The Artists

It's often a struggle for me—this working from home thing. It requires me to ask a lot of my kids. One of the things I require most from them is the ability to entertain themselves.

Some of the time it goes horribly wrong. Choices are made to squabble, whine, climb atop the counter to reach the cookies on the top shelf. There's even been an incident or two where I had to break up a wrestling match. But often times? Often times, it's a pleasant surprise to see what they can conjure up.

This is they created one afternoon while I sewed...

Ellie created a radio, cell phone & computer which she played with throughout the day—taking important phone calls, singing along to her favorite songs and emailing her best friend to see if she was available for a playdate.


While Jonah created a 3-dimensional sculpture. I named it the Ode to Thomas. It was a working multi-level city in which all the trains lived happily together (minus the occasional bash).


Sometimes leaving them to their own devices is an exercise in creativity. At least most times