July 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Family Talent Show

Welcome to the July 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Family Creations

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared crafts, recipes, and philosophies of creativity. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

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I live in a family full of drama queens (and kings). And also, My Chemical Romance.

US!

The Informant rails loudly against the unfairness of being the middle child like she’s in some off-Broadway performance of Occupy Parenthood. Mineral, whose ADHD and other mental health issues can explain some of his outbursts, has outbursts nonetheless. Animal is the class clown, likely to start breakdancing at the suggestion of teeth brushing. And My Masterpiece sings her off-tune songs all day long, leading me to wonder if there’s a dying animal on the front porch– oh no, that’s just the sound of My Masterpiece humming to herself.

Recently we were all bored after dinner and I suggested a family talent show. This is, after all, a family with a lot of talent. I decided to present each child in reverse-age order (because, as The Informant pointed out, Mineral ALWAYS goes first, and My Masterpiece ALWAYS goes last — at least until Cousin It is old enough to participate.)

Note: I did not take pictures of the ACTUAL talent show, so these are just some random pics of my kids. I thought about re-creating the talent show just for this blog post, but that seemed disengenuous. 

I started by introducing My Masterpiece: “And now, coming in at four-and-a-half-years-old, born in a bedroom in Arizona and spending the last few years in Charlotte where she learned to love cars, MY MASTERPIECE!”

She attempted to hula hoop.

My Masterpiece

Next was The Informant: “A seven-year-old San Diego native who has lost one tooth, loves to eat corn, and color pictures of animals and ninja warriors, please welcome THE INFORMANT!”

She tried to juggle.

The Informant at the park

Then came Animal: “And now, the tallest kid in the house, coming in at 56″ and almost ready to be out of a booster seat, born in the coldest winter in Michigan history and loving every kind of sport, here’s ANIMAL!”

Animal did Tae Kwon Do.

Animal at the park

Finally, Mineral: “The oldest child in the family, born 10 minutes before his brother; he loves Legos and reading and likes to wear costumes over his clothes while listening to music, it’s MINERAL!”

Mineral, who wore a costume, did archery toward the television, while miraculously not hitting it, or anything else.

Mineral

Cousin It even showed off her new talent: When you say, ONE, she says TEWWWWWW.

Cousin It.

We did a few rounds of our talent show; everyone did some hula-hooping and archery. The show ended when Animal tried to convince The Informant to put an apple on her head while he aimed a bow and arrow at her.

My Chemical Romance and I did not display any talent, but I can juggle. My Chemical Romance can sing camp songs — he took a week off work to be a leader at Cub Scout camp and learned a lot of silly campfire songs.

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Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

(This list will be updated by afternoon July 10 with all the carnival links.)

• Garden Soup — Bailey finds a way to help momma Katy (from Muse of a Daffodil) in the garden.
• This One Time, I Tried To Make a Car — Ashley at Domestic Chaos tries once again to make something crafty from stuff around the house.
• Pin-tastic creative ideas — Lucy at Dreaming Aloud shares how Pinterest is inspiring creativity in her family this summer.
• Baby Hiccups In The Womb — Alinka at Baby Web shares one of the ways she bonds with her unborn baby.
• Turtle Mosaics — Lyndsay at ourfeminist{play}school and her little family spend a quiet hour making a turtle mosaic inspired by the work of Melanie Mikecz.
• Edible Art Plus 8 Art Supply Recipes — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares some natural, chemical-free art supply alternatives, which are gauranteed to be tons of fun for children or all ages. They taste great too!
• A surprise art lesson — Tat at Mum in search has been taking art lessons from her 5-year-old son.
• Memory Creation — Laura from Pug in the Kitchen talks about how her family aims to create as many memories as they can as a family.
• A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words — Melissa at Momma Beer tries to replace cars with crafts.
• My Creative Family: Sometimes Messy, Always Fun — Emily at S.A.H.M i AM embraces the messes that sometimes accompany creative play but admits you don’t always have to get dirty to have fun.
• Fun Family Learning: Constellation Cave Tutorial — Abbie at Farmer’s Daughter gives step-by-step instructions for building a fun new twist on a cardboard box playhouse.
• Cooking… Kind Of — ANonyMous at Radical Ramblings makes pizza with her daughter, hoping to inspire a love of cooking and encourage a bigger interest in food. As well as making mess and having lots of fun, of course!
• Crockpot Refried Beans — That Mama Gretchen‘s family loves to experiment with new recipes, and today she’s sharing a kitchen success!
• Creating Memories — Andrea at Tales of Goodness reflects on how the best creations can emerge from just letting kids be kids.
• Making Beautiful Things … And Sometimes Just Average-Looking Ones — Tamara at Tea for Three looks for ways to add more craft and creativity into every day family life.
• Making Fruit Leather Together — When Amy Willa at Me, Mothering, and Making it All Work took some time to involve her children in the process of finally trying a fruit leather recipe stored on her Pinterest food board, she got more than just a scrumptious homemade snack as a result!
• Making Glasses from Children’s Art — Mandy at Living Peacefuly with Children used her children’s artwork to make some very special glasses for her husband for Father’s Day.
• Preparing Family Meals Together — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares how she started the tradition of creating meals together with her children, which makes family gatherings more fun.
• It’s a trap! — Lauren at Hobo Mama shares the innovative snares her son and husband have set for her.
• How To Make The Most Of A Very Wet Summer — Luschka at Diary of a First Child shows us the first few weeks of the Summer Camp At Home project for keeping boredom at bay.
• Creating with… well, what do we have? — If necessity is the mother of invention, Momma Jorje thinks perhaps boredom is (or at least can be) the mother of creativity. In a pinch, she got creative with a household item to entertain herself and her toddler.
• Creating Joy! Felt Counting Fish and other Fun — Terri at Child of the Nature Isle started creating Felt Counting Fish and then fell down the rabbit hole of fun with a number of other games.
• I Am Going! (A Code Name: Mama Homemade Theater Production of Mo Willems’ Elephant & Piggie book) — This might be the finest example of child and baby acting ever recorded. Enjoy this Mo Willems treasure via video from Dionna at Code Name: Mama.
• DIY Summer Sleep Sack for Baby Tutorial — Shannon at GrowingSlower made an organic summer sleep sack for baby, and you can too with her easy tutorial.
• Chalk It Up! — Amy at Anktangle recounts how an impulse buy has turned into a fun collaborative activity that she hopes will continue to foster creativity in the whole family.
• The Family Garden — Excited that her son has been a big help in the garden this year, Ana at Pandamoly shares how her garden grows and offers up some secrets on how a toddler can be a great assistant in the garden.
• Getting my craft on — Jona at Life, Intertwined takes a trip down memory lane — and finds it in stitches.
• Easy DIY Sandpit for Toddler Play — Christine at African Babies Don’t Cry shares her easy DIY toddler sandpit tutorial.
• Building Without Nails — Laura at Laura’s Blog builds a swinging bar using just sticks and twine.
• Family Talent Show — Erika at Cinco de Mommy holds an after-dinner family talent show.
• Ar matey! Fun and Learning with Pirate Play. — Positive Parenting Connection is sharing lots of really fun Pirate-themed learning activities for the whole family.