pottery with friends {world's awesomest tow-mater}

kate and zora are our across-the-street neighbors and some of our best friends. so kate and i thought it would be nice to take Ot and Zora for a big sha-BANG outing before we leave for oregon (omg we're leaving this sunday, omgomgomg). so last week we headed to the ceramics painting place in the mall after a nice dinner of too much gelato.

it was so awesome to see the kids get into painting their projects. also, sort of a psychology study to watch kate and i try to structure the painting and add our own touches to the ceramics. PSHAW said the kiddos. structure is for suits and bores! eat more bubbletape!

well, actually, the lovely Zora did a pretty immaculate job of polka-dotting her teapot with kate. Otto, on the other hand, was teaching mommy a lesson about "letting go of control"...

me: must make tires perfect...
otto: must not rinse brush before switching colors...

seriously ugly children. right? anyways, we had a blast...

so today we got to go pick up the finished pieces! Otto's mater bank was comin' home, dad gum!

but first, more gelato and a ride in the kiddie roach coach! because obvi.

::drumroll:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: and now. i give you ::drumroll again:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

the. WORLD'S. AWESOMEST. TOW-MATER! (with perfect tires)

hurray for kids!

-lindsey

preschool penpals ♥

friday will be Otto's last day at his pre-school. boooooo. we have had such an amazing experience since he first became a part of this school and Otto has grown as a socialite, intellectual, adventurer, artist, and friend.

he just loves it there. and loves his little friends there so much that he even insists on incorporating them into our bedtime routine. at night, every night, we sing the Batman song but instead of "dun nuh nuh nuh bat-maaaan" we sing different names of Otto's friends at school. it's so sweet and funny. and just shows how much Otto's playmates mean to him.

so... one idea i had to help Otto transition as we move several states away was to invite the kids in his class to become pen-pals with Otto. but i wanted to do it in a way that really encouraged them to do so (not just, hey write me a letter) especially as we aren't particularly close to any of the parents of the kiddos in Ot's class. but Otto is so very close to the kids themselves. so i put together these little envelopes, one for each child in Ot's class...

letter co-written by yours truly and the Ottster himself.

see, they're already pre-addressed and stamped! talk about guilt-factor (haha) if at least a few of the kids don't write to us i'll become a huge misanthrope forevermore. anyways, someone better!

so each envelope will have a little letter from Otto paperclipped to it, and will be put in the kids' mailboxes at school on friday. this way, Otto can share stories and pictures of Oregon with his Tucson friends and vice versa, he can keep in touch with his Tucson playmates and their goings-on. i'm really excited about this and hope it works out!

Ot even got in on the action by decorating some of the envelopes. stamp much? :)

he's surely going to miss his preschool here in Tucson a lot. and i know that's just one of a bazillion adjustments we're asking him to make with this move. my job (i feel) is just to make the transition as easy and fun as i can for him. to instill a spirit of adventure and excitement into the move. and this pen-pal idea seemed really fun to me. hopefully we can keep this smile on my kiddo's face throughout the transition to our new city/state. cuz it's such a freakin cute smile...

-lindsey

everything is all over the place...

including my brain right now. we're at t-minus 7 days til the big move and it's really cock-blocking my blogging! house is a mess and unphotographable times 10. i'm hardly doing anything amazing with Otto anyways, just trying to keep him distracted and fed while we sort, clean, and pack up five years worth of everything.

well this afternoon we did make it out of the house to go paint pottery with my friend/neighbor Kate (we are each the Ethel to the other's Lucy) and her little girl, Zora. Kate took some great pics of that which i WILL post on here, i WILL! sometime soon. Ot's piggy bank broke yesterday so he and i teamed up to co-paint a new one: TowMater. oh boy.

so i hope everyone is having awesome long weekends. happy Canada Day and 4th of July weekend! i hope everyone is eating as much gelato as this mama and wishing you all beer, corn chips, and naps!

-lindsey

we'll all float on, all right.

i read (i think when i was pregnant with Otto) about this mom who - every day at the end of the day - had a conversation with her five year old about their favorite and least favorite thing that happened that day. the exercise allowed her to reflect on her child's perception of the day, relive and appreciate the joys, and address any outstanding grievances. ever since i read this little article the concept just stuck with me. it really clicked. i think Ot's a little too young at 2 1/2 to benefit much from airing his grievances (which would likely be whatever made him most sour within the previous five minutes, anyway). but i do like to reflect back on the day with him at bedtime each evening and talk about the favorite moments.

guys, this move is making me emo! anyways, today was just so full of favorite moments for me that i wanted to put them all down. even though Otto and i skipped our talk tonight as he'd stayed up a little late picnic'ing with us in the living room and watching the Clifford movie we rented.

first favorite moment... i woke up thinking of the new camera (that's not an affiliate link, just a link) i purchased last night with my birthday money that will be coming sometime next week. i can't wait! i'm going to make out with this beauty daily. yay! ♥

second favorite moment... i found out while at work today that one of my closest friends gave birth to a healthy baby girl this morning. after work i went with another friend to visit mama, baby, and doting family at the Tucson birth center (where Otto was born, though they moved to a different space recently). holding and beholding that sweet, perfect little lady reminded me that no matter how crazy things get, there is peace and beauty wherever you look, if you just remember to look (which i sometimes forget to do) ♥

third favorite moment... after i got home from the birth center, my little family headed out to pick out a tame-enough-for-my-coddled-toddler video and treat ourselves to a picnic of Whole Foods deli items. at home we sat on a towel in the living room and ate hummus, sushi, ricepaper spring rolls, italian corn-on-the-cob, peaches, and a fruit tart while watching. mama also indulged in an orange blossom cream ale (holy shit). Otto sang and danced through it all, singing "i. ammmmm. watching. myyyyy. mooo-veeeee" over the songs ♥

another awesome favorite moment... during bedtime Rob put on "Float On" and strummed along on guitar. we all did a big dance party and sang along, dancing, with Otto dancing with his favorite bear. it was too good. we did it again. that's right, two times dance party!

do you guys do anything like this? remembering the best of each day? it's really therapy for me. focusing on the good stuff kind of puts the rest of stuff in your peripheral vision, at least for a while. especially since personality-wise i'm often super inclined to focus on the challenges and frustrations. me <-- a really worry wart. it's honestly why i do this blog, in a lot of ways, to capture and reflect on all the things that make me happy. to honor my son and my family, who are sources of daily joy even if i'm sour lemons by the end of the day.

tgif,
lindsey