Art Time at the Minthorne's

For a rainy afternoon activity we got out the paints and some card stock. I turned on our usual painting music, Classical. It helps the boys focus and also puts the dogs to sleep, which is a nice change when they (the dogs) are on the wild side due to rain and no walks.

Nathan painted a picture of me, while Aiden was apparently inspired by the Classical music in a different way. He proudly announced that he would be painting a picture of Queen Elizabeth. After he'd been painting for a little while, he says, "Oh no! Her nose looks like a tan mustache! And everyone knows that Queen Elizabeth is a lady and does NOT have a mustache!". As you can see by the picture, he took care of the problem by filling in her skin tone so only the nose holes are visible. He has requested to mail the painting to Buckingham Palace. The likelihood of that happening has yet to be discussed.

Mini John

We've been told many times that Aiden is a mini John. Just like his father in so many ways. Today was no exception.

This whole thing really began yesterday when I was attempting to put together a console table I had purchased at Fred Meyer. I was having some difficulty (IKEA they are not when it comes to uniform pieces and directions), so I enlisted Aiden's help with tools and directions. He must have had a great time. I say this because when I took a small dresser out of the boys' room with the plans of giving it to Goodwill, Aiden asked if he could get John's tools again and take the dresser apart. Sure, why not? He needs mental stimulation after he gets home from school and it kept him occupied for HOURS.

Fast forward to dinner. Aiden finishes his dinner, runs upstairs, and comes back down the stairs carrying a screwdriver. He then proceeds to attempt to "fix" the screws on our wall mounted curtain pullbacks. We discourage this and he heads straight for a light switch cover. We really discouraged that one, explaining that he could get an electric shock. After a while, Aiden and Nathan head upstairs to get ready for bed while John and I put dinner away. A few minutes later we hear Nathan yell, "Aiden took off some light switch covers!!". This was the resulting conversation:

John: "Aiden, you were told that doing that was dangerous".
Aiden: "But I didn't get an electric shock!".
John: "I know that, because the lights didn't flash and we're not currently taking you to the hospital."
Aiden: "You know, my first hospital visit was before I was born. It was due to pregnancy. But not MY pregnancy. Boys tend to not get pregnant".

Oh my. Conversations with Aiden are always incredibly....interesting. So we learned a valuable lesson today: You tell Aiden that he can take one thing apart and suddenly he's dismantling the entire house. I don't have to wonder who he gets that from. (Hint: Its John)

A Toothless Wonder

Aiden lost a top front tooth today! He yanked this one out himself. A big change from the first loose tooth that required hours of coaxing and lots of tears. This one had been loose for over a month, but wasn't making much progress until he got knocked in the mouth at wrestling last Monday. I guess it just needed the help!

Waiting

I had a preschool council meeting last night, which usually ends up resulting in a rather late night. When I finally got home, I went upstairs and saw this in the doorway of the boys' room. Nathan had been waiting for me to get home and just couldn't stay awake. I love that he's holding tight to his stuffed Olivia doll.