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Happy Friday

2012-02-04T03:59:20Z

We’re lucky to live in a neighborhood with lots of good food options but every now and then, particularly now at 23 weeks, I get Ben to drive me around looking for something a little different. Most of the time we end up in Fells or Harbor East. I like hanging out by the water. And I like Pitango Gelato. I freaking love it.

Ben had two Harps with dinner but I didn’t care. I felt like I had two Harps after a couple of scoops of vanilla gelato and passion fruit sorbet. I picked chocolate chocolate chip, vanilla chocolate chip, vanilla and passion fruit packed in that order. I’m all stocked up.

Us girls declared it the best ice cream ever while Ben said it was just ok. Maybe he upgraded that to pretty good eventually. He’s funny about ice cream. Ok, we’re both funny about ice cream. I don’t really like it so this is a big deal for me. He really likes it so he’s happy even if it isn’t over the top delicious. He doesn’t want to pay top dollar for ice cream but ask him about the sandwiches from Dean & Deluca. He can talk about those.

We’re gearing up for the weekend. I signed Chase up this afternoon for an acting class that starts tomorrow. We’re going to harness that flair for the dramatic. I’m calling it operation enhance fake crying. She is very excited. She keeps telling her dad that she has “things” to do tomorrow AND she picked out what she’s going to wear before she went to bed.

Speaking of going to bed, that’s where I’m headed too. And I’m kind of excited about it because I’m FINALLY done with Heat. I don’t know why people loved this book. It was neither funny nor particularly interesting. He just never managed to make me care about why he cares about food. I felt relieved when I turned the last page. On to something new. I’m going to start Making It Up tonight. I loved Moon Tiger. Read Moon Tiger. Hopefully it doesn’t take me to the dust bowl or anywhere near where pioneers pushed westward. I mostly read Heat to break out of the weird geographical rut that reading Angle of Repose got me into.

Have a terrific weekend with many adventures!

Thomas Rides Again

2012-02-02T02:02:08Z

Thanks for sending me all of your good information and advice on binding books. I ended up using this tutorial and found it easy and straightforward. I started with the fabric wings step and moved through to the end papers over the course of two days. I used white glue and so far so good. The cover seems to be holding up. It can be done! Sorry for the lousy pictures.
I bet it’s the only Thomas book with a butterfly cover. Not a lot of selection in the trains theme department around here. I even found fancy paper for the end papers. Dollhouse wallpaper from that dollhouse… that never got wallpapered oh, about 20 years ago… maybe more. Throw stuff away? Why would I do that? I might need it 20 years from now.

Maybe one day I’ll find a Thomas patch or something and iron it on to the front. It’s pretty easy to identify though. It’s the only book my kids have that’s about as big as a phone book.

Right In The Neck

2012-01-29T01:58:52Z

I was away all day at a conference and so when I got home somehow the crazy things that my kids said were cuter than average. By dinnertime my patience was worn way less thin and everything was generally funnier.

Ben went to pick up a pizza for dinner and we sat around sharing the interesting parts of our day. After a while Chase interjects with Dad! Your shirt says I love hot moms! See? I love hot moms. Which, of course, makes me laugh. A lot. Which makes Ben laugh. She can read! I say but that not the point of this story.

Chase doesn’t like being laughed at and she didn’t see the humor in her statement so she blurts out dad, stop it or I’ll punch you right in the neck! Which makes me laugh even harder because, wow, that’s crazy. Or it would be crazy if she hadn’t probably heard me saying it at some point. Why would I say something crazy like that? Who knows, I probably saw it on television. I mean it she says, right in the neck!

Ben decides to set things right by removing the offending tshirt (this reading business is seriously going to cramp his novelty tshirt style). And that’s when Avery decided to jump in with ow, ow, ow take it off! I suspect that ow, ow, ow was unrelated but, man, what a scene. A nice way to end the day.

Did you have a good day? I think we’re going to take it easy tomorrow. I have some research to do on repairing/replacing book binding. Do you know how to do it? I found that giant Thomas compendium up there today and it has no cover but is in good condition otherwise. I know. I know, I will regret bringing that book home but how could I not? It’s Toffy after all. If you know what to do with the cover you will drop me a line won’t you?

Paper Dolls Still

2012-01-26T02:03:00Z

I thought for a while she’d moved on but, no, she was just taking a break. The girls are back. She was so excited to show these to me when I picked her up today that she made me look at them in the hallway at school. Somebody else drew these and she colored them in.

What she can crank out even when she’s tired and cranky is kind of amazing. She also, among other projects, decorated 10 paper Easter eggs (again, with the eggs, I know) for a game we’ll try tomorrow. She decorated one of the eggs with a person in profile. She explained to me why I could only see one of his eyes. I find that abstraction amazing. It’s as if she’s saying Bam, I’m FIVE!

Avery had a good day too. Yesterday, I cut the top off of our giant bottle of honey because it’s crystalizing and why I didn’t think that I’d find Avery standing over it later with a spoon but I didn’t. That’s where I found her and she smiled up at me and said, very simply, “honey?”

Dear Easter Bunny

2012-01-24T01:21:41Z

We’re burning through these little art project books lately. Which is fine with me. The stack could use a little culling.

But I like this one. It’s easy to do, creates a great looking finished product and requires almost no supervision. All I did was look over the instructions and send her off for supplies. After that you just cut random circles and ovals out of construction paper and arrange them to form flowers with a glue stick. They can be all different sizes and completely imperfect. You cut some in half and leave some whole for a little variation.

Did I need to see that in a book to come up with it? Apparently. But it’s cool because it reminds me of My Heart Is Like a Zoo. Also, quite inexplicably except that I saw it on Pinterest, it made me wantee for this book too. I’ll be good though and keep my eyes peeled at The Book Thing.

When she was done she wrote a note. Love. Just don’t ask me why she’s writing Easter notes in January.

Also, there were cookies after school. But it *was* raining.

I Want These Shoes

2012-01-23T00:48:35Z

Is it bad to covet your children’s shoes? I love them. I might need my own purple shoes. Also her stripey dress. How did she get to be cooler than me?

We had a good day. We did a little shopping today, went to the library, had some lunch, and heated up leftovers for dinner. Low impact, you know? How about you?

Happy Dragon

2012-01-22T03:07:03Z

Chase made this is art class this week. I love it. The dragon face makes me smile. So, I hung it near the door so we see it when we walk in the house. If only I had half a brain I would have taken her downtown today for the Chinese New Year Celebration.

We got an inch of snow overnight. Not enough to play in but enough to deter me from going out. For a little while at least. We eventually ventured out late this afternoon and did a little shopping. I learned that Chase has no concept of how tiny a newborn baby is. No concept at all. Everything she picked up was big enough to fit Avery. I showed her some more appropriately sized clothes. She picked out a few little things. Anything with strawberries on it. Very cute.

We made pumpkin muffins today not because I like them but because Chase has been requesting them for, I don’t know, a month or more. I don’t care for them but the children seem to like them and it’s probably better that way since I ate this entire loaf/cake. I made it with the syrup but without the glaze and then… I ate the whole thing. There’s not much else to say about that.

Rainy Days and Mondays

2012-01-19T03:03:09Z

Was Monday that day it was rainy? I can’t remember anymore. Whatever day that was we worked on a bunch of projects to keep busy.

We started with a little bit of watercolor. Chase got a new set as a gift for her birthday. She wanted to make snowflakes, did that for a while and then transformed this one into a self portrait. I’m glad I took these pictures because as much as I wanted to keep it she gave it away.

We went looking for other ideas and I had the presence of mind to peruse the many, many, many books on the shelves in the dining room. On the shelf we found The Klutz book of Artrageous Projects. I picked it up at the book thing mostly intact. We had a lot of fun with it and, well, since the book was free and sitting on my shelf for months I didn’t get all hung up on how we used it. We really enjoyed the sketching activities. I was really impressed by what she could do with a piece of tracing paper. Lots of careful (and quiet) work.

We looked at a lot of the projects in the book but were particularly interested in the Barbie mummifying project. It’s on our short list we just need to find a box the right size for a sarcophagus. That’s for another rainy day though. Wait, maybe it wasn’t rainy… just cold. Because the next project we tried was making sun prints. I remember now it was cold but with plenty of bright sun. We followed the instructions and set out our light sensitive paper. So fun!

Chase really enjoyed the whole process. Composing her picture and then processing it. She totally handled all of the rinsing and soaking. I ordered more paper right away. I have some ideas for what to try next. I bet she does too.

I also want to try visiting the BMA with this project in mind. I want to rip out the card and walk around looking through it to see what we come up with. I don’t know where it could take us.

Someday soon we’ll probably mix up some of the powdered tempera paint too. It will eventually snow, right? The only downside? I liked this book so much it gives me no incentive to stop bringing them home. How have you been keeping busy?

Big Girls

2012-01-18T04:15:54Z

So we’re starting to think about transitioning Avery into a big girl bed. We thought she might be ready, you know? Chase was wanting bunk beds for a long, long time. Then the long weekend presented itself and it seemed like a good a time as any to assemble stuff. Two trips to IKEA later and we had a brand new loft bed. The first trip was mostly about meatball eating. The second trip was for supplies.

The loft seemed like a good compromise because I like the space saving abilities of the bunk but love the look of the Minnen (holy crap do they not make it anymore?!). Now I have both. Both and a crib. Turns out Avery is really not even a little bit interested in being out of her crib. I’m just a teensy bit worried that we’ll end up having to buy another crib but… I’m not going to get all worked up over it. Yet. Of course when I say that I’m not going to get worked up over it yet that means I’ll only mention is to you two or three times. I’ll still be able to talk about other things after that.

I like the way it’s working in the room. Now there’s a little cubby under the loft and beside Avery’s bed. You can build a fort there or just sit in there and feel cozy. I let both girls pick out a light for beside their bed. A little lighting for atmosphere. The room has kind of taken on a shabby chic life of its own. I guess it’s my alternative to pink princess. It says big girl room to me but not too big. I guess that was the direction I was leaning. I finally went back and checked my Pinterest Board and lo and behold. What we ended up with is not that far off.

There’s still plenty of room to play but once the crib is out it will really open up a lot of space. I’ve been hanging things and trying to personalize their space a little.

I need to find a new spot for the bulletin board and a few other things and Avery needs a few more little bits. Maybe when I find just the right one she’ll be ready to move over? I’d better start looking. It was really hard to take pictures. I took a bunch of pictures in low light yesterday and you couldn’t see any colors but I think that they look as cozy as the space feels. It’s still a work in progress.

I think that if Avery doesn’t want to sleep there I might. Wait, and did I mention that Chase is so happy that she makes her bed every day? How long will that last?

Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Party!!

2012-01-10T02:02:44Z

Phew, we did it. We made it through the birthday, holiday, holiday, birthday, birthday, holiday, birthday (club) sandwich. Holy cow. We’ve been going since October. I’m thinking that a May baby will be just dandy.
But about the party. There’s not much out there on the subject of Strawberry Shortcake birthday parties. You can buy cups, plates and balloons but that’s about it. Nothing spectacular but plenty expensive. So I set out to see what I could come up with. I think that part’s half the fun.
I built the whole party on a sheet of 1″ images of (old school) Strawberry from the internet (thanks Dan!) They were the seal on the treat bags, place cards and they made up the choices for the bottle cap necklace craft project.

Chase always asks to buy fresh flowers at the grocery store and most of the time I tell her no so I bought these primroses for her party 3/$5 at Giant. The baskets we had around the house.

We decorated the dining room with pink, white, red and green balloons and streamers. Over the table I tied four red balloons together and added construction paper leaves to the top to make them look like strawberries.

I couldn’t find any leftover balloons earlier this week when we started to work on the pinata so I picked up a pack at the dollar store. Yeah. I won’t be doing that again. Seriously, how do you make a bad balloon?

Speaking of the pinata, I wrote all about it and you can find it over at Katie’s blog A Childhood List. Me and Chase worked on it together. It was way more fun to make a pinata than I thought it would be. And when you start telling your friends that you made a pinata all of a sudden you start to hear all kinds of stories. Death star pinata anyone? I think we need to step up our game.

Treats for filling the pinata, treat bags and snacks came from an Asian market (Asia Food on York Road.) Strawberry gummies, pocky, strawberry wafer cookies stuff like that. And strawberries of course. Who am I kidding, I should say and Pirate Booty of course.

I found the oil cloth table cloth at the thrift store but it’s for a small round table so I put it over a disposable white cloth. The drinks were the hug rejects from Avery’s rainbow party that we smartened up with some Martha Stewart beverage labels that I found. They’re on Clearance right now at Michaels but if I had a good color printer I could have probably made them at home.

We played a few games including “pin the strawberry in the wheelbarrow.” Next year we’ll need more games and next year I’ll remember not to say the word “win.” Also there’s really no point after that word starts to leave your moth at which you can stop saying it before it’s too late.

Finally, the cake! I didn’t mess around
this year. I just used a cake mix. I baked the cake in a bowl and then sunk Strawberry into the middle so that the cake looked like her skirt. The shape looks all wrong in the pictures but she was plenty pleased with my creation and I thought it looked dress-like enough.

When I was a kid this is how we made strawberry shortcake. With lemon cake mix, whipped cream and strawberries. Do you have any idea though, how hard it is to find lemon cake mix? At Giant there were about 4 cake mix choices in what used to be the cake mix aisle but is now, apparently, the brownie mix aisle. Safeway had more selection. The best theory advanced so far is that people aren’t even baking from cake mixes any more in favor of just buying pre-made cakes outright. I needed the mix though. I wasn’t up for baking a cake from scratch AND trying to figure out timing for baking in a bowl. I was having flashbacks of this incident you might remember.

Overall, in spite of a little whining (mine and hers) it was a great day. The doll in the cake didn’t catch on fire and it was nice to have family here helping to get ready and I know that Chase felt extra special. How could she not?