late night / early morning

E and I cuddled up in bed last night and did some fringing.  We started on the crepe paper streamers for F's rainbow garden party, and E's going to use the same streamers for her party later this summer.  I cut dozens of little slits in the rolled up paper and she "fluffed" them.

F woke up early (for a Saturday) and was pretty jazzed to see what we had accomplished the night before.  We made quite a bit of streamers from just 3" of each of our paper folds.  We'll probably make some more, and then maybe even some crepe paper flowers.  It's a pretty fun activity, and a nice way to unwind and chat after such a busy, busy week.

We're off to pick up our rainbow colored chocolate, which isn't the wisest idea in this sort of weather, but oh well.  Here's hoping for a cooler week next week.

friday finds

The last of the party supplies came in the mail yesterday.  F was pretty excited when we opened them last night.  I decided awhile back to do individual ice cream cups for the different homemade ice creams.  Shop Sweet Lulu had some really cute ones, but when I finally sat down to order them they were temporarily sold out.  I checked back with Sweet Bliss Containers to see if they offered anything smaller than a pint size (they are my go-to ice cream container supplier).  No dice.  Then I found Garnish, and proceeded to order everything else I needed from them.  Candy tubes above for the rainbow colored sixlets F's been eyeing at Oh Lolli Lolli for awhile.  These really cute corrugated ice cream cups with lids.  I even got some more wooden spoons to add to the mix.  These are plain, so I'll fancy them up with those rainbow gel pens I used on the invitations.

And then, crepe paper in all the colors of the rainbow - the girls and I are going to make some fancy streamers that we'll use for both parties.  E's got her whole party planned out - down to the three page outline of details.  I'll post that this weekend.  It's a hoot.  Which reminds me - I never let her blog about her favorite summer reads.  I realized after I said that I would, that she'd likely scroll through some recent posts and possibly discover the secret room redo planned for her birthday.  So she's banned from the blog for awhile...

Hope you found a little color this Friday.  Or something like ice cream to beat the heat.  Drop me a line and let me know how hot it is in your neck of the woods. (108 here again today.  Ugh.)

this would feel good right about now

F sneaks up on E while the grand- and great grandparents look on (and don't warn her, it should be noted.)

It's going to be 108 here today.  That's not the heat index, that's the temperature.  That's crazy.  I'll be stuck in an over airconditioned box all day, of course, but it's certainly putting a damper in E's Urban Camping week.  She's supposed to be camping out overnight tonight.  I think we can safely skip the sleeping bag.

Stay cool out there.

invitations (almost) done

I decided to skip trying to wrestle our current misbehaving printer into submission and chose instead to write out the party information.  Last night I finished that up, and then began stiching the two cards together.  I really need a thimble - it hurts a bit to type...

I have five more to stich together tonight and then off they go.  Birthday hat is ready - or at least it will be when I find my elastic thread.  I've had the same spool for almost eight years now.  Since E's first birthday.  Our hat collection is growing for sure.

In other (old) birthday party news...E's Monster Art Party was featured yesterday on Apartment Therapy.  Check it out here.

sbap and kid art, part one

E spent the last two weeks at South Broadway Art Project camps - her first week was printmaking and urban design, and then she did clay camp.  The program is run by good friends of ours, and I can't speak more highly of it.  E showed us her portfolio from the first week and I immediately set to work to find places to display it.

 

I took some of the work to get it drymounted onto foamcore - one of the best (and least expensive) ways to semi-protect it and dsplay it.  But even I wasn't willing to fork over the dough to do it for a few of these pieces.  It's hard to spend $30 or $40 a piece when I have the foamcore and the right type of spray adhesive at home already.  I'll tackle that on my own next weekend.

I loved this small linoleum cut she made, and one of the resulting prints in aqua. 

I found a great shadowbox frame in my favorite Fineline brand (not cheap, but very worth it), and mounted both of them.  I put a spacer behind the print so that they were in the same plane.  She was pretty tickled with it.  And it's easy enough to open if she want to snag the stamp back out again and use it.

She did a couple of these splatter prints - I love the colors in them, and the two side by side were nice.  These are another two that I'll dry mount on my own and add to the revolving displays around here.  She also did a fantastic shirt, but she took it to the lake this weekend, so I'll photograph it for part two (when I show some of the clay work).

And - unrelated to camp - this is the poster for Circus Flora that I did leave to be professionally drymounted. 

If you remember, she has this one from last year hanging on her sloped wall.  We're going to scoot it over and add The Wizard in her new surprise room makeover.  These prints are even more beautiful in person - and she really loved the theme this year.  I love the references to all the things she loves right now - Merlin and King Arthur and Harry Potter...

I'm pretty excited about the projects we have going on this summer...

summer

gelato.  park.  swimsuit.  the only thing fast about this moment was the melting.

we went to the market...

...and this is what we got.

in sync

As I flipped through the hundreds of photos that I took on vacation a few weeks back I noticed these photos of F and C.  They were walking back to their castle building after filling up watering cans in the surf, and their steps were completely synchronized - right down to the arm movements.  I knew this needed a little animation.

I have so many photos of these two in their own little people world.  They might be two years older then they were here (those are some of my favorite photos ever), but they still have the same way of immersing themselves in the world around them now.  Two peas in a pod, I tell you. 

scissors

I found some of those moments of quiet I was seeking this morning by sitting in a chair  tonight and watching her cut with scissors for twenty minutes straight.

I put the camera on the table and occasionally snapped the shutter.  Mostly I just watched (and listened).  It's funny how you can experience quiet moments even when listening to non-stop chatter.

The funniest part of the process was watching how she moves her mouth open and closed in the same way she moves the blades of the scissors.  I scanned back through the photos on the camera to see if I caught it by chance in a series of stills.  I hadn't really - so I excused myself for a moment to grab the video camera.  I caught it (and it's hilarious) as well as catching quite a bit of the everyday chatter I hear from this girl.  When she's busy she narrates her actions.  There are lots of 'kays? expressed.  "I'm going to get another sheet of paper.  'Kay?"  "These are sharp, 'kay? So you can't use them."

After her second sheet of paper on the video, she announces she's going to color.  She hops up to get a third sheet of paper and then decides to go for the oversized paper that we store in a box under her sister's bed.  Instead of paper she finds a 2000 piece puzzle.  I stopped the video just before the meltdown when I told her we could not work a 2000 piece puzzle of hot air balloons and a ton of plain blue sky before her bedtime.

But in case you feel as if you missed out... this is what the pleading face looks like around here.

"We do this puzzle, Mommy?  Right now?  'Kay?

friday finds

This Friday finds me:

Exhausted.

Emotional.

Strangely okay with both of the above.

It has been quite the week (or two).  I've slept so very little and done so very much.  And in the middle of all of this work I've tried so very hard to find a few moments with the girls.  There haven't been enough of those despite my efforts.

Today we met up with E's buddy O, and sent her on her way for a long weekend of swimming and fishing at the lake.  She did this last year as well, and had a great time.  His family is like family to us, so we don't worry while she's gone.  But we still miss her, and think of how quickly they are all growing and expanding their circles.  O was in one of her first "circles" though - and I love how they circle back to one another with such ease, even as they grow.  Here they are this time last year.  Definite growing.

F was sad after we dropped E off, and didn't want to go to school.  She wanted to come to work with me, and cried when I left her.  I know she's been missing me - she doesn't realize that I sit and stare at her sleeping body for long minutes each night.  The other morning she heard me downstairs and yelled down to me.

MOMMY?  You are HERE?  You are REALLY HERE?

That's a hard way to kick off another sixteen hour work day.  I tell myself that I am here.  A lot.  And I'm not always so busy and running around like crazy.  We carved out so many fun times last weekend and we'll do the same this weekend.  I'm so looking forward to a lazy Saturday morning with just my little one.  I miss that time with her.  I miss her sister, and am already looking forward to Sunday afternoon when she's back.  I miss my own sister, especially as I think back to ten years ago today as I stood and watched her walk down the aisle in such a beautiful ceremony.  I'm a little wistful as I think of all of the changes in those ten years since, and the four beautiful children we have between us.  I'm emotional and exhausted and that's okay.  Sometimes it takes that to force me to slow down and appreciate those quiet moments and make time for more of those.  I'm looking forward to sharing some of those moments here as well.

Hope this Friday finds you well and ready to enjoy a quiet moment or two.

weeds

Last Saturday night we met several friends at the park to watch Othello.  Our group covered several large picnic blankets, but the kids sort of migrated to the middle and giggled a lot.  Sometimes I'd look over and it would take me a moment to register that these were "our kids" because they looked so much older than I remembered them from just the moment before.  I have more baby pictures than you could count of these three - each with chubbier cheeks than the last.  And here they all are, straddling both sides of a decade.  Just like that.  It won't be long before they might meet up entirely on their own and watch Shakespeare - or skip it entirely. 

For now I'm glad they're still on my blanket.

a circus post on father's day

The comparison is not exactly accidental.

This life we have created slips quickly and frequently into a sort of circus atmosphere.  Lucky for me (and us) it's generally the one-ring type and not a three ring event.  Having someone operating in the same sometimes maddening circle as me is something I celebrate every day of the year.  Yesterday it was particularly nice to add some presents, a few bites out, an amazing performance once again at Circus Flora, and a little Ted Drewes to wrap it all up.  I even managed to talk briefly with my own Dad yesterday, despite our own equally busy schedules and demands.  I'm happy to consider both of these fathers in my life the best of friends - and then I got really lucky and snagged another terrific dad through marriage in the process.  Perhaps it's more three ring after all.

Regardless, the show is incredible (go see it - you've got one more week) and my seat partners (even the wiggly one) were the best.  Thank goodness for this dad, and this sweet family we've got going on.

hot

On a hot day like today, it's nice to have someone to bring you a hat full of cold water every few minutes for your feet.  Over and over again.

Next time we'll eat the popsicles before the fountain, not after.  Maybe then we'll leave just a bit of the stickiness behind.

Strawberry-basil popsicles were a big hit at the market - time for us to break out the popsicle maker.