They taste like chalk!" My children weren’t big fans of the little message heart candy that they dribbled all over the "valentine’s cake". I gave them free reign with the decorating of the cake. I frost it and set it down on the kitchen table and walk away. It’s great. So when they started biting in to the hard little candies, they weren’t so excited about their decorating choices. Now we have a valentine’s cake covered in potholes where little fingers have gone around removing the ‘nasty’ candies.
Another valentine gift that didn’t go over so well was the gift I made for Dan. After seeing Blair’s post, it was the push I needed to finally sit down and sew some of these rice bags that I’ve been meaning to make for quite some time.
I told Jennifer that I’d given up sewing for awhile, until life slowed down, but with some of her cute fabric staring at me, a little more time on my hands and some inspiration from Blair, I broke out (my friend’s) sewing machine. (my machine is still out of commission…those darn knits!)
I think the rice bags would have been a hit, had I not gone the extra mile and put a little handful of dried lavender inside each bag. That was the spoiler. I was simply trying to avoid that cooked rice smell. But now, the lavender smell was overpowering to Dan, enough that it sent him to bed clutching his stomach. We slept with a window open, if that tells you anything about how strong he thought the smell was. And I swear, the smell wasn’t that strong, it’s just that I also made a bag for each of the girls, myself and a friend. So I guess that adds up to a lot of lavender. And a whole heck of a lot of rice.
But nevertheless, my girls came through. They love them. We heat them up every night before bed–3 minutes each in the microwave. And they head off to slumberland with toasty warm toes.
(I altered Blair’s pattern a little bit–I made the bag out of muslin and then sewed a separate cover with ties at one end. I figured there would mostly likely be a need to wash them in the future, knowing my children…)
And now that I have my sewing machine out, the requests are flying in from my children. The latest (and one that’s sounds do-able) is a sleep bonnet/cap like Mary and Laura Ingalls wear in Little House on the Prairie. I can’t really find any kind of pattern anywhere. Have any of you made one? I’m thinking just a circle with some elastic sewn in? Is that right? Help?? Anyone?
happy weekend everyone….see you on monday.
They taste like chalk!" My children weren’t big fans of the little message heart candy that they dribbled all over the "valentine’s cake". I gave them free reign with the decorating of the cake. I frost it and set it down on the kitchen table and walk away. It’s great. So when they started biting in to the hard little candies, they weren’t so excited about their decorating choices. Now we have a valentine’s cake covered in potholes where little fingers have gone around removing the ‘nasty’ candies.
Another valentine gift that didn’t go over so well was the gift I made for Dan. After seeing Blair’s post, it was the push I needed to finally sit down and sew some of these rice bags that I’ve been meaning to make for quite some time.
I told Jennifer that I’d given up sewing for awhile, until life slowed down, but with some of her cute fabric staring at me, a little more time on my hands and some inspiration from Blair, I broke out (my friend’s) sewing machine. (my machine is still out of commission…those darn knits!)
I think the rice bags would have been a hit, had I not gone the extra mile and put a little handful of dried lavender inside each bag. That was the spoiler. I was simply trying to avoid that cooked rice smell. But now, the lavender smell was overpowering to Dan, enough that it sent him to bed clutching his stomach. We slept with a window open, if that tells you anything about how strong he thought the smell was. And I swear, the smell wasn’t that strong, it’s just that I also made a bag for each of the girls, myself and a friend. So I guess that adds up to a lot of lavender. And a whole heck of a lot of rice.
But nevertheless, my girls came through. They love them. We heat them up every night before bed–3 minutes each in the microwave. And they head off to slumberland with toasty warm toes.
(I altered Blair’s pattern a little bit–I made the bag out of muslin and then sewed a separate cover with ties at one end. I figured there would mostly likely be a need to wash them in the future, knowing my children…)
And now that I have my sewing machine out, the requests are flying in from my children. The latest (and one that’s sounds do-able) is a sleep bonnet/cap like Mary and Laura Ingalls wear in Little House on the Prairie. I can’t really find any kind of pattern anywhere. Have any of you made one? I’m thinking just a circle with some elastic sewn in? Is that right? Help?? Anyone?
The girls and I sat at the kitchen table this morning and made these valentine owls. I did all the cutting earlier from a pattern I sketched out a few days ago. See their heart shape faces? I’m hoping people will get that part of it. And their bodies are black–not very valentine-ish. But who knew my brand new pack of construction paper would have no brown?? If I’d thought of it before this very second, we would have done them on some brown craft paper instead.
So we delivered them door to door to a few special valentines in our valley–along with a few shy kisses and hugs.
Mary painstakingly signed her name on a small square of paper that I cut out and glued to the back of each one. It was fascinating to watch her write out each letter–any direction, any place on the little small square of paper. I have to give it to her, she stuck it out for five whole valentines.
We also got two lovely valentine gifts through the mail. Steph sent me (and the girls) this awesome print of her stitched art. Can you guess which person in our house claimed it as hers? Thank you so much Steph. I love having a little piece of your work to look at. You know I’m a big fan. (and check out what her husband did for valentine’s day…)
And yesterday our miniswap package arrived in the mail. Wow, were we spoiled. I’ll show pictures as soon as I gather it all up again from every corner of the house. Jesica, my girls are walking around with some pretty little felt bead bracelets today. They worked on them quietly and with such determination first thing this morning.
Happy Valentine’s day everyone. Have something sweet. Do something sweet.
The girls and I sat at the kitchen table this morning and made these valentine owls. I did all the cutting earlier from a pattern I sketched out a few days ago. See their heart shape faces? I’m hoping people will get that part of it. And their bodies are black–not very valentine-ish. But who knew my brand new pack of construction paper would have no brown?? If I’d thought of it before this very second, we would have done them on some brown craft paper instead.
So we delivered them door to door to a few special valentines in our valley–along with a few shy kisses and hugs.
Mary painstakingly signed her name on a small square of paper that I cut out and glued to the back of each one. It was fascinating to watch her write out each letter–any direction, any place on the little small square of paper. I have to give it to her, she stuck it out for five whole valentines.
We also got two lovely valentine gifts through the mail. Steph sent me (and the girls) this awesome print of her stitched art. Can you guess which person in our house claimed it as hers? Thank you so much Steph. I love having a little piece of your work to look at. You know I’m a big fan. (and check out what her husband did for valentine’s day…)
And yesterday our miniswap package arrived in the mail. Wow, were we spoiled. I’ll show pictures as soon as I gather it all up again from every corner of the house. Jesica, my girls are walking around with some pretty little felt bead bracelets today. They worked on them quietly and with such determination first thing this morning.
Happy Valentine’s day everyone. Have something sweet. Do something sweet.
I play the piano. And I sing. But I don’t play the guitar. It’s been one of those "some day I’m gonna…" things on my list for a long time. You can’t exactly pull out the piano while sitting on the living room sofa and do a few songs, or bring your piano over to a friend’s house to sing a few after supper.
In high school I was in the jazz band and played the electric bass. (in my defense, I also played volleyball and basketball and the jazz band was really cool. right? right?). But the bass is a whole different instrument to the guitar–one note at a time, big thick strings that don’t leave long, thin, tender creases in your fingertips.
And when I find new music like this, or see a video like the one below, it becomes almost painful to me that I don’t know how to play. Dan even owns a guitar. One Christmas I convinced his family to all pitch in and buy him one, hoping he’d have the time to learn and fill my guitar-less void. But still the guiltar (I’m keeping that spelling mistake, kind of ironic, don’t you think?) sits untouched in the corner.
So enough about me….are you getting the Junior Society Reports from Robert Mahar in your inbox? If not, you’re missing some good stuff. This morning’s email was the 15 best kids music albums of 2007. And somehow from there I landed on the hip young parent blog, which finally led me to one of the CDs on the list. And Kris, if you’re reading this. You’re going to want this CD.
Renee and Jeremy were on the list of 15 best albums. So far everything I’ve listened to on their CD, I love. Really love. I’m now going to have to buy it. It’s one of those "I have to have it" kinds of CDs. If you don’t believe me, check out this animated version of their "It’s A Big World" song….
And if you still have doubts, here they are sitting on the sofa (which led to the emotional outburst above about playing guitar) singing "Night Mantra". They’re good, people. And if that’s not enough, they even have one of the best looking websites I’ve seen in awhile.
happy listening!
I play the piano. And I sing. But I don’t play the guitar. It’s been one of those "some day I’m gonna…" things on my list for a long time. You can’t exactly pull out the piano while sitting on the living room sofa and do a few songs, or bring your piano over to a friend’s house to sing a few after supper.
In high school I was in the jazz band and played the electric bass. (in my defense, I also played volleyball and basketball and the jazz band was really cool. right? right?). But the bass is a whole different instrument to the guitar–one note at a time, big thick strings that don’t leave long, thin, tender creases in your fingertips.
And when I find new music like this, or see a video like the one below, it becomes almost painful to me that I don’t know how to play. Dan even owns a guitar. One Christmas I convinced his family to all pitch in and buy him one, hoping he’d have the time to learn and fill my guitar-less void. But still the guiltar (I’m keeping that spelling mistake, kind of ironic, don’t you think?) sits untouched in the corner.
So enough about me….are you getting the Junior Society Reports from Robert Mahar in your inbox? If not, you’re missing some good stuff. This morning’s email was the 15 best kids music albums of 2007. And somehow from there I landed on the hip young parent blog, which finally led me to one of the CDs on the list. And Kris, if you’re reading this. You’re going to want this CD.
Renee and Jeremy were on the list of 15 best albums. So far everything I’ve listened to on their CD, I love. Really love. I’m now going to have to buy it. It’s one of those "I have to have it" kinds of CDs. If you don’t believe me, check out this animated version of their "It’s A Big World" song….
And if you still have doubts, here they are sitting on the sofa (which led to the emotional outburst above about playing guitar) singing "Night Mantra". They’re good, people. And if that’s not enough, they even have one of the best looking websites I’ve seen in awhile.
