I volunteered at Festival of the Arts last year, which segued into volunteering for ArtPrize. I decided to repeat my efforts for both gigs this year and, luckily, Fred (who coordinates a lot of this stuff) was up for having a volunteer of the younger variety come along too. Last night we spent an hour and a half laying carpet tiles and cleaning windows. (In a very hot and humid building since the Old Fed is unoccupied most of the time and they don’t run the AC.)
He was such a great helper! He’s a whiz at laying carpet tiles (and snagged some of the remnants to take home) and didn’t complain at all about the window cleaning. He got bored a few times and was, naturally, not thrilled about the sweaty hot mess he was becoming. But he liked it enough to volunteer again tonight. More window washing. And then some shelf washing. The latter was his favorite because it involved a big ladder with wheels.
Fred also made Dev’s evening by inviting us and another volunteer, Nicole, to climb up into the upper ceiling of the building, which used to house a post office. Up above there’s a huge space where people used to supervise the mail sorters below, peeking through slats to make sure they weren’t stealing mail. It’s dusty and creepy up there. So, of course, Dev loved it!
I ate some good stuff this weekend. Fortunately I had my camera with me to document things.
Friday was dinner with friends at The Winchester. I didn’t snap pics of the plantain chips because I was to busy gobbling them down. The sweet potato and goat cheese pierogies, however, got the attention they deserved. So good!
Saturday’s food adventures amounted to many samples at Costco and a microwaved Morning Star Farms Chik Patty, none of which seemed photo-worthy. Although the fake chicken really is good. I swear!
Today I got around to making the recipe I found earlier this week that made me salivate. My only regret is that I couldn’t locate the lavender. Still, the scones tasted awesome. (For my future food-styling efforts, I definitely need to find some plain, cheap plates for a less busy presentation.)
I cooked dinner without a net, varying a couple of other dishes I’d put together in the past. We had chicken and apricot puff pastries and fruited orzo. And now? I’m full!
And goats. And roosters. And chicks. And sheep.
A church in our neighborhood hosts a free family fun night every summer with a bounce house, a dunk tank, hot dogs and ice cream, and a petting zoo. Fresh off the heels of his meet-up with the friendly cat in the other church parking lot (we live near many), he was eager to pet everything that was allowed to be petted. Although when the Critter Barn people offered up a chance to milk a goat, he wanted nothing to do with it. Apparently animals are only for petting.
With the helmet and all of those pads, I wasn’t worried about setting him free. After about five minutes of clinging to my arm, he saw his friend going it alone and decided to give it a whirl himself. Although he won’t be gracefully cruising down the street anytime soon, he didn’t do too badly. Every day he learns something new. I think I do too.
He’s becoming such a little animal lover. Makes me smile.
This cat walked through the parking lot where Dev likes to ride his bike. I was feeling a bit lazy tonight and bowed out of the physical activity. And because I didn’t bike or rollerblade over, I brought along my camera. I’m so glad I did because Dev insisted we go see the cat and the feline turned out to be uber-friendly. She let him pet her for probably 20 minutes and her tail was vibrating the whole time. They became instant friends.
Which fits with his current opinion that he KNOWS EVERYTHING.
Before I had a kid of my own, I had my fair share of encounters with little imps. And I’ve seen this stage many times before. When they correct you at every opportunity, when they start to challenge your knowledge.
I found those other kids super-duper annoying. (What? I’m allowed to find kids annoying when they’re not mine, you know.*)
To be fair, though, I’m finding Dev to be slightly annoying during the know-it-all moments too. He just argued with me for ten minutes tonight about the brand of super soaker he has. He insists it’s a Nerf because he saw a Nerf super soaker on TV. But guess what? It’s not a Nerf. I bought it for him and I know such things. But he refuses to believe me. The stinker.
So how long does this stage of childhood last anyway? Tell me it’s short-lived!
*Actually, a good friend recently told me she never really liked kids until she had her son. I could understand where she was coming from. I liked some of them, but there were a whole lot I would gladly run shrieking from!
Because, honestly, the two Ds hardly ever leave her or Juliette alone. It’s like they have little magnets under their fur and the boys are just drawn to them. Still, she can only handle so much attention before she gets a bit perturbed. Once she’s had enough, Lucy jumps down and finds a spot where they can’t reach her. And I’m left to pick up all the fur that’s left behind!
We didn’t stay long, though. Crazy dog. She just couldn’t sit still. Scott always tells me I need to relax, but I think Juli’s the one who could use some meditation therapy. Still, we lasted for a few songs and she got a walk. It wasn’t a total bust.
Whoosh…the days are flying by so quickly! They always do, I know. But it seems like the speedometer’s been bumped up a notch lately. I’d like to have some slower, lazier moments so I can savor the last few weeks before Dev goes back to school. Back. To. School. Yikes! First grade this year. And he’s reading like crazy already. I’m so happy I take as many photos as I do so I can lock in some of the memories. There’s certainly not enough room in the regions of my grey matter to store it all away.
I won’t, however, soon forget the trip we took last week to Legoland. One, because he was so thrilled. Two, because he and Jack never stopped talking. Even on the ride home when they were SUPPOSED TO BE SLEEPING. Stinkers.
This was just a few moments before he started asking, loudly, while playing pitcher, “When will we be done? I’m bored!” And was preceded by several repeats of filling his glove with sand and watching it fall to the ground. Oh, and then there was the spinning around in circles. Apparently the batting part was more exciting than the fielding part tonight.
