That Was Fun!

We actually did something today where Ford and Rachel both said, "That was fun, Mama." when we were done.  They are hardly ever on the same page when it comes to activities any more, but today was a hit (we won't talk about Ruby, she had fun when she was allowed to be at the table...)
We read Fancy Nancy: Aspiring Artist for about the 657th time yesterday and I love how she does a different type of art every day in the story.  I'm always a little nervous about working with scissors, but I thought I'd be brave today and try to do the art like she does when she's inspired by a postcard with work by Henri Matisse.  So, Rachel and Ruby tried to make butterflies out of little pieces of scrap paper and Ford (surprise!) tried a train.  They actually did a really good job.  I drew the butterflies for the girls (Ruby couldn't draw it and Rachel wanted perfection.)  Ford drew his own train.  Then we got out Rachel's scrap bag from art classes with Ms. Lisa and found all kinds of great colors of paper to use.  Rachel and Ford wanted to cut some of their own pieces.  I tried to manage that while managing a 2 year-old who didn't want to listen, but she finally was able to glue pieces to her paper.  After everyone finished one piece, I removed Ruby from the table so that Rachel and Ford could just cut with scissors.  They love cutting and we need to do it more often, but I'm always worried we're going to end up with more than just paper getting cut.  I guess the more we do it, the better we get.  I was even going to let Ruby try cutting a little today but she just couldn't listen, so I told her we'd have to try it again some time when she could be a better listener (poor kid won't cut until she's 20!).  We've had a pretty great day.  That activity took us a good hour because they were so focused. Ruby and Rachel and I made a second piece of art with sand and waves that is pretty cute.  Ford just kept on cutting.  Ford built a train with Kapla blocks while the girls chased each other around the house.  We managed to get some reading in (Rachel is on the 5th Bob book already!).  This afternoon we have a violin lesson.  The biggest news of all, though, is that Ruby put herself to sleep for nap time!!!  I told her I wasn't going to sit with her today because I had things to do and she needed to start being a big girl.  She fought it but after about 15 minutes, Ford got up to go to the bathroom and I peeked in and saw her laying there asleep.  One day, we'll start working on bed time, too...