Meet Hammy

Ava is our artist. Although I often dramatize things a bit, I am NOT exaggerating when I say she draws atleast twenty pictures a day. I have a stack of photos in our kitchen. She cannot part with her art and so I have to keep the stack and every month or so weed through it and slip it out a few pictures with the recycling. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE her talent. We have framed lots of her drawings and Phin's scribbles and used them to decorated our finished basement. I am proud of her, but if I kept it all, we'd soon be appearing on the show "Hoarders".

Because we want to foster her affinity for art, we recently enrolled her in a animal themed clay class at our local art museum. We wanted to giver her the opportunity to experience a new medium. SHE LOVED IT! Because the clay has to be fired, we didn't get to see her stuff right away. They called this week and said it was all ready to be picked up.

The most precious gift was inside. Ava made her brother his very own "Hammy" piggy back. Phin is often sad because Ava has a real piggy bank. He has ALL the Toy Story characters and loves the pig. He affectionately calls him "Hammy" (real name in movie is Hamm). He often tries to put coins in Hammy, but his piggy bank slot is pretend- just an indentation instead of an actual slot. I never realized that Ava noticed his piggy bank envy.

Now I have to admit, as I unpacked her "art", I had to refrain from laughing at some of it. It is cute, but wow- it's... well,...done by a four year old. She was so proud and here I wanted to laugh. But my precious baby boy did not laugh at all. When she handed him his very own piggy bank, he was in awe and he simply said, "I lub it!" (two year old for "I love it"). He even wanted to take his new "Hammy" to bed (no I didn't permit that;)

I love my kids and I am so thankful to see that they love each other.

Phin with his precious "Hammy" piggy bank.

Ava telling him how she made it.

Here is "Hammy's" face...bless his little pig heart.

My very, very, very favorite thing- Etched into his side is "Ava Phin Love"....DOES IT GET ANY CUTER?!

In case you wanted to see...here are all of her creations: Starting at the far left and going clockwise AROUND Hammy: 1) "cow mask" (It even has little holes on the side to attach a sting. I hope she never asks to try it on- it must weigh 5 lbs;), 2) Pig mask, 3) bear cup, 4) duck cup, 5) cup that lost a few parts (she can't remember what animal that was;), 6) tiny pig bead, 7) bird