Most children went back to school on Monday, August 27. But, due to the construction of a new middle school building, Manheim Township didn't start this year until after Labor Day. So, while I had my first night of classes that evening, I was bound and determined to enjoy the day with my boys. After all, this time was a gift from heaven. I didn't want to miss even a moment by being unintentional! You can see in the pictures above that we started by playing with the animal puppets (gifts from their friend Kyler for going to his birthday party).
I gave the boys a list of other activities we could do, and they both picked painting next. I set up the easel and dug out the paints and brushes. Then, as soon as I laid Ryan down for his morning nap, we went down to the family room to paint. Here's Caleb with his blank canvas (or large coloring book).
He LOVES the color blue!
This was his finished masterpiece on this side of the easel.
Joshua chose the other side, which had the real "blank canvas." He started with his favorite color green.
Then he took a sponge and added read. He said "this is Jesus' cross" and the red is the blood He shed for us. I was surprised! And pleased... art is a great way to worship and express what we're thinking about. He was very happy doing his artwork.
I asked him to pose for me as he was going.
This was his finished masterpiece.
Then the boys switched sides. Joshua painted one of the pages of the coloring book we had, and he was more careful to paint inside the lines (even though the brushes aren't fine-tipped). They loved having painting time!
Can you tell?
From there, we went outside. I filled a bucket with water and dug out their water soaker. Joshua had gotten one from Nathan when he went to his party and Caleb had gotten one for his birthday from us. I set up empty water bottles out of the recycling bin on our water table. Then I told them to go ahead and shoot!
They had a blast. When the bottles didn't all get knocked over from far away, Joshua would cheat and go closer. I just laughed at his silliness!
Caleb had extremely good aim and loved knocking the bottles over with the water shooter!
Target practice was really fun for him!
They would each take turns. Joshua would set the bottles up for Caleb, and Caleb would set the bottles up for Joshua. They had fun.
Caleb acted like he was going to squirt me - no thanks, little man!
Thereafter, we played soccer. It was a beautiful day outside! We were so blessed to be home rather than in school!
We took turns being goalie and trying to kick the balls to score a point.
Many times we just decided to run around and be silly!
When we went inside, we played more games like our typical Yahtzee, Memory and Trouble. We also read our Berenstein Bears books (over and over and over again!). It had been a really fun day!
I didn't get pictures in the afternoon because the Schnook takes my hands and attention, too, but he joined the fun when he woke up.
Thank You, God, for the time I have with my boys. May I never take even one moment for granted!
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