Friends, Kinders, and Monet Week

"Give a friend a hug, hug a friend next to you. Hug a friend, oh, you'll be so glad you did!" (lyrics from I Like Being a Kid, Brian Kinder)...I love their wholeheartedness here. Saturday, we went to watch Brian and Terri Kinder perform at the library downtown. They're great. We love their music, and it's a lot of fun for the kids to participate. Our friends, Lori and Paul, met us there, and we got to spend the day with them. We got to know them 11 years ago, when Ryan and Paul had a lot of hair on their heads and before there were any kids. They have four great kids, and it's a fun little zoo when we get together. After the concert, we walked over to shop at the farmer's market, then ate lunch at Macaroni Grill.

singing their hearts out
farmer's market
Dash and Saylor, dueling silly faces
I just can't get enough of little Atticus...

and apparently, everyone else feels the same way.

Monday, two of our favorite little kiddos, "H" and "E" came to spend the day with us. We met their parents in childbirth class when I was pregnant with Tornado, and they were expecting "H." They are special friends of ours. The kids are always so excited to have company. They rode the 4 wheelers and played freeze tag outside, before the overwhelming heat beckoned us inside.

They joined in on our Monet Week by watching Claude Monet from the Getting the Know the Greatest Artist Series. We took our paper and paints outside to create Monet-inspired art. They had mentioned on the video that Monet himself did not like to be confined in a studio and preferred to go outside to paint. You can buy the book versions of the DVD's for $2.99 here.

We talked about how Monet liked to draw pictures of landscapes, flowers, etc. and also silly pictures of people. "E" decided to draw silly pictures of snowmen, which were adorable. The other three kids painted scenery. We talked about how Monet had visible brush strokes and blended a lot of colors, which they did a great job replicating. They also experimented with sponges and cotton balls to get the right "look."

And...of course...it was inevitable.

"H," putting the final touches on her volcano/beach...After they finished painting, we also watched the DVD version of the book Linnea in Monet's Garden, which is a story of a young girl who travels with her elderly friend to Monet's home and garden to witness the inspiration behind his work. They discuss different aspects of his paintings, such as how he used light/shadow and how, from far away, the scene is obvious, but when you look closely, it appears to be just a "blob" of paint.

Sissy loved having an older girl around that would dote upon her and that she could lead around. I often saw them cuddled in a chair throughout the day, while "H" read books to her.