Art like Romero Britto

Yesterday afternoon, Anderson was bored and wanted me to play with him.  That usually means watch him play a video or computer game or play soccer.  Not my ideas of fun.

I suggested that we do some art together.  He was all for that because he loves to draw.  He wanted to draw, guess what?  Soccer pictures.  He is really into designing cool uniforms for soccer teams.  Again, not really my idea of fun.

I wanted him to try something different, so I pointed out some ideas that I had found for artwork.  He decided that he wanted to do art like Romero Britto (a famous Brazilian artist).  I quickly found this little art lesson, we talked about how to do it and went to work.

It took a while to finish the project.

We had a new appreciation for Romero Britto and the way he combines patterns and colors.

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Here are our finished projects:

Anderson was very proud of his work and we think it is frameworthy for his room.

PS.  Giovanni was also proud of his work, although not exactly in the style of Romero Britto!

My Internet Fast

In the past few weeks I noticed that I had been spending too much time on the computer.  I like to read blogs.  I like to look at pictures and updates on facebook.  But it had gotten out of hand.  It seemed like the more I looked at stuff on the computer, the more my mind turned to mush.  Even though what I was looking at wasn't "bad" in itself,  it wasn't doing me any "good".

So I decided to take a fast.

For the past week I have intentionally tried to stay off of facebook and not look at blogs.  I'm not being overboard with my commitment, because if I say I will NEVER and then I cheat (which I have), then I will just give up and quit the whole idea.

About the cheating, not that I'm making excuses for myself, but the past three days I have had a horrible sore throat and cold.  I haven't felt like doing or concentrating on anything, so I have sneaked a few looks at blogs and fb.  But I'm not giving up on my commitment.

Now that that's off my chest, what have I noticed in my "fast" so far??

First, kids need time just to talk and hang out.  Last week I just took some time to sit with Anderson.  He was playing a video game, but I was just there beside him.  During his play time, we had a talk - I'm pretty sure it was about soccer - nothing serious.  But he appreciated it.  "I love you, Mom", he said.  Melt my heart.

Second, all the little internet times I take during the day (30 min. to read blogs, 20 minutes to catch up on facebook, a little while checking out new ideas on Pinterest....) - all those times add up.  I'll never forget one time I was a little addicted to a game on my husband's old electronic agenda (I forgot the name of it).  I would play around with it when I went to the bathroom or just hanging out.  One time I saw that there were like 30 hours logged on that dumb game.  It wasn't all me, but a lot of it was.  What if I had used that 30 hours doing something else?  Like reading my Bible or praying or cleaning out a cabinet or reading a book or calling my parents??  Giovanni's preschool director and I had a conversation recently about facebook and she was commenting that it drastically reduced her productivity.  So true, for me at least.  Until I got sick, I was getting a lot more done and I plan to continue that trend even after my "fast" is over.

Third, being sick and fasting from the internet has had me checking out TV during the day.  There is nothing good on.  I have barely watched any TV in the past several years, and I have found that I haven't missed anything.  I'll take my mommy blogs any day over daytime TV.

Finally, why am I posting on a blog when I am fasting from the internet?  Because writing my own blog isn't addictive to me (as you can tell if you follow this sad little thing.)  Maybe taking a break from other people's lives will inspire me to notice and write about my own life more.  We'll see.

Stay tuned....