Tuesday, January 18, 2011

the strawberry that loved to play in the patch.

If you've got kids, you already understand the following statement...and if you don't have kids but plan to someday, you will eventually understand that:

There are very few moments that turn out as awesome and perfect as you really want them to be.

That's not to say that life isn't full of awesome moments, it's just to say that you can throw your expectations out the window. Almost nothing ever turns out as you imagined it. Babies don't sleep during the hours you want. Toddlers won't cooperate with projects and outings. Preschoolers (at least my preschooler) are wildly opinionated and stubborn (so I suppose I should still be in preschool). I don't know what's coming next, but I assure you that I've mostly given up on expectations. As much as I can, I have to just go with the flow, and if you know me, you know that's something.

I digress.

The point is: last night was perfect. It was exactly what I wanted it to be.

After dinner, I mentioned that we should have some family art time. We all dutifully grabbed paper and markers and crayons, turned on some music, and headed to the table. We drew and colored and had a grand ol' time. S wanted to take turns drawing fruits, so I drew and colored a strawberry. Then I suggested that we make up a story about the strawberry, and she embraced the concept with vigor.

We wrote three pages of S's first masterpiece The Strawberry that Loved to Play in the Patch. I will save it forever because she may someday be a famous author, and I'll be able to prove that her illustrious career in words began at the tender age of three. The story is illustrated, it has a cover, and it's bound together with red embroidery thread. It was a lovely, lovely evening.

Of course, now we are going to have to write more and more stories, which is fine until I want to blog about them instead of writing them. Alas, I must encourage the creative genius.

I'll leave you with M's rendering of our family. It's classic Mr. Ouiser.

7 comments:

allison said...

that mr. ouiser. his cartography prof would be so proud! but i do have to ? his proportions with people. you look like a very small person... VERY small. or has S just grown that much since we saw her?

Wonderland said...

That is HILARIOUS. Best family portrait ever. You should frame it. Seriously.

The Perfect Space said...

I also love this family portrait. And I have a feeling the map dude has the scale just about right. Except the proportion of the legs. They could be off a little ;-)

Strongmama said...

Pregnant stick figures just look really funny to me.

Paper Bird and Little Fairy said...

frame it.

PB

Leslie said...

That picture is fantastic.

And throwing expectations out the window is also what you have to do if you haven't had kids, FYI.

die Frau said...

I third framing this portrait. I love it.