Monster playtime!

Ben has been pretending to be a monster today. Mostly wearing his shoes on his hands and going around the house on hands and feet shouting "mummy, shake! monster coming!!" We persuaded him that his monster gloves might be a little safer ;o)

It has been a most wonderful day. Ok so it didn't go to plan, I never even got dressed let alone took the boys out so Steve could do some work on the electrics, but it has still been really lovely. (Looking forward to next weekend when reinforcements arrive, we might actually get the electrics done if mum is able to come out with me and the boys and let dad and Steve get on with things!)

This morning I finished off the artwork I started last night, and by the end of the afternoon had had requests for three large prints and four packs of postcards of it! I'd say that was a result!!

It's been really tricky placing a value on my work. I'm from the Ikea generation. Art is cheap! So to place a value on a print has been really hard. I think if it came down to it and I had to describe myself, I'd say I was an artist. But because I don't use "proper" artists' media, or have a degree (in anything), I struggle with that label. But on the other hand, I create using whatever I have to hand.... so surely that does place me firmly in the "artist" category.

Anyway. There are some limited edition postcards and prints for sale! You'll find all the details on the messy mama facebook page.

It's not just the art that has made today lovely. This morning happened all in the right order, but with Steve included! That was good! If you know me at all you'll know I'm a creature of habit and need things done in the right order especially in the mornings otherwise things get forgotten because I tend to run on autopilot a lot of the time when it comes to things like breakfast and getting dressed and stuff. I've been looking forward to a morning like this with Steve and the boys for a long time!

We had pizza for lunch, homemade. I found a great recipe to make pizza bases from scratch without needing to let them prove for an hour or more, so lunch was quick - and Charley was chomping at the bit, desperate for more of this tasty stuff! He had pizza crusts for his lunch today. Gummed them to death. LOVED it. Ben had pasta and cheese sauce, of course! We had pancakes for tea, and Charley was very vocal about the fact that Steve was taking so long about it, despite having only just woken up! He had a few great big bits of pancake and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Having fun with weaning, actually. Both of us! Charley is enjoying all of it. Squishing, chewing, and mashing all of it. Swallowing none of it, and discarding the bits that have been chewed already: "I've already eaten that bit, stop putting it back on my tray!"

Bedtime is fun as well. Charley just laughs at me now when I take him up to bed, and messes around with my hands and the teddies until he hears Ben finally coming upstairs at which point he squeals with excitement until Ben is actually in bed with us. Then the two of them settle down to their milk. Ben has learnt how to let Charley grasp his hand, and so the two play with each others' hands for a while until Ben rolls away and I play "twinkle twinkle" to send them both off to sleep.

I'm writing this blip in bed with them - so at this point, I'm looking forward to going downstairs and having a cup of tea, and biting the bullet and ordering some bits - otherwise there won't be any craft kits happening this month and I've already been paid for four!