Creating

Our boys have never been overly interested in coloring or being crafty. Occasionally, I've been able to persuade them to do a coloring or painting project with me. But it's almost never been something they've taken on all by themselves. Lately, with only a little prompting from me, Levi has begun to show off his artistic skills. We bought him a set of oil pastels for his birthday and a big sketch pad.

 Lately, he'll randomly set himself up at the dining room table and a little while later he'll proudly present us with his finished artwork. Clockwise below: a dude listening to music on headphones, our house during a snow/ice storm, the cover a DVD, and a blue bird. It also helps that the boys have a fantastic art teacher at school.

A couple weeks ago, Ben and a buddy of his moved my grandma's piano into our sun room! It's been wonderful to have a piano, especially my grandma's piano. They actually moved it to our house on the morning of the day she died. 

 I love the early evening light in the sun room.

 The F below middle C hasn't worked for years. But just today a local piano expert came over to tune the piano and he fixed that pesky F. What a relief, plus the piano sounds much better, too.

Levi manages to practice piano like he's supposed to most of the time. But he really enjoys simply sitting down and making up songs. More often than not, his made up songs/chord combinations sound amazingly good.