En Plein Air

I have been trying to find some activities to do outside that don't entail getting muddy from head to toe. I really don't mind them getting dirty, but I also don't want them ripping up the yard before the grass has time to set so that the rest of the year our yard is a mud pit!

I came across the idea of "plein air" and thought that the boys would really enjoy it! We have two easels that the boys got from Santa a couple of Christmases ago and they would be perfect for taking outside. Louie was at school, so I had Ben and Charlie find something in the back that's they would like to paint. Charlie picked a few yellow flowers that popped up along the driveway and Benny picked the basketball hoop.

We set them up and they got to work. Charlie decided to break against the mold and paint the yellow flowers blue, which he still called yellow. (Yes! He's talking, finally :) More and more each day. I hope you hear it soon because it's so cute.)

Benny painted Daddy and Louie and himself playing basketball. Charlie was not too happy to be left out of the painting. Something about discrimination against the short guy.

And Meredith wasn't sure what to think about it all. Her little head kept going back and forth between her brothers, as if she was watching a tennis match. But I think she really liked scooting around the backyard on her own. Her cute little shoes didn't take too kindly to it, though. They got pretty scuffed up in the process!