Obviously...

...if your eyes tear while cutting onions, you should wear swimming goggles.

This is the face of an 8 year old boy...

...as he thinks about what to wish for, before he blows out the candles.

In Praise of Cardboard Boxes

This post is inspired by the pile of boxes in my living room that can't be thrown away yet, because Sam is in the middle of playing with them. More importantly, he said, "My dream come true. A bunch of boxes." I love children's pretend play, especially when it's with the stuff we usually throw away (note the photos of when Sam duct taped seltzer bottles to his body). But so help me if those packing peanuts end up all over the floor.

All day Saturday, Max said to Sam, "I'm giving you an x box for your birthday." Apparently he was planning this for after Shabbos:

Anyhow, the pile of boxes got me thinking about an old scrapbook page I made the first time my kids played with boxes. It's not beautiful. I just needed to write it down.

For further reading on the subject:

This book, aside from being a great read, is visually pleasing, and the cover and paper offer a wonderful tactile experience. No, seriously. I love the feel of this book in my hand. The cover and the pages. And much of the book is in Kraft color, which is as beautiful to me as burlap.

Just a short little story, for now

As I mentioned, I am working on a project that I can't yet display here, so for now, the photos, the stories, but not the scrapbook page.

This photo is in my ever growing "to be worked on" box. The day Sam got this here nerf gun, which he had been coveting for some time, he set up a photo shoot so he could take it and show his friends at school.

That's all. Nothing hysterical or adorable. Just a slice of life moment that I like. I like the creases in the photo, from where he folded it and stuck it in his pocket. And the excitement of his new toy. And the overall planning and execution by a 7 year old.

On to a new project

I will need to take a break from the personal scrapbooking for a bit. Try to keep it together people. Shh. Don't cry. I have some paid gigs I need to take care of. I will post results when I can. What is this paid gig, you say? Give me your photos, and I will create a beautiful scrapbook for you or someone you love. Or cards, or a framed wall hanging.

Hopefully no one in my family will do anything cute or memorable in the next few weeks.

You Won't Find This in Any Parenting Books

First, This is another example of what to do when you want to save a letter, a picture, a scrap of paper. But the clutter can get to be too much. Plus, when it gets stuck in a drawer or an envelope, sometimes it is never seen again.

Now, more importantly, to the story.

Max has a tendency to panic the night before a big assignment is due. It gets a little ugly here, with tears, and some yelling. The ridiculous part is, that even as it is happening, you know, KNOW, that at some point, he'll stop, suck it up, and write the assignment. And, get a good grade to boot. So, how, dear Lord, to skip step one, and move straight to the sucking it up? Well, Dave took the matters into his own hands, and wrote a contract for Max to sign. Some of you sensitive parenting types might have to look away for a moment.

He wrote:

I, Max Deutsch do hereby affirm that whenever I have a writing assignment about which I am unsure, I have a massive fit, act obnoxiously to my parents, yell at them, and waste time by insisting that I don't know what they do, and they don't know what to do. Ultimately, I do what they say, and I do fine. Therefore, from now on, when i have such an assignment, I will remember this, and hopefully will skip the obnoxious complaining and insulting, and go straight to listening.

Max changed a few things (photocopied onto the layout below), e.g. "the amazing complaining and complementing," and signed it Mr. Rockenbottom. So, i don't think he was too offended.

Shortly thereafter, Max wrote his own contract for Dave, (I have left his spelling and grammmar) which states:

I Hearby declare me David Aaharon Deutsch A Huge cheater and fat stinkypants that is always scared of Max Wolf Deutsch, my son when he scares me. Also, I don't care about my kids and give them mashed broccoli like food and say I'm kissing them when I'm eating there faces off.

Dave signed it, Baron Von Stinkypants, AKA The Fatso.

So, people, this is who I live with.

You won't find this in T. Berry Brazelton's books, but it has worked. And my kids are funny.

Chanukah and Thanksgiving

Yes, I know it's New Year's, and that Chanukah and Thanksgiving are long gone, but I made these yesterday. I am pleased to have completed 2 layouts in one day. I am pleased that they both have a bunch of photos on one page. And I really like how clean they look. And that at least in one of them, my family is fully clothed.

Happy 2010.

The journaling here says, "One of the sweetest things was that a week before Chanukah, Sam found the page with the Brachot in his Siddur. He ran to get a piece of paper, wrote it down, and taped it to the window.

The day Chanukah began, he prepared his menorah hours beforehand.

Otherwise, Chanukah was a flurry of presents, latkes, chagiga, sufganiyot, and candle lighting."

The best part is that the little sign that Sam made? I got to throw it out, but it is still preserved. Memories without the clutter.