Pumpkins!!!

Colllin's school has a pumpkin decorating contest.  There are several categories but Collin did not care.  He looked through several pictures that I found to get him started with ideas and started asking for different paint colors.  "Wait, buddy, I need to get the paint out first!"  He started painting his pumpkin and I started to paint another one with him.  He got discouraged when he thought that I was painting better than him.  I tried to explain that I was over 40 years old and had MANY more years of experience than him.  He kept painting and then put his paint brush down.  I told him that I started painting when I was 6 years old which is why I am really good now.  He liked that reason and started painting again. 

We then discussed what he wanted the face to look at and the paint he needed for that.  Next was the "hair" and then paint for the blood.  I was really busy so I did not get before and during pictures but here are the end results. 

Here is the front.  The dots are zits.  Where did he get this idea from?  I was not about to ask...because I did not really want to hear the answer.  :)

Here is a view of the scar, stitches and blood.  There is a similar scar on the other side.

Here is the purple and red hair.



Collin's is on the left and mine is on the right.



After posting these pictures, I had fun going through pictures from other pumpkin decorating sessions or from the pumpkin patch.  Here are some good ones:

 

This is last year painting with Timmy

 

Here is Collin when he was 4.  Look at that concentration!

Picking out his pumpkin at 2 years old. I remember him thinking this was a heavy one.

Adding stickers to make pumpkin faces when he was 2 years old

Let's Get Ready for Some Football!!!!

Collin has been playing flag football for a few weeks now on the Chiefs team.  Once the coaches figured out the drills that would work for this group of boys, they started playing much better.  Still, they have not won a game yet but this does not seem to affect the boy's spirit too much.  Collin usually runs off the field after the game laughing because he is having a good time with his buddies AND he has snacks and drink in hand because the game is over.

All of the games are on Saturday.  Yesterday's game was fun because he played against Foard's team which is one of Collin's buddies.  They did play a hard game.  Collin even got a flag like he said he would before the game started.  This did not help them win though.  They lost 0 - 36.....OUCH!

Collin is #4 and is headed to get the one flag he got of the game.  Yeah Collin!!!

Defense is getting ready.  That is Foard hiking the ball.

There he goes after the ball but did not get it this time.

Six Year Check Up and New Doctor

Collin had his 6 year check up last Thursday with a new doctor.  His other pediatrician retired.  I was a little sad because I really liked her.  However, this gave us a good excuse to find a doctor closer to the house since our other doctor was closer to our "baby" house. 

Our doctor is MUCH younger than the one we had before.  Whew!!!  Maybe she will not retire any time soon...hahaha.  She was very personable and paid a lot of attention to Collin, even directing questions to him when she was asking questions about him.  He did not care because his stomach hurt.  We think he was nervous about getting a shot.  So, his stomach could have hurt but he likely was just really nervous.

She said that Collin is doing really well.  Even though he is smaller than a lot of other boys, she said that she is not worried because he has gained weight and gotten taller on the scale she was showing us which means he is doing great.  She performed the physcial exam.  Collin thought the reflex check on his knees was funny and started laughing.  I think this helped his tummy too....because he was fine after that.  He did not get any shots but did get a flu mist.  He said later that getting the mist up his nose was the his least favorite of the appointment.

Here were his stats as of 10/10/13:

Blood Pressure:  88/58
Height:  3' 9" (25%)
Weight:  44 lbs (50%)
BMI:  15.28

We talked about how he is still wearing Pull Ups at night because he regularly wets the bed.  She gave us several suggestions which we might try.  It was just a busy week (most of them are these days) but even more busy because I had a follow up ultrasound appointment that has been on my mind for 2 weeks since the doctor said I needed one.  Everything turned out great so I can breath a little sigh of relief. 

My Little Artist

Sorry for not posting recently.  I had another surgery that really knocked me on my butt unexpectedly.  I thought I would have felt better by Tuesday but I was really out of it for an entire week.  I only started feeling better yesterday.

Because I was not working much, I did have a lot of time to think about what to do with all of the greeting cards I have received from everyone.  I did not want to throw them aware nor did I want to store them in a box somewhere.  I have several large blank canvases that I bought a year or so ago during a big sale and thought these could be used in my new office.

I first placed most of the cards, letters and other breast cancer related mementos (Tour de Pink race number, Team Wonder Woman brochure, etc) on two different canvases and then glued them down.  Next, I used black letters to include the encouraging words that helped me through the last 9 months. 

Lastly, I painted a picture of a bald woman dancing and looking up at a pink ribbon.  While I was painting, Collin sat and watched me and asked questions.  He wanted to know why the lady did not have any hair and I asked him if he remembered when I didn't have hair.  He said he did and then looked at the painting again as if he understood why she looked the way she did.  He then wanted to paint with me.  Since it was past 8:30pm, I said he could the next day but to think about what he wanted to paint.  He sat there with me and talked about what he would paint and then ran to the spare bedroom and found the small canvases I bought for him to paint on and came back with one and a pencil.  He started to drawn on it and wanted me to help him.  Since I did not want my paint to dry up on me, I asked if it could wait until the morning. He really did not want to but eventually left me alone.

Here are the results of my little project this weekend:

 

 

This morning after breakfast, Collin was ready to paint.  He still was not sure what he wanted to paint so we looked at some pictures online until he found a soccer ball that had fire around it.  I drew a rough picture of the fire soccer ball lightly with pencil before he started to paint. 

 

While painting, he explained how he was using his brush stroke while getting the paint and then painting on the canvas.  He said he learned this in art class.  I also wonder if he learned it from me when he was watching me paint last night.  He did get a little frustrated when he got out of the lines but then figured out how to paint over it and fixed it.  I was really proud of him for not quiting and staying focused for as long as he did.

 



Painting the black spots on the soccer ball. I did not draw these...he did this by himself.

Starting to add the fire

 

 

I LOVE how his painting turned out!  He even painted the sides a color like I did.  Instead of hanging it in his room where he wanted to when we talked about it last night, he wants to hang his over his computer in the office like I hung mine in the office.  I cannot get enough of this little boy!!!