Kid Quips

I had an imaginary friend named Jennifer when I was younger. In fact, I talked about Jennifer so much that my Mom had a dream about her once. I vividly remember the day I went to the moon and Jennifer filled in at me at the dinner table so that my parents wouldn’t worry about me and realize I had gone to the moon. Somehow, she blew my cover and they didn’t buy her story that she was really me and that I had gone to the moon. I think I fired her as my imaginary friend after that point.

Little Miss apparently acquired my imagination gene. She geniously came up with not just an imaginary friend, but an imaginary school. Two of them, in fact. She has her “old school” and her “better school.” Both schools are filled with imaginary friends and school buses and teachers, and even homework. She was scribbling on some paper the other night and said to T-Rex. “Please don’t bother me. I’m doing my homework.” I have NEVER seen a kid want to go to school so badly. There isn’t a day that goes by that she doesn’t talk about school at least once. In fact, a couple days ago she said to me, “When a kid talks about their school a lot and their homework, are they school kids?” I nodded a wary yes to which she replied, “I talk about school a lot, so I’m a school kid too!” Wow. Let’s hope this translates into real-life and makes an easy transition into kindergarten!

T-Rex has become quite the little handy man, which should be no surprise since he shadows The Narrator on every project he works on. When we finished our bathroom repair, T-Rex pointed to the spot in the shower where there used to be a hole and said, “I fixed that! I did it!!” One night while The Narrator and I were on a date, Housemate was watching the kids and T-Rex pulled out one of the tacks that holds the speaker cord to the wall. She told him not to mess with it and he said, “I fix it!” He went to his toy toolbox, pulled out his toy hammer, and hammered the tack back into place in the wall!!

That same date night, Little Miss discovered a bug on the lanai and began to fuss over it. Housemate told her she wasn’t going to pick it up either. T-Rex shouted, “I get it, I get it!” And then disappeared down the hallway towards his bedroom. He came back wearing the construction gloves from his dress up box and picked up the bug and put it in the trash! What a good little man!!

One night while putting Little Miss to bed, she was playing with my hair and asked why my hair was “crunchy” I told her it was from the product I had put in my hair to hold my curls.
“Princesses don’t have crunchy hair do they? They have soft hair like mine.”
“Well, some princesses might have crunchy hair.”
“Which ones have crunchy hair? Not Cinderella, or Belle, or Sleeping Beauty. Their hair is soft.”
“No, my guess would be that Ariel has crunchy hair, from the ocean water. And Jasmine too, she probably has crunchy hair.” That seemed to make Little Miss happy!

Virtual Entertainment

Little Miss & T-Rex hunched over the computer while video chatting

I don’t know why we didn’t think of this sooner, but now that we’re about ready to move closer to our families, we’ve started video chatting. Seriously, you don’t need t.v. when you can watch the kids video chat with their grandparents.

Both of our Dads are magicians and jugglers. In fact, our kids think that every adult knows how to juggle. They will randomly hand 3 toy balls to friends at parties and demand, “Juggle!!” We’ve had to explain that just because their grandpas, daddy, mommy, and uncles can juggle, not ALL adults know how to. It’s a bit confusing for them.

Within a few minutes of their video chatting, Little Miss will ask my Dad to “do a magic trick, Grandpa! Do you have a trick ready for tonight?” I’ll never forget the first time he did a trick for them over the video. Little Miss’s eyes got as large as saucers as Grandpa took a scarf, stuffed it into his hand and then showed his empty hands, then pulled it out of his fist again. She was re-telling the story the next day to a friend, “And then he put the scarf in his hand AND IT WAS GONE!!!” and she flashed her empty hands just like my Dad had done. A couple days later, she asked The Narrator to do a trick for her, and he took her doll’s blanket and threw it over her head and told her it had disappeared. She turned around and saw the blanket behind her and was unimpressed. “That’s not MAGIC! You have to make it disappear like Grandpa did!”

One night a couple weeks ago, the kids entertained my parents with a puppet show. I have never seen a pig beat up a dog before, but it was rather entertaining! Like I said, who needs t.v.? It’s almost like virtual babysitting. I can turn the chat on and go read a book while they grab every piece of paper they have recently scribbled on to show off to the grandparents. The funniest though was when T-Rex tried to give Grandpa one of his drawings by “handing” it to him over the video. He kept smashing the paper up against the screen expecting Grandpa to take it from him! Ahh. Maybe someday!

Now we need to get some of the cousins hooked up with webcams. Now THAT I can’t wait to see. Four-year-olds chatting together. I need to remind my brother to get out in the garage and find his webcam!!

My superhero identity

I married into a superhero-loving household. My husband grew up on a steady diet of comic books and thinks he’s Superman. He actually really is. Just don’t tell anyone else. In fact, I was quickly immersed into the world of superheroes. He discovered on our honeymoon that I had never seen any of the Batman movies. Since there was a new Batman movie coming out that year, I had to catch up on the series. We rented and watched all the Batman movies in a Batman movie marathon one night on our honeymoon. I dreamed about the Batmobile that night! No joke! And I was hooked.

The superhero culture has continued in our home, especially now that we have kids. They have capes and run around the house with their initialed fabric flying behind them. I’ve now seen almost all the superhero movies. I ask The Narrator a ton of questions during each one, and he fills me in on back stories that only an avid comic book reader would know. I really loved Dark Knight and Iron Man. Those might be my favorite two of recent years.

I was thinking the other day about my superhero identity. I was getting ready to attend a baby shower that I had made a diaper bag for, so I decided I had better go to the shower “in character.” Whenever I attend an event where my gift is hand crafted (which is every event I attend these days, I rarely buy gifts anymore) after my gift is opened, the next questions are always, “Do you sew clothes? Did you make what you’re wearing?” I’ve learned it’s easiest just to wear an outfit that I’ve made so I can answer, “Yes, and Yes.” At this particular shower the mama-to-be shrieked over her bag and pulled me to the front of the crowd. She was so sweet and kind and flattering. I was blushing and ready to shrink back into the corner in all my introvertedness.

I don’t view my skills as a rarity because I grew up around hand crafting. My mom, grandmas and aunts all sewed, crocheted, knitted, crafted with shells, and decorated cakes. My Dad and grandpas were woodworkers and photographers. The Narrator’s family is the same way with the same list of talents. All my sister-in-laws on both sides of the family are just as gifted. We’re all rather crafty and we love to create together when we can.

Nonetheless, I’m finding that this craftiness is slowly becoming part of my identity. During one of our pizza parties, I looked around the room and saw pieces of myself all over – flip flops I had crocheted fuzzy string around, a diaper bag I’d made, a dress I’d made for a little girl’s birthday, bibs I’d made, receiving blankets – all items I had created and given as gifts to my friends at some point in time.  I stopped and smiled, because I realized all those items meant something to my friends, and hopefully they were a symbol of how much love I had put into each one of them.

So I guess if I had a superhero identity, I’d have an Amy Butler print cape with an appliqued pink “S” on the back. My superhero weapons would be a pair of tailor’s scissors, a tape measure and a set of  knitting needles. You better watch out for those flying balls of yarn (tossed in love of course!!).

Project of the week

This week was interesting around here to say the least. The Narrator started his new job and went up to Michigan for a few days for orientation, so the kids and I hung out. It turned into a project week. Some planned, some unplanned. Things always break when the hubby leaves, right?

I’m headed off to a baby shower, so I think it’s safe to share this particular project, because I doubt that the recipient will be online in the next half hour. A requested, custom-made LARGE diaper bag, complete with matching changing pad all for a very special mama-to-be.

First project done!

I finally finished my first knitting project. This scarf was knit with a variagated 4 ply Red Heart, and I love how it turned out. It was knit with 14″ of garter stitch, 18″ of ribbing, then another 14″ of garter stitch. I love how the ribbing makes it skinnier around your neck! I think next time I do this pattern, I’ll make the garter stitch sections longer. I like the look of longer scarves.

I learned a lot on this project. It was a good beginner project to master the basics – keeping an even tension, refining my technique of holding and throwing the yarn, and how I hold my needles. I worked on this one for a few days, then set it aside to start a blanket (which is about halfway done). When I picked it up again, I was amazed at how much more quickly I was knitting. I’ve definitely gotten faster since those first few squares I knit.

But beyond the knitting basics, I was surprised at how much I learned about myself during this project. I’m terribly impatient. Now, that’s not news to me or anyone who knows me, but rather it was a big in-my-face reminder. I’m used to scrapbooking where I can finish a half a dozen pages in a day and feel like I really did something. Or making an incredibly nice diaper bag in 3 days, or half a dozen teddy bears in one night. But knitting? No way. It takes daaaaays to finish just one scarf. And a blanket? Weeks. So after a few hours work, I realize I’ve only done 6 inches of a project. And that can be incredibly frustrating for an impatient, type-A, task driven, goals oriented, check it off the list person like me! I had to realize that knitting is about enjoying the process, and relishing the fact that with each stitch I’m taking YARN and turning it into FABRIC, which really is amazing. This beautiful pattern emerges as I carefullfy work each stitch, each row, each section. And each little stitch matters, because if I work it carelessly, it’s pretty obvious, especially on an even pattern like this scarf.

And that pretty much sums up my life right now. Things are taking longer than I’d like them to, and I continually find myself getting ahead of the game – working on setting up our new home in Michigan in my head when the one in Florida hasn’t even sold. I find myself packing and organizing boxes in my head, when it’s not time yet. And in turn, I end up goofing up the current stich I should be focusing on – which is loving my kids and my neighbors and my friends where I’m at, enjoying the days we have left here and letting tomorrow take care of itself.

So this scarf was a little bit about knitting and technique, and a whole lot about learning to be patient and focus on the here and now.  I’m sure next winter when I’m wearing this scarf in the Michigan winter, I’ll remember my lesson in patience, and it will apply to whatever I’m facing then too.

Speaking of…

Speaking of Scribbit, the deadline for entering this month’s Write Away contest, is tomorrow. The topic – your first bike, and the prize is fabulous. This is the first time I had a previous post that fits the topic!

A Sunshine Tour

One of my favorite Mom bloggers, Scribbit, has posted an article I wrote for her site about all of my favorite places to visit in the Tampa Bay area. A warm, sunshine-y welcome to all of you who have stopped by from her site. And if you haven’t stopped by her site today, please do so! It will make you want to move here! Oh wait, that’s kind of ironic since there’s a for sale sign in my front yard and we’re moving back to Michigan. Reading over my list of favorite things to do around here makes me want to pack up a bag and hit the road today and go visit every place just one more time, especially Ft. DeSoto. Sigh. It is heavenly.

We had a wonderful Valentine’s/President’s Day weekend, and as a result, my home today is in no condition for showing. Since I never know when that phone may ring, I need to go find my mop.

Strawberry Spritz Cookies

Just in time for Valentines Day – my favorite cookies with a strawberry twist. These are the best cookies in the world to make with kids because the dough does not need to chill, and you shape the cookies with a cookie press (which everyone needs!) – no rolling, no floury messes! AND the cookies are bite-size, so the kids can have 2 and think they really got a treat. And did I mention that one batch makes about 84 cookies??? It’s strawberry season in Florida, so I experimented with my recipe today, and it turned out soooo yummy!!

Basic Spritz Cookie (from Better Homes & Garden Cookbook)

1 1/2 cups butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1. Beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed 30 seconds. Add sugar and baking powder. Beat till combined, scraping bowl. Beat in egg, vanilla, and if desired, almont extract til combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can. Stir in remaining flour.

2. Force unchilled dough through a cookie press onto ungreased cookie sheet. Add sprinkles or colored sugar if desired. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or till edges are firm, but not brown. Transfer cookies to a wire rack cool.

Makes about 84 cookies.

STRAWBERRY GOODNESS VARIATION: I added a handful (1/2 cup maybe?) of chopped strawberries in with the egg and beat until combined. This made the dough a bit stickier, so I also added a bit more flour, not quite 1/2 cup until the dough had a good consistency to put into the cookie press. I bet if you had strawberry extract and used that instead of almond it would add to the strawberry goodness!!

CHOCOLATE LOVERS: reduce flour to 3 1/4 cups and add 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder with the sugar.

Happy Valentines Baking!!

The difference between boys and girls

A chuckle to start your day…

Yesterday as we were getting out of the car to go into Bible study, Little Miss found a hair clip on the floor and put it in her hair. “Look at my hair now!!” I told her it was beautiful. T-Rex then took his hand and rubbed it on the top of his head making his hair stick out in every direction. “Look at MY hair now!!”

T-Rex was teasing Housemate last night and wouldn’t let her get past him. She teased him back saying, “I’ll kick you!!” (with a pretend kick from her.) He responded, “No, I’ll kick YOU!” While they were giggling, Little Miss chimed in, “Housemate, kicking people is a SIN!!”

Signs of the Times

Now it’s really official.

This is what happens when Mommy is sick and trying to get a house ready to sell. Smart kids ask for chocolate pudding for a snack. Pudding is made from milk. Milk has calcium, therefore pudding has calcium! The box said so! (What you don’t see: pudding up to their elbows and all over the table!)

Video chatting with Grandparents, and one of the biggest reasons for that top picture. One day soon, it will be face-to-face chatting and playing with grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles.