Lovelihood

The Boy, eager to put his new clay to use, gave us a couple of lessons that he'd picked up from school.

The Mr. tried to institute a tidy-up-as-we-go policy in regards to the great unwrapping this morning. But that would have precluded the humbling image of first world toy excess.

Shredded-up magazine bits constituted the box filler in the package that arrived this morning. Naturally, the kids rolled with it.

The thing about digital photographs is that that's how they often remain. Except for the one time of the year we actually make an effort to make prints. And then there's the scramble to find appropriate frames. And locate blank wall spots on which to display them. We make do.

This year's calendar was a simple print put behind glass in a simple clip frame, functioning as a not-so-white board. Packaged them with some neon crayons, which work brilliantly as dry-erase tools, and sent the off with the grandparents' gift packages. It would have been the quickest calendar I've made yet, had it not been for the turn-around time on the 8x10 prints.

Coming back from errands today, Bear lingered by the bike pile in the basement, straddled her own and gave me a silent, pleading look. So we strolled it down the street, her brother flying past us on his scooter, until she had her fill and steered herself back home.

Perhaps my favorite of the homemade decorations, these cardboard tube lanterns are so sweet, I've been stashing away spent toilet rolls to make up some more.