This was Grandma’s birthday present to Grace.

 

If you could be a fly on our wall, on many hot afternoons when Daddy comes home, you will find us all holed up in our bedroom, the only room with an air conditioner.  Mom reads from the Narnia books, and the rest of the family engages in what has become somewhat of a Family Obsession.

Daddy is the Master Designer.  And Grace has always been one who would do crafts all day, every day, if we let her. 

But this little guy has given us the biggest surprise.  This is the five-year-old who just developed the small motor skills to write his name a couple of months ago.  The one who hates coloring and drawing, and school work only comes along with a great deal of bribery encouragement.  The one with energy coming out of every pore of his body.  Focus and concentration have never been his strengths.   

 

But somehow these silly little beads have captured his imagination.  And so he sits, every day, for hours at a time, creating. 

And as every parent knows, you’re happy with whatever you can get.  Right? 

 

 

This is really only a small fraction of what has been created in the past month.  The rest have been given to poor, unsuspecting friends who have to pretend that they are just so excited to receive one of these plastic creations.  Good thing we have nice friends.