The Dangerous Book For Boys And The Encyclopedia of Immaturity

These are two of the most recent, and favorite, additions to our book shelf. They remind me of a big book of crafts my parents had on their book shelf when I was growing up. The Encyclopedia has all the card tricks, pranks and optical illusions that are so much fun to know and the Dangerous Book has, well, a little bit of everything from historical info to Morris Code. They actually came in handy a few weeks ago when the boys asked me how to make hats out of paper and I realized I actually didn't know. Then of course we couldn't just leave it at hat making, especially since the hats turned out to be too small for the boys, so we went on to making paper boats which can lead to nothing other than playing in the water. I think everything we do around here ends in water or mud.

Sock Monkey and Squid Tot Model their hats

Sock Monkey gets a little additional decor added to his hat. (check out Lil' Spitfire writing his letters already!)

We love a little informal experimentation in our household. How can we not? My husband and I are both super nerds and we are in possession of two curious little boys.

When floating them got boring it was time to figure out how to sink them!

Maya always lets us know when our little friend has returned for his yearly visit. The first summer we lived in the house I found the teeniest, tiniest baby turtle struggling to work its way across the dirt clods that made up the lot next door. It was only about an 1" long. Every summer for the past two we've been visited by a turtle and I always wonder if it is that same little guy from the first year. I don't know why but it makes me really happy to see him each year. Maybe it makes me feel a little bit less like I'm trapped in suburbia.

Toothless Grin

Mr. Golden Curls has had his first loose tooth since before the end of school. Last night Pappa gave it a tug and just like that, our first visit from the tooth fairy! Mr. Golden Curls was so incredibly excited and proud, as you can see from the napkin wielding victory dance below. Up top is him with his tooth fairy pillow that Grammy made him.

He asked me what the tooth fairy was going to bring him and I told him "pocket lint and gum wrappers." He didn't buy it and told me he thought she'd bring him a golden penny. In the morning he discovered she'd brought him a gold, dollar coin and thought that was pretty wicked sweet. Then he told me "last night I had a dream that the tooth fairy put together my thing and your joke and wrapped my gold penny in a big giant pocket lint." I almost fainted since the night before I talked Pappa out of doing exactly that when I saw him pull the lint from the dryer!

Art The Art Mannequin

Mr. Golden Curls, my little budding artist. He really is amazingly creative and artistic. He is always wanting to make things, always thinking of making movies, or how he can make robots out of paper that actually move, or costumes out of paper sacks and cardboard boxes. The picture above is a blackboard at our church that he spent a good chunk of time filling up with amazing drawings while I made signs for Vacation Bible School. When he gets focused on something he's unstoppable, just don't expect him to be focused on what you want him to be!

My boys may be getting big but they're still having important (to me) firsts, like brand spankin' new real live art supplies for the first time ever! A couple of weeks ago, while Pappa was gone at camp, the boys and I were suffering from some serious cabin fever. I decided it was time for a trip to Hobby Lobby for some new markers and to look for some little project for the boys to do.When we walked into the store Mr. Golden Curls declares "I know what I want and it's little!" Turned out to be a little art mannequin, which thrilled me to no end, and led to me spending a wee bit more to get him his first sketchbook, set of pencils, eraser, and blending stumps...mmmm, art supplies.

Do you see those drawing skills?! Not bad for a first attempt by a 6 year old!

Lil' Spitfire is nipping at big brother's artistic heals. At four he's already drawing things that are recognizable and loves to act things out on paper. So what starts as a picture of a guy with a thought bubble, words and all, may be reduced to green scribble when there's an unfortunate slime explosion set off by the bad guy. He loved these double sided markers with one side marker and the other side a stamp.

If my boys grow up to be bean counters finding happiness in computers, calculators and cubicles that will be fine with me, but it is nice to see some creativity sparking in their little minds!