MommyCoddle

Searching for whales

Strange as it may sound, I've had whales on the brain for the last several months. I can't remember where it started, really.

I know I had this idea to start making whale shaped chalkboards, but that still hasn't panned out. Then I thought about carving whale shaped stamps, but that hasn't happened yet either. So when I stumbled across this book on making hand-print animal art and happened to turn to the whale page first, it pretty much seemed like a sign to me. Don't you think?

The girls and I made some prints on paper this winter but after going to a printing/textile workshop at the BMA this weekend, I was inspired to get the girls to do a little whale printing on some kitchen towels for me today. Sort of like poor man's screen printing.

The book is filled with some amazing instructions for making animals using all kinds of handprint techniques--only stamping certain fingers, just your palm, printing with your fist. Things I'd never even thought of.

But making the whale is pretty straightforward.

To start, stamp (or in this case we painted with a brush) your hand and fingers only. Not your thumb. (if you want more of a handprint look, don't let your children coat their entire hands and palm in paint. The girls coated their hands for these whales, which makes them much more filled in.)

After you have printed your hand on the paper, use your pointer finger to make the fin and tail.

Once the girls prints dried, I used a sharpie marker to outline the whale body and add an eye. Because Mary's was so dark, I used the end of the paintbrush to paint on the eye.

All in all, an extremely successful, easy project. And I have a little whale in my life made from my favorite little hands. The perfect combination.

when nothing is something

The other day, while I was making dinner, I handed Emma and Mary each a piece of thin wire. I told them to "sculpt" something while I worked on dinner. Emma immediately embraced the idea, wrapping it around knitting needles, fashioning birds and tree branches; while Mary struggled to make hers look like something.

"I can't make anything! I don't know what I'm doing!"

I told her that it doesn't have to be anything. It could be shapes, or a design or just bent in a bunch of different directions. And that sometimes nothing, is something.

I think it was a good little lesson for her--the middle child who always struggles to keep up with the things her older sister is doing. Who is frustrated when she can't write her letters like Emma, or draw a horse like Emma, or figure out a Math problem, like Emma.

With the notion that nothing can be something, she was freed up to create whatever she wanted, and seemed to let go of her limiting expectations.

I want my children to know that not every creative project has to look like something recognizable when it is "finished". That the process and the act of creating is just as enjoyable and important as the outcome.

A lot of ooohing and ahhhing over "nothing", from her Mama, also helped.

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I just started a new series of interviews over at Babycenter, where I'll be interviewing some creative mothers, asking about their craft, how they learned, how they incorporate their children into their creative projects. I'm not sure how many interviews I'll share, but I may be asking a few of you, to take part.

My first interview is Fabiola Perez-Sitko of Fig & Me.. Our virtual paths crossed just a few weeks ago, and now three of her beautiful dolls are hiding in my downstairs closet until Christmas morning. They are the girls' special present this year and their other gifts under the tree will be compliments to the dolls. We are keeping things simple and budget-friendly this year.

I also wanted to let you know that I am always looking for crafty tutorials or ideas to link to on the babycenter blog. I write a crafty feature each week and highlight lots of crafty finds around the web. If you are doing something that I need to know about, please shoot me an email or leave me a comment on this post. The babycenter blogs get A LOT of traffic, so it's a great way for you to let people know about your blog, as well, if you like.

Right now, I'm on the hunt for great holiday crafts, so please send me any and all links and I'll check them out! I have a crafty round-up post scheduled for the end of next week.

This Old House Rocks

If you live in an old house, chances are you are very familiar with the phenomenon that if you set a ball down to rest on the floor, it will easily roll to some little sweet spot across the room. Some resting place where the settling and shifting of time has caused the floors to sag and give.

We have many floors like that in this house. Character-giving flaws, right? In fact, there is a room upstairs, that when empty of all furniture, gives me a serious case of vertigo--the "fade to center" was that bad. Now that we've completely filled it with desks, beds, dressers, I feel much better. (Though I happily usher all our guests to that room.)

And when floors sag, chances are you have a few doors that don't cooperate either. If you want them open, they want to swing closed, if you want them closed, they'll swing open.

In a house with so much character as ours has, one piece of hardware is vital--the rock door stop.

And it just so happens that if you follow our mowed trail out the back fence and through the field you'll find yourself at the perfect little stream crossing. The perfect little spot for gathering nice, heavy rocks to hold back doors.

On this particular trip, I failed to remember that you can't rush stream play. We'd just returned home from running errands on a beautiful day and I was feeling stir crazy. If I was a completely responsible mother, I would have been sending all my children upstairs for stories and naps, but instead I decided to strap Elizabeth into the backpack, tell the girls to get their bathing suits on and grab a bucket. We were going rock collecting.

Of course I told them we were on a time crunch. A small piece of information that didn't sink in.

Over an hour later, after I'd given ten of the "I'm serious this time" warnings, none of which were serious:  "Okay,  I'm really leaving now and if you don't come with me I'll make you eat these rocks for supper..." I found myself standing knee-deep in the stream, shoulders aching from the 29-pound chunk of baby on my back, fingers stiff and cramped around the handle of a pink plastic feed bucket carrying 15 pounds of potential door stops,  I realized all my mental guidelines for this trip had suddenly washed down the stream with the current:

We're only going to take 20 minutes.
Don't take off your shoes in the water.
Just don't get your hair wet.
Don't sit down there, you'll get the seat of your suit covered in sand and mud.
You must carry your own rocks back to the house.
Don't get me wet.

What was I thinking? Seriously.

Days later after the rocks were given "baths" more times than my own children, we finally had a painting day. (Which quickly morphed into a face (and hand and bicep)-painting stand. )

All in all. A good outcome. I have a lovely tattoo of flowers on my bicep, which I'm thinking looks pretty tough. And my bathroom door no longer hits me on the way out.

32

Saturday was my 32nd birthday. I thought about giving you a list of "32 things on my 32nd birthday". But I did that two years ago. So instead, I used a little quiet time that my husband gave me on my birthday to finally finish my About Page and give this blog a little makeover for the final weeks of summer.

There are new books in the sidebar for me and the girls, and a link to take you directly to my Bushel and Peck posts on Momformation. And thank you to Cassi for featuring my "watercolor blobs" on The Crafty Crow last week. I feel honored to see that little badge in my sidebar because goodness knows I really wanted one! I took away the "good things" links, for now. I'll freshen them up a bit and bring them back shortly.

The About Page is inspired by a post where I asked you all to ask me anything. And boy did you ever! Obviously I couldn't (and didn't want to) answer all the questions, but I picked a few of my favorites and answered them as best I could. If my blog traffic takes a downward turn I'll know that I've either completely turned you off with my answers or I've told you everything and there's nothing new you could possibly learn from me at this point. Ha! Ha?

Sweet little Mary drew me this picture on my birthday. We sat together out in the yard, me reading a magazine, her drawing beside me. I'd say things to her like, "You forgot eyeballs!" Or "where are everyone's arms?" and she'd quickly add them in. Apparently this picture is all of us marching through the farmers' market.

It's funny when I look at this picture because I could probably pull an almost exact replica out of my stash of Emma's early work. And I have to confess, poor second child that she is, I haven't been saving much of Mary's work. I feel like I've had this pathetic (internal) "yeah, yeah, I've seen those kind of drawing before. I'll start saving them when they get better, kid!" kind of horrible attitude in my head.

But no more. I'm cherishing these sweet little drawings. Let the collection begin.

I have two things that I want to buy myself for my birthday. The first I got this morning--two sets of Moleskine journals--one set of thin notebook sized, the other a small pack of pocket-sized journals. In my old age, I find that I'm forgetting lots of things. I've always been a list-maker, a genetic trait I inherited from my mother. And I've been kind of ADD with my list notebook this year. I have about three going at the same time, I can usually only find one of them, which is the one I'm NOT looking for at the time. So I decided to consolidate into these moleskines, one-at-a-time.

The small journals are to stash in my back pocket. I've gotten in the habit of jotting down writing ideas or stories on scrap pieces of paper--a receipt, a piece of the girls' (probably Mary's) artwork that been tossed aside. And then, I lose them. Of course.

Or horror of horrors, send them down the library book return shoot. I had written a kind of personal, introspective note on a receipt, which I then tucked in the book I was reading and literally had to dive in after it up to my shoulder, as I saw the little tail of it slipping down the library book return. Phew.

So I think keeping my thoughts in my back pocket is a bit safer.

starting fresh: my quest for creative, simple kid spaces

Dan and I are doing what we lovingly refer to as "trickling" over to the new house. I doubt we'll ever have a big moving day. But someday soon, we'll find that we're miraculously spending the night over at the new house. Last weekend, the girls took naps over there--Elizabeth in a pack n' play in her room (pack n' play naps are never good), and the girls together in the big double bed in the guest room/office. The guest room is one of my favorite rooms in the house. It boasts the best light--with windows on both sides--and the best bed--a big soft pillow top that we "inherited". I told Dan that if he notices an absence of his wife by his side come morning, to look for me in the guest room.

Each day, a few more things disappear from the apartment--a desk, a rug, a bookcase. And every time I take something away, I am reminded of how refreshing and peaceful it is to keep things simple. To only have what you really need and really want.

When I took away some things yesterday, I did a little rearrange of the spaces that were left bare--throwing a few pillows in a corner with a basket of books, bringing out a basket of schleichs and a wooden barn...and immediately the spaces are filled with activity as each child found their special place to play.

It reminds me that children don't need much to stir their creativity.

So I've been doing a little research, going to a few of my favorite, books and catalogs for inspiration. And I'm making a list of what things I want the girls to have in our new house. Which toys and materials and spaces are most important to us--a dollhouse, a basket of blocks, a can of colored pencils and sketch books, a corner of throw pillows and books, an old suitcase of dress up clothes...

I'm taking this move as a chance to start fresh, to simplify, to clean out and to be more intentional about what things find their way into our new home.

I know we won't find that perfect balance right away. It is a work in progress. My research is often interrupted...ahem, Elizabeth!  And I believe you need to live in a space for awhile to see how you live in a space. I'll let you know how it goes, maybe I'll even share my list as I try to organize my way into simpler, more creative, peaceful surroundings.

I love starting fresh.

my friend friday

Ahhh, it's Friday. It's been one of those weeks that I'm ready to have over with.
One of those weeks where the smallness of our living space seems to be closing in on me. One of those weeks where your children play with everything but toys--plastic containers, your spices, toothbrushes, hand lotion and yarn.
One of those weeks where your children decide to climb into the overflowing closet and pull everything out of a tub of newborn baby clothes, looking for dresses for their dolls.
One of those weeks where while you're on your hands and knees cleaning up spilled orange juice that a 10 month old pulled down off the table onto herself and the floor, the cat jumps up onto the counter and knocks the whole tub of cat food on to the floor behind you.


So I've been a little distracted, dazed and frazzled. But it's Friday. And despite it all, I've managed to find little moments of peace and retreat.

Last night we had our first-ever paid babysitter. My cousin, who is worshiped by my children, came to watch the girls for a few hours. Unfortunately, Dan and I weren't using that babysitting time to go somewhere together--me a home schooling get together on lapbooking, Dan and my grandmother at a class at church. The lapbooking get together was like one big origami session (not that that's a bad thing)--and gave me lots of great ideas on how to bring some of our learning into more concrete, visual, finished products. (especially when a state review is looming in my future.)

Speaking of school, one of the bloggable bits that I never found time to write about this week was that Emma and I worked on our first Camp Creek art lesson--observational drawing. Emma was a bit of a stubborn student--didn't want to draw what I chose, wanted to erase, didn't want to include much detail. She's not one who likes to be given a lot of direct instruction. I'm always struggling to find the balance between getting things done with her that I feel we need to do, and letting her guide our learning. In the end, after I was up from the table and working on supper, she sat back down and did her own observational drawing of a little corner of our living room. I should know by now that almost everything is done on her time.


Well, I'm looking forward to a slow weekend with hints of a warm up. Today it's a snow/ice storm that lost a lot of steam over night. But we've still hunkered down for the day, lots of logs in the wood burner, knitting, getting out some clay, and soup for lunch.

Happy Weekend, everyone. More upbeat next week, I promise.

whoooo will be my valentine?

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.

tooth fairy revisited

The tooth fairy paid a visit to our house this weekend--for the second time. She leaves teeny-tiny hand-written notes wrapped up in thread with a dollar tucked inside. I had to upload this picture in secret because I was worried Emma would start asking questions. With all the scrutiny I got about Santa this year, I was worried she'd be suspicious of my picture of the tooth fairy note.

Apparently I made some rookie mistakes this year at Christmas, like wrapping a gift from santa in paper I had used on other gifts. We really push how santa and his elves make all the presents so she really questioned how Santa knew how to make a "perfect box for a Breyer Horse, just like in the store". And thank goodness she hasn't noticed the Old Navy tag on the slipper socks she's been wearing around the house. Rookie mistake. Rookie mistake!

Emma's tooth was pretty loose to begin with, but playing a game of wild animals and biting down on your sister's shirt only to have it ripped out of your mouth, can sometimes move things along a little more quickly. There was lots of blood, which everyone found fascinating and to which her sister replied, "Do you have another tooth you want me to take out, Emma?"  What a girl.

This weekend I had a losing my mind, too much clutter, cleaning spree. I always start at one end of the house and work my way around--a tip my mother taught me. I made it about half way around and ran out of time...and now today, I'm out of motivation. But at least part of the house is looking very fine. I think I'll just pretend the other three rooms are clean, too.

And did you notice a familiar name in your issue of Wondertime Magazine this month, besides miss twostraightlines' wonderful craft? My three or four sentences on blogging made it in the "Readers Panel" response to how you keep in touch with far-flung friends and family. I meant every word....

And for those that have been asking, I'm starting to put some brainpower into Mini-Swap III, so be watching for more details. Very soon, I hope! Grace, I may take you up on your offer...

Happy Monday!
artwork provided by emma. Her bird drawings have changed recently. I love them and had to post here for posterity.

rock, paper, scissors

over here, today....

I've also started up a new flickr pool. Please join in and share some inspiration.

I'd be lion if I said I wasn't tired...

My mother-in-law is in town and I'm tired. She's the queen of errand running and I'm running a bit ragged. I miss the simplicity and quiet of our mornings--tidying up, laundry, lessons at the kitchen table, being outside. But, this time with her is important too.
Emma probably gets the award for being more worn out than me. She's got that glassy-eyed look and her lids are a bit droopy and heavy when she looks at me. But she's my intense one and it's hard slowing her down, especially when someone she loves is in town.

Here are some random things from the last few days:

1. Thank you to Julie for the really nice blog mention on the babycenter site.  Find her here, too.
2. I love this project of courtney's and the sentiment behind it.
3. And just as stunningly beautiful, but in a completely different way, is this by kristin.
4. The baby sweater is off the needles and sitting in pieces in my bag, ready to be put together. Now I know why people like projects that knit up in one piece.
5. Elizabeth has finally gone full circle--literally--flipping front to back, back to front. She took her grand time on that last one.
6. It's been hot here today, but all of a sudden the curtains have started floating a bit. The breeze is shifting...
7. Thanks for your comments and ideas on my last post. But just to be safe, I think I'll leave it up for a few more days and then remove it from my blog. I worry with those kind of words and topics floating around on my blog, I might get some bad search engine traffic, so I've decided to take it down in a bit. But it left me with lots to think about.
8. This is on my bedside table. I really need another fix. About twenty more pages in my current book (that I'm only reading because there's nothing better) and I'm lost in berry-land again.

we wrote a song

Download little_mary.m4a

staying cool, staying sane

It's been so hot and humid here lately we've mostly had to hunker down(definition #1, NOT #3!) in the house. The heat hits you in the face when you walk out the door. Even hanging clothes on the line causes one to work up a good sweat. I hate being hot, heat sweating in odd places. And even though I love her to death, Elizabeth gives me lots of other places to sweat, too--a sweaty neck, sweaty crook of my arm, sweaty where her heads rests on my chest when she's in the pouch. Sometimes, I have to peel her off of me in order to lay her down in her crib.
Now, that I've spent a whole paragraph talking about sweat....
In order to stay sane and cool, we've been getting in to lots of art projects.

Emma has been figuring out how to draw birds, horses and turtles lately. And I've been working on the beginning stages of swallow mobile for Elizabeth's room.

And the staying sane bit of this post? Well, my sweet three year-old seems to be going through some difficult phases lately. I'm attributing them to "my newborn baby sister's not so exciting anymore, I'm now the middle child" feelings. She's become completely attached at the hip with me. I can't get her to go anywhere, do anything, without me. Even my best safety net--going down to the pool with my Dad's wife--doesn't work anymore. It worked last summer. It's all a bit exhausting.
And as of this week, she's become afraid of EVERYTHING when she's going to nap or bed. Everything. I really mean it. She hears every noise and sees every shadow--from me dropping something out in the living room, to a car driving by, to someone walking past her door, to the fan in her room making her sheets flutter. Usually, she can even identify the noise she hears, or why something looks scary to her--but admits she's still afraid.
And thunderstorms?? Forget about it. Yesterday afternoon she was so scared by a thunderstorm her teeth were chattering. When I walked into Elizabeth's room to pick her up out of her crib, Mary walked beside me with her hand stuffed in my pocket. Yup, this phase is exhausting, too.
But, I'm hanging on to that little word: "phase". Confident that it all will pass. Either that, or I'll pass into insanity. One or the other......

seat (sofa) work

Well, here we go again. The girls have caught the stomach bug again. I've always thought that once you got it, you were pretty much immune for awhile. But I've heard of so many people around here catching it, there must be a few different "strains" floating around. The throw-up part wasn't as bad this time, but they are just completely knocked out and weak.
Today, Emma has finally mustered up the energy to actually sit upright on the sofa and do a little drawing. This picture above isn't from today, but it's one of my current faves and is on my bulletin board above my desk.
But, this wonderful gift from Melissa has been a spring favorite today and the perfect thing for a little sofa time.

Melissa uses it with her children and she let me know about it after this post I wrote back in January. Melissa is lucky enough that her library carries the series, but I wasn't able to find it anywhere,' so she surprised me with a copy of a book and workbook of our very own. For now, the handwriting and reading parts are a little hard for Emma, but she loves the step-by-step drawing instructions. And as a pathetic draw-er myself, I love them, too. And I also love the emphasis on nature and the connections Emma makes with this book and the things we see around the farm.
For now, I haven't been giving Emma too much direction, just letting her flip through the book and enjoy whichever parts she picks. Like Amanda mentioned in this post, too much direction from me can oftentimes turn Emma off from a project. But today it is making the best sofa project for a tired little girl.

The nice part (if I had to find one) about the girls being sick is that it has given me a lot of quiet time to get some stuff done. I've finally gotten this site ready for the opening of the market in little over a week.  There's a lot of information to squeeze into that little blog, so visually it's a bit busy for my taste, but I still am deeply enjoying this project. I'm keeping my legs crossed that I won't be mid-delivery for the opening day of the market.
And the bumper is coming along well. I just need to add the ties. I'm really glad you all gave me the encouragement I needed to do it this way. I love having exactly the fabric I want and I'm saving a ton of money in the long run! So thank you again!!

Rock N' Roll

A little flashback art project this week with the girls. I remember painting rocks when we were younger, and even remember a few handpainted rock doorstops scattered around our house.
Last week the girls and I traipsed down to the stream for some large smooth rocks that would be good for a little painting. Many more rocks came home in our basket, but they were secretly weeded out...

We finally got around to scrubbing the rocks off and painting them early this week.

It's funny doing art projects with children. Oftentimes, I go into them with big, glorious plans for how the finished project should look. And what is usually being dreamed up in my mind is something far too complicated and controlled for a carefree two and four-year old. This project reminded me that it's just fun to create. to paint. to doodle. to have no plan. no required outcome. no step by step instructions. the process--from wading into a cold stream to pick the perfect rocks, to swirling colors of paint in a dish and realizing they just turn grey on the brush, to arranging the rocks in a row on the porch--is far more important than the finished product.

(love the big, crusty cut on her knee...she's been maintaing these all summer)

And you know what else is important?

Putting on a pair of pink stripey socks, your sister's too big riding boots, and clicking around the house all morning long.

I'm hyper-ventilating over this one

I just got back from spending the weekend at my mom's. As part of my mother's continuing saga of cleaning out the attic, she found her collection of records which includes some amazing children's records. Now that there is the pitterpatter of grandchildren's feet around the house, they've been getting a second playing on the record player in the upstairs bedroom. Everyone loves them and listening to them this weekend was a trip down memory lane for me. One of our favorites was "Rusty In Orchestraville"

and hoping to take this classic story home to share with my girls, too, I looked for it online in CD form.
My searches led me to an amazing find. A project called kiddie records weekly.

The project celebrates "the golden age of children's records" from the mid-forties to early fifties. And in an effort to avoid their extinction and have them enjoyed once again by online listeners, they have brought them back in the form of downloadable mp3s. Each week in 2005, and continuing in 2006 they offer a new children's record for download. You can download and burn the complete record as well as download all cover and dust jacket images.

It really is an amazing gift. I've already been downloading like crazy and the girls enjoyed Rusty in Orchestraville and some Uncle Remus on the ride home.

My mother made the comment that these stories are enveloped in rich, beautiful classical music. And the endearing storytelling is unmatched in our day. I know so many of you will love these.
Enjoy and have fun.

2005 library here
2006 library here (including previews of what else will be revealed the rest of this year.)

              

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