Unbridled Creativity

So today was the day we started the "Deck Re-Do" as my kiddos call it. I needed to find something to do with my kids that would keep them away from the power tools and keep them entertained long enough to give the guys enough time to work. So off to lunch we went with some dear friends. Two Moms and seven kids.... Can anyone say controlled chaos.....

After lunch we decided to treat all the wild animals to a day at All Fired Up, a local ceramics painting joint. This is always a fun outing but gets very expensive very fast with as many children as I have.

After spending way more time than necessary arguing over who got to paint the very last owl bank, they finally chose their very favorite, most perfect piece... (We can just pretend everyone was happy with the piece they each picked and I may or may not have ended up paying more than I wanted for a particular piece just to settle the argument).... Have you seen Finding Nemo? They were behaving like the Seagulls from the movie... "Mine, Mine, Mine!!!!!!"

Then we finally found the calm. As I squirted paint into each of their little trays, a silence fell over the crowd...(Ahhhhhhh Happy Mommas!!!!!) The big kids vigorously painted away, tongues sticking out in deep concentration... They whispered proclamations like 'I am going to be a great artist when I grow up' and 'Yours is so beautiful, I bet you could put it in a museum'..... This made my heart sing!!!! Society today has become so "Techy" with our video games, iPads and iPhones, (Yes, mine included.  My 2 year old can find, open and play most games on my iPhone) that we sometimes forget to foster their imagination and their innocent creativity. If you catch children young enough, they don't have the fear of what others will think of their work, they can truly create what their heart wants. It really is a beautiful thing!  

The staff at All Fired Up were amazing!!!! They did not even mind that the 2 year old may have applied more paint to the table than her ceramic... They did not even blink that between our children, we used every single paint brush at the table... They were not flustered when we repeatedly had every drying station in use at the same time.... My nerves were fried by the end of the outing (juggling an 8 mth old who wants to eat everything and a 2 yr old who wants to paint everything, 8 mth old included does that to you!!!) but it was nothing an afternoon latte and a couple of babies down for a nap couldn't fix... A Happy Momma I am today!!!