art class! blogging done by daddy

Lissa is always on the prowl for new things for the girls to experience. Whether it be just a trip down the road to explore a field or a car ride to a farm a few towns over. Via some of her recent searches, she found a place where they offered age specific art classes! I think the word Bingo comes to mind. Some time went by and we finally decided it was a go. There was a Saturday morning option and I thought what a perfect chance for me to get one on one time with the girls, and dually, give mommabird some quite time in the a.m. before her shoots.

I couldn't stop telling the girls about it! Rasa was very excited about the idea. Adia didn't want to go. She has been in a phase where she doesn't get to happy about going places. I wasn't worried, I knew once we got there she would have fun.

The Friday before was something else. I was so excited. As I laid with Rasa when she was going to sleep she said "we going to art class tomorrow?" I said, "We sure are!" and then she went right to sleep. Ms. Adia was still not excited about the whole thing!

Saturday morning arrived. Got the girls ready to go with Lissa and soon enough we were backing out of the driveway waving to momma. This was our first real just daddy and girls outing. I'm pretty sure momma took the whole thing the hardest.

As we rolled down the highway to class the girls and I talked about the songs that were playing on the radio. Our girls are very into music and love dancing. Both groove anytime music is playing. The car is no exception! I looked back in the rear view mirror and both Adia and Rasa were dancing and wiggling away in their car seat to the tunes. Im reminded with simple things like this why life is so good. My girls make me so happy.

Of course Daddy and his picky ways made us have to stop at a specific coffee shop for some coffee on our way to class. It worked out well, since the only way I could get Ms. Adia to agree to get the car was that we would stop and get a treat! The treat this morning was a fruit and cheese platter. My girls love apples and cheese thanks to my lovely wife! As Adia was munching away she was quick to say "I don't wanna go to art class!" in between bites. Rasa would follow up with "we going to art class, right papa?". We were off to our final and hopefully well accepted art class. On the last stretch to the city some rain drops hit my windshield! Oh no, not for us, but momma! She had a photo shoot this morning. It was some light rain and seemed to simply disappear the closer to the city we got.

As we came up to our final stoplight, there was a playground on our right. Of course the girls saw it blocks before. This playground would later prove to be a key to the success of this outing! We pulled up to building, it's located in Minneapolis so we parked on the street right in front. Of course due to my OCD about getting to places on time we arrived a half hour early!!! This could get ugly. The girls were still working on their treats and oblivious to where we were.

I called Lissa to let her know we had arrived and she was glad for the update and was heading out the door for her shoot. There were some neat benches out in front of the school so I asked the girls if they wanted to get out and see them. They were game so we were one step closer to class!!! I was doing my best to keep Adia busy until we could get inside and then she would have stuff to play with. The three of us sat on the bench together. Perfect fall morning, even on the warm side. There was a chance for rain forcasted so the good weather was another factor in our favor for this adventure.

Adia and Rasa played peek a boo around a street light and laughed like no tomorrow. I love their ability to just be and have pure true fun. I learn so much from them. Since this is the city there are always people on the move and this morning was no exception. The beauty of my little girls is they can make just about the hardest individual crack a smile. Adia is very observant and now comments on the things she sees. Her little voice is something very special. A man walked by us and Adia said: "That man was so nice" and "He had a mustache papa". I could see the man had heard her and smiled. Another man walked by with his dog and Adia said: "That puppy was big" and of course "That puppy was so cute!".

We were now about 15 mins from the start of class. I asked the girls if they wanted to walk around a bit. They were all for it. I feel so proud walking down the street holding the hands of my girls. There is nothing like it. As we walked down the street along the front of the school there was a window where we could see in the classroom! This excited Rasa and I, and Adia was reminded of the reason we were here, "I don't want to go to Art class!!". This is where the playground I had mentioned came into play (pun intended). The playground was now in plain site from where we were standing so I quickly pointed and made the girls aware. I told Adia that after class we could go there when we were done with class. That was enough to sway her! I was so happy for that dumb playground. With that last victory we were to class time!

As we entered the Articulture building it was plain to see why this place was for kiddos! The girls were instantly at ease and broke free from my side. There was a table with some toys, paper, markers and magnets! Adia started right in on drawing with the markers! I was so relived and happy this happened so quick and naturally. Rasa worked on puzzles, just blazing through the new puzzle like it was one she had done a million times. I walked around while the girls played and checked out the books they had. It was funny, the girls had almost all the books here! Everything was coming up millhouse for me today.

Our teacher noticed us and came out and introduced herself. She was a very nice lady and the girls seemed to really like her. She let me know the class was to have 6 kids total including Adia and Rasa. We continued to play while we waited for the others to show up.

As we waited I was still really just amazed on how well the girls were doing. One of the girl's first classmates showed up! A boy by the name of Miles. He and his dad Jon! I have to admit I was pretty excited another dad was in the mix. I always seem to be the only guy with things of this nature. Both Miles and Jon were very nice and greeted the girls and I and were quick to join us at the table to play.

It was just about 915 when our teacher said she didn't want to wait anymore for the others and have us miss out. This meant it was on to the ART ROOM! We all rolled into the art room and right when we walked into the room the girl's faces lit up! There was a huge table with chairs and chairs with booster seats! We found the seats we wanted and got started! The room was filled with natural sunlight since one of the walls was completely made of windows! Just awesome all around. I was having flashbacks from all my art classes from when I was child. Each of the girls had their own buckets filled with art supplies. One consisted of water color pencils, paint brush, crayons and markers. The other was water, a paint brush and a water dropper.

The water and paint brush became the favorite of each girl right off the bat. Our teacher was great in just suggesting neat processes and things for the kids to try. Making marks with the pencils and markers on paper, then using the brush to apply water and change the color was loved! Adia and Rasa just were in heaven. Since it was so nice out our teacher asked us all of we wanted to move the class outside for the last portion of the class. YES!

This is when the small portion of our adventure had a bumpy spell. In the entry of the Articulture is a small shop where you can purchase small toys and the like. As we were moving to the back door to go outside something in the shop caught Rasa's eye. She quickly b-lined to a small piggy finger puppet. Adia and I quickly followed her. I let her know that the piggy was our teachers and that she couldn't have it. She didn't like that statement one bit! Rasa sprawled herself out on the floor of the shop and cried! Our teacher was outside with Jon and Miles by this time. I quickly sat Rasa on my leg and explained to her I knew she was upset because she wanted the piggy, but it was our teachers and not ours and that we needed to go outside with everyone to have fun. I'm pretty sure I saw Adia crossing her fingers as I was saying that! As luck would have it, just as quick as Rasa was on the floor crying, she was saying "piggy isn't mine, it's the teachers" and "lets go outside!"

We quickly went to the back door and got our outside buckets that held an even larger paint brush! Of course the girls LOVED the even larger brushes and buckets of water!!! We sat outside with our teacher, Jon and Miles and drew with sidewalk chalk and then brushed what we drew with the paint brushes with water!!!! When I didn't think it could get any more fun, what did our teacher suggest? Dumping the water from our buckets on the tree by us! Of course the girls were head over heels about that idea!! We dumped out buckets and we headed back inside for the closure of our first art class! Once we were all back inside our teacher finished up by reading a book to us. It just so happened that said book happened to be one of the girls favorites! The Oops book! Once she finished we said our goodbyes and we were on our way home. The girls had so much fun we didn't even have to stop at the park!!!

Our first adventure to art class couldn't have gone better. The girls had a blast and really liked our teacher and classmate. Next week we get to work with clay and play DOH! We are in for some great times.

As we drove home we were all very excited to see momma and tell her all about it. It is funny the first thing we all think about when we get in the car is momma bird.