Vroom!

I spent all Saturday working on cars.  AWANA Grand Prix cars, that is.  My boys are in a program at church called AWANA (stands for Approved Workman Are Not Ashamed).  They have been involved in this since they were three.   Each week, they memorize verses, play games, and have story time.  It’s a wonderful program and they love going.  One of the highlights each year is the AWANA Grand Prix.  Think pine car derby!  They get a block of wood, and make it into a car to race down a track.  There are two catagories that the cars are judged in. 

1.  DESIGN

2.  SPEED

Design is my job.  Usually they get a kit that comes with a block of wood, and the wheels.  We then have to come up with not only the cut of the car, but the paint job as well.  This has proved very challenging at times, because we are not power tool people.  But my husband has done a pretty good job cutting with the limited tools we have. 

This year, we were able to buy a pre-cut car!!!  THANK YOU AWANA!!!!!  That took a lot of the stress out of the mix (and a little of the creativity, but oh well).  Landon chose a stock car and Noah an indie car.  They both looked through all their matchbox cars and picked out a design from there.  Landon chose a Tide stock car and Noah wanted one that had football and dragons on it.

They painted the basecoat on the cars.  We were going to try to paint everything on the car, but both cars had so many little details that it would have been very hard, even with a steady hand.  So I looked at the matchbox cars, drew out the design on paper, and made decals that they could color.  Then we could decoupage them onto the car. 

Noah’s was tricky.  The matchbox car that he picked had a picture of a dragon’s head layered on top of a football goal post, with fire coming out of the Dragon’s mouth.  Not the easiest to draw, but I did it!  (I’m getting better!)  I drew decals for both sides, he colored them, the we glued them on.  He wanted scales on top of the car’s hood, so we painted bubble wrap and pressed it onto the top.  Put his number on and . . . tada!

Landon’s was looking pretty easy (compared to Noah’s) but when I got to thinking how many Tide logo’s I was going to have to draw (that would be 4), I knew I had to find a better way.  I went on the internet and googled Tide logo.  Presto!  All I had to do was print them out.  Perfect!  Then, we had to find little sponsor decals to plaster all over the sides of the car ’cause “it needs to look like a real stock car, Mom.”  Most of the decals on the real stock cars are motor oil, engine companies, etc.  Well, I looked through all my magazines and came up with some “sponsors”.  Of course, my magazines are Blueprint, Everyday Food, Quilts and More, etc.  Hence, the sponsors of our Tide car are a little different from the norm – Best Buy, Staples, Comp USA, decorating companies logo’s.  Ok, not exactly par for stock cars, but I did find a Ford logo!  We glued them all on and viola!

 We have won trophies in previous years – several in speed.  Last year we took 1st for Mater and 3rd for the aircraft carrier, both in design.  (Can you guess which was which?  Aircraft carrier – Landon’s; Mater – Noah’s)  I don’t know how you can top Mater, but we are hoping to bring home some more trophies. 

Ok, dad, I did my job.  Now the speed part is all yours. 

P.S.  It’s all in the wheels!

Art Class

Friday is the day we do art in school. 

This is the first year that I have done a formal art class for the boys.  Before, we just kind of threw in art here and there, and only when there was time.  My oldest LOVES to draw, and the youngest . . . let’s just say that drawing is not his forte.  And me?  Well, I’m not the best at it myself. 

During the summer I read a book by Susan Wise Bauer called the Well Trained Mind.  (Great book if you are considering homeschooling!)  I got to the part about teaching art, and realized that I was doing my kids a disservice by just tossing in art when there was a lull in the activity.  She recommended several books that have been gems!

The first one was Drawing With Children.  We used this one during first semester.  It was wonderful!  It started with some very basic instruction . . . what is a line, curve, dot, circle.  Then it showed how to use these basic ideas to draw just about everything.  All three of us showed marked improvement!

        

The next book is Watercolor for the Artistically Undiscovered.  This one has been really fun!  We have been having a blast watercoloring together.  Again it started with some basic strokes, thin/thick lines, squiggles, splatters.  (Whew!  You should have seen the kitchen on that day!)  Now we are working on  controlling the brush. 

           

I wouldn’t trade this Art time for anything.  We laugh at each other when we mess up.  Although, according to the books, nothing is ever a “Boo Boo”.  It’s just opportunity to see if you can turn it into something great.  I like that philosophy!  But I do have to say that some of my mess-ups are just that.  MESS-UPS! 

We praise and try to copy each other when one of us does something really cool.  We probably won’t ever be Picasso’s, but we’re doing better than we were.  And that’s what I call progress!