you found yourself wondering (or you work for the NSA and are still reading my blog because of the toilet bomb incident).