a robyns nest

2008-05-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Surprise! We're moving to Typepad. Click on this to find our new blog home :)

I look forward to seeing you there.

2008-05-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

The Dress....Part I

I borrowed some inspiration from SouleMama over the weekend, and soothed the frustration which had resulted from The Other Dress (see Part II below). I traced the outline of one of Baby Birds tops, added some shoulder ties, and then pretended I know how to sew ruffles.

Hurray! It fits :) I mean really, is it so much to ask?

Later this week I hope to debut a matching pair of bloomers. It doesn't look quite finished with a little diaper bum hanging out at the bottom ;) Cute (oh, how I love that little diaper butt), but not finished.

The Dress....Part II

Okay, so other than the fact that you could fit three Baby Birds inside of it....I am very happy, thrilled even, with how it turned out. Considering that the last time I used a pattern was Home Ec. in the 8th grade......this brings to mind the lovely red and white, horizontal striped, jersey knit fabric that I chose for my home ec. project. A fabulous, off the shoulder (think Flash Dance style) long-sleeved top. Ahhhh.....the 80's. I can't honestly say that I miss them.

But I digress.... what a buzz kill that the sundress doesn't fit! I was so angry I couldn't even look at it for a few days :(

Oh well.... I guess I'm already one step ahead for next summers clothes?

2008-05-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

An update...

In March, I told you about a great new idea for kids birthday parties called ECHOage. I also promised to give you a report once we had tried it out for Big Birds' 4th. So here we go......

I have to say first, that the website does everything it promises to do. It was easy to sign up, easy to organize, and uncomplicated to send out invitations. I would advise you to have a list of email addresses handy when you are creating your invite list....something I did not have. I opted to cut and paste addresses out of my email address book instead, a minor hassle, but not the end of the world.

ECHOage kept track of all the gift donations, and that information was easy for me to view from within our account on their site. As promised, a week before the party, they sent out a reminder notice to all invited guests, which was great for us, because there were a few, oh, let's call them slow pokes who had not yet responded to the original invitation.

And that brings me to my final thoughts about ECHOage....the only *problem* we had actually had nothing to do with ECHOage itself. If you read my original post (linked above) about this approach to birthdays, you'll see that our main reason for using it was to try and cut down on *Gift Overload*. We really want to help our kids understand the joys of giving AND recieving, as well as to minimize the expectation of a mountain of gifts on special occasions. ECHOage helps to do this, *as long as your family and friends are willing to play by the rules!* Several folks on our list graciously donated to the ECHOage site, but also brought or sent gifts as well.

That said, the mountain of gifts was MUCH smaller this year, so maybe we're making progress afterall? (baby steps, Robyn. baby steps.)

I wish you all a happy weekend .... we will be spending most of our time trying to avoid the one hundred degree sun. ( i'm meeelllttttiiinnnggggg.....)

2008-05-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

102. That's right folks....one hundred and two. That's the number of degrees fahrenheit it will be at our house today.

8:30am isn't too early for popsicles, is it?

Excuse me while I go crawl into a dark, shady hole.

2008-05-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

Make mistakes.....
...isn't that what Ms. Frizzle always tells us? Baby Bird and I made a fun one yesterday. I read somewhere (couldn't tell you where) recently that mixing craft glue with tempera paint can be a whole lot of fun. In my early morning, pre-coffee, mother-of-two fog I grabbed the finger paint instead. Okay, so it's not an 'oops, there were no weapons of mass destruction' kind of mistake, but still- it lead to completely different results. The beauty of open-ended *art* is that since there is no planned outcome, mistakes like this really don't matter!

We filled up our trusty squeeze bottles, and almost immediately noticed the raw egg-like consistency of the glue/finger paint combo. Sort of sticky, stretchy, and shiny all at once! Baby Bird was in sensory/texture heaven :)

Like any good almost-two-year-old, the fingers got involved fairly quickly...

Maybe tomorrow we'll do it the *right* way.....or, maybe not!

2008-05-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

Can we talk for a minute?

I have a bit of a problem.....it seems that I have laundry *issues*. Laundry-folding issues, to be more specific. Yep.....that's clean, unfolded laundry you see up there folks. Six baskets of it, if you really want to know. See how cozy my sweet Baby Bird is in her little nest? I'm good through the collecting, washing and drying stages of this process.....but that seems to be where things start to break down. It turns out that if I find myself with a moment or two of spare, uninterrupted time....I'd rather knit, sew, read, drink my coffee, do yoga or blog. But definitely NOT fold laundry.

I used to keep this *problem* a secret. I'd rush frantically to move all the unfolded clothes into the office just before playdates would arrive; trying to appear as if I had it all together.... another successful happy homemaker.

Then one day, on a whim, I confessed; to the one friend who I thought maybe wouldn't disown me if she knew about the mountain of laundry hiding just behind the office door. And guess what I discovered (after she finished laughing at me)? I'm not the only one who does this! It turns out that other people avoid folding their laundry too....some folks stash it behind closed doors like me, some pile it high on a spare bed, and others leave it in the dryer until it can no longer be avoided.

It is such a relief to let the world know that I HATE FOLDING LAUNDRY! I GET MINIMAL AMOUNTS OF TIME TO MYSELF IN A DAY, AND I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO SPEND THEM FOLDING THE STINKING LAUNDRY!

Go ahead, give it a try. Confess to someone today. Where do you stash your dirty little secret?

2008-05-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

Daddy doesn't often get the opportunity to "do art" with the kids (something I suspect he may secretly be ok with!). On Sunday I set them up for this activity from Preschool Art, by MaryAnn Kohl. The glue and squeeze bottles came, as usual, from here.

First, a little design with the glue.

Next, sprinkle some sand on top...

er.....and a little more sand.....

... and then shake off the excess. Both kids enjoyed this, although I will say Baby Bird got a much bigger thrill out of it. She was ready to keep going after completing several pictures. The designs are dry now, laying on our kitchen table. Every time the kids pass by, they stop to run their fingers over the sand squiggles; they seem to be enjoying the texture.

This activity would be fun with coloured sand too. You wouldn't necessarily need a backyard sandbox to make it work either. A large, shallow container from your local dollar store would do the job just as well.

Happy Monday! Have fun :)

2008-05-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Mothers Day!

I got to spend a glorious morning in bed, talking on the phone with some of my favorite mothers :) Miraculously, my kids let me get away with it.... I realized this morning that the number of mothers I know has grown quite a bit in the past few years years. It seems like just a short time ago, many of us were celebrating Mothers Day for the first time, with the arrival of our first babies. And now, slowly but surely, we're starting to celebrate being mamas to two babies .....I wonder who will be the first to celebrate the arrival of a third?!

Enjoy your day, mamas!

2008-05-09T08:30:00.000-07:00

Driving in the car yesterday, I was suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to toss ALL of our CD's out the window (picture me, hair blowing in the breeze as I speed down the highway, the kids are screaming in the backseat. I'm flinging CD's one at a time out the open window.....accompanied by maniacal laughter, of course).

If your car is anything like mine, then it has been taken over by childrens music. I swear the CD's multiply when I'm not looking. Occasionally it gets to the point where KinderMusik songs are cemented into my brain, permanently stuck on *play*. They cycle over and over and over again.....peekaboo, peekaboo, peekaboo i love you....peekaboo, peekaboo I love you....... and then I know it's time for a new infusion of life into our "Entertain the Kids While Driving in the Car" cd collection.

***To give my kids credit, I should mention that they do enjoy artists like Jack Johnson, etc as well. However, even Jack gets old after hearing the same songs 1,000 times (sorry honey).

And so.....I spent some time online earlier this morning (being the good Idle Parent that I am) looking for audio versions of some of the kids favorite books. Please allow me to share the fruits of my labour with you...

First, a link to one of our favorite authors, Robert Munsch. From this site you can link to downloadable audio versions of all of his books.....read by him, which is pretty entertaining. If you are unfamiliar with his work, consider starting with Mud Puddle, Alligator Baby, or Angela's Airplane.

Next, a couple of more general links to sites with a wide variety of audio books to choose from, for all ages.

Have the technology guru at your house (which in the case of our family, is most definitely NOT me) burn some new cd's for the car with the files that you download.

What a relief. Your family will thank you for it.

2008-05-08T07:43:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhh silence...the birthday boy is asleep, buried beneath a mountain of new dinosaur friends. We generally limit the number of 'friends' that accompany the kids to bed, but I didn't have the heart to make him choose tonight. The cake is eaten, the kitchen is clean (well, as clean as it's going to get anyway) and I can now FINALLY start playing with the fabric that arrived a few days ago for Baby Birds' teaparty sundress.
Picture the kimono girl print on the bodice, and the burnt orange polkadot print for the skirt. It's a colour adventure, especially for me, but I decided it's time to get off the fence and just dive in!

While I was in Marin over the weekend, I spent a few hours at a mega bookstore, something I do not have access to here at home. There I sat, on the floor in the crafting aisle. I had books strewn all around me....pure bliss :) I picked up the Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp. I've been looking for an all-around general guide to sewing, which this is, plus it has the added bonus of a few cute patterns included with it. I see many of these Tokyo Tie Bags in my future ;)

2008-05-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

Four

(the debut)

(One candle on the cake...)

( two...)

(three...)

(and four!)

Sorry.....no time for more blogging today. We've got some serious dinosaur hunting to attend to :)

2008-05-06T08:58:00.000-07:00

( I'm pretty sure our computer is free from the you-know-what....but in the event that it is still lingering, I feel for some reason like I should whipser! I just wanted to say quickly that I'm happy to be back :)

Our alphabet stamps get frequent use around the kitchen table. They are one of those toys that we all stumble across occasionally. One with limitless uses, and which can be enjoyed by children (and adults) of a wide variety of ages. (One that makes you feel like maybe this time you didn't waste your money!)

At the moment, Baby Bird enjoys picking any ol' letter, and stamping wildly with it! She seems to understand that each one of them has a name, and occasionally asks "dat one? dat one?" and points at a letter. When I answer with the name of the letter, she seems satisfied, so I guess I'm not too far off ;)

Lately Big Bird has been "writing" stories with the stamps. He stamps away with furrowed brow for a few minutes and then calls me over to read his story. Sometimes I see him sounding out words as he stamps, which of course makes this former teachers' heart SING!

If you have creative aspirations, look here for another great idea.

Seeing as tomorrow is the BIG DAY, the stamps will be seeing some use in the thank-you card arena as well. Big Bird wanted me to be sure to mention that today is only his Practice Birthday. He's just gearing up for the real deal tomorrow. I'm happy to play along, but I had to draw the line at a Practice Cake ;)

2008-05-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ugh. Spyware.

The poor hubby tried to explain it to me.... something about downloading some kayak plans, that weren't really kayak plans, but actually cleverly disguised Spyware.

The whole thing makes my brain hurt.

Needless to say, I'll be off-line today.

Cross your fingers that tomorrow will bring a healthier computer.

Wishing you a Spyware-free day :)

2008-05-02T08:48:00.000-07:00

Mama is getting some time to herself this weekend! 2 entire nights away.... Actually, I'm not sure whether to laugh maniacally or sob hysterically.

This is the second time in 4 years that I've had a chance to escape for a bit ... mostly because I'm pretty good at convincing myself that everyone will self-destruct in my absence ;) And also because nursing babies make it hard to be separated.

I will be attending three yoga classes this weekend, taught by my yoga teachers teacher (did you follow that?).... I'm trying to be only slightly intimidated. So far, so good.

I'll be heading to Marin, which for this introvert is as close to the Big City as I care to get.

Packing List:
Yoga Mat
Knitting
1 bottle of wine...hmmm... on second thought, maybe 2

I'm looking forward to *seeing* you all next week. Hopefully calm and refreshed.

Have a great weekend!

2008-05-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

Where babies wait.....

On the way to a nearby lakeside park this morning, Big Bird and I had another one of *those* conversations. A conversation which again reminded me that our children do not exist in the same part of the universe that the rest of us do. They really are only partially here....and definitely partially somewhere else.

Big Bird was explaining to his sister that we were going to a park she had never been to before (not entirely true, but beside the point).

"you were still waiting with the other babies" he told her, "you weren't with us last time we came".

Too curious not to ask,

"still waiting with the other babies?" I inquired

"ya mama...in that place...what do you call it? where the babies wait to pick out their parents."

Not having a well thought out answer, I offer

"heaven?"

"Yes! Heaven. Where all the babies are all together while they pick out their parents. We picked you and daddy."

Whoa.

Silence for a few minutes.

"well buddy, i'm really glad you did."

"Ya mama.... me too."

2008-04-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

Summer, 1980.
Are you diggin' the polyester? My Great Aunt Molly was visiting from England, and decided it was high time this girl learned how to knit. In the picture you can (sort of) see my brow furrowed in concentration as I SLOWLY, painfully work one stitch after another. My mom still jokes that it was the quietest she had ever seen me...both in all the time before the picture, and all the years since ;)

I think about teaching my own kids to knit. I have a hard time imagining that at 6 years old they will be able to concentrate long enough to figure it out....but there I am, living proof that it's possible. I can't wait to pass this tradition on.

I'd love to hear about the traditions you plan to pass on to your own kids.....

2008-04-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

I have Multiple Craft Personalities Disorder..... (Alternate title considered for this post : Help me, I'm an Indecisive Gemini....)

Something about spring causes me to pull out my all-time favorite book. Dying to knit is filled with eye-candy that lights a fire in my creative soul! Every spring I lovingly pour over the pages of this how-to guide to fiber dying. I always find something new, something I swear wasn't in there the previous spring. Some new tid-bit of information, or a new picture with colours so beautiful I can hardly wait to heat up the dye bath. Over coffee the other morning, I found this....

On these pages the author, Elaine Eskesen, talks about looking for colour inspiration in your child's art work. How timely!! In the top left corner of the page, she shows readers a batch of newly dyed wool, the colour-way inspired by the art work in the lower right corner. I started rifling through the kids art portfolio almost immediately, pulling out several pieces that caught my eye. I was already imagining what I would knit with the not-yet-dyed wool.

And then I got side-tracked (not hard to do with the young Birds around). The day went on....and then the mail came. And this arrived:

I ordered this pattern last week. Last night I was telling the hubby with a sigh that I want to sew as well as I knit. His response,

"well, then I guess you should sew as much as you knit"

Are men really that simple? Why couldn't he read my mind and understand that what I was REALLY saying is that I want to sew as well as I knit RIGHT NOW....not 27 years from now, which is how long it has taken me to knit this well. In 27 years my kids will have NO interest in wearing anything that I make for them. This is URGENT! I must sew well NOW!

To soothe my panicking soul I went to SuperBuzzy to find the perfect fabric for my sweet Baby Bird's sundress.

As I was straightening up before bed, I stumbled (literally) over Dyeing to knit where I had left it lying (laying? I'm grammatically challenged) earlier in the day. A shot of guilt went straight through my heart. I felt as though I had been caught in a moment of infidelity. Am I seriously considering cheating on my first true love, knitting? Is it possible that I am moving on from an almost 3 decade long relationship, for something new and more exciting? Is there room in my life for 2 loves?

Why is it so hard for me to make a decision about where to start?! Please tell me that I am not the only one out there who suffers from this kind of indecision.....am I?

2008-04-28T09:03:00.000-07:00

With the mind of a child....

It started about a year or so ago. One night, while looking at a waning gibbous moon, Big Bird asked me

"mama, what's wrong with the moon?"

It took a few minutes to get to the root of his question. It turns out that he was concerned about the size of the moon. Apparently it was too small. Apparently in his mind it was supposed to be Full all the time.

I explained how sometimes the moon is big, and sometimes it is small, but that it's always changing size.

"That's okay mama, Ito will fix it."

Ito is one of Big Bird's grandfathers. He is legendary for his ability to fix pretty much anything. I realized that in the world of my then 3 year old, it was completely plausible that Ito would climb up his ladder, use his hammer, and "fix" the moon. At the time I thought, oh how sweet, but didn't think much more about it.

Fast forward a year. Last week, I was trying to distract the kids attention away from something they were not supposed to be doing (beating on each other, if you really want to know). Look! A herd of Velociraptors is walking through the yard.... I point out the window, both kids rush to the door to check it out.

"where mama, I don't see them?"

"there, by the mailbox, don't you see them?" I ask

silence for a few moments.....

"oh. you're pretendin'."

And with that, Big Bird walked away. I'm sure I saw a look of disgust on his face.

It dawned on me in that moment, that in his world, it was completely within the realm of possibility that a herd of flesh-eating dinosaurs was indeed walking through his yard. Where he would have thought oh cool! let's go play with them!, I would have thought oh sh*t....., call 911!

And then a couple of days ago....

"mama? is jelly made from jellyfish?"

I rush to reassure him that jelly is definitely NOT made from jellyfish. Poor child...he must be traumatized....but then, I saw the look on his face. And I could tell that he wasn't worried, he was just looking for clarification. He would have been just as willing to accept "yes" for an answer as "no". Again, it was completely within the realm of possibility that jelly is made from jellyfish. If I had said "yes", he would have said, "oh", and wandered off to keep playing. I would have gagged, and thrown the PB&J in the trash.

Okay, I'll get to my point (and I do have one, I promise). Over the weekend, I was at my twice weekly yoga class. At one point I was standing on my head trying to do this. And it wasn't going well. At all.

I was fighting a bit against muscle fatigue (it was the end of a long class), but honestly, I was fighting mostly against my own mind. ummmm, robyn? what are you thinking? this is impossible! you can't do this! That sort of counter-productive internal dialog that most of us (except maybe Buddha) are familiar with. And then, in less than a second, all of those moments with Big Bird flashed through my mind. And it all came together for me. If I approached this pose with the mind of a child I would be just fine. If I believed that it was well within the realm of possibility for me to stand on my head, balance on my arms and just DO the pose, then it would happen!

Of course, it didn't happen.....by then I was too exhausted. BUT.....I have class again on Tuesday. And between now and then I'm working really hard on changing the pictures and the dialog in my head.

Imagine all the things we could accomplish if we approached challenges with the mind of a child.......

2008-04-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

We have been sick. All. Week. Coughing, drippy noses, fevers, hallucinations......you name the symptom, we've had it.

And frankly, we've been grumpy too. It's hard to be kind and loving when you feel like....well, like crap. Both kids are at that stage of sickness where they want/need lots of comforting, but they can't find it within themselves to be nice to anyone. Which makes mothering a bit of a....oh, let's call it a challenge. Especially considering that I am sick too, and really just want to lock myself in the bedroom and crawl under the covers.

That said....I did manage to pull it together long enough this morning to get some paint out.

My intent was to use acorns, but in my delirium I couldn't remember where I had hidden them (I can hear the squirrels laughing at me). So we opted for the next closest round object I could find; wooden lacing beads.

Lay some paper in the bottom of a box (conveniently, the average size Amazon.com box is 8.5 x 11 inches) , roll the beads around in some paint, toss them in the box, shake and roll at will.

Voila! A Masterpiece.

Big Bird noticed that this picture looks like it has a T-rex in the middle of it. Of course he did.

Anyway.....my point this morning is not really about this project. It's about what happened after this project actually.

I went inside to find some clothespins so that we could hang our pictures on the fence to dry. Again, in my semi-delirious state, I left the kids outside. Alone. With the paint.

You can imagine what happened next. And I have to tell you, it turns out that covering your entire body with paint is really, REALLY good therapy for sickie kids! And sickie mommies too. Unfortunately for you, I had to put the camera down in order to participate in the fun. I did manage to capture this pic before they attacked me though.

2008-04-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

It was warm enough today (sort of) for some outdoor painting. I chose black and red...not really sure why, I guess I'm just in a black and red mood!

The kids always enjoy painting outside....they seem to relish the fact that they can fling the brushes around a bit more wildly than they would do inside. A little paint on the lawn never hurt anybody!

They also seem to find clothes pins endlessly fascinating. Both Birds enjoyed helping me clip the paper to the fence.

2008-04-23T08:48:00.000-07:00

Okay....I'm only going to give this topic about 30 seconds of my time (which is more than it deserves)....but my Bad Idea of the Week award goes to this idiot.

Seriously. If his publishers are that hard up for a children's book idea, put them in touch with me. I've got a million. And none of my ideas aim to teach young children that their mothers will be more beautiful if they get plastic surgery.

Okay...moving on to things that are much more worthy of my time (and yours).

This fabulously inspiring mama is taking the Hope Revolution to Rwanda! And she's asking for our help. Part of her time in Rwanda will be spent with school age girls, working to inspire and motivate them to stay in school.

Find out how to send your Hope Notes to the girls of Rwanda here.

What I love about this story, is that Jen Lemon is a regular ol' mama like the rest of us. And she has found a way to make a huge difference :)

Now stop reading my blog, and go write some Hope Notes ;)

2008-04-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day!!

Ok....I know they look a bit strange, but they sure are a lot of fun! I believe they're called Finger Crayons...but as it turns out, it's much more fun to stack them up than to colour with them. They make a very satisfying "pop" when you pull them apart. Who knew they would entertain my children for a good 30 minutes? I think I'm in love.

I had fun over the weekend leaving some Hope Notes around town....here's one I left in the lavender outside of the yoga studio I take classes at. I'm getting a ridiculous amount of joy out of this! Possibly that's because I live in an area that could use a whole lot of hope....

And finally, an update on my current Mochimochi project. Shhhhh....it's a surprise for Big Birds upcoming birthday! And although I know it's hard to visualize....it really is a snake. The white part, to the right of the photo, will eventually get stuffed back in to the snakes body, thus creating the "tube" that you can stuff the mouse into if snakey gets hungry. Seriously ingenious. Makes me feel a bit inadequate really. Considering that I've been knitting for 27+ years (started when I was 5 or 6ish). But alas....I am most definitely a pattern follower, not a pattern creator!

2008-04-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

I recieved 2 pieces of information this weekend, both related, both unsolicited....and better yet, both validating something we feel very strongly about in this house.

The first was an article my mom sent which she clipped out of Maclean's magazine (a mainstream Canadian news mag, for those who are unfamiliar). Titled Free-Range Children, the author spends 3 pages saying essentially, that if we're not careful, our children (that is to say, the children of post-boomer babies) are going to miss out on their childhoods. He says,

"Parents want to raise risk-takers (without exposing them to risk), to give them the freedom (to follow parental dreams), to be spontaneous and imaginative (pencil that in between judo and piano, if the homework is done.)"

Can I get an AMEN????

So many parents I know have their (young) children's days scheduled from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed. I feel like a bit of a loser when asked "what classes are your kids in?" Ummmm...... er.......well.....we go to gymnastics once a week (which is really a time where Big Bird and one friend run around and go nuts in a big padded room).

"really? that's all you do? how do you keep them busy?"

Keep them busy, are you kidding me? They're kids! They do "busy" by nature....they certainly don't need my help.

Ok, I could go on and on...so I'll move on to the next bit of info I stumbled upon this weekend....

Somehow I found myself online looking at the UK's newspaper The Telegraph. Turns out they have a regular column called The Idle Parent, written by Tom Hodgkinson. This man, whoever he is, is my new personal SuperHero. He puts what we believe soooooo much more eloquently than I could ever do!

He starts by explaining his philosophy,

"I call it idle parenting and our mantra is: 'Leave them alone.' "

and then goes on to say at one point,

"Paradoxically, the idle parent is a responsible parent because at the heart of idle parenting is a respect for the child, a trust in another human being. It is the irresponsible parent who hands the child over to various authorities for its education and care, whether that is childminders, schools, CBeebies or the virtual world of Habbo Hotel. Or it is the parent who tries to impose his own vision on the children and does not simply let them be. "

Okay, so I have no idea what a "CBeebie" is, or a "Habbo Hotel" but, sigh.....I think I might be in love with this man.

Now why can't I write like that?

Definitely check out his column. His writing is very tongue-in-cheek (which obviously I love), and I would put money on it that at least some of what he has to say will ring true for you too.

2008-04-17T08:12:00.001-07:00

Do this.

And better yet, have your kids help you do it..... who knows what you might start? Join the Revolution! It's infectious, trust me ;)

Tomorrow is a big day for our family, so in the event I don't get a chance to check-in....have a great weekend everyone!

Oh...I just found this link to a beautiful video showing mothers and daughters (from a mother-daughter bookclub) creating the notes they are going to go out and leave in places they think could use some hope!

Cheers -

2008-04-16T12:22:00.001-07:00

The kids reminded me about a few of parentings most important lessons today....

#1 is that playdough is still a heck of a lot of fun, no matter how old you are and no matter how often you have played with it in the past week....

#2 is that playdough tastes REALLY good....

and #3 is that you should never, EVER, underestimate the determination of an almost-4 year old.

It couldn't have been more than 50 degrees outside this morning. Apparently, though, that was NO reason to delay bringing out the water table any longer. And to prove his point, he stayed out there until his fingers were BRIGHT pink and all his little teeth were chattering.

He says it was fun....but I don't think he would have admitted it even if it wasn't ;)

Playdough recipes are a dime a dozen. I've tried a few, and here's the one I like best:

1 cup water
1 tbsp vege oil
1/2 cup salt
1 tbsp cream of tartar
food colouring
saucepan
1 cup flour

Combine water, oil, salt, cream of tartar, and food colouring in a saucepan and heat until warm. Remove from heat and add flour. Stir until smooth, the cream of tartar makes this stuff last for many months, so use it if you can find it (in the spice aisle....I'll admit, I had to ask the first time I went looking for it!). Store the dough in an airtight container or plastic baggy.

Cheers :)

Oh, and don't forget lesson #1!

2008-04-15T08:37:00.001-07:00

Little Miss Bird picked out her watercolour pencils this morning.

I love the versatility of these pencils. Sometimes we colour with them first, and then paint over our work with water and a paint brush.....discovering how the water moves and mixes the colours. Other times we brush the paper with water first, and then use the pencils...same tool, completely different effect. And then there's one of Baby Bird's favorite techniques - dipping the pencils into a container of water, and then drawing with the wet tip.

Oh, and let's not forget her other favorite technique.....

As I write, I'm realizing how often we use watercolour paper in this house. Not just for the obvious watercolour pencils and painting....but also for finger paints, tempera paints, scissor and glue parties....you name it! I guess it's because I really prefer that the paper my kids are using not fall apart mid-way through the project. Maybe it's just here in this house, but "art" in its various forms seems to involve a lot of experimenting with just how much force can be applied to the tools before the paper rips ;) Watercolour paper really does stand up to the abuse.

Here's where I get mine, and most of the other art supplies we consume in our home. This company, although quite large, still manages to have quite a bit of environmental integrity. And the best prices I've seen for the quality of the products...which never hurts, does it?

2008-04-14T08:39:00.001-07:00

Good morning!

I'm happy to report that we managed to get around to this little project over the weekend. The delay had nothing to do with a lack of enthusiasm, but more to do with a serious lack of Sculpey....everywhere....in the entire county. We headed "down the hill" this weekend for our monthly retail therapy session, and located some of the elusive clay at Michaels.

For what it's worth, I have to say I like the terracotta color better than the others we tried. For some reason, it's MUCH easier to roll into balls and to push down over the flowers, which is important when you're working with small hands.

True to form, Big Bird enjoyed the rolling and pushing part, and even enjoyed the finished product for about 10 minutes.....at which point he discovered they made great hockey pucks (what can I say...it's in his DNA).

Baby Bird, on the other hand, wasn't so interested in the rolling and pushing part, but has been finding great joy in carrying the finished treasures around in a basket and taking them all out....putting them all back in.....taking them out.....putting them all back in....you get the picture.

The sculpey captures an amazing amount of detail. The kids (and I) find it very gratifying when projects turn out well....they seem to appreciate quality, things that last. Give this one a try.

2008-04-11T10:00:00.001-07:00

Goodbye Butterflies......

Today was the day, we decided. Warm, not much of a breeze, good weather reported for the next few days.... prime butterfly releasing conditions.

We are a little bit sad, but also a little bit happy. Glad that our beloved butterflies will be able to spend their last few days outside where they belong.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone :) Let us know if you see our butterflies.......

2008-04-10T12:14:00.001-07:00

We've been having fun lately writing stories in Big Birds "special book". This book started out as his Nature journal, but has evolved into something more general over time. It is a great reflection of the things that interest him at any given moment.

The kids recieve Ladybug magazine, a gift from my parents. After each issue has been loved to pieces (literally), I hide them away in the craft closet, to be resurrected at a later date. One use we've discovered for the back issues is to cut out many of the beautiful illustrations, which we then use as inspiration for our stories.

Big Bird dictates and I write. Occasionally I ask questions to get the process moving along, but once he started to understand that really, anything goes....Big Bird was off and running!

Recently, Baby Bird has caught on to the fun, and solved the age-old homeschooling dilemma of "what do you do with your toddler when you are working on a project with the older child?" Yesterday she disappeared for a few minutes while Big Bird and I were working on his latest story. She returned with this book (an empty sketch book) and sat back down at the table. I wasn't quite sure where she was headed, and so just watched while she did her thing. She chose a picture from the pile of cut out illustrations, and then asked for the glue. With my help she glued it into what was now obviously HER special book, and then set to 'writing' her story on the page above it. Problem solved. Now we can all work on our stories together :)

Have I mentioned how much I love homeschooling?!

2008-04-09T16:33:00.001-07:00

Hello.

My name is Robyn, and my son is an addict. He is completely, totally, and utterly addicted to dinosaurs. Big ones, small ones, long ones, short ones, and especially, baby ones.

I can only blame myself I suppose. Well, myself, and of course Nigel Marvin and the BBC. Damned Chased by Dinosaurs. While I'm at it, I think I'll blame Netflix too.

Does it disturb anyone else that at not-quite 4 years old, Big Bird can pronounce words like Stenonychosaurus and Parasaurolophus ? Most adults I know can't even pronounce them. Including me.

I have been listening to dinosaur-talk for almost a month now. 14 hours a day, non-stop. He eats, sleeps, and breathes dinosaurs. And I'm about to lose my mind. Completely.

If you've ever known an almost-4-year old, you know just how much they talk. This boy can tie the topic of dinosaurs into just about anything that might come up during the day. Even, and this is probably more than any of you wanted to know..... the potty. I am not kidding. And you'll thank me for sparing you the details.

Just when I think we're in the clear, and that just maybe we've managed to move on to another topic - such as what we should eat for snack.....

"mama, the parasaurolophus likes to eat apples too. did you know that? did you mama? did you know that? mama? he uses his big teeth to crunch them up! did you know that mama? did you? mama?"

Save me. Please.

2008-04-08T12:10:00.001-07:00

We finger-print painted cherry trees today in honor of spring. I had a conversation with myself before hand and we agreed (myself and I?) that I was prepared to accept whatever the kids decided to do with their finger-print painting experience...it's hard to let go of that sometimes, isn't it?

Big Bird chose to make several individual cherry blossoms on the branches that I had drawn for him. Baby Bird chose a different path and turned it into a full body experience. She started by painting her hands and then moved up to her head! Good thing I had that conversation with myself before we started ;)

Afterwards we decided that a picnic was in order to complete our celebration of spring.

I also managed to get these finished while the kids were happy entertaining themselves. They are for my soon-to-be nephew (or niece, but Big Bird already has 8 girl cousins and 1 sister, so we're rooting for a boy!).

I have been enjoying working on small, quick gratification, sewing projects. Sewing a straight line is pretty much where my sewing skills end. Projects like these bibs and the chickens from a few posts ago are helping to teach me new skills, and boost my sewing ego:) If you have suggestions for quick, fairly straight forward sewing projects, send them my way!

2008-04-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

Good morning :)

I had a very satisfying thrift store adventure this weekend - I found a sweet tea set for the kids (part of which is pictured above), some fabric that will work well for a doll I'm thinking about making, and this hand-embroidered piece of linen that I plan to turn into something else for Baby Bird.

I'm pretty sure I was glowing when I left the shop, coveting my treasures.

I also spent some time this weekend putting together our dress-up trunk (the whole reason I went to the thrift store was to find some additional items for the dress-up stash...obviously I got side-tracked)! We have a ton of items strewn about the house that could be used for dress-up, but rarely get noticed. I was hoping that if we put them all in one place the kids might find them more enticing. Turns out I was right- No sooner had I placed all the hats, scarves, handbags, and costumes in the trunk when both kids started investigating. Big Bird was soon parading around as "Strong Guy" and Baby Bird was wearing a scarf as a toga, complete with a belt and a swimming mask :) Big Bird continued to role play until well after dinner time. I couldn't have been happier watching them deeply engrossed in their pretending.

Enjoy your Monday everyone!

2008-04-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of reading Amanda Soule's new book The Creative Family - How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections.

In it she spends some time talking about toys. She has created 6 criteria that are used in her home when choosing toys for her kids. It was so nice to read someone else's thoughts on this subject, especially someone who agrees with me - we all need a little validation every now and then, right?

1. Is it beautiful? She is, as am I, a big fan of hand-crafted toys. Toys that feel good to touch and hold and are visually pleasing. Toys that are beautifully designed can be a great source of creativity and imagination.

2. Is it simple? She puts it well, "If there's a toy that does it all for you, there's little room left for creativity." She advises to "select toys that can be used in a multitude of ways and that evoke imagination and creative expression."

3. What is it made of? "Does your children's toy selection show an adequate representation of nature? Is there wood? Cloth? Natural Fibers?"

4. What Senses does it use? We all experience the world through our senses, and our children are strongly programmed this way (anyone else have kids who taste everything?) Soule suggests having toys in our homes which represent each of the senses.

5. How is it organized? Toys get used more when they are accessible, easy to find and available. This is SO true for my own kids! If our kids have to spend too much time looking for what they need, creativity often goes by the wayside. "Keeping toys organized in baskets, boxes and on shelves where kids can reach them helps so that children know just where they are when inspiration strikes."

6. Is there too much? Less is MORE!!! I try to do fairly regular toy rotations where I clear out most of the toys in the living areas, put them in boxes, and bring up another box (from a previous rotation) from the garage. Not only does it keep the toy chaos and clutter down to a minimum, but for a few days afterwards it's like Christmas all over again as the kids get reacquainted with old toys :)

I can't recommend this book enough. It's an easy read (for those of us with minimal free time), visually pleasing, and full of inspiring suggestions and ideas. Amanda Soule also has a great blog which I visit often.

Cheers!

2008-04-03T12:45:00.001-07:00

Today was a park day....isn't the static electricity on slides great?!

I won't tell you how warm it was, I know many of you are still buried under 3 feet of snow. But I will say that I broke out the sunscreen and sun hats :)

Today the playground equipment was a castle, then it was Big Birds dragon lair, and then it was a tall building from which the firemen had to rescue us.

Whew, no wonder I'm tired.

2 more gratuitous cute kid photos:

2008-04-02T08:23:00.001-07:00

You know what they say.....nothing should come between a boy and his chicken.

Mr. Chicken used to be a sweater. Somebody's much loved, 100% wool, argyle sweater. $2.00 at a local thrift store. And then I felted it, hacked it to pieces, and turned it into a chicken. Not bad for $2.00, eh?

Mr. Chicken requested a photo shoot.....

I seem to be critter-obsessed these days. Our menagerie is growing........

2008-04-01T11:17:00.001-07:00

Cheese!

I put the batteries back into our Fisher Price Kid Tough camera yesterday. Honestly, I can't remember why I took them out....the camera doesn't make any obnoxious noises, or have any bright flashing lights (2 of my top reasons for removing the batteries from a toy). The kids still play with it without the batteries, and they play with it often, I might add. I'm sure that has something to do with them copying the behavior of their OCD parents who are constantly taking pictures of them ;) But I digress....

After I put the batteries back in, both kids took turns (!) roaming around the house taking pictures, while I occupied myself in the kitchen. Afterwards we downloaded them onto the computer and watched ourselves a little slide show. I won't torture you with all of the photos, honestly I got a little sea-sick myself when they were coming up on the computer. But here are a few which illustrate what I've been mulling over for the past few weeks.

The first one was taken by Baby Bird:

And these 2 by Big Bird:

I am endlessly fascinated by how the creative process is unfolding in my children. I strive to keep all the "art" type activities that go on in this house open-ended, that is to say, with no particular desired outcome in mind. I really believe that if you put boundaries or expectations on what your kids are creating, they will fairly quickly come to feel like they are failing in some way if their creation doesn't end up looking a particular way.

Watching the photo slideshow with the kids gave me new insight into their creative mind. I noticed that they both chose to take pictures of things that are important to them. This is exactly what I tend to take pictures of too. Big Bird took a picture of his basket of trucks and his new tractor, and also a picture of Baby Bird and me (apparently though, our heads are not important!) And although I only included one, Baby Bird took a whole montage of pictures of her beloved duck, well, his feet mostly ;)

Something else that I thought was interesting is that they also took some time arranging favorite toys just so, for portrait style pictures:

I will definitely be putting the batteries back into their camera more often now. It's yet another great creative outlet for them, that has no boundaries or expected outcomes.

One of my favorite blogs is the The Artful Parent. It is filled with beautiful, inspiring photos, ideas and interviews which constantly motivate me to keep opening up the craft cupboard, even when I don't think I can stand cleaning up after one more painting spree.

Check it out....and see if you don't find yourself pulling out your camera or maybe even the finger paints :)

2008-03-31T08:16:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the family, little guy. Knitting with size 2 needles almost killed me (if you knit, you know what I mean)....but it was worth having to start over 3 times to see the joy and rapture on Big Birds face this morning. Apparently they are old friends...

"Snaily!! It's soooo good to see you!"

I let him (Big Bird, that is, not the snail) browse through the webshop at MochiMochi Land last night, he picked out this for my next project. I feel a new addiction coming on....her toys are just so appealing!

We had a pretty quiet weekend with most of us feeling a bit under the weather. We did make a point of enjoying our new backyard space though.

I can't tell you how thrilled I am that going outside to play no longer has to involve wrangling the kids into the car and driving to a park somewhere! Don't get me wrong....going to the park is still a wonderful thing and will continue to be part of our weekly adventures. But I am SO looking forward to some spring time fun just outside our door....in our pajamas if we feel so inclined ;)

I think we're going to give this another try later today. I'll let you know how it goes.

Enjoy your Monday everyone!

2008-03-28T12:23:00.001-07:00

Not much happening here today. It's a rainy grey northern California day, the kind you would more typically associate with Spring than all the sunshine we've had lately. We did manage to have some inside fun with this tissue paper stained glass project. Although you can't see it, the backing is clear contact paper. You frame it with your shape of choice (or no frame at all) made out of construction paper, and then the kids went at it with various colours of tissue paper. When they were finished we placed them sticky side against the window. They peel off easily when it's time to change the art gallery. As usual, Big Bird charged through his and finished in 5 minutes flat, while Baby Bird took her time and precisely placed every. piece. carefully. diligently. and thoughtfully ;) Happy Weekend everyone!

2008-03-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

"One Gift, one cause"

Is this how you feel after a birthday party? Whether it's christmas, birthdays, or even easter, I'm always a bit disturbed by the sheer volume of STUFF that my children receive in the form of gifts. And although they can't put words to it yet, I know my kids experience a bit of overwhelmed-ness too. After the first few presents, they stop paying attention to what it is they're unwrapping...they quickly rip off the paper and move on to the next gift, rushing to get through it all so they can just PLAY with all the new booty. And speaking of wrapping paper.... there's also the MOUNTAIN of packaging and paper left over afterwards too. I can't get the image of it all sitting in a landfill somewhere out of my mind.

Despite feeling that it's all a bit gluttonous, I can't bring myself to deny friends and family the opportunity to give the kids something special on birthdays and holidays. I understand the joy that is felt when you give a gift to someone you love, after all, I love giving my kids gifts too! So when I read about a new company called ECHOage, I once again did my Happy Dance....here was the solution.

It seems that there are at least two other mothers out there who have felt like I do. And they have created a way for everyone to win when it comes to birthday parties. Loved ones still get to give gifts, children still get to receive a present on their special day, and better yet, complete strangers benefit from all the giving too.

Check out the website, linked above. Essentially what happens is this: Instead of friends and family buying gifts for the birthday boy or girl, they donate $$ on ECHOage's website. The parents of the birthday boy or girl then get half the donations via a cheque in the mail for their children to buy ONE gift. The other half of the money goes to charity. Parents can choose from a few different choices on the website. The charities are chosen because they are national (Canadian and US). Parents who decide to host an ECHOage birthday party choose one of a number of invitations from the website. All of the invites tell folks NOT to bring a gift to the party. Parents then enter the emails of the people they would like to invite. Parents still choose their own venue for the party. Donations and RSVP's are tracked online and parents receive an official tax reciept. Usually donations are $20, but parents can choose to go as low as $10 or as high as $30. After the party, children can send out an ECHOage thank-you email.

Now how smart is that? This might just be my new favorite thing. We're going to give it a try this May for Big Birds birthday. I'll let you know how it goes. Pass it on.......

2008-03-26T14:38:00.001-07:00

Hello Butterflies. Baby Bird and Big Bird would like me to tell you that when you're almost 2 and almost 4 years old, it's really, really, REALLY hard to wait 2 weeks for anything. So I'm really, really, REALLY glad to see you. I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to be able to hold them off.

"how much longer, mama?"
"today, mama?"
"mama?"
"after nappy time, mama?"

Our butterfly friends will be with us for a week or so, and then we'll let them go outside. The 5 Painted Lady caterpillars arrived from here almost a month ago. They munched, and munched and MUNCHED for almost 2 weeks while they grew, and grew, and GREW! During this time we enjoyed reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, of course, as well as The Crunching Munching Caterpillar and a few others. Little Einsteins Our Big Huge Adventure was watched far more often than I will ever admit, but they tell the story of the
monarch migration so well, that it was hard to say no :)

Here's the lovely butterfly condo:

I think that even though they are only almost 2 and almost 4, even the Birds will concede that some things might just be worth waiting for ;)

2008-03-25T12:25:00.001-07:00

How cute is this?! The pattern is called "Jan" and can be found here
In the above pic the top is still on the needles...miraculously Baby Bird cooperated with her crazy mama and allowed me to put it over her head, needles and all.

And this is the finished product, from the back. I had to resize it - the smallest size the pattern allows for is 2t. Oh, and for those who are interested I used Cascade Sierra for this project. It's 80% cotton, and 20% wool which helps the finished product keep it's shape a bit better than if I had knit it with 100% cotton. It is SOFT!!!

And while we're chatting about knitting.....here's what I'm pretty sure will be consuming any free time (free time?) I find myself enjoying:

This is a free pattern from the Mochimochi Land blog. Thank you Lesley for opening my eyes to the Mochimochi goodness!

2008-03-24T08:33:00.001-07:00

Finger paint, plus a few drops of dish detergent, et.......voila! A project perfect for a glass sliding door, or low window within reach of little hands. The added soap makes for easy cleanup afterwards with a hose (even a few days later if you're like me and get, er.... easily sidetracked ;) The kids get completely engrossed in this project every time we do it. I love to watch them block out everything else, and focus just on their creations!

2008-03-23T10:42:00.001-07:00

Spring has arrived in Northern California....not that winter was all that much to complain about this year. I hope everyone reading this (is anyone reading this?) enjoys their Easter weekend and time spent with family. We're off to Grandma's later for the annual feast....mmmmmm..... Oh, We laid sod yesterday! This has been a long time in the works... I think it goes without saying that I did my Happy Dance more than once yesterday :)