New Hampshire Party Time!

Our little cousin turned one. So we headed up to the Children's Museum of New Hampshire to celebrate!


Birthday boy wants cake.

Our boys like crafts.
 

Mommy can help.
 

King Paul
 

Into the museum.
 

 

We all live in a Yellow Submarine!
 

Crabble

By Paul A. Weil

Once upon a time, long, long, long ago, there lived a good monster named Schmitz. And he lived in a giant kingdom. But one morning a giant thunderstorm came into focus. And the people were terrified by the thunderstorm. But next Tuesday, the thunderstorm was gone. And they lived so happy and but another morning a giant good crab came. He wanted to live in a house, but people didn't want the crab in their city. But the crab really wanted to be in that city. No other city could he live in. He searched every town, but none wanted the crab. So he made a house in that city. And they lived happily ever after.

The End

Ocean Castle

By Paul A. Weil

Once upon a time, long long long ago, there lived a kingdom with lots of people. A king and queen lived in the castle. They were so happy they had so many people. But one morning, a monster came in their town. But the mommy was too big, so they couldn't kill it. So the other morning, a good wizard came to town and killed it.

This is a picture of the castle

The en...wait.

The kingdom was free from the bad guy. The bad guy was the monster and was killed, so the end.

That's the whole story.

Red Leprechaun

By Paul A. Weil

Well, the leprechaun, well, the wild ones, well, the wild ones, are red. And the red is covered by snow. Some people might think they're just walking pieces of snow. They're female. The other kinds only come in an important holiday.

Frank is the one I'm talking about. He has no eyes, no nose, and no mouth. And that's the whole thing. They live in the forest. The print paint on shoes and print newspapers.

Once upon a time, loooooooong, long ago, they lived in the kingdom (before they lived in a forest). They lived on the planet tick and they decided to go on the planet Earth. They saw many trees and they saw many mountains. They climbed up all the mountains and when they came to the kingdom, they were so glad to meet their people. But one morning, what happened? A big, bad monster came to Earth and tried to attack the people, but the people's army was too big. The monster was dead because she was in jail and there was no food.

The End.

Florida Vacation 2013 - Day 2

While Beren enjoyed Costume World, the Weil men enjoyed Flamingo Gardens.


Joss is all smiles. Kinda.

 Joss and Paul are both leading. And marching. "Hut, two, three, four."

Paul is stalked by a Snowy Egret.

Shawn's favorite animal of the day: Spider (species: Asteracantha Cancriformis)

The peacock will pose; the wild animals will not.

Everybody grimace!

Gator bait

Paul and the tiny owl

Dinner with the fam - Mmmmm, Chinese food. Now, where is the noodles and cottage cheese?

So...what are we doing tomorrow? 

Florida Vacation 2013 - day 1

We had a lazy morning, watched "Puss In Boots," went to The Girls to see the exotic birds and pick strawberries, and in the afternoon went SWIMMING at the POOL!

Paul kept going up to strangers and introducing himself and his "whole family," and Joss liked holding on to the stair and letting his legs float.

Florida Vacation 2013 - day-1

Killing time at Logan Airport. . .

Purim 2013

Bat Monkey!

Megilla Reading

Bat Monkey and Super Tiger!

Farmer Dad

Spider on the Right Cheek...

...Snake on the Left

Baloons!

And a Magic Hat

Parade Time!

Bat Monkey with a Sword

Boys with their Grandpa

Joss's Birthday

Our little Joss turned THREE this month! He had a great party at the Little Gym of Woburn.


Balence Beam Baby

Scooting Paul

On the Mat

Lined Up for Fun

Mommy Kisses

Big Boy

Stampede for Cake!

Cupcake!

The Weil Family

Quite a busy night. . .

I asked Paul what he dreamed about last night.  He said he didn't have a nightmare, because he doesn't have nightmares on Thursdays.  He was a knight on a horse traveling to a castle to rescue his skeleton friend, Seliss.  Only, there were ghosts who wanted to kill him, so he had to find the golden magical key which would unlock the door to the tower where Seliss was, and would also kill all the ghosts.  But the castle was surrounded by a round wall (indicated by drawing a circle in the air as he spoke) with NO. DOORS.  Only a ladder to a hidden door, with no doorknobs, which could only be seen when the second sun was setting at dawn, and made the door appear.  If it was mid morning, it was TOO LATE.

At this point, he was Keyser Söze-ing like crazy, and looking down at the Tanagram game he was playing, said that the only way to find where the door would appear is to follow the scary cat.  Know why the cat's scary?  Because it's the cat's SHADOW.  The cat is invisible - only air.  And you can only find the cat if you follow the. . .ghosteley flamingo!

By this point, and I hated to interrupt his narrative, we were running severely late to school and had to do shoes/coat/lunchbox in a mad flurry.  I thanked Paul for his story, and he kissed my nose and said that it wasn't a story, it was his DREAM, and could I tell it to him later?

Deep thoughts, with a schmeer

So, we've been reading "Bagels from Benny,"  a really lovely story from the PJ Library.  It's about how a boy inadvertently helps a stranger in need when he tries to thank G-d for helping his Grandpa bake the best bagels in the city. (It's got a nice moral, even for all y'all secular humanists out there.  And bagels.)

Anyway, as Paul was washing his hands tonight (meticulously moving the soap bottle to where he could reach it, taking a pump of soap, then replacing the bottle on the higher ledge), he turned to me and asked,

"Why did G-d make the Earth?"

I don't know, but that's a really good question.

"I think I know.  I think she needed People, and people need food."

I think that's a great answer, Paul.






(The pronoun was totally unprompted, but made me especially happy.)

Achievement: Unlocked

"I like having my hair all crazy, like I was in a tormato."

Negotiations and love songs

Paul: Can I have a kiss?
Joss: OK (turns and gives Paul a kiss)
Paul: Thank you.  Can I give you a kiss?
Joss: Nooooo.  I don't like them.
Paul: You don't like kisses anymore?
Joss: No.

{Both resume watching Star Wars}

Movie Time

(Paul sits down on Shawn's lap on the couch).

Shawn: Paul, do you know other people named Paul?
Paul: Yes. Two people. One is my friend Edie's dad. The other if a famous director. His name is Paul Jason, and he makes movies that nobody has seen because they're for grownups. The first move he made was "How the Ghost and Bat went from Not Evil to Evil." But he died in the 70's, when you were little. Before you were born.
Shawn: Oh. That's probably why I never heard of him. Have I seen any of his movies?
Paul: No, because he's not real, so his movies are not real. Once there was a ghost and bat and they lived in a spooky house with a spider. And then suddenly, a witch came in the place where the spider was. And then turned the ghost and the bat evil. Then they turned outside and turned everybody else wicked. And then the ghost and the bat went home before they were even home, and good witch came into focus where their house was. And turned them back to good. And then they went home. The End.

New Year's Snow

Sunday before New Years was a bright, sunny, post-snow day.