Via Colori 2008

Yesterday we had the pleasure of experiencing Via Colori in downtown Houston. This is a street painting festival that benefits non-profits. It was amazing! Each artist is given a square (the sizes varied) to "paint" their design with chalk. There were no 3-D drawings like you see in those e-mail forwards but they were still beautiful!

The kids were hungry; so before we hit the festival we took a walk through downtown to look for a place to dine. Unfortunately the only thing we could find was a Burger King... so we ate there and enjoyed the scenery. We had lunch in a booth next to a homeless man who was apparently dining with a friend... though there was no one in the booth with him! Strangely enough he ordered two cheeseburgers and ate half of each- in exactly the same bite pattern- and then left them on the table. We decided maybe he left the other half of each burger for his invisible friend!
We watched some film makers work across the street. We aren't sure what they were filming but they sure took a LOT of takes! We also watched some street kids skateboard...until they were run off by the security guard. All in all it was an interesting lunch! I LOVE people watching!

Chris and Mateo started feeling ill at the festival so we cut the trip a little short and headed home. The kids were inspired by the art so we stopped by the art store and picked up some pastels so they could draw their own sidewalk masterpieces at home.
I forgot to charge my camera :( so here are a few shots that I took with my phone...

The Via Colori Art:


Via Barrera Art:

Election Night

Questions that my children have asked (well... mostly questions that Mateo has asked)

• What happens if the candidate votes for himself? (this was asked in shock- like it would be the worst thing in the world!)
  
• What happens if they tie?
• What is the difference between a Republican and a Democrat?
• How many do they need to win?

They were all very excited to vote at school today and Christopher has really enjoyed participating in political debates at school. He was given the chance to debate on both sides and took it very serious. The questions have been non-stop and they couldn't wait for the polls to close. They have spent the entire evening glued to the TV - watching the news! I tried to change it up for them and turned on the Cosby Show- but about every 5 seconds they wanted to turn it back to the news for an update! I gave up and we have stayed on ABC news for the long haul. Mateo has also been glued to the computer and LOVES the interactive map on abcnews.com. It's so funny to see him hover over each state to see how the numbers are changing. Keep in mind they are 12, 9, and 7 years old. This really is a different election!

Mateo using the interactive map
Please excuse Isabel's un-brushed hair

**Update- by the end of the night Mateo was calling them John and Barack. Apparently he feels very comfortable with them both.

**Morning update- Mateo woke up this morning and asked, "who won?" I told him Obama and he then asked, "what are the new rules?" LOL If only life was that fast and easy!

If you can't tell we are very non-partisan in our house. I'm teaching the kids to look at all the issues and decide where they stand. Then to look at each candidate, where they stand on the issues, and then match it up.

Halloween 2008

Here are some Halloween pictures... We spent the evening at the Pumpkin Patch festival at our church. The little kids had fun "Trunk" or treating and Chris went to his Friday night youth event. Isabel also danced in the KidStuf show. Chris dressed as a greaser (he just finished reading The Outsiders in school), Isabel dressed as a hippie, and Mateo was Iron Man. Notice the red clown make-up on his hands because we couldn't find red gloves! It still hasn't completely come clean!