creativity
As a couple, we initially bonded over shared creative interests. We both enjoy collaborating on a project by pooling our creative skills and making something together. We did this with a coffee table while we were dating and it has been one of the focal pieces of our home ever since. We often see something that we want and say, “I could make that!”. It definitely keeps life fun and interesting, but it’s also frustrating that we will never have enough time to do it all! Being creative is something that we hope to pass on to our children so that they, too, can have the joy of using their hands and minds to make things. Plus, it’s a great way to spend time together!
arts & crafts
We have a set of colorful acrylic paints that Alex bought one year for Christmas, and when it’s globbed on the paper, it dries with amazing texture. One of Quill’s favorite things to do is to pull his paint shirt over his good clothes and sit while Alex gathers the supplies and lays out the newspaper to cover the table. Then she cuts and bends the card stock into greeting cards and he goes to town with the paint and brushes. Quill loves opening and closing the paint tubes, squeezing large blobs onto the paper and then brushing it around, making a huge mess and lots of masterpieces. We use the dried cards to send to family and friends for their birthdays or as get well cards. He enjoys choosing which one we will send and sometimes “writing” his own note inside. He’s also painted some canvases and they became abstract art for our walls. It’s a fun way of being creative that Alex hopes to share with all of our children, and she is looking forward to the many ways to expand on it as they get older.
maker room
We have a room in our house that we call the maker room. In that room we each have our own dedicated space to create. Alex's sewing machines and ironing board are set up and surrounded by piles of happy fabrics, paints, fluffy yarn and inspiration. Joel’s side is full of wonderful smelling leather, stamps, 3d printers and jewelry making supplies. Quill’s little desk is usually stuffed full of random bits and pieces, tools that he’s borrowed from us, our failed projects that he turns into his own creation, and any other random things he finds around the house. It’s a tiny room and we can barely get past each other if one of us has to leave, but we enjoy being in that space together, making and talking or listening to music.
lego
Joel has long been a lover of lego (we even went to Legoland on our honeymoon!), and Quill is fascinated by his mini figures and car sets. He will often ask Joel to take down one or two of his lego cars when he gets home from work and play together on the kitchen floor. When he was potty training, we let him pick out his own little camper set from the store, and every time he used the potty, he was given another piece. They would add up quickly during the day and then he and Joel would put them together when he got home from work. Although Joel did most of it, it was a fun bonding experience for them. Quill also has a lot of the larger sets that we enjoy playing with during the day. We love the creativity, problem solving and instruction following skills that come through building lego, and look forward to purchasing many more sets in the future that Joel and the kids can build together.