Vanilla Icing

Peter's Creek

i know i've done some photos from peter's creek before but this time i brought the dogs with maia and i PLUS the real camera and not just my cell phone camera.  the weather was a little sketchy; the sun kept hiding behind the clouds but the weather was warm and we all appreciated spending the morning outside.

i was trying to get a picture of maia riding her bike off into the distance but she turned back and saw me with the camera.  she adores the camera and she hopped off her bike to pose for the picture.

a large rock that fell off the hillside--nearly onto the trail!--about two years ago is a favorite part of this trail for maia.  she LOVES to climb up on it, pretend she is a princess and survey her kingdom.  i think her 'crown' is perfect for a 5 year old princess.

bob and riley were very eager and pulling so hard on the leashes as we walked.  i know you are supposed to have your dogs trained so they walk calmly but that is the one area of their training that i've had no success with.  at least not when we are going on a walk that there is a creek for them to play in!  here riley waits...very impatiently for me to finish taking pictures of maia.

the last time we took bob somewhere he could swim he was a reluctant swimmer.  a quick jump in up to his belly and he was finished.  i was very surprised to see that today he was the first one in the water and was waiting for riley.

riley is a border collie mix (we think with lab) and he spends most of his time at any creek or river rescuing sticks and then herding them safely on the shore.  bob only helped with the first rescue then bailed.

maia was worried that they would never come out of the water so we could go back home and did most of the work coaxing them out.

Impatience

            

 

why can't it be a virtue?  =(

i started a princess placemat the other day and then this morning discovered that i did NOT have batting..but i had stuffing.  tons of it.  being too impatient to finish the project i decided to struggle with using stuffing as my batting and quilt it in diamonds. 

i wasn't very successful...as it isn't quite as perfect as i'd like it to be.  in fact it's rather imperfect and i took the picture at an angle to help (hopefully) hide some of the flaws.  the different fabrics i used were really pretty too with threads of glitter throughout--which of course would require me taking a much closer picture so it could be seen.  not gonna happen.  too many flaws.  =(

i must learn not to be so impatient.

            

       

6 Days Later

            

 

the grass is really coming up!! finally!  it's raining here, so forgive the dreary look in the picture:

yesterday maia and i had lunch at the spaghetti warehouse with mindy.  she was mildly disappointed we didn't get seated in the train car but otherwise we had a nice lunch.  the kids and i went to the playground after school where tristyn and maia worked on their clubhouse some more (a hillside just right for climbing and setting up branches as gates). tristyn's little friend tyler and his brother came to the playground as well and when tyler came in the clubhouse he yelled 'tristyn! this clubhouse is TIGHT!'   hahahahaha...it's funny to hear a 7 year old child use words like that.

we had chinese take out for dinner last night and maia ate TWO pieces of general tso's chicken.  TWO pieces.  and earlier in the week she actually ate a sloppy joe.  that's two things in less than a week that she has tried and actually liked.  this may be a sign that my super picky eater may be in the process of downgrading to only a picky eater.  i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

this morning maia and i seem to be in the same funk (though for different reasons).   me, because i went to bed too late last night and maia because it's 'really early.  really really early mummy, maybe it's not even morning yet!'  that is her comment on the gloomy weather.  she's lying on the floor bundled up in a big furry blanket like it's still winter watching a cartoon surrounded by an army of care bears.

            

       

A New Dress

            

 

is a must have for lunch out with the girls... =)

yesterday,missy brought me some sundress fabric.  it's the type that is pre-scrunched (is that even a word, lol?) at the top for the bodice portion.  it's a relatively simple way to make a sundress.  measure off how much is needed, sew up a seam, make and sew on straps, then hem it up.  i added a little orange lacy embellishment because it just needed something else.

the true test...can it survive a day of a 5 year old wearing it?   i think so! =)

            

       

Long, long weekend

            

 

and i'm glad it's over.  REALLY glad.  enough said.  =S

on a brighter note, i got this really great picture from saturday:

            

       

Still Learning

oday i have a lazy day planned.  i'm going to do a token load or two of laundry, maybe make a swipe or two of the dustcloth and spend the rest of the day trying to relax.

oh yeah, and i guess i'll tackle the kids' rooms sometime this afternoon. =s

on the baking front: the last few days saw finnish spice cookies, peanut butter chocolate brownies and strawberry shortcake.  the pics i attempted to take of them were awful as the cookies looked washed out, the brownies like more poo, and the shortcake--well the shortcake.  the shortcake... i dropped the cake and it broke into several large pieces so when i constructed the layers it was kind of like piecing a puzzle.  suffice to say, when it was done it wasn't very pretty, though i think it tastes pretty good.

crafty: i'm still fooling around with hand embroidery.  the first picture is a kitty with a slighty wonky eye (courtesy of my REAL kitty, who thought it funny to spear this thread kitty with a claw and shake it thoroughly before letting it drop to the floor) that i must fix.  the second is the first in a set of 4 cloth napkins.

maybe in a few more pieces i'll be ready to attempt some more difficult types of stitches.

Our Day So Far

i woke up WAY too early.  like 6:15 because bob had to go out.  we are working on gettting him to not need to be crated at night (because the crate is ugly and i don't want it in my bedroom forever).  once i woke up a little and got some coffee in my system, i admired the grass which is finally despite the various weather issues is finally coming up well:

maia got a her first sewing box yesterday (it's the round one) and she spent the morning sorting through her various items and trying to filch some from mine before we went to the grocery store:

later, after missy and catharine joined us for lunch at home, we went with catharine to help her pick out some new glasses.  i think maia did more trying on with me taking pictures than we actually helped:

we stopped at the katerbean in regent square where i had a cup of tea--yes, i said tea! before getting dropped off at home.  maia and i made a welcome sign out of chalk before we went to get tristyn:

and now we are are getting ready to take tristyn to piano (i type this as i wait for tristyn to locate his shoes even though he just took them off 30 mins ago!)

Rainbow Paper

            

 

The other day, on another person's blog (who found it from another blog, and so on and so on. i'm sorry if i can't give credit to the proper person--i really can't remember whose blog i found it on, but it truly is a fantastic idea.  i've just discovered so many amazing blogs so please forgive me) i saw instructions on how to make 'scratchy rainbow paper.'  it's not unlike the black paper  that one uses a special marker to reveal the colors underneath.  the only thing different is one 'scratches' a picture rather than using a marker with either a toothpick, coin, fingernail, etc.

here's how we did it:

first we colored with crayons onto thick white paper, being careful not to leave any white spaces with the exception of a border (so kids don't scribble on the table).  the paper should be almost waxy:

it took a long time for everyone to finish because you should try to use as many colors as possible:

for the next step we had to move into the kitchen because it was going to get messy:  we mixed two tablespoons of black tempera paint with one drop of dish soap:

then using a paintbrush cover completely--but not too thick!-- the entire colored surface:

after all the colored parts are colored it will take about an hour or so to dry. it's important to make sure it's REALLY DRY:

Finally, take your implement of choice (toothpick, back of spoon, fingernail, chopstick, etc) and 'draw' your picture:

other colors of paint could be used, but i think the most striking results come from using the black paint =D

            

       

Pumpkin Pie in the Spring

            

 

dessert yesterday was pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream.  i've really done a good job 'spreading' out the pureed pumpkin i made in the fall so that i won't run out before fall comes again and pie pumpkins are available again.  =D  which is a very good thing...because pumpkin pie is a favorite around here!

            

       

Kids Being Crafty

            

 

i'm always posting my stuff..so i figured i'd add the kids as well (those of you that also have kids should do this too! we can get ideas for the kids as well as letting the kids see their stuff on the computer.  i know mine at least are very proud of seeing their creations online)

after my bought of sewing stuffed kitties, maia decided to create something entirely on her own.  it's a mommy bear, complete with every body part that's important (2 ears, 1 head, 1 body, 2 'hands', and 2 'feet and a pocket with a baby)  she's only five..and i'm rather impressed

she was trying to simultaneously blow a bubble gum bubble for the pic, so that's why the pursed lips

tristyn saw her creation and being of the sort that prefers quick gratification, constructed a sneaky snake.  once again the 'design' was entirely his own =)

several hours went into the bear over the course of a few days and about 2 hours went into the snake over 2 days.  i must say i was rather surprised the one day to wake up at 7 am to find tristyn downstairs working on his snake.  only one minor mishap was when the dogs chewed one of its eyes off!  luckily we found one last button and tristyn re-sewed that.

this morning, when trying to get back in my good graces maia made me some flowers: