Just a regular day, sipping tea at the tasting bar.
A little too much tea for him…
Tag Archives: kids
Art on the Go
Ah, my first project inspired by “The Creative Family” by Amanda Blake Soule (www.soulemama.com): An art-on-the-go bag complete with felt pencil case/roll and other fun things that sort of follow the book, but I bought what was in our budget. I thought it would make a good gift. Abby’s classmate invited her to his birthday party, and not that I don’t know much about toys for 7-year-old boys, but I had a feeling he’d like this little bag of goodies and he probably already has a bunch of action figures, cars, etc.
So, I brought out the sewing machine and had some red canvas, cording, felt and ribbon on hand (Abby picked out the canvas color). For the drawstring bag, I didn’t really measure out the canvas, I just eyeballed it with the goodies and hoped everything would fit. That probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but it worked out. Instead of a flat drawstring bag, I thought I’d give it a gusseted corner (I think that’s what it’s called, right?), too. The felt pencil case was straight out of Amanda’s book.
Now that my “test” project is done (I know, “testing” on a gift is not my usual thing), the next drawstring bags I make will be for Abby and Ollie… might do the “shoebag” backpack that a lot of kids use. Sort of looks like a nylon backpack with the string going through the grommets on the bottom of the bag. Perhaps a tutorial will be in the works soon.
Conversations with My Kids
Let’s start with the little one. Our two year old (two and a HALF, as I’m often corrected), Oliver, understands just about everything we say, but he’s a (little) man of little word. Until recently. Don’t get me wrong, there’s mom, mommy, dad, sister (pronounced by Ollie as “tsi-tser”, good Chinese “ts” pronunciation)… mine and “I DO IT!!”. We’ve just been having some interesting conversations. He’s been saying things like, “Nice day, Mom.” and “Nice eat (lunch at a restaurant).” Then there’s the occasional, “Why you push me, Sister?!”
At the grocery store, Ollie saw a package of pancake mix.
“MOM! Pan…cakes! Pancakes, mom make!”
“Really? Cool! You like Mommy’s pancakes?”
“Yah… bes… eff-er! (grin)”
“Did you say, “Best ever,” Ollie?”
“YAH! Bes-t ev-er.”
Wow. It seems he’s referring to food with “best ever”, like the other night it was the “best ever” chocolate milk.
With our seven (going-on-fourteen) year old, we’re already having those conversations after school that go like this:
“How was your day?”
“Fine.”
“What did you do at school, anything fun or different?”
“No. Same stuff.”
Ugh. I didn’t think it would be like this so soon, but we do have our good conversations from time to time. Abby really likes mystery books, spy-themed short novels, and she likes superheroes… or people with special powers. So, she asked me what sort of super power would I like to have, if I could have one. I said, “Oh, man, that’s tough. There’s so many to choose from.” She said, “Mom, if I could have a secret power, I would clean up the house by snapping my fingers so you don’t have to do everything and you can play with me.” Aww…
That was such a bittersweet answer. I know a toddler does monopolize a mom’s time, but as patient as she is… an “Abby” day is long overdue.
Mother’s Day 2009
Breakfast in bed has become tradition in our house. No, I did not eat all that bacon. We all ate in bed, so, yes, the sheets were taken off immediately after breakfast.
Toast, bacon, an ambrosia-ish salad, raspberry jam, Kerrygold butter (so good), a blob of Delice de Bourgogne cheese (even more delicious), Burnside Estate (black tea) from TeaLula and Ollie-friendly blueberry granola. Eastman outdid himself this time.
Cajun-seasoned scrambled eggs were hiding under the plate o’ bacon.
So excited to start reading these books!! But, best of all, Abby made a most beautiful stained “glass” picture of a flower and did a survey on Mom.
Teacher Appreciation Gift idea
Last week was National Teacher Appreciation Week. I’m one of the room parents, so I went out and bought a simple flowering plant (kids are studying plants next week) and printed up this card.
The little faces were stamped with my pinky and ring finger. Used washable markers to color them up. My stamp pads are stored right now since I haven’t been stamping too much lately, and I didn’t feel like dragging them out.
Just a cute, simple, heartfelt card. You can find poems all over the web, but this one was from here.
Hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day!
Completed Baby Burp Cloths
Here are the finished burp cloths that I wrote about late last month. There’s a great tutorial here at A Chelsea Morning.
More burp cloths and baby blankets to make… friends have had or are having babies this Spring. But first, I want to finish that wine cork bulletin board!
