All of the Above

Craft night is all about:

1. Drinking red wine, and eating olive bread spread with brie.
2. A bunch of girls who clearly don’t get out the house enough chit-chatting more than working on their craft projects!
3. Working with your hands – gasp! – and proving that the right side of your brain is not missing-in-action as assumed.

The answer is all of the above. I recently joined a group of paper crafters who meet monthly to work on projects.

To begin, we are working on greeting cards we can use throughout the year, and so last night we thought it would be a good idea to make boxes to keep our cards in. Since most of my cards will be for extended famdamily, I thought it would be nice to decorate mine with small black-and-whites of the rellies.

And in an effort to talk about something other than the fact that I don’t always listen to everything my son has to say, I thought I’d post my projects on the blog every now and then.

I was really pleased with the way my card box turned out and will be posting ongoing craft-night projects in this set on Flickr. Enjoy!

Uh … HELLO!?

I know I’ve been posting a lot of kid-versations recently but I am so amused by Tau’s sense of humor. (Yes, humor. He’s American, after all.)

Last night, I’m lying with him in the half-dark and he’s going off (OFF, I tell you) about where kangaroos live and whether some baby pigs can fly to Jupiter — just-pretend, Mommy! — and how do we go faster than the super jets and what do Orcas eat and drink in the sea and how can we go to (see) fireflies … et cetera, et cetera … and so forth.

And I’m so used to grunting in the right places or muttering, “they eat baby seals and drink water” for the Orca question that I start zoning out and going through my mental to-do list.

Next thing, a little hand waves frantically RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY EYES and he’s all, “Hello! Mommy, are you LISTENING to me?!”

Last time I get away with with that one.

Grateful for the White Expanse at the Top of the Globe

Just yesterday a leprechaun visited Tau’s preschool class. He turned all the toy boxes upside down, magic’d the water in the toilets green, and sneezed all over the circle-time carpet dusting everyone and everything with glittery gold.

And so at the dinner table tonight we are asked, “Where do leprechauns live?”

“I have no idea,” I say.

He turns his attention immediately. “Daddy, where do the leprechauns live?”

“I don’t know, Tau. Ask your Mom — she knows all these things.”

I give Dave the stink eye. “In case you didn’t know, you’re also on the hook for explaining mythical characters.”

St. Paddy’s Day has no meaning for us. Leprechauns? We just don’t care. But at preschool, every Hallmark holiday is fair game — good for a marching parade, a party, themed story books and art projects on the subject.

Later as we dress him in PJs, Tau stares up at the world map on his wall. “Where do the leprechauns live?”

“Up in that white part at the top,” Dave says matter of factly.

We all set our focus on Greenland, which is all-white on this map. We have told him that this is where The North Pole is located, that it is super cold there, and it takes 11 (eleven!) airplanes to get there. So we won’t be visiting any time soon.

“Santa lives at the very top of Greenland,” I tell him, picking up where Dave leaves off, “and the leprechauns live at the very bottom of Greenland.”

“Because they are  green,” Dave adds, with authority.

Last Weekend in the Park

Last Sunday we met friend James, Vix and Harry in the park for a picnic, and Vix snapped a few family pics for us.

I haven’t had a chance to really work with them but will be sending them out throughout the year for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthdays and so on.

Non Sequitur

Leaving the house today, we drive past our elderly neighbor, walking her grandson up the hill.

“Wave to Granny and Florim …”

“Why Granny and Florim are walking?”

“Granny and Florim are walking to the bus stop.” Then I remember that he doesn’t know what a bus stop is, so “because when you are a bigger kid, all the kids wait at a special place and  then the bus comes and gets you to take you to school … because right now I take you to school but when you get bigger, you will walk to the special bus stop and the bus will take you to school. All the big kids get to go on the bus … “

“An’ dey have lots of STEAM in dey WHEELS!”

Thanks for following along boy child.