Snow Day

Today was a snow day here in West Michigan.
On a normal Thursday I would have one happy Hertsje for the afternoon.
But she did not have school, nor did her mommy who works at her school.
Instead, I had four elementary school aged children who really had no desire to be here.

But as always, we all found ways to keep ourselves occupied.
I've learned from experience that this can only happen if I DO NOT require them to participate.
The only thing I asked them to do today was read.
You would have thought I asked them to stick needles into their eyes. I am not kidding.
But, read they did, and enjoy it a bit they did also!

On my regular Thursday with Hertsje we peruse Pinterest looking for things we can make. That was our plan for today, and I was looking forward to it. So, I just sat down to do it on my own and did eventually find out that everyone was willing to join in, as long as I wasn't making them do it.

The first thing they all drew was a city scape.
I went to my "how to draw" board on Pinterest to find some sketches I was interested in trying.
Those caught on.
I hate to admit it here, but they caught on because there was a picture of a toilet, which they thought was hysterical.
So, yes, they sketched toilets. I, for the record, did not.

Although I have to say it was a bit of a change not to have the drawings dominated by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Some of us colored in our drawings after we had finished.
The ideas we used came from a Japanese artist's book. I LOVE how they look. I could not do it justice, as I totally lack the ability to draw anything that remains in scale or isn't leaning sadly to one side.
Somewhere in the back of my mind is an idea to carve individual stamps of things like these.
But, the ideas in the back of my mind tend to fall off and get trapped behind all the things in the front of my mind, so we shall have to wait and see if it ever happens.

Jonge found the cute sketch of a cat that was close to a flock of birds that I wanted to try.
He stuck with his. The one pictured is his first attempt. He drew quite a few, until he got it just how he wanted it to be. Of course, me being me, I did not get a picture of that one.

The artist would most likely be horrified to see my rendition of these lovely birds, but I certainly had fun doing it!

Famke found a Red Riding Hood type girl with a step by step drawing guide. She was pleased with her drawing, as well she should be!

.Our neighbor from down the street came to join us later in the day (she is homeschooled, so no snow day for her!).
She just turned eight and is one of those children with a natural ability to draw.
She drew this tiger for Famke without having to look at ANYTHING.  We were all impressed!

This snow day did not involve much snow at all. School was cancelled due to all the area roads being covered in ice. The upside to that is by afternoon it was a rather balmy 32 decrees so it was nice enough for the troops to play outside if they so desired. A few of them so desired so I was able to drink a cup of coffee in relative quiet. The only distraction was the Nerf bullets whizzing by my head on their way to targets unseen by me.

And thus ended the first "snow day" of 2017.