Nothing says love like a handmade gift.  Twice so far this month, I've been to Clay and Latte in Carmel Mountain Ranch.  The first time with to use a Groupon that I picked up.  It sounded like such a good idea in my head!  I thought that I would take the boys and we would have a grand time painting and laughing.  Instead, I encountered a little guy who - after a 15 minute picture of daddy - was D.O.N.E.  I spent the next hour trying to get him to paint a little more, stop picking up the ceramic pieces on the shelves, and sit in his seat to finish his plate.  I felt like I was trying to herd kittens.

The second trip was for the TWINKIE's 5th birthday.  I took four big boys with me (because that's how I do stuff) and they all painted a picture as Valentine's Day gifts.  The twist is that they each painted a gift for another's mom.  Lil Shawn made a Hello Kitten one for Ms. Grace, Gray made one for Ms. Sina, and I got a Bbbbbbeautiful blue and gold camera platter from my dear Stephen.  My favorite part of the session was when lil Shawn said, " Put the word LIFETIME on it.  My mom loves LIFETIME!"  So Sina ended up with a handmade platter that had a spam musubi on the front and the word LIFETIME with a heart on the back.  Gotta love these boys.

"This is DADDY."
Yup, looks exactly like him!

Next time I go, I'll remember a few things:

1) Let the little guy paint whatever he wants to paint.  It isn't worth the fight to argue that a platter is more useful than a ceramic sheep.

2) Ban the color black.  It ends up everywhere.

3) Ask the kids what they are going to write on the plates first.  Otherwise you end up with things like "Boom!", "Like A Boss", "Beast", and the Pepsi symbol.  (I may NOT follow this rule... it did make me laugh!)

4) Make sure to take pictures of all the finish products.  The plates will one day break or disappear, but the happy memories will last a lifetime.

5) Lastly... and most importantly... try to stop and enjoy the chaos.  It's an art project, not the building on the Titanic.  If they have fun and laugh and enjoy, it's worth the trip.