The Mummy

Recently Jack has been asking questions like, "what happens after you die?" and "who was the first person on earth?" So, we've been discussing mummies and how the Egyptians treated bodies through mummification in prep for the after life (an absolutely fascinating topic, I think!).

We decided to make a mummy and sarcophagus, complete with jewels that s/he might need in the afterlife.

Sculpey is a great clay that's malleable into any shape and then is baked for 15 minutes to harden. Since it bakes for such a short time, we can do other things in the meantime and Jack doesn't lose interest in our activity. We chose white since the idea was to paint the sarcophagus in glitter paint.

Jack formed the mummy and a two-headed dog since mummies often took their pets with them. I went to work on the sarcophagus. We made a dog bowl and jewels.

Once baked and hardened, Jack wrapped the mummy in surgical tape and painted the sarcophagus and decorated it with beads.

CLICK HERE for more pictures.

Click the video below to see the finished product:

Pizza and Guinness

A friend of mine works for Family House - a wonderful local non-profit that provides a home-away-from-home near San Francisco hospitals for families of children dealing with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

They recently held a very cool charity event that Jack and I participated in one sunny day last weekend.

Family House partnered with Tony's Pizza Napoletana (the undisputed winner of San Francisco's best pizza, and noted by USAToday as one of the best in the nation) which was celebrating their fifth year in North Beach by attempting to break the Guinness Book of World Records record of simultaneously tossing more than 250 pizza doughs into the air. We participated in breaking the record with 263 pizzas tossed that day!

Afterwards we rewarded ourselves with gelato and watched some of the World Cup. 

Check out more pics from SFWeekly (check out slide #5), CLICK HERE

And my iPhone pics, CLICK HERE. 

Magic Wands

Jack's preschool day ends at 2:15pm. After that he is in the "Butterflies" after school program. This quarter on Tuesdays he was picked up by another Mom and they carpooled together with her little girl to T-Ball practice. On Fridays, he took a movie making class to shake things up after the school day has ended. Here's a special screening of the final product:



You might remember that last year he also took the movie making class and produced a stop-action short with his friend Zoe: http://theblossomfamily.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-castle.html

81 degrees at 7:15pm

The City is experiencing a mini-heatwave this week and it makes icecream taste even better!

First Day of the Second Year of Preschool

Jack started his second year of preschool yesterday.

I always remember buying new school supplies and clothes before the start of each school year - it added a sense of excitement and confidence to that first day.

Jack and I carried on the tradition with our own shopping excursion. We came home with a new lunchbox and school clothes.

I was so excited - err, Jack was, I mean.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a beautifully sunny warm day in San Francisco. Jack and I had breakfast at a new restaurant in the 'hood that we had not been to before, and then mostly hung out in the sunshine.

I came, I swam, I conquered

Jack loves the water but doesn't love water on his face, doesn't like to go underwater, or know how to swim so he clings to me most of the time when we are in a pool. I decided it was time for some swim lessons. We did swim lessons together when he was months old but he would be with a swim instructor this time. I was a little nervous about how he would react to my not being with him in the pool but I was quickly put in check with how much self-importance I place upon myself. He jumped right into the pool with the instructor and in the first 20 minutes they dunked right underwater together!

First swim lesson

Underwater together!