Trying our Hand at Hand-made Cards

Thursday was the last day for the little boys to attend their Parent's Day Out/Preschool program. We wanted to be able to afford giving their classroom teachers a gift certificate, so I told the boys we would try to make our own cards to express our thanks. MS was immediately up for the idea.

At first, he wanted to draw a card covered with snakes. Yikes! Not sure that would go over very well. I suggested we make a pop-up card. We searched for instructions on the computer and found several options. He was very fond of a pop-up bat card, but it looked a bit intricate. We finally settled for a spider pop-up card, which looked easier.

After I executed the pop-up cuts and folds, MS drew and colored the spider. MS was especially thrilled to add the fangs they suggested. We also put little googly eyes on the inside of the front cover, but they didn't show up very well. Still, it was a lot of fun and MS thought his card was the coolest!

Here he is, showing off his card for his teacher:





For YS's card, I wanted to include a photo of Mrs. Carol (his fabulous teacher) in the card. Unfortunately, YS doesn't ham for the camera quite as eagerly as MS does. It took a while, just to get him to take his hands down from his face. Still, the card turned out well and expressed how much we appreciated Mrs. Carol, while at the same time, giving her some photos to remember YS by. (If you click on the photos, they should enlarge enough to read the text.)



During the final hour of their class sessions, a small graduation ceremony was held in the sanctuary for the class going on to kindergarten next year. I'm guessing they wanted more vocal strength, so they included MS's class in the program for the singing performance.

Every minute MS was on stage was agony for me. The boy is convinced that everyone in the world should pay utmost attention to him (middle-child syndrome?). As his class walked in the back doors, he noticed me and left his line to run over to me. I had to direct him back to his class line.

When the first song had just begun, MS called out, "Hey, Mom! Look what Devin gave me ... (moments of struggling with his pocket to procure the shiny nickel) a PENNY!" Despite the universal "Boy, just be quiet" sign (a finger to my lips), he continued to shout out to me. Ay-yi-yi!

By the second song, he began to realize that he had been placed within two feet of the microphone. He leaned over and said something like "Hey, Mom! Can you hear me now?" Thankfully, the third song was uneventful and his class was sent from the stage to sit with the parents.

Just when I had started to suspect that my child alone was unconsciously wearing a "Look at Me" badge, I noticed one of the graduates sitting in his chair on the platform. He, too, had shouted down to his parents. But, it was even more fun to watch him bobbing his head all around to get the full effect of the tassel on his graduation hat! He lobbed that thing back and forth for a few minutes, giving the audience a good laugh. And the girl seated next to him heightened the amusement factor, by sitting prim and proper and stealing glances at him without ever moving her face from a forward position (as if to say "What in the world is that boy doing?").

Good thing we've got another whole year to work on decorum skills and graduation behavior! Then again, this is MS we're talking about. He may never learn to be silent.