Evva adores our babies. Actually, probably any babies anywhere at anytime.

Lots of emotions running around in our family right now as Arthur enters kindergarten. Mostly feelings of loss and grief. I think that’ll wear off soon enough but man, it’s makes a parent sorta sad seeing a kid grow up.

(The fine print here clarifies that it’s his first full day. He went half a day yesterday.)

Fair Portraits:

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Award winning decorated cakes:

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I’m having a love affair with my children. Lewis is such a dear, pure boy and today had his first day of Preschool on his own, without his brother.

I took the boys for their first visit to Como town, a small amusement park next to the Como Zoo in St. Paul. It was sorta fun but, in my view, unsustainably expensive for our family and I’m guessing most. That said, we did have fun. Went on a rides. We went on old fashioned tilt-a-whirl. Art and Lewis were both a little scared about the idea since neither have experience riding stuff like that. But once it started we started spinning with great force and we were all barrel laughing and sticking to the seat like glue. I laughed real hard and remember looking down at my two boys and being so proud of them and so happy they were in my life.

After we searched around for other rides, rode a couple (including the cars), but ultimately Arthur really wanted to ride the tilt-a-whirl again. And after I heard him talk about it I realized why. He wanted to see me laugh really hard again. He just loves to watch his parents laugh and he’ll do whatever he can to make it happen over and over.

So, my preschool at the park is going to run. It will be mobile – packed up each night after class – and take place in a lovely section of the gym with huge windows and a new plum colored rug, compliments of the park board. Having the preschool starting soon has helped me snap out of some recent parental apathy and up my game. I have been practicing all kinds of activities and cooperation techniques and been having a lot of fun watching the boys get into all kinds of projects.

Just today I made some good old-fashioned playdough, didn’t even put color in it, and set them up with rollers and cutters and whatevers. Then I brought some animals over, which always seem to be a welcome addition to any activity, and the kids made footprints in their flattened dough. They also did some extruding. I extruded some thick noodles and gave each boy one. Art wrapped his around his Brachiasaurus’ neck and said it was a scarf.

 

Lewis cut his into pieces and put it on his firetruck. It was the hose.

 

Just today Art asked me why I wanted to teach a preschool and the kinds of things the boys have been coming up with this week is why. I want to continue to be inspired by how really young kids, not yet tarnished by the rigors of right and wrong answers, can take something as straight-forward as a playdough noodle and manipulate into multiple new and surprising things. May their minds only continue to expand and never narrow!

Emily (Jessica’s sister), Mike and their daughter Charlotte started a blog a while back when Charlotto was borno. Emily just posted this funny photo of Netta and Bailed when they had just learned to pull themselves up on stuff when we were at the cottage a month ago.

We visited the egret’s nest near our house yesterday. I stuck Arthur high up in the tree and told him we’d see him later. Nooooooo papa, it’s too scary!

Art said it was ‘beautiful’ under the tree and wanted to take a baby down to the waters edge to show her. After a while a baby can get sorta heavy and unwieldy. And imagine two!