A random collection

So, there is no cute or clever title to today's blog post (to the extent that I ever come up with a cute or clever title...). Today is just random little bits of information with a few kid photos thrown in.

First, Pressley's new favorite thing to have for lunch is a "pizza" that she makes all by herself. It is made up of one Arnold's sandwich round (both halves), some Ragu pizza sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Well, usually mozzarella cheese, but today we were out, so we used cheddar. She is very insistent on doing it herself, so I put a spoonful of pizza sauce on each half of her sandwich round and then let her spread it herself. Yes, it is messy, but she enjoys it and I bite my tongue. Then, I put the cheese in a little bowl for her and let her decide how much makes it onto the pizza and how much goes in her mouth. She really is very precise about the cheese. She knows exactly where she wants each shred to go. This is perfect though, because usually the oven is properly pre-heated by the time she finishes.

She is really into cooking with me, so I'm encouraging it and I plan to let her take it over entirely by the time she turns 13. Is that too much to ask?

[Oh, and yes, I do acknowledge that she is wearing a leotard - with a skirt on it - and today is Friday, so we are either 4 days late or 3 days early for gymnastics. It is not a battle I choose to fight, so the leotard with the skirt on it (complements of her cousin Abby) is her new uniform around the house. So far, I have been mostly successful in getting her properly attired before we venture out in public.]

Just in case you are not quite convinced how much she loves the pizza making and the cheese-eating, I captured it on video.

Our next project for the day was.... wait for it .... shrinky dinks. Seriously. Did you know they still make those? I did not. Pressley got a book a while back as a gift. If you gave her this book, please forgive me that I am just now getting around to making the shrinky dinks. Any time a book has art supplies attached to the front, it gives me the heeby geebies because all I can think of is what a mess it will make of my kitchen. I'm trying to learn to chill. Really I am.

Anyway, I cleaned out the "art cabinet" yesterday and Pressley found the book and once again got out the clear plastic sheet with the fairies on them and began coloring them with the enclosed colored pencils. Eventually, I sat down with the book to investigate what one was supposed to do with said plastic fairies once they were colored and I discovered, much to my delight, that they were shrinky dinks. When Evan got home, I announced that we were going to do a "science project" (because I don't think he's really all that into anything involving fairies). And we finished coloring and cutting out the pieces and then I went to get the baking sheet. They were intrigued. And then once those suckers went in the oven they were alarmed. I was too. I had no recollection of the extent of the shrinking and the curling. I was sure I had done it wrong and I would have to go on-line to get some new fairies, but, I'll-be-derned if they didn't eventually start to flatten out - just like the instructions said they would.

And, voila! Tiny fairies!

And then, Evan insisted that I sew his patch on his brand new karate Gi at that very minute. The sensai had told them that their mommies can't just iron them on because they will fall off after a few washings. Instead, they must be sewn on by said mommies, even if those mommies have all the sewing skills of a small child. So, I put on an episode of Tom and Jerry, got out the tiny sewing kit that was in our room on our honeymoon in Italy, lo all those many years ago, and went to work. Here is the finished product:

[And, yes, I acknowledge that his name is written on the Gi in sharpie, but I will have you know that that is what the instructions said to do. It said specifically to avoid the temptation to have it embroidered because that is expensive and children grow quickly. That is almost a direct quote. So there.]

But how cute and proud is he? Totally worth the needle injury to my thumb cuticle.

Y'all have a good weekend.