I is for Imagination

Like I said, Andrew was in charge of Vincent this year. Here are some of the bests.

He quickly realized it gets old fast and you run out of ideas/steam about halfway through. I helped him with a few. Today I have no idea where Vincent is. Andrew said he hid him good, and no one is looking for him. 

This was day two. It cracked me up. 

They are watching YouTube. (this was my contribution)

It took the boys forever and a few hints to get it.

It took Avery less than 5 minutes. 

 

I is for Imagination

First thing this morning, there was a caterpillar crawling in my room. 

I called for Andrew to come fetch it; he's our resident critter getter. 

He said "Now we can't rush this, we have to do it gently" as he scooped it up. 

"you can't just fling it around out side." and he placed it gently on the dirt outside.

One time he was in charge of putting our neighbor Lilly's garbage can out to the sidewalk.

When he got back, I checked to make sure he accomplished the task (he often forgets mid-chore what he's supposed to do). 

He said "yep and there were two worms hiding under the garbage can, so I relocated them back under the garbage can in the new spot."

He just got a new/old Nintendo DS, so this weekend he made a game case out of the piles and piles of cardboard in our garage (we made an IKEA closet!)

The front,

the back.

I hope you can read that. He's such a salesman. 

Neighborhood whiffle ball.

He is by far my most creative child. It actually trips him up sometimes when he is supposed to be focusing or accomplishing a task. At parent/teacher conference we discussed this point. 

It's the same song and dance every single teacher has said about Andrew: 

so creative! so likable! so much in la la land!

This time Mr. Higgins shrugged his shoulders and said "he's highly capable."

(ps he is super smart at math)

This weekend Evan got out the Lego train. 

He has big plans to make it run around the Christmas tree. 

It wasn't working, so we trouble shot and realized the battery pack was corroded. Some baking soda/vinegar cleaning later, and it works great! 

It's been a while since these boys have been on the ground pushing wheels around. They no longer have knee calouses. 

Evan is such a drummer. He drums all day every day.

He really wants to play the quad-tom when he is an upperclassman, so he practices on these four yearbooks. 

Also! he made the freshman basketball team! (there were not cuts). I am so happy he has an activity every day after school. 

He's a Teacher, so we get there super early to prep the sacrament. 

For some reason I love this. I love the secret cubby hole they transfer the stuff through. 

Andrew has been asking lots of questions about how it all goes down because he starts passing in January!

I don't have pictures of Avery using her imagination. 

But she does. 

She is the smartest girl ever. She gets math so easily. She gets it all - the social world, teachers, relationships. Evan admitted that she is a good driver. 

This weekend she went to Wicked with her friends and she loved it.

(the reference to Ariana Grande being handicapped is from the Nikelodian show Sam and Kat. She acts for real like she shouldn't be living on her own. She acts like Amelia Badilia. It drives me crazy. The kids know I hate that show because why does she have to act like that. 

Anyway....

We love our new TV room. We watch movies together almost every night. 

Last night we watched A Christmas Story. 

We are watching the kind of mid, fringe Christmas movies while it's still November. We are saving the "good" ones for when we get back from Fallon for Thanksgiving!

 

I is for IMAGINATION

Well who knew that this yearly IMAGINATION post would eventually break my heart. 

Look at what my baby child is using her imagination on these days? Driving. 

Blech.

It's like the pinnacle of parenting paradox: you want them to drive themselves around, but you don't want them actually driving. 

The feeling of LETTING GO OF CONTROL. This is what is going on here. 

It's everything you do mentally and metaphorically as they become teenagers, 

and then one day you're sitting shot gun and you LITERALLY let go of control. 

There is definite phantom break-pressing and lots of butt puckering, but absolutely no actual control. 

Can you believe that toy cars are going to make an appearance in this post (as they do EVERY SINGLE imagination post) but they are used as props to instruct Avery on a few things that happen out there on the road. Jim used them to teach her about some 4 way stop stuff etc. 

This is where we are at with Evan and his imagination: I don't even have a picture of what we are going to discuss.

Fortnite is a major player in his imagination. I like it when he plays with friends online. 

Mountain biking is another big part of his "play". Look at the hold he has on this group of friends, post bike ride. 

But the main event taking over right now is: HE MADE THE BASKETBALL TEAM! 

Guys remember when he got cut from the baseball team in the spring and I almost let it kill me? 

Well here we go again with tryouts. Me with butterflies. Evan nervous but confident. 

Last night I was pacing around the parking lot waiting for him to come out and tell the results: He tried to hide his smile but couldn't - "I made the c team!" 

Such a relief. 

But then I hear about the kids that got cut and I can't help but be so sad for them. I had to talk myself out of feeling their emotions for them. They don't need me to feel so upset. 

Evan got a basketball hoop last Christmas, and he has been out there working hard on getting better at it, and here we are! On the team. He could not be more happy. 

I am so so happy for him. 

Andrew's imagination is always running. It's like a background energy pack that hums and hums. 

Sometimes I tell him "I need you to stop thinking and focus." 

He's always cooking something in his brain. ALWAYS.

It involves pacing and biting his fingernails.

Recently he was really into our Chatbooks. He ranked them best to worst. He captioned them.

He organized them, ordered them, discussed them. Hauled them around the house.

He taped a made up title on each one.

He is still a kid. Only a few more years before his imagination shifts and grows into something more mature. 

 I often times go back and watch videos of my kids doing kid-imaginative things, and "nostalgia" is too kind of a word. I feel so many painful feelings. I feel like my heart will break, except in a good way? 

I don't know what to call it, but it is hurts but it's also beautiful. Like a beautiful glowing coal, too hot to handle. I have to set it down and walk away. 

N is for imagiNation

Whoa whoa we are running out of year here. 

Usually this imagination post is BIG. But as you will find, my children are growing into giants, so they manifest their imagination so different. 

One thing that is consistent is Evan and cars. He doesn't play with them often, but I love when he pretends with the Christmas village. He is very particular about where each house goes, and he has a whole village imagined down there. 

But typically Evan spends his imagination on sports or drumming or playing video games. Oooh another big thing he does is practice his fortnite dances. Haha it's so weird how the middle school boys just wander around the school while doing little dances. 

Andrew's imagination is the most wild and non stop. NON STOP, everyone.

He never ever stops telling stories or cracking jokes or TALKING. There is ALWAYS something going on in his head. He is currently writing a comic book, but this is one of many comics he has going on. 

It's hard to explain or harness his level of creativity, but trust me when I tell you: I can't keep up.

I can't keep tuned in. I love it, but am also exhausted by it. There is not a lot of down time. 

 

Avery's creativity is manifested in her intelligence. 

She is SO SMART. 

Watching her work through logic puzzles is so great. She loves geometry. She loves board games.

She and I get VERY competitive at games. 

One time we were playing clue with Evan and Andrew. She and I thought we were being so clever using the UNSPOKEN clues to figure it out. We were head to head, then out of nowhere Andrew announced: "I'm going to mop the floor with you guys" and got all three cards right...without hardly writing anything on his notes! We were dumbfounded. 

One time we were playing Azul...and she was mocking me because last time she had beat me so badly, 

so THIS time I used offense and defense and totally won by a lot and she go  SO MAD at me. 

haha. I love competitive gaming with my family. It reminds me of gaming with Jamie. 

Adulting with Avery reminds me so much of my childhood with Jamie. 

Anyway. We are all just getting old around here, and I am stoked to watch the creativity evolve. 

 

I is for Imagination

There are two versions of my kids: 

a kid on a device

a kid not on a device

When they are on devices, it's mostly quiet and calm and clean around here. The 3 C's.

When they are not on devices, they make messes, they problem solve, they argue, they cooperate, they are loud and silly.

You can see the dilemma right? So I guess we will just continue with a little bit of both. 

It's going to be fine.

Andrew is always writing and drawing things, 

then comes along and tells anyone who will listen all about it. 

I have to shoo him away: "It's my turn to talk to Lisa".

Avery's version of playing is this:

Bea comes and knocks their secret knock on the door. Avery goes outside and they walk up and down the street talking. Sometimes they sit in their spot beside McKenzie's house and they talk. 

Middle school stuff. 

Here is a sampling of Andrew's work, depending on what he's obsessed with at the time. 

He made up his own planets on this day.

Evan has been making elephant toothpaste. 

He expects it to be a big exciting chemical reaction like the ones Mark Rober does, but every time it's just very similar to vinegar and baking soda. 

But that doesn't stop him from pouring and running, like it's going to explode.

"Everybody stand back!"

So last week we had a cancelled day of school because of the crazy rains and flooding throughout the valley. 

With the kids home, I declared that they could not get on devices during the hours they would have been at school, and my house exploded with imagination. 

Toys, experiments, noise. 

Me and Avery spent an hour making this marble run. She is so fun to be with. 

She teases and jokes and is so smart. 

She also jumped out of the picture, darn her. 

I would say cars are the toys my kids play most consistently with. 

Cars and Legos.

They go through Pokemon obsessions still.

This particular day they were playing "flip it or rip it".

It is a version of Russian Roulette where you pick between two cards and you have to rip the one you pick to rip, no matter how valuable it is. 

I suspect they watched a YouTube of this because Andrew is wearing this headband reminiscent of the Russian Roulette scenes in The Deer Hunter.

So what brought this weird/terrible game to an end is when Andrew ripped one of his very favorite cards and was in tears about it. 

Duh! 

I put an end to that. I hate when they destroy their toys. It is just gross. 

A lot of Avery's time is spent texting with her friends. She has so much fun with it. 

Koda is a big part of our play. The kids pet her until she gets overwhelmed and runs away from them. 

Andrew had to disguise his turkey so that it doesn't get eaten on Thanksgiving.

He chose to dress it as a race car driver. 

Evan spends a lot of time drumming. 

For band in 6th grade you have to choose an instrument. He wanted percussion, but A LOT of kids want percussion, so they do try outs.

He didn't think he would "make it" but he did! And he loves it. He's getting pretty good at tapping a beat on every hard surface in the house. 

I grew up with tappers in my childhood home, so I know how to cope. 

ha