Another play date...

The boys had their friends over again last Friday for another play date... I've mentioned before in previous posts how I like to have a variety of fun activities prepared in advance for the boys to participate in, with the intent to keep them busy and distract them from making a mess of my home... this play date though was an exception of its kind.  I really didn't have ANYTHING planned for the boys to do; I was hoping they'd spend most of their time during the play date playing outside on the jumper, riding scooters or bikes.  I wanted the weather to be warm, so the boys could have water gun fights, but instead it was muggy and cool.  For the first 30 minutes of the play date, it felt as though I had at least one of the boys on my heels every 5 minutes, asking me what he could do because he'd already played with everything else... I could see that the next 2 1/2 hours were going to pass fairly slowly if I didn't plan some activities QUICKLY!  

I decided to have the boys make their own "BODY DOUBLES".  I found some old butcher paper in our art closet and then I had each of the boys lay down on the paper, so I could outline their little bodies with a pencil; after which I traced back over the pencil with a black permanent marker.  I let all of the boys paint their "BODY DOUBLES" with Dot Markers (originally I was going to let them use actual tempera paints but I figured it would be wisest to keep the mess to a minimum with just the Dot Markers).  All of the boys enjoyed this art project (thankfully); some of the boys thought to add belly buttons to their pictures, eyes, noses and Noah even added earrings (you know, barrels, the kind that make your earlobes HUGE).  We had a couple of boys (i.e. NOAH) think it was funny to draw anatomically correct body pieces on their "BODY DOUBLES"; with out even having to tell the other boys what it was, they all seemed to know and thought that it was SO funny!  I was MORTIFIED of course and insisted that he color over it.  Noah's only 4 years old and ALREADY he knows how to stir up controversy! Oh well, I'm over it now.  I'm just thankful none of the other mothers were there to see it.  He really wasn't trying to be crude like how I suppose a 12 or 13 year old boy might be, but instead he was just proud of himself for adding all the details... besides, can you really blame a kid who just got COMPLETELY potty trained only a few months ago???

Anyhow, here's a look at the boys "BODY DOUBLES"...

This is Noah's, PRIOR to him adding a "certain" body part to the picture... 

Don't you love that his head looks like a DEW DROP; 

that would be of course because of his faux hawk...

(which by the way, Noah and Ian found a pair of scissors this morning 

and cut bit of pieces of each others faux hawks off!)

Adam was the first to finish painting his "BODY DOUBLE"...

I think Daniel was the only one who drew his belly button...

Tate decided to make his "BODY DOUBLE" look less like him and more like a rainbow.

Ian painted too, but he DID NOT want me too outline his body... 

Here's a shot of the whole gang painting...

The art project kept the boys busy for while and after they were all finished (those of the boys who had not yet been picked up) planted herb seeds in empty egg shells.  Very briefly I discussed with them how plants grow and almost immediately after wards two of the boys asked why their plants in their eggshells hadn't grown!  They were extremely disappointed. 

An empty eggshell + some soil + a few seeds + some water = our science experiment for the day.

I thought I'd add this last picture just because...

I happened to look out my window while I was preparing the boys their lunch and saw this...

Road side assistance.

Disclaimer: I SWEAR upon my life that the morning I dressed Ian in the black shirt above it actually fit him!  I don't know WHAT happened between 9 a.m. and noon that suddenly made the shirt look eensy weensy on him.  I PROMISE you, I do not normally dress my children in undersized clothing; he is NOT a hick, even though he kinda looked like one that day.  Please don't judge us!