Miles Franklin Art Show

Miles Franklin Primary puts on an art show every second year. This year is the first time we have actually been here to see it. And I'm impressed! The hall has been transformed into the best art gallery i have ever seen! Every child has two pieces on display, every class has a display and there is one whole school piece.

 Matthew chose to display this piece. It is a 3D shading piece.

To celebrate the national year of reading every class made a book.

 

 Ben's class' book is called 'School of fish'

 Matthew's is the Clever Chooks

 And Ryan can't remember what his class book is called!

 Matthew's second piece is a tribute to Sidney Nolan and is a Ned Kelly piece.

 Ben is a huge fan of Picasso and you should hear him spout Pablo Picasso facts and jokes. Ben loves to tell you that he loves Pablo Picasso to bits and bits! Get it!!

 Ryan and Matthew's were displayed together!

 Ryan did some newspaper art.

 These totem poles were made by the whole school.

 Ben's duckling pond

Ryan's string painting.

 

My children have thoroughly enjoyed the Art unit this term so much so that Ben wants to be an artist when he grows up!

A computer geek in the making...

The day after they pulled they washing machine apart I found Ryan in the backyard with the circuit board and a screwdriver in his lap. He was so engrossed in it! I have no doubt that he was trying to figure out how it all worked. That kid is going to be a geeky, science/computer nerd and he is going to love every minute of it!

Every Sunday is father's day

We have a ritual every Sunday in this house and it is exclusively for people with a Y chromosome! So when Fathers day rolled around the boys just wanted to do what they always do.....

 Coffee, donuts and the newspaper!

So after they had given their gifts it was off to the mall before Dad could come home and install the door bell he got for fathers day! I got to stay home and clean the house in peace! And I am fine with that!

Like father, like sons

Nathan loves to pull things apart to see how they work. It turns out so do his sons! When I wanted my beloved washing machine tuned into a pot plant Nathan was more than happy to oblige. Mainly because it meant pulling something apart. And also because he had been really curious about what had been making that horrendous noise!

 The boys learnt a vital skill and mantra to go with it. They now know how to use a screwdriver and recite "lefty loosey, righty tighty". Please, please, please God don't let them pull apart everything that has a screw in it!

 Because they certainly enjoyed pulling apart the washing machine.

 Daddy even had them cutting cable ties with pliers and undoing bolts with a socket wrench. Again using the lefty loosey, righty tighty principle!

After much wrestling and no fun at all I ended up with a washing machine drum/pot plant!

Recycle, reuse, reduce

Nearly 10 years ago Nathan and I were given a washing machine as a wedding present. Unfortunately it didn't last as long as our marriage has but we haven't held that against it. Because it was so loved it has been recycled and has begun its new life as a pot plant! I love it as much as I did in its former life!

6 months of school!

So Ben has been at school for 6 months and this is his entry to the Miles Franklin Brilliant Writers competition. You might remember that Matthew won a prize in last yearscompetition.
 The story is:-

One day a bugy went to a frens house to play chest his frend beet him so he plaid a gen and wun and they had fun and they plaid for eva.

For those of you who aren't fluent in kindy speak his story goes like this:-

One day a budgie went to a friends house to play chess (or chest as it is known in this house! What can I say it is a house full of boob men!) his friend beat him so he played again and won and they had fun and they played for ever.

We had a hysterical conversation with him over the word 'again' he swears it is two words!
Anyway we are very proud of his effort and wish him well in the competition. Gee I hope there are no rules about submitting previously published work!

Mother of the year

Tonight at dinner we had a discussion around strategies in the playground because Ben got in trouble at school today because he was playing piggy in the middle and when the kids wouldn't play by the rules Ben got punchy. After discussing the various things Ben could have done other than hurt his best friend Matthew piped up with how a bully at school had been asking to play with him and his friends. He then told me how they tell this boy their Mum's wont let them play with him. Which in turn started a discussion about how bully's have feelings too. We also pointed out that if Ben continues to be mean to his friends their Mum's aren't going to want them to play with him either! We then work shopped ideas on how to not hurt the bully's feelings yet not end up having to play with him. My suggestion was ask him to play the waiting game and send him off in search of a long wait! Matthew then pipes up with how he is going to offer to play hide and seek with him and then not bother seeking! Makes their favourite saying when they were toddlers playing hide and seek "8,9,10 Coming or not!" less humorous!
By the way my advice wasn't bad parenting, was it???