Yo-Yo and I have been playing Bananagrams.
While he waits for me to come join him at the table, he creates shapes.
I made a quick pizza with my new tomato sauce. Just crust, sauce, fresh basil, and mozzarella cheese.
It crossed my mind that I could whip up a batch of homemade mozzarella, but I scratched that idea as soon as it reared its head. If I’d-a had more time…
My kids are notorious for never using games/tools/furniture for the intended use. (See above picture of bananagrams.) This often drives me quite batty, but other times I get a huge kick out of it. Take, for example, what they’re doing with their swing set. They’ve turned it into a swinging seesaw. They balance, swing, and rock, all of which is punctuated with squeals and screams. It’s keeps them occupied, so I’m happy.
They used all the coats and jackets they could find to pad their little behinds. Ladder rungs aren’t all that comfortable to sit upon.
Yo-Yo and Miss Beccaboo went all hushy-hushy on me a couple days ago. They said they were working on my birthday present. It involved clandestine phone calls to my mother. It involved my sewing kit. It involved closed doors and wild shrieking to STAY OUT when any of the rest of us dared venture too close.
They asked if they could cut up blankets for stuffing. (NO.) They asked if they could take apart pillows for stuffing. (NO.)
There was deep despair. And there was resilience.
There were more closed doors. And then, finally (but about four weeks pre-birthday), they trooped downstairs bearing a large object wrapped in Yo-Yo’s spiderman blanket. Inside was…
a homemade pillowcase!
The patchwork cloth had already been sewed at Grandmommy’s house, I do believe. When they called her to see if they could use it, she reportedly said, “You can eat it for all I care.” So they hand stitched two of the sides together to make me a birthday pillowcase.
I was touched. I even got a little teary-eyed. The pillow now resides on my bed. I love it.
Heck, I love them, the silly goons.
We’ve been eating oven s’mores for desserts most nights. It’s a nasty habit. You don’t want to start.
Yes you do. Make them.
No, don’t. You’ll get addicted and then live to regret it. You’ll never visit this blog again. You’ll hate me.
Actually, you’ll love me. Make them.
Sit a couple marshmallows atop a graham cracker and stick it under the broiler till nice and toasty.
Smear the other cracker with Nutella. Lick the knife. (But don’t let the kids see or they’ll all beg for licks.)
Unite and bite! (No pictures of the biting. Too messy for that. And besides, I was really focused on my ooey-gooey piece of heaven.)
No nutella? Use chocolate chips or any other type of chocolate that strikes your fancy.
Another suggestion: add slices of banana.
And now we’ve come full circle, from bananagrams to banana s’mores. Goodnight!
This same time, years previous: dreaming, on our way, smartly
7 Comments
Anonymous
Them bare feet are awfully close to the grass and dirt.
Jennifer Jo
Karen, I was having a down day that verged on a pity party fest, and then I got your comment and it made my evening, like, TOTALLY.
Meshan, Seeing as all my kids have (so far) turned out to be late readers and don't have the option of losing themselves for hours on end in the marvelous, magical world of books, I really don't know. I DO know that my kids go through spells: sometimes they fight for WEEKS on end, and other times they play sweetly (usually for only a couple days), and then other times, like now, they get into a groove and GO.
Just wait till you see what they came up with last night….
Meshan
I've told you before and I'll tell you again- I think your children are fantastic! They have such GREAT imaginations. My son(7) is an avid reader so I thought he would have this wild & fun imagination. I have to encourage him to great lengths to play and pretend. Why do you think that is oh wise one?
Karen
JJ, Your blog is so very often the highlight of my day. I adored this post. See you soon.
Camille
Fun post! Great photos of the kids being kids! How precious that those two did that pillowcase for you. S'Mores are a favourite around here…BUT I think we will keep the kids thinking they can only be made outdoors or we may become roly polys this winter! 🙂 Yum Yum…they look great!
Have a fabulous week!
Camille
Margo
that pillowcase is so sweet. and it cracks me up that you can post such dangerous-looking pictures of your kids! Go kids!! I'm all about the crazy experiments because I don't really provide a lot of toys for my kids.
I'm glad to know that decent indoor smores can be made – I have used the microwave before in 4pm desperation (for myself, alooooone). And how handy, I just made nutella the other day. I'll let you know how addicted I become.
Kris
NO PEANUT BUTTER?!?! You gotta use peanut butter on smores!! Besides, then you have something to stick the chocolate chips on if you're too cheap to buy chocolate candy bars or you think they're not real chocolate anyway…