These are a few of my Favorite Things.

This Christmas we went to Arkansas, where this super sweet kitty lives. His name is Rosco.

And here is Romeo!

Before we left, the elf on the shelf got into mischief.

Hello blogland!

I do not have an image to post, but figured that I would say "hi". My girls are both in school now and I have returned to the world of the working... at least for part time. I have a great new job that is incredibly busy... but I am so thankful to have found work so quickly and in my field of graphic design.  So I am not planning to post a lot, but I would like to keep this going. Things are certainly still going on in our house, I just don't have the time to write about it : P

But if I have the time, I will. Until then, cheers!

Baby Blanket.

I knit this for my good friend’s beautiful baby girl. The yarn is Cascade Superwash 128.

Dinner Balls.

Look! I inadvertently made a dinner where each food was in the shape of a ball! Couscous, peas and meatballs.

Shamrock Light Catcher.

Look at how cool this turned out! My 5 yo daughter and I made a bunch of these Shamrock Light Catchers. We kind of made it up as we went along: First, I grated different shades of green crayons with a cheese grater. Then my daughter used a hole puncher to get a bunch of tiny green circles. We spread out a piece of wax paper, and she sprinkled on the crayon bits with the tiny circles and added some glitter glue too. I put another piece of wax paper on top and with a low heat iron setting, ironed/melted it all together. After it cooled, she traced and cut out shamrock shapes, punched a hole in the tops and stung a ribbon through to hang them. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

LIFE! DO YOU HEAR ME? GIVE MY CREATION... LIFE!

When I was a kid I was seduced by the promises of this advertisement:

Those brilliant white smiles! The blonde with a bow on her head! Is that one playing a lute?

I did in fact try to hatch some Seas Monkeys when I was younger, but it was a colossal letdown. None hatched. So when I saw that Santa (that sly devil!) had brought some for my 7 yo daughter, I was ready to help give it another try.

Without further ado, here are the results:

I am alternately disgusted and intrigued by these things. In general, I don’t like sea life - I don’t eat any seafood, and for me, most underwater things are on a par with insects... cockroaches and the like. But it is pretty amazing to see these guys and gals flitting about, procreating with wild abandon. No bows, lipstick or musical instruments of any sort, but still pretty cool. And gross. I think the weirdest thing has been that while typing this, my soda is sitting next to the tank... and every so often when I reach for the soda, I think What if I accidentally grabbed the tank and drank the Sea Monkeys instead of the Dr. Pepper?! And then I feel slightly nauseous for a few minutes.

A Game of Thrones.

I have been reading A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin. They are the basis of the HBO series Game of Thrones, which is coincidentally the name of the first book. Right now I’m reading A Feast for Crows, the fourth book out of the five that have been written. These books are huge in scope, written from the p.o.v. of many different characters... it reminds me a bit of Lord of the Rings in many respects, but is much more interesting IMHO. The best part about these novels is the element of surprise - the plot twists over onto itself so many times. And Martin is not afraid to kill off main characters; the good guys definitely do not always win in this story.

4.25 stars

Romeo’s Christmas.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas too!

Beginner Veggie Garden.

Here are during & after photos of our first ever veggie garden! My husband made it in about a day. The girls and I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, red & green peppers, basil, green onions and carrots. It is 4 x 4'. We have hungry bunnies in our yard, so I hope that fence does its job.

Meet Henriette and Adrienne.

These two French girls Henriette (left) and Adrienne (right) were made by my girls during our France Spring Fun Days during Spring break. We started these fun days last summer (aptly called Summer Fun Days), and each week the girls picked something that they wanted to learn about. Last summer we learned about China, Dinosaurs and the USA. So basically, I read them books about the subject, we make food, do crafts, songs, activities, etc... related to what we are studying. Studying is really not the appropriate word here, because they seriously love these weeks and are already counting the days until the next one: Rock and Roll. I do this with the kids because it is fun and it gives structure to our days during the summer. Here are some of the other things we did during France week:

They designed, built and painted a paper mache Eiffel tower for Henriette and Adrienne...

which was also a Polly Pocket boudoir for a period of time : )

We ate a delicious French breakfast of hot chocolate, croissants & jelly. On the first day we made crepes with nutella.

Block Print and Book Club.

I wanted to share this beautiful postcard that my super-talented friend sent me for Christmas! It is a reduction block print, and you can check out her blog, create*make*smile to see how she did it. While the process is time consuming, the result is spectacular... I was so happy to find mine in the mail!


Last month, my book club read the book Room by Emma Donoghue. I was pretty apprehensive about the subject matter, but it was handled in a way that was not totally horrifying. Here is a synopsis from Amazon:

“Five-year-old Jack and his Ma live and eat and play and sleep in one room - an 11×11-foot space that is their prison - captives of the terrifying man Jack calls Old Nick. But as Jack grows older and more curious, it becomes clear that the room will not be able to hold him and Ma forever.”

I recommend it.
4 stars

Felt Conversation Hearts, Bows and a Dragon.

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These tiny felt conversation hearts are destined for my 4 year old daughter’s classroom for Valentine’s Day. I stamped the words onto felt with ink from regular old stamp pads... I have a feeling that the words will be fading away with time, but I’m sure there is some ink out there that would be more durable. I am hoping to give each of her friends 3 or 4 of them in a little bag, with my daughter’s homemade valentine heart/card attached. The recurring theme of things taking longer than I expect is holding true, although I did start working on these last week, so I think I have time to finish.

Actually, these bows that I made took about as long as I thought they would - only about 15 minutes each, and they were the first ones I have ever done. A friend of mine made this cute Halloween one for my daughter, so I based mine off of hers...

My daughter saw me posting things on the blog and wanted to share this exotic dragon that she made at school in celebration of the Chinese New Year:

Winter Goings-on.

Here is my husband plowing the driveway at the tail end of 18 inches of snow last week. We all played outside in it, and during the 2 snow days off of school, the girls got a head start on some Heart/Elephant Valentines...

... and cozied up with Romeo, the friendliest most fantastic cat who ever lived!

January 3, 2003.

Happy Anniversary, DJ! xoxo

...and thank you : )

Hand Made Christmas Gifts.

This year we decided make each other's Christmas presents instead of buying them. The only one who opted out was my husband, but he helped the kids to make their gifts for me. Instead of opening them with the "regular" presents on Christmas Day, and getting lost in the shuffle, we each opened one hand made gift on Christmas Eve. I made the cat above, now named "Kitten", for my 6 year old daughter, and her reaction to this gift was the highlight of my Christmas. The pattern for the cat, by the way, is from this really cool book, Wee Wonderfuls by Hillary Lang.

Book Club.

A few months ago I joined in my first book club. It is made up of 5 women, including myself, and we meet about once a month at someone in the group's house. The first book we read was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. The second book was The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, and we are about to read Room by Emma Donoghue. While I really love reading, I don't see myself writing long reviews on this blog... so unless I come across something extraordinarily good or bad, I will just post the book. Oooh, and perhaps a star rating! Ok, here are the first two books, with (my) star rating above. (Out of 5 stars.)
3 stars

2.5 stars

p.s. I really don't have a handle on whether anyone reads my blog, but if you happen to have a book club suggestion, it is my turn to pick the next book, and I am looking for ideas...

Gingerbread Houses.

These gingerbread houses are old school... graham crackers on milk cartons with frosting out of a can. My girls made these at school, and as I type this, they are making a large one together at our dining room table.

Jack-o-lantern. 2010.

Niagara Falls.

Just thought I'd say hello and here is a photo from Niagara Falls... we were in Buffalo for my good friend's wedding and paid a visit to the Falls. Back to school has really slapped my schedule upside the head. Free time is definitely dwindling...

Ahoy!

My newly minted 6 year old had a backyard pirate/treasure hunt for her birthday this year. And holy cow was that ever a lot of work. These things tend to start out simple (“oh, we’ll just have a few girls in the back yard for a party...”) and then I just can’t stop myself from going a little nuts. The thing is this: I see something – invitations, games, party favors – and say to myself I can make that. Famous last words!