MommyCoddle

I only shed a few tears...

as I watched Emma drown that beautiful bowl of rocks in bright green crayola paint. She wasn't going to be put off any longer. But as Beth said, "it's just an excuse for another rock walk."
And speaking of walks, the girls and I took a little walk around the farm again yesterday.

It's funny because we have a woodburning stove in our house and when it's really cranking, I often forget that it's the middle of winter. So, when I looked out the window yesterday and saw the blue skies and sunshine, I felt the need to get out into what I thought looked like a pretty mild day.
The wind that met me at the door quickly knocked the sense back into me, and we all went back inside for hats and mittens. (But I still hung my laundry on the clothes line, even though my fingers were purple by the end of it!)
But down in the garden, out of the wind, it really was kind of nice. And as always, we gathered a little bit of everything and anything.

Can you believe Emma is picking daffodils? This has been a crazy winter.
And sweet Mary filled her jar with baby pine cones, just for me....

But these were my favorite by far. We found these little nut shells all over the ground in the orchard. They were like little miniature bowls. I love them and Emma wants to feed her horses out of them. I also wouldn't mind making them into those little squirrel ornaments that used to hang on our Christmas tree--the little pompom squirrel tucked under a blanket, nestled inside a nut shell. My sister will remember, right Mary??!!

And today I started a totally new-to-me project. I'm dying to show you a few pictures, but I think I'd better finish at least one before I get too excited. I'm not sure I can pull it off--but just to let you know, the project involved a jigsaw and sandpaper.....I'll keep you posted.

Inspiration Everywhere

Emma took a walk along the Susquehanna River this weekend and came home with pockets full of rocks. But this little shell was hiding in there too, when she unloaded her stash on to the living room floor for me this morning. Each rock had a unique characteristic that attracted her to it: chocolate brown, looks like an egg, shaped like a "pickle", flat and smooth, shaped like a little bowl....Of course, now she wants to paint on these naturally beautiful little rocks, but we'll see. I've got her into water colors right now, hoping to fill that "painting need" for one more day and put off painting this little collection.  But if she's so inspired, what can you do, really?

My mini-boden catalog came in the mail yesterday. I LOVE this catalog. I get so many ideas from it. I have a little folder on my desktop that I dump tee applique ideas into. These fish and teacups are definitely going into that file.

I love these pleated skirts and they remind that I really need to brush up on my sewing skills. I feel like what I really need to do is just start from the beginning--you know, take it from the top! I want a stronger foundation to my sewing skills.
I remember when I was younger, in my 4-H days, I used to go to Mrs. Diefenderfer's house every Saturday morning for sewing lessons. We were making a drop-waist jumper out of light blue and white striped fabric with big pockets on the sides. I'm sure the stripes were going the wrong way, but I do remember turning them the opposite direction for the pockets. So fancy, I know. You can say it.

Unfortunately, I didn't retain much from those lessons except that I remember her glasses made her eyes look really huge, and my jumper got a second place ribbon at the fair.

These tees are enough to make me want to start woodblock printing. Although I'm feeling spread a little thin these days in the craft/blogging for "clients" department. Maybe we could duplicate with potato-printing at the kitchen table? No extra purchases or skill sets required.

Basically, I want all of these things in my size. One for the girls, one for me, please?
Flipping through the catalog last night reminded me of another project that's been on the backburner. I've been wanting to do my pillowcase dresses again. But this time I want to do a short blouse version that the girls could wear over a long sleeve tee.
Alright, time to push back from the laptop and go do some damage control--Emma has art supplies strewn all over the floor and Mary is attempting to wash dishes at the kitchen sink. "I need a new shirt!" Could be getting messy, I presume.

she's seen better days, as have I

We had a small reunion this morning with Madeline. Apparently, she's been "sleeping" in the field behind or house since, oh, maybe mid-Summer? She's been sorely missed by miss Mary, so the reunion was sweet. Unfortunately, what I thought was dirt actually looks like mold growing under her "skin". I'm not sure we'll be able to get her back to her formerly cute, pink cheeks. She's whipping around in the washing machine right now. I tried hand-washing, but nothing was working...I figure how much more damage can the washing machine do? I'm not sure she'll ever make it through the spin cycle though because Mary has pulled a chair up to the washer and keeps lifting the lid to check on her...

My morning began with a quick stop at the gas station before heading to IKEA with the girls for some long-overdue Christmas returns. As I was coming around the corner of the building, another girl came flying around the corner towards me. I had to swerve a bit to miss her which caused me to slam my right front tire into a cement curb. When I stopped to get gas, I checked the tire, which is now sporting a 50-cent piece sized bulge. Perfect. A consult from my dad and then the tire store shows that I now need a new tire. ugh.

I was on the cell phone with Dan, driving to the tire store, practically in tears over the frustration of this kind of annoying spending, my children were fighting and screaming in the back seat over a bag of pretzels, almost coming to blows. It was one of those pull-your-hair-out mother moments.

So anyway, plans were changed. No IKEA until the tire gets fixed. I don't think I'll risk a blowout on the highway with my two girls in the back and little babe in my belly. I'm sure I'm being overly cautious, but it's not worth the 99 cent kid lunches in IKEA's relaxing cafe.

Oh, and these two are still at it, pretending to give each other shots. I overheard the one pretending to be "Molly" say, "Get it out of me!". C'mon. Do I really say that??!! I can't believe it. Maybe during labor, but not during shots. Where do they come up with this stuff?

just when I thought there were no pictures to share

she gives me some material:

I got nothin'

Last week, I think I could have blogged twice a day, but this week, despite being quite "busy"  it seems there's not much to say or share. Funny how that is.
I've been working my little heart out on 'my affair' and preparing for a meeting with the treasurer and  board president of the farmer's market. So, I think that blog project will finally come together, too. They want a detailed price breakdown, which I'm horrible at doing. First of all, I have no idea what things cost, what my time is worth and I always get a little twinge of guilt asking for money even if I'm offering my 'services'. But from their perspective they need to be sure they can afford this and need to prepare a budget for a new blog project.
The pottery 'workshop' program is also open again after a long holiday break. The first order of business for me is a slew of test tiles that allow me to see what all the different glazes will look like on my new claybodies.
Yet during the girls' naptime, when I usually slide out my board and chunks of clay, I find that I've actually just slid between the sheets with my book and slowly begun an "examination of the inside of my eyelids". (to quote my mother.) Perhaps, I'm coming face to face with my third trimester. Or perhaps my husband and I need to stop staying up late to watch this(on my computer--still no TV) after the girls go to bed, or engaging in heated games of backgammon?

when life gives you...

trace amounts of snow,

make snow angels.

It's barely worth mentioning, but we got our first "snow" yesterday afternoon. Emma was waiting for it, and watching for it and reading about it. And apparently this was enough to warrant a few angels. It definitely warranted lots of skipping, footprint-making, skidding shoes and song. Yes, song. I don't think I ever heard her playing quietly out there--some tune was always passing her lips.

The girls and I slipped out of town Friday morning to visit my mom--a two-hour trip west. Dan stayed home because of work, so Emma left this note for him on the fridge and stickers on his pillow. (which oddly ended up stuck to his forehead and hair this morning when we woke up.)

I know this sign doesn't require translation for many of you out there--fellow mothers of backward-writing children.  But for everyone else: "feed my fish. bye. I love you." If I wasn't the one spelling all the words out for her, I might need a little translation myself. I love the way she just puts the words and letters on the page wherever there's room. I'll never get tired of that.

The trip home was nice. Quick, but nice. I loaded up with a bunch of these for the roadtrip. They saved me.
Emma finally connected with my mom this trip to get her birthday roller skates. So far she has graduated from a carpet skater to a carpet-hardwood floor skater. Not sure when she'll make the transition to driveway. I might have to wrap her in bubbble wrap first before I let her head out the door.

We were gone for under 24 hours and yet I still feel like I'm recovering. I always feel the need to "reclaim" my house when I come back from a trip--laundry, clutter, vaccuuming. Who in the world gets my carpets so dirty while I'm away?

And thank you, thank you for your outpouring of encouragement and kind words about the two dolls. You guys are great. I was overwhelmed by your responses. You get a girl feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, you know?

Two Dolls::One Day

First of all, I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm no Hillary or Amy or Stephanie. But a mother sometimes has to stretch her sewing muscles, jump in there and make something--good, bad or ugly--because her children think she can do anything. And really, they think I can make anything. If we're out shopping and I turn them down on something they want (which is usually the case), then it's, "alright, you can just make it for me."
Last night after baths, of their own accord, they sat down in the rocking chair in front of the fire--one with my Children's Rooms: Stockholm and the other with a DIY Japanese craft book full of three dimensional bears with moving parts. It was like Christmas shopping for them. "Now, I want you to make this. And this. And THIS!!"
So the request for ages has been a doll. I've been doing my best to tame the begging beast, but yesterday, I just couldn't turn them down anymore. I rolled up my sleeves, made a little sketch, got out the brown grocery bag for pattern-making, and slid out the sewing machine. Let me just say, again, I have no idea what I'm doing.

But here they are--good, bad, probably ugly.  They are simple and plain, my convenient favorite. They each chose a button barrette, and this morning over breakfast I was stitching up last a last minute request: aprons. And Emma's wears a scarf to conceal an extremely long neck. They don't have mouths, which Emma says means they can't talk, but I was so stumped by faces. I didn't want to ruin them anymore by trying to add a mouth. Maybe later. But, they are dolls nonetheless, made from the heart and already well-loved.

Emma has more than made up for her butter comments. This morning when we were snuggling in bed together she said, "I love this doll so much. I couldn't even sleep last night. I had to keep opening my eyes to look at her."
Good. Bad. Or ugly. I don't think they really care.

*******
oh, and Emma noticed at lunch yesterday that my grilled cheese looked mysteriously like a doll's head.

I'm No "Ma" Ingalls

Well, I'm definitely no "ma" Ingalls, but yesterday the girls and I gave butter-making a go. I cannot imagine the time it would have taken to do this by hand. We were lucky enough to have the help of my grandmother's electric butter churn. There used to be a jersey cow on the farm that was milked, and my grandmother said she would make butter every day. But those days are past. And Sunday she and I pulled the very dirty, dusty electric butter churn off the top of the refrigerator so the girls could give it a try.
The girls were very enthralled by it all, but once we didn't get instant results they grew a little weary. It turns into this beautiful whipping cream and you think you're really close, but then it goes back down into a liquid stage. I was ready to give up and assume I had done something wrong, when little bits of butter began forming in the liquid.
So, in classic "Ma" style I ran to my computer to look for a little more instruction and discovered that I was going to have to strain the separated milk (buttermilk?) from the butter globs.(globs? probably not the proper terminology.)

I didn't have the wooden butter paddles that my grandmother used to have, but using my two rubber scrapers I "worked" the butter to get out all the extra liquid and rinsed it in cold water (don't know why, just following directions).

Then I pressed some into our butter bell and the rest went into a glass dish in our refrigerator.
So, of course, I had to make homemade bread for dinner, which I let rise by the fire. (Ma would be proud).

And as I sliced off the first piece of steaming hot bread and prepared to spread a little of our homemade creamy butter on top, Emma stopped me:

"Can I please have some of the GOOD butter from the store?"

Ahh. lovely.

(**try it yourself with just a glass jar and whole milk....and get buttermilk to boot!)

 

porch stories

It's coming. The real winter weather. So today we took advantage of our last spring-like day before the big freeze.
Nothing like pizza, pistachios and yogurt out on the porch. (complete with baby stroller and dog rumpus)

Long after Mary and I had come in from lunch, Emma was busy at work with one of her birthday gifts.

I love this next picture. I wasn't sure if she was really catching birds with her binoculars. But when I saw her get these Canada Geese in her sights(the little dots in the top right corner), I knew she was....

Then she carefully recorded everything she saw in her notebook, including Canda Geese, a Turkey Vulture, leaves, electric fence, pine trees, and a cat.

Emma and Dan just started reading "Little House in the Big Woods" before bed each night. Of course Emma seems especially fascinated by all the hunting and detailed deer and pig-butchering scenes. She's glued to the stories in those parts. Today, I overheard her calling Mary, "baby Carrie". So I have a little Ma Ingalls project planned for the two of us tomorrow. My grandmother, is my "Ma Ingalls" go-to--I'm borrowing some of her "tools" for tomorrow's project. I'll be sure to show some pictures.

I just overhead this conversation between Mary and Emma, sitting in front of the dollhouse. Actually, it wasn't much of a coversation, more of a lecture from Emma's doll, who wants to play at the dollhouse alone, to Mary's doll:

"Are you listening to me? Look at yourself. We don't look like each other. You're made of wood. I'm made of rubber. So you can't possibly live in this doll house."

I'm going to refrain from adding any type of interpretation to this pretend play.

mini swap partner list

Hello Miniswappers!
I've finally finished swapping all 136 of you!!

Below you will find a microsoft word document and a pdf document. Click on either one to open it up and see the list of partners. If there is NO email address beside your name, then you are the first contact. That means it is your job to contact your partner and open up those communication lines!

I haven't included any information about addresses, children's names, ages, etc. And once everyone swaps their partners and names, I'll be removing these files from my blog.

Please let me know if you have any problems or the email address is wrong. I'm SURE I've made a mistake somewhere!!

Have fun!

do they make this for humans?

See that stuff on the right--stress coat? It came with Emma's new fishtank. But doesn't that sound like something that would be good for us? A few drops in your water and everything just feels good again.

Really though, I'm not stressed. I just feel a little disorganized at the moment. My desk being the perfect example--to my right: a small pile of Mary's folded laundry, my almost empty nalgene bottle (drinking lots of water!), and plastic kitchen food. To my left: this new game of Emma's, a flashlight, bowl of pretzel nuggets, desitin and a catalog that came in the mail today. The only clear surface is my laptop's keyboard.

I usually feel this way on the days when I make the trek to the "high risk pregnancy" doctor in Baltimore. Have I told you that my blood clot is gone? yay! But, I'm still on the shots. Boo!

Today it was a follow-up ultrasound because they found that the baby's umbilical cord has one artery instead of two. Can we have anymore "issues with this pregnancy??!! The high risk doctor's reaction is to take me down the trail of "worst case scenarios", whereas my regular OB blows it off with a wave of her hand as "very common". So today's appointment was to be sure the baby is growing properly. And yes, little babe is in the 90th percentile--getting me out of more high risk doctor visits for a few weeks. Phew!

On a completely different train of thought: have I told you of my new little typepad epiphany? Well, I am very bored with the limited colors that you're offered when you design your weblog. And I look at other people's blog and think that their colors are different (and better) from the ones I use. So, I upgraded to a "pro" account for all of ten minutes, to determine if you got more color choices with the top level account. You don't.
So, then I thought: I wonder if I can put any little code in the box that comes up when I choose my colors. For example, if you choose a green border, the little box shows a mix of six or so letters and numbers that I suppose in HTML code means, "green". So, I did a google search of HTML color codes and found this website.  Here, there's a whole range of colors with little codes beside each of them. If you choose your colors, write down those codes and then type that code into the box on typepad's design pages, you'll get THAT color! does that make any sense?? If not, I'll have to write it up step by step or something. But it works people! Now, instead of just a mere ten colors to choose from there's at least four times that many!! You can finally find your perfect shade of green or blue or brown.... Try it. And if this makes no sense, tell me. I'll try to get more detailed.
So there's your blogging design tidbit for today. Actually, it's the first tidbit I've ever given, but anyway.... (added today: Sooo...after reading your comments, it looks like I am the LAST one to figure this one out! Oh well, it still makes me happy! :)

And lastly--if you're wondering if you've missed getting an email about your miniswap partner...you haven't. My plan is to swap names tonight while I'm flipping pancakes. Yes, breakfast for dinner. It's that kind of day. So, be watching. But no, you've missed nothing.

would you like....

Part of my New Year plans included adding some more things to the "school" time that Emma and I spend together. The one on the top of my list was working on the calendar.

She's probably like most children in that the anticipation of an exciting, upcoming event drives her crazy. I especially noticed this around Christmas when I severely dropped the ball with an advent calendar. As soon as the tree was up, to her Christmas was right around the corner. The idea of waiting two more weeks was both hard to understand and simply, hard to do.
So, with that in mind, I decided our New Year was going to begin with a new calendar for Emma. It's definitely time to learn those days of the week, the months and get a general concept of calendar time.
I bought this board in the office supply section at Target (and painted it). Both sides are magnetic--but it is also dry erase and cork board, so there's lots of flexibility. Then I made up all these calendar bits: days of the week, numbers, months, even little weather clip art.

For my purposes, I printed everything on magnetic sheets so that they are easy to use over and over, but I'm sure card stock would be great too. Maybe you could even get them laminated. (And what I wouldn't have done for a paper cutter. After all that work, it was killing me to not have nice straight corners.)
So, designing this project took me way too many hours. Adding to that, I did it all with Microsoft Word. (I'm now in the market for an old version of Corel or Adobe Illustrator for Mac. Anyone have any tips or want to sell one? I NEED a publishing program.)
But as I was working on it, I thought, I'm definitely going to share this with all of you. It's too much work to not pass on. So, I'm working on getting these files on here for all of you. I wanted to put them out as pdf files, but I don't have the ability to save them that way, so for now, they'll just be word files. But at least, you'll be able to modify them if need be.
I'm hoping this works. Let me know if there are lots of problems, and I'll see what can be done to fix things.

Download calendar_days_of_week.doc

Download calendar_number_magnets.doc

Download calendar_magnets2_and_misc.doc

Download calendar_months_1.doc

Download calendar_months_2.doc

Enjoy. And let me know if you use them--I'd love more ideas!

**Thanks to Jennifer at MamaUrchin!! We have pdf's, everyone. They are downloadable over in my sidebar. Thank you Jennifer!!!!***

five and that's all

Remember this? "Buy Goldfish."

It all came together this weekend in time for Emma's fifth birthday today.

Nightly fish checks are required before bed. These four fish were carefully chosen from a tank swarming with feeder fish. I finally had to step in and catch them myself because I couldn't bear to watch the poor clerk swirl the net through the masses trying to pick out the "fish with the white belly. no, not that one. there! that one! right there!" I managed to catch THAT fish and three others managed to get tangled in the net along with him.
"I think they must be best friends. They were all swimming around together."--my way of convincing them to stop the fish chase right there. Thankfully, they were four unique-looking fish that fit the bill. Today we went back to replace the one that didn't make it. ("that one was mary's, mommy) and add some live plants.

I love the presents Emma is getting this year--they are so her. A pair of binoculars and bird field guide from her grandmother, roller skates from her NeeNee, and a pair of "sleepers with feet" and a helmet for her horseback riding lessons from me and Dan.  I'm really not sure why she requested the sleepers. She likes to rub one foot on the other foot's heel while she sleeps. Honestly, I think she just likes the idea of sleepers and likes running around in them before bed. But when it's time to really get between the sheets, they inevitably seem to be replaced by something more heel-rubbing friendly.

I told her this morning that this was it. This was her last birthday. Five was all the older she could get. I'm not allowing six or seven, let alone eleven or twelve. I can barely admit that she's five and I shop for her in the girl's department, that she knows more words to gillian welch songs than I do or can set the dinner table beautifully with no help from me .
"But mom," she said in response to my declaration about the cessation of getting older, "it just happens."
That's right Emma, babe. I guess it does. Happy Birthday one more time.

from my quiet kitchen

I'm writing this post from the comforts of a quiet kitchen. It's crazy-warm here today--pushing 70 degrees. Dan is in the garden and Emma's running around outside somewhere in short sleeves. This weather is wild.
So anyway, back to a quiet kitchen. All I'm doing is making a batch of chocolate chip cookies. But it's the first time in awhile that I've been in my kitchen all. by. myself. (I hear that phrase in my two year old's voice, by the way.) Usually, my kitchen is overrun by "helpers" and that usually brings a good share of chaos. Two nights ago, I was making a batch of chili on the stove. Two chairs had been pulled up to the stove front for overeager helpers--one to dump the beans and one to pour the tomato soup in...I reached across to give it all a stir, amidst the six hands in the dutch oven, and ran my finger swiftly across the lid of the can Emma was dumping in to the pot.

It's the first time I've really cut myself since being on "the shots" for my blood clot, and my first reaction was that I was going to bleed to death, right here, from this slice in my finger. All over a pot of chili...well over the sink, really, but all because of a pot of chili. I managed to clot in record time, though, in case you're wondering. And taking this picture, I realize my cut is in TV-quality location. Isn't this where the lady in the neosporin commercials has her cut? Hers heals so nicely.

(moving on, i've now burned two trays of cookies. don't blog while you wait for your cookies to bake. or use a timer.)

Speaking of cooking and food--last weekend Dan and I shopped at an Amish-run grocery store. In reality, it is a grocery outlet. It is a beautiful 40-minute drive from here in the heart of Amish countryside. You pass horse and buggy on the road and their pristine farms with laundry lines full of clothes, strung from an upstairs window all the way up to the tip of the barn roof. They have the lines on a pulley so that you can hang your laundry from inside. I guess when you hang clothes year-round, you want to hang them from the warmth of your upstairs window.
The amish grocery store was amazing. It has no lights, just sky lights cut out of the ceiling. The only electricity, is used to run the refrigerators and freezers. And the prices are unbeatable. However, you have to be willing to buy a box of cereal that is dented, or a box of taco shells that is a month away from its expiration. I filled, overflowed my cart and was a little panicked that my two hundred dollars cash wouldn't be enough...but she rang it up and....sixty dollars! can you believe it. I think I'll be making that trip ever other week and might actually make my grocery budget this month.

Well, there was more to write but this is getting long and I really shouldn't burn another batch. Emma's birthday is monday, and today Dan and I filled one of her birthday wishes. But I'll save that for Monday.

I've also  extended the miniswap signups until Monday. We're at about one hundred people right now. We'll see what Monday brings.

Let's Do This::Miniswap 2

MINI SWAP 2 is closed...thanks everyone. I'll get names swapped this week!

It's that time of year again: the holidays are past us, things are slowing down and most of us are getting ready to snuggle in for the rest of the winter months. The perfect time for a little miniswap.

::So what is it?::
A swap between our children. I'm sure your children enjoying sending and receiving mail as much as mine, so why not let them get in on all this brown paper package goodness??

::Here are the details::
PLEASE, PLEASE read the "directions" carefully and FOLLOW them. I don't mean to be a "meany-pants" (as my daughter would say), but last year I spent so much time following up with people that forgot certain information, or sent emails to the wrong address, etc, etc. It was exhausting and confusing. So I'm doing my best to streamline everything this year. And hopefully, by doing that I'll be able to include more people than last year. So please, help make this easy on me....

::we will swap by household. Keep in mind, you might sign up one child, but be swapped with a household of two or three children. This doesn't mean you have to put together three times as much stuff, but it might be nice to include something small for each of the children.

::Last year I didn't put an age limit on who could participate. But this year, I'm going to say two years and up. The idea of this swap is that our children are really partcipating. So I am going to put a minimum age. Please use good judgement about where to cap it off at the older end. (And just for the record, if you were my partner and signed up your four year old, but there was a 12 month old toddling around your house, I'd want to know so I could include a little something for him/her. I wouldn't want to leave those babes out all together. But I'll leave that up between partners.)

::The swap is open to anyone, so please be willing to ship overseas when you sign up.

::I always try to be budget-conscious. Try to keep the bulk of your swap goodies in the handmade or hand-me-down category. Last year my partner passed on gently used books, a stuffed toy and other goodies (among other fantastic things)--and my kids loved it. And the sentiment behind her children wanting to pass on a special toy to another child was priceless.This swap is not meant to break the bank.

::Ideas of things to include? you can check out the flickr group here  Or, leave a comment after this post of some of the highlights from last year. I'd love to hear and I'm sure others would, too.

::Please include a postcard or small map showing where you're from. (I forgot to do this last year. oops.)

::Ship packages by February 5. I know the longer I have the more time I have to procrastinate. I figure one month is do-able?!

::Want to join? Here's what to do:: (this is the important, follow-the-directions part!)

• Send me an email at this address: miniswap(at)gmail(dot)com
• Please put "miniswap sign up", or something similar in the subject line
• Include your name and your child/children's names and ages.
• I will leave the address swapping up to you and your partner.

The following week, I will contact one of the two partners with the swap names. It will be up to that partner to contact the other family involved. I'll post here when I've sent out emails so you can be watching...

I will take names until Monday morning.  However, I'm going to put a cap on the participants at 150. I think I managed about 100 last year. And if all goes smoothly, I think I can handle fifty more. I HOPE??!!!  So friday or 150, whichever comes first...

And please, help pass the word on your blog, too.

Alright, please forgive the overload of details. I'm just attempting to keep this slightly organized. No "meany-pants" intended!!

And check back here for more updates and details.

Have FUN!!

**************

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