Murphy, the Artist.

Friday afternoon, Murphy decided to decorate his room. I'll take part of the blame. I've never decorated his room. Isn't that shameful? Cooper's isn't decorated, either. And trust me, it's not because I don't want to. I would love to! But, until things pick up in the economy, it just can't be a priority right now. So, I suppose Murphy took matters into his own hands. Literally.

He came downstairs and was so excited to show us what he did. We went upstairs and this is what we found (you can click on the pictures for close ups)...



Earlier he had taped these drawings all around his room. He decided to group them all together. They are all monsters. I can't help but wonder if this is some sort of red flag. Or just a five year old boy's vivid imagination?

Ever since Halloween, he has been fascinated and totally obsessed with monsters. Each Tuesday he goes to the library with his class and gets to check out two books. Every single week since October, he has come home with at least one book about Halloween. Even through December and Christmas!

When I went to his class party right before Christmas, they were making gingerbread men. Murphy made his a gingerbread monster. When it snowed the first time, he drew a snowman monster. I haven't been saying too much about it, thinking the phase would end. Okay, hoping the phase would end. Anyway, back to his decorations...

Here's the door to his bedroom...



His light switch...



His clever spider and spider web... I must admit, I'm pretty darn impressed with his imagination and use of materials (that's medical tape, of course).



Over his bed...



A close up of over his bed...



Next to the window...



One in the middle of the wall...



And my most favorite of all...



You have to admit, they are pretty darn cute bats (and spider). All of them are clearly happy and smiling. And I'm very impressed that he didn't feel like he messed up at all. Like, you know when you're writing on a poster board and you know you only have one shot to get what you're writing right, or the whole thing's going to look like crap? Well, he drew exactly what he wanted without messing up. Or at least it appears that way to me. And I got to hand it to him on the bat hanging upside down. He's smiling and the smile is going in the right direction. I think that's pretty darn impressive for five years old. But what do I know?

He used dry erase markers from the easel downstairs. And he returned the markers to their rightful place when he was done decorating. After Tom and I got our laughs out, we told him they were wonderful bats, but please use paper next time. We can't just go writing/drawing on the walls! We have some paint left over, so that's not a problem. But I think I'm going to let them stay. I cannot tell a lie, I like the bats. They're so darn cheery. Even with red eyes!

And I think we got about a foot of snow yesterday. Nuts! Here's Tom and Murphy headed out to get a jump on shoveling. It continued to snow for hours after I took this picture!



Oh, I forgot to add that on Saturday after we tucked him in, we heard some movement in his room. When I peeked in he had put a chair right in front of his doorway. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "trying to make my room into a cave." I see... Okay, then. Goodnight.

Hope you're all nice and warm...

Thanks!
Christy