Rembrandt Anyone?

We are studying the works of Rembrandt this term and so after looking at "Aristotle with a bust of Homer" and his self-portraits I introduced them to "The Nightwatch":



I tried to teach them about depth and light using this painting. I'm not sure that they grasped the whole 2 dimensional/ 3 dimensional concept being that paper is only 2 dimensional yadda yadda yadda but in the end I love their approach (we used water colors).

Here's Camerons attempt:


And here's Aidans:


I love teaching these guys!

St. Patrick's Day

I am ashamed to say that this is the first year the Fewkes have "celebrated" St. Paddy's Day. Of course growing up this was a Huge day for the McBride clan. Mom and dad would have their annual "sober" party with all the irish mormons in town, it was a real hoot. I remember lots of singing and my father running around playing the penny whistle (an instrument that he doesn't really know how to play), until the wee hours of the morning. For us our celebration consisted of me getting up early to make green eggs, green milk, and kiwi for breakfast while listening to the Dubliners. And of course i had the children wear green, it was fun and reminded me of the pride i have for my heritage. At one point Aidan turned to Tim and asked "when are you going to be irish daddy?" Poor Tim, the only non-Irish of the bunch.

Cam's fashion sense....

So about 6 months ago Cam came striding into the kitchen and declared that he had gotten "this" hat for FREE at a garage sale down the street. Busily washing the dishes i finally turned around and saw this....


I mean don't get me wrong, i have nothing against the Green Bay Packers, I don't even watch football...ever. But I HATE THE HAT. There, i've said it. Over the past six months i have been on a quest to rid this house of that hat but to no avail. Cameron has this uncanny ability to intercept and foil my plans for destruction. I have to hold my tongue EVERY time he wears it for fear that i will cruch his spirit. I need suggestions on how to trash the hat without scarring the boy, and no, a nighttime job won't work... he asks for it everyday.

Typical afternoon....

We do school from 8:30-11:30 am so that leaves the rest of the day for fun times. After "quiet time" we all head to the streets. I usually pull out a lawn chair and let the kids go wild so here are some action shots.