My First Card

It is an admittedly modest affair. Humble, you might call it. And yet, I had so much fun making it yesterday morning that I ran out to A.C. Moore last night and spent all my birthday money on rubber stamps and paper and ink pads. Will and I were up to ten stamping birds and sea shells and all sorts of things.

Yesterday was the first day of summer for us, Jack's first day after the last day of school, and it was mighty fine. Will's friend Matthew came over at 9:30, and they played until one without fighting. Usually they have at least one squabble, and lately they've been having big blow outs right at the end of their play dates. But yesterday, they played and watched a little "Scooby Doo" and all was well.

Meanwhile, I sat on the screen porch with the dog and made my card. I looked at cards in a Somerset Studios magazine and gathered ideas and drew out little rough drafts and played around with watercolors and practiced with my letter stamps. Usually I just plow on through and then am disappointed with the results. This time, I was patient, and while the card is nobody's idea of amazing, I think it's nice for a first effort.

After lunch, I threw three boys in the car and off we went. First, we dropped off Matthew, then picked up one of Jack's best friends, Spencer, and sped to the pool, where the boys played happily until 4. Will did some swimming (he's just learning how) and a lot of splashing and sliding down the sliding board. The water was cool, but not freezing.

Spencer came home with us for dinner. He's a great kid and actually makes an effort to include Will and to try to deal with Will when Will gets temper tantrum-y. I always want to tip Spencer at the end of one of his visits over here. Just a little something to let him know I appreciate his efforts.

After Spencer's dad picked him up, I went to A.C. Moore and had a lovely time spending money. Then home, a little arts and crafts, an episode of "Friday Night Lights" on the DVD, and then off to bed.

Today it's going to be almost a hundred degrees, which will make it seem like we've gone from the sweet days of summer right into the belly of the beast (usually you don't feel this way until after the 4th of July). So the sweetness may have been short lived, but for twenty-four hours we had a lovely time.