Thursday, October 16, 2008

Creativity

Very bored kids

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UEA Weekend

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Cleaning garage

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Creative children

Byron took today and tomorrow off since the kids would be home for UEA weekend. We decided that we would clean out the garage - a much needed activity. The kid's definitely were not thrilled with the idea of spending their day off cleaning, but ended up having quite a fun time. The creative juices started to flow and before long Byron & I were left to clean as the kids were finding other things to do.

One of these was giving each other rides on the dolly. They would strap the child in with a bungee cord and put a blanket behind the head for comfort. I got quite a laugh seeing them doing this.

Byron collects a lot of things - throwing away screws, old cords, wood, etc. is out of the question. Today for the first time in a while I was able to see how smart Byron was for saving something. He pulled out these wheels that he had saved off of something and let the kid's have them. They grabbed a piece of wood and started to screw them onto the board. Before long they were rolling down our driveway having the time of their lives. We have quite the hill in our driveway, which can make it quite scary to be on something that doesn't have breaks. The shoes were quickly deemed out of the question - so my smart husband had them use a rope pulled behind by someone else to stop them before hitting the road. This activity kept them busy for hours - yes hours!

So not only did we get a clean garage - but we also found some great treasures hidden in there which mounted to hours and hours of fun!

Cute Bradley!
Camille - the mastermind of this activity.
Camille screwing in her wheels. Her first attempt with a power tool - she actually got really good by the time she got to her 15th screw.
Tanner riding down our driveway.
Cute Bradley - he loves his helmet and had to wear it while getting a ride.
Here is a video of Bradley enjoying himself.

8 comments:

chapples8 said...

How fun for your children to find their own fun and you to get your garage cleaned. I saw snow on the mtns in one of the pictures and your kids were barefoot. It's too cold here not to wear shoes. Kids hate shoes though, I do know that

Sharon Beck said...

Clever! Have you guys ever watched "Real Families, Real Answers" on BYU Today? Your spending time with your family and being creative reminded me of this show I watched.

Janessa Couch said...

Hailey said that she wants a board just like that. What a fun way to change a boring thing into something exciting.

Carrrie said...

What fun! I remember how easy it was to find fun activities when we were kids. I hope my kids will be as creative as yours when they are older. :) What is UEA? Also...if Aunt Sharon reads this...I love that show! Randy thinks I am a goof for watching it, but it inspires me to make changes for our family.

Patty said...

You actually got the garage cleaned while all of this creativity was going on?
What fun ideas they have to keep entertained. It is great how all of you get involved.

Patty said...

I miss UEA days off. We don't have them in California. From Labor Day to Veteran's Day we have no breaks. It is the longest and most stressful months of the year. I wish they would put in a day just to let everyone recoup.
This year got off to a rough start with test scores not as high as expected. I see such dedicated teachers working overtime and completely drained mentally and physically.
It makes me really angry when I hear how bad the school teachers are, I bet 95% of the teachers are great but 5% give them the bad rap.
Teachers tutor after school to help their most struggling students during their prep time. I give them all the praise I can.
Parents involvement with homework, expectations, support for the school system, and a good attitude about education are the best keys to better education.
You do wonderful in providing these keys.

Patty said...

I loved the video!

tamster17 said...

It was so funny to see what your kids came up with to keep themselves entertained and let you get a job done! Mine are starting to get to that age to come up with creative things to do, but it usually involves paper, glue, glitter and whatever else they can think to stick to something and ususally end up making a huge mess to clean up afterwards!