Each Day is a Masterpiece

I recently read some beautiful lyrics on my cousin's blog:

No matter how much your heart is aching
There is beauty in the breaking
Better days are you gonna find you once again
Everything will find its place

This was a really fantastic painted egg Warren brought home from school. It lasted for about 1 hour--the hour that Avery was asleep. Then she smashed it when she woke up. Just like that, all that work and creativity broken on the floor. Sometimes my days feel like that. When they do, I am encouraged by the words of the scriptures, and of prophets and apostles in our day, like the following quote:

"Too frequently, women underestimate their influence for good. Well could you follow the formula given by the Lord: 'Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God' (D&C 88:119)."In such a house will be found happy, smiling children who have been taught, by precept and example, the truth. In a Latter-day Saint home, children are not simply tolerated, but welcomed; not commanded, but encouraged; not driven, but guided; not neglected, but loved." (Thomas S. Monson)

I like that just after quoting a scripture about order, President Monson goes on to talk about "happy, smiling children." That is why I am letting some things go undone these days, or be put off until later. I'm trying to think of special, out of the ordinary things to do so I don't get sucked in by my email, phone calls, dishes, laundry, cleaning or whatever else that seems so important but really doesn't have to be done right then. Like Monday, I knew if I tried to cleanup before we left to my in-laws home for family night, that I would just get angry, and frustrated and probably "break" my day. So I holed myself up in Avery's room--which was miraculously clean--with all the kids and we practiced a puppet show about a book we like. It worked. We stayed happy and just like everyone says, the work was still there when I got home :)
Sometimes the day still breaks, and I am left crying on my bed wondering what went wrong, what is wrong with me, how could I have been so unkind etc. etc. I find this quote especially appropriate in those situations:
"When those feelings of inadequacy strike us, it is the time to remember the Savior. He assures us that we don't do this work alone. There are scriptures to put on your mirror and to remember in the moments when you are doubting your capacity."(Henry B. Eyring)
I am learning to find the beauty even in those moments of self-despair as I turn to my Savior and seek his help and forgiveness, and then turn to my sweet, quick to forgive, innocent children, and do the same. And you know what? They always forgive.
So in honor of living in the beauty of each moment each day--broken or otherwise--I present some of Warren and Abigail's art and work. I like art as an analogy for life, because art is often messy, art is often unpredictable, the beauty of art is in the eye of the beholder and there are so many different ways to make art. I recently cleared the art/work wall to make room for more, so here are some of my favorites that I want preserved for them to see when they are old.

Warren decided to draw himself one day. Unique, though, that he drew the inside of his body--the heart, ribs, veins and bones. It hung up for several months.
Warren's cactus drawing. I was impressed that the cactus wasn't just a stereotypically-shaped saguaro.
Abigail loves to use lots of colors within the same field of bounded space. I love the vibrancy and joy of this pumpkin.

Warren's first "dot game," as he calls it. See all those 4-digit numbers on the side? He added those using the dotted fields, putting each number in it's correct numerical value: 1's, 10's, 1000's, 10,000's. So cool to do in kindergarten.
One of my favorite Montessori works Warren brings home: 6 squares. They draw the 6 sqaures, the teacher writes something in the box and they draw it. I loved how each animal was just a little different.
Warren's continents in "6 squares." Reminds me of the song they sing every year at Intl. Children's Day, "Tell Me the Continents."
Some of Warren's first addition work.

Another "6 sqaures" with details to follow. (And yes, a chicken really did run through the sandbox, as stated here. They have animals at their school)
Abigail become the subject of one of Warren's "6 squares" work, since she is in the same class as him. The next drawing: "The cat was sleeping on a box." Note the zzzzzz's.

Warren's most recent family picture of us in our front yard--hence the driveway and the 2 (ficus) trees.

Not a noteworthy masterpiece? Well, if you live at our house, you see a lot of banners hanging on the mantel as I photograph them for Etsy or just display them for my own delight. For Mother's Day, I made myslef one that said, "QUEEN." Warren's drawing says: "CENG", which I can only assume is really "KING."

I thought this picture was so well colored that if it didn't have Abigail's trademark coloring style on Strawberry's jacket (see the pumpkin above), I'd have thought she brough home someone else's from the YMCA Childwatch.