And Who Are You?

Not many people understand me, because I’m not easy to understand. People are suppose to fit into the world’s little cookie cutter shapes, and if you don’t there’s very little understanding.

But it’s more than cookie cutters, it’s like Legos©, the ones I buy for my boys in the kits. They come with detailed instructions, and where all the pieces go is clearly marked in the book with pictures.

So you take the instruction manual and the blocks and build a perfect castle, or fire station, or forest hideout, or a three-dimensional model of a pirate ship complete with chests of booty and planks to walk.

Except, sometimes, at the end of the day I’m to tired to fight with the boys over putting things away properly, and instruction manuals get lost, and the kits get broken up. Inevitably there is a plastic box stuffed with random plastic pieces. B-10 and Carter Word love that box; it’s full of pirates and astronauts and the occasional princess and dragon.

They empty it out on the floor and without looking at a slicked-up instruction sheet, build a world. A world where the Princess meets the Astronaut, and together they tame the Dragon, who just happens to be a Pirate, himself. Then the rowdy band of mischief-makers head to the nearest mountain range and battle the monster, at least until my mum or I comes in and tells them to leave the cat alone and get off the sofa.

People want to see your box. They want to look at the color photos and know what you are suppose to look like and they want the instruction sheet to know how to deal with you. They want to know what set you belong with; are you a “Future City” kit or a “Sherwood Forest” kit? No one likes to see the pile of bricks, not yet put together, and Heaven forbid one of your blocks got sucked up in the vacuum!

I don’t have a box. I’ve got a Knight, a glow-in-the-dark Ghost, a SCUBA diver, and one of those Astronauts. And seven or eight blocks that I haven’t found a place for yet.

You know what? I feel sorry for those people who have such a tight grip on their instruction sheet they can’t move past being “Grown-Up”, a “Better-Than-You Christian”, or a “perfect mother”.

Life is so much more fun in the big box of extra pieces.

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Kindergarten

CW's new Kindergarten teacher visited our home today to meet CW and the rest of the family (including the kitties). He was able to see pictures of the other kids in his class (6 boys and 8 girls) and show Mrs. B how he could read his favorite book and his Cars lunchbox.

He was very sweet and brought out his stuffed puppy to introduce her to Mrs. B. He also did cartwheels for her in the living room. Mrs. B stayed for about 30 minutes and answered all of our questions. CW asked her if she "randomly" assigned seats and we all giggled when she had to explain that she did seat assignments strategically.

He has 9 days to go before Kindergarten starts - and he CAN'T WAIT! I can't believe he's already this old!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Fried Dill Pickles

For tonight's Family Time we made Fried Dill Pickles for dessert.

The boys had a great day today, finishing all their schoolwork before lunchtime and then they played with their goo (see yesterday's post for instructions). So we decided to do something special and the boys learned all about dredging and hot oil and dry/wet/dry stations.

B-10 was the first dry station, then CW did the wet/second dry station - before I did the hot oil with Fiancé's help.

This is the delish finished product!

It was an easy and fun family activity - not to mention that pickles make a great dessert!

(I am not including pictures of the kitchen floor - otherwise you might be discouraged from ever attempting this in your own abode.) ;)

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Pictures

So, because I'm feeling oh-so-crafty and motivated, I managed on Monday to not only get to the store and find matching picture outfits for the boys, but ALSO make it all the way to Stone Mountain Park to take the pictures AND upload said pictures AND order said pictures.

Whew, I'm feeling done with the motivation thing for a while.

The hardest part was moving around with B-10 on crutches. We decided not to take his wheelchair, simply because we were going down into the Nature Trails to take pictures, but the crutches weren't easy either. He was a trooper though!

Overall, I was thrilled with the pictures. The boys did great. I love looking at pictures - especially these. It was amazing to see how old they looked. Especially CW. They are my angels.

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Goo, Goo, Glorious Goo!

B-10 and CW finished all their schoolwork early today, so we did a family science experiment tonight and made Goo!

B-10 decided to go with green goo, while CW went with blue. The adults got the leftovers from each bowl - which was plenty! It's easy to make, a blast to play with, and easy to clean up after you're done with the experiment.

Let it be known that goo makes excellent passing gas noises. ;)

The coolest thing about goo is that when you are moving it slowly, it acts like dough - very squishy and holds together. But if you move it quickly it acts kind of like bread, and breaks with jagged lines. We observed what happens when you leave goo alone in a big pile (it slowly spreads out) and when we pushed down on it (it gets a dull finish and takes our handprint, before spreading out and becoming shiny with no handprint).

I purchased three small Ziploc containers to hold our goo and keep it fresh. A wonderful Science moment all around!

Goo Recipe:

1 Cup All-Purpose White Glue

1 Cup Water (divided by 3/4 Cup and 1/4 Cup)

Food Coloring

1 Tablespoon Borax

Blend glue and 3/4 cup water in a large bowl. Stir until very smooth. Add food coloring until desired color. Set this bowl aside.

Blend 1/4 cup water with borax in a small bowl. Stir until dissolved. (This works best if you use very hot water.)

Add contents of small bowl to large bowl; stirl until goo begins to form. Then remove goo from bowl. There will be liquid remaining in the bottom of the bowl. (You can add more borax/water mixture to this liquid and make even more goo!)

Notes: Use METAL spoons to stir! Store in airtight containers. Do not let children ingest borax!

Have Fun Gooing!

~Lone Butterfly )i(