little birds

decisions, decisions

I was able to my kids to commit to a theme for their Halloween costumes yesterday, and I made some sketches under their directives. They have both always been extremely opinionated about their costumes. I can't remember a time when they didn't have a strong say as to how they would dress up, even as babies and toddlers. As we sat there sketching out every last detail, reference books at hand, Jack commented that they were like little future art-directors. This is what happens when you have designers as parents, I guess (and we couldn't be more proud).

I asked them to commit to a design as last year there was a great deal of indecision, and I had to make the costumes at the last minute. Mia ended up deciding on a flower last year. The idea came from Martha Stewart Kids (see here), and she insisted that I make it exactly like the picture. I think she said, "Mom, I don't want you to use any of your ideas." Yeah.

Miles wanted to be a ghost, not a fancy new-age gauzy ghost, an old-school ghost. He drew me a picture, and I fashioned it out of white felt and black tulle. This is my most favorite costume ever. Miles is an extremely shy child, and he loved the anonymity of his costume. It was awesome.

This year it's Alice in Wonderland and a Viking. Mia had been planning on being a "little Dutch girl" for a while, but her current obsession with Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass won out (she has read these books over and over and can quote entire passages). I think Miles just wanted a costume that involved a sword and a belt; Viking it is. Boo!

service station

Keeping busy on another really hot day. This idea is from Martha Stewart Kids (Spring/Winter 2003). I don't even want to talk about how much I miss that magazine. We decided to make ours a bio-diesel station.

A trip to the dollar store for some baby bottle brushes, toothpicks, and matchboxes, along with a quick rummage through the recycling bin and we were good to go with this project. Now they're in the other room playing with it intently; we should get some mileage (har) out of this project.

Our night away at a hotel was a blast. Jack and I don't stay in hotels very often, so we had a lot of fun just walking around in our waffle-weave robes and slippers, feeling like Bill Murray in Lost in Translation. And it was cool, sleep-under-a-down-comforter cool. A welcome escape.

party day

One happy (gulp) six-year-old.

party help kudasai (please)

Mia is the kind of kid that can tell you about every party theme ever published in Martha Stewart Kids. Throughout the year she pores over back issues, reading the "guides" so she can tell me what web sites to visit to find the perfect parasols or noise makers or sparkly crowns. Yes, and she is not yet six years old. She also has the misfortune of having a birthday smack dab in the middle of the holiday rush, so I do try to live up to her expectations and make it a special occasion, I do.

This year, Mia eschewed Martha and came up with her own theme: a sushi/Japanese party. She has requested sushi and other Japanese food (edamame, rice crackers, miso soup), a table on the floor (still thinking how to pull that one off), and goodie bags with "cute Japanese stuff". A trip to our local Japanese superstore provided us with most of the necessities (including the cute stickers we used to make the invitations). There will be cupcakes in the party colors of pink and red with parasols on top. For decorations we will have paper lanterns and giant origami animals made from wrapping paper.

Here's where I need help: anyone know of good craft or party game ideas that fit our theme? There will be as many as ten four to six-year-old girls (oh, and Miles). We could do origami, but I'm looking for something that a child can do with just a little adult help. Lanterns? Kites? Help?

travel size

Thank you for all your great comments about Pinkie. What I didn't say was that I also had a security blanket as a child (my "geetz"), so I, too, am pretty moved by the evolution of Pinkie and have a great deal of empathy for Mia. Pinkie had her surgery and has a new pink binding. The scraps have been packed away "just in case". Mia was quickly sold on the portability of the new wee Pinkie.

I kind of lost my stocking-making groove while I was in California, but I'm plugging away. I need to make four today to make my deadline tomorrow and hang them - stay tuned.

loved to pieces

When Mia was about five months old, my sister made her a quilted flannel coverlet, embroidered with an "M" on one side and "Mia" on the other. That's Mia doing her floor routine on top of it when she received it. I started wrapping Mia in it as I nursed her to sleep every night, and it's presence soon became mandatory for sleep and comfort. When she began talking, Mia called her blanket "Pinkie". In the last five years Mia has never gone to bed without Pinkie. Pinkie has been spilled on, barfed on, peed on, and, consequently washed hundreds and hundreds of times. Pinkie has traveled back and forth across the country, riding through the airport x-ray in one of those plastic tubs; we don't dare check Pinkie with the baggage. Although I discourage it, Pinkie has been to the park, the library, the market, and the sushi bar. Pinkie has seen better days.

Pinkie is in shreds. Her batting is exposed. Her binding is brown with grime. She has been loved to pieces. Today I realized that Pinkie may not survive one more trip through the wash. I had a talk with Mia about what to do with Pinkie. There were tears. I asked what was so special about Pinkie, and here it what she said:

1. She is softer than anything.
2. She smells good. (I beg to differ, but it's not my blanket)
3. I have always had Pinkie.
4. Aunt Lisa made her for me because she loves me so much.
5. I can find her in the dark because I know what she feels like. Nothing feels like Pinkie.

While Mia gasped in horror, I cut out the one salvageable square of Pinkie. Tonight Mia is sleeping with the scraps, and I will rebind the newer, smaller Pinkie. The scraps will go in the trash tomorrow, but Pinkie lives on (forever, I hope).

robo-cake

Miles got his robot cake. Inspiration came from a drawing Mia made for him. Since nobody in our family really likes regular cake and we're about to leave town, we made it from brownies. The decoration was a collaborative family effort with much snacking on candy.

Happy birthday Milo. You are my original softie. I love you. So much.

Tomorrow we're packing up for the 12-hour road trip to my mom's in California. Thank goodness for books on tape.   

10 ways to bring creativity into your every day life

1. Sing in public.

2. Make up your own words. Call a fortune cookie a "pork chop cookie". Refer to origami animals as "oregonian animals".

3. Wear funny hats.

4. Believe anything is possible.

5. Make a big mess.

6. Recycle.

7. Draw on napkins in restaurants, on bill envelopes, on the walls, on the screen door, on your body, on anything you can get your hands on.

8. Be inspired.

9. Anthropomorphize everything. Make the salt and pepper shakers talk to each other.

10. Build your dream home.                         
         

well, hello there!

Friday already! It has been a welcome blogging break for me, but I have enjoyed reading about everyone else's adventures (I haven't quite weaned myself off the computer yet). This week's recap:

• Iron & Wine and Calexico were fantastic! Surprise guests: M. Ward (I almost peed my pants) and James Mercer from the Shins. I felt a little guilty when we came home at 1 am and Miles was reading a book in the living room with the babysitter (thank you Michael!!), but I got over it. Such a great show.
• I didn't make all my projects from my list, but I did make myself the fall handbag.
• Halloween costumes are in the works. It took most of the week to just get M&M to make a final decision on their costumes. Miles wants to be a ghost, because, "that's a REAL Halloween costume." He didn't want anything to do with my interpretations of a ghost. He wants just a straight-up, old-school ghost costume. We're not doing a sheet with holes in it for eyes, but we're not far off from that. Mia would like to be a flower exactly like the ones in the Martha Stewart Kids magazine. Easy. I might even finish their costumes ahead of time which would be a big first.
• Highlight of the week: I met Maria from port2port and her husband. They were so warm and engaging and fun that I just wanted to pack them up, take them home and prop them up on my couch so I'd have them available to talk to all the time. Maria brought me these beautiful cards from her letterpress:   
• We spent a great afternoon at the pumpkin patch despite the fact there was a traffic jam getting there and back and sort of slim pickings out in the patch (note to self: go earlier next year). We did enjoy corn on the cob, caramel apples, farm animals, hay rides, piggy-back rides and shopping cart rides:
  

                 
               

• I bought some brussels sprouts on the stalk at the pumpkin patch, but when I cooked them, they were just enh. This week I'm salivating over roasted cauliflower.
• Still haven't found that perfect copy of The Borrowers. Mia is on a Frances kick this week anyway (she's trying to learn how to make her food come out even).

And my back-tack partner received her package! I was paired with Diana of Clementine's Shoes. I was totally thrilled, but intimidated as Diana makes the most beautiful bags. I really had a great time putting a kit together for her to learn needle and wet felting techniques.

I made her a tote bag (of my own design, but greatly influenced by ones I've seen in Japanese craft books), a lined pouch (sorry, no pattern either) for holding wool roving, and a pincushion in wool felt for felting needles. The leaf fabric I used came from a quilt shop in Healdsburg, CA and I do not know the manufacturer (my mom said it was Japanese). I paired it with some Kaffe Fassett stripe, and a scrap of polka-dots I received from my sister. The pouch has an upholstery-weight linen on the bottom. I lined everything in a solid apricot color. I also included a foam pad for needle felting, a variety of wool roving, felting needles, a wooden bowl that she can turn into a felted pincushion, the book Simply Felt, and some other felting info. and instructions. Diana just got engaged, so I added a copy of Martha Stewart Weddings.

So glad I decided to participate in this round of back-tack! I am excited to receive my package as well. My partner has outed herself to me, and I know she's going to come up with something that will knock my socks off!

On tap this week: Carving pumpkins, trick-or-treating, a day trip to Seattle to pick up my sister's artwork from Schmancy, start thinking about holiday and birthday gifts. I am not one to plan ahead. I make everything at the last minute (although I am giving myself props for getting that back-tack package to Australia on time). When I see people posting about Christmas projects and gifts, I'm amazed. I'm just getting into the Halloween mindset. We have two kids birthdays to celebrate and are traveling out of town for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I better get cracking.

Have a great week!

you say goodbye and i say hello

Let me just say, welcome little Miss Adelaide!!

I will take my own Miss Mia to her first day of kindergarten this morning. I am happy that she will attend, and our family will have the opportunity to support, a school that provides a model for alternative education within the public school system. I am relieved, however, that she still gets to spend the majority of her day with our family. With Miles in preschool, I will have a few kid-free hours every weekday. No more excuses, time to get organized!

Mia is an incredibly charismatic and joyful individual. She has an amazing sense of self and identity. She reads novels (or attempts to), draws prolifically and questions everything. She still prefers pink tutus, whines for my attention and sucks her thumb. Those of you who know her will understand what I mean when I say she glows. She just glows. I trust her to go into the world and shine.