Project Monday: Bird Houses

We're off to a slow start this month. It's just been so sunny outside, it's hard to make myself sit at the computer. We're happy to announce that the winner of our March Giveaway is Tiffany over at Teaworthy. Congratulations, Tiffany! Please check out her site when you get the chance, it's really beautiful!

All of this sunshine just makes us feel, well, hopeful. We're enjoying watching flowers pop up overnight, buds opening on trees, and birds singing in the trees. Our theme this month is simply HOPE, and we'll be working on projects that celebrate Spring and new life.

This morning, after returning from a doctors appointment, I couldn't bring myself to go back inside. I suddenly remembered a wooden birdhouse dear friends in Colorado gave us during the winter months that I stored away in the back of my son's closet. You can find birdhouses like this at any craft store. I grabbed one of my husband's old tee-shirts and a rubber band to make it fit and Ari and I headed for a sunny patch of grass:

I set up non-toxic paint and thought enough to take Ari's socks and shoes off at the last minute:

We had so much fun! It's important to me to sit back and let Ari do his own artwork. It's so tempting to want to add some extra paint here and there or to take away the project before he can glob on more red--right over that gorgeous green he just created. If I sit back, I've noticed that Ari concentrates longer and his project is truly his own.

I have shied away from doing a project like this with Ari because my cancer treatments make me feel less than confident that I'll have enough energy to see it through. The Spring air is energizing me,making me excited about a month of projects and, yes, filling me with hope.