Made by Lara

There's been a lot of creative energy reverberating around the house recently. Not very much of it from me, but the kids are unstoppable makers. I am always amazed at the endless production - and I try not to get frustrated at the fact that it's usually about the process, not the product. When does the shift happen when we start to fixate on the end result?

Here are some recent favorites:



Ceramic school bus. I really want to get a plate hanger and put this up on the wall.



Ceramic pinch pot - love that pattern detail. And, no, we don't have our own kiln - we are lucky enough that Lara has a clay studio in her school.



Drawing of the school's winter concert. All that red? It's the kids all wearing their school t-shirts, looking like heads in a sea of color.



And finally, something we built together - Lego horse and hippo. It was fun to try to figure out doing round 3-D out of the mostly squared off pieces!

Holiday Blitz (2)

Hanukkah in the night was followed by Hanukkah in the day. At this point, the presents-and-clues extravaganza has been replaced by a more sedate Secret Santa, but the one clue we did put together was pretty fun (check it out at the bottom of the post).

One kid was the star of the show...



...but the other one was still way too sick to do much more than sleep.



They did both get cute a couple of cute animal hats!






Lara and Em share a secret.



Jakey stays asleep, battling his fever.



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The clue for our present was this:

With a B it crawls
With a T it trawls

With a P it barks
With SM it snarks

With SL it leaves a trail
With TH it goes to jail

With CH it’s for beers
With an H it soothes tears

With DR it’s a cure
With an L it’s a boor

With SN it’s cuddle and
With a J it’s a band

With PL it’s a cork
With an R it’s knot work

With an M it’s for you…
If you can guess this clue!

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Hint: the idea is that each of the letters or letter combinations is a prefix for the same suffix.

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The answer? It's "mug". We took a couple of Lara's awesome drawings and had them printed in a pattern on some CafePress mugs. They came out awesome!

Holiday Blitz (1)

Happy New Year!

Our holidays were joyous and full of friends and family - the best possible way to celebrate. Even though in reality each of us managed to go through some kind of viral thingie or another, all that remains in my memory is the fun and the warmth of the last two weeks.

Here is a little taste of the Hanukkah party we threw last weekend.



I busted out the old latke recipe (potatoes, eggs, salt, pepper, no onions):



And of course no Hanukkah party would be complete without the traditional dreidel-shaped pinata. Oh, you haven't heard of that one? Yeah, me neither, but that didn't stop me from whipping one up from two boxes, a paper towel roll, and some crepe paper. I decided to go with the pull-the-string style rather than having a bunch of kids try to whack something with a heavy stick indoors. (The secret to tricking a bunch of little kids? Use the really boring, plain ribbon for the the one that opens the trap door. Why, yes, I am very proud of outwitting small children.)



Inside? Well-earned chocolate bounty...



...which temporarily made a super-sick little guy a little happy.

Living Room Do-over

We have more exciting things to share on the home redo front! The living room has been transformed quite a bit and is now just waiting for a rug... but I couldn't wait to show you guys.

So, this is how the previous owners had it:



The first thing we did just before moving in was have the floors sanded and stained so they would lose that yellow cast, and so that the nails used to hold down the planks weren't so highly visible:



But still, the room was sort of dark and cave-like, and felt smaller than it really was. Can you guess what we decided to do?



Besides painting the fireplace - which, honestly, came out so good that I still can't get over it a month later! - I updated the hardware on the built-in cabinets, spray painted the fireplace accessories a textured nickel color so they wouldn't be as sharply contrasting with the white, painted the windowsills white to match the rest of the house (why were they that odd brown color to begin with?), mounted the TV lower, and removed that very bulky and oversized mantle. I'm thinking a narrow (like 5-6 inches tops) square-edged white mantle might look good in the future... although I like it without one also? Thoughts?



Brighter, airier, bigger, better lit - we're totally thrilled.

My Sick Baby

Fever, cough, sniffles, upset tummy. So beautiful.

Hanukkah Night

Star of David out of branches (idea from here)...



Lit up birch branches...

Hanukkah Day

Days of hanukkah advent...



Dreidels to contrast and compare...



Happy Holidays!

Winter Bouquet

To welcome winter, we made this bouquet from some fallen branches we found in the horticulture garden. There are flowers from Lara, Jakey, and a few from some visiting friends. Maybe we should ask everyone who comes by to contribute one?

It's interesting - we made one of these last year, and this year Lara was suddenly self-conscious about how her flowers would look, to the point that she asked me to draw some flower outlines for her to color in before she would draw her own. It seems so, so early for self-criticism to already be rearing its powerful head...

Deep Thoughts

Cosmology according to Jakey, walking to school with Misha:
J: Where's the moon?
M: Behind the clouds, and on the other side of the globe of earth.
J: Where's the globe?
M: We live on it, it's all of this!
J: No, Guyguy* lives in the globe, daddy.

Philosophizing with Lara:
What if we were people who lived in a coloring book and had to wait for someone to color us in?
What if octopi had bones?


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* Guyguy is a Jakey-ism for Gaia, the earth from Greek mythology. He loves the picture of her in the D'Aulaires book.

Cooking Dinner

Cooking dinner in the kitchen means...

... a drum circle



... a rocking out duet



... and silliness!

Last Perfect Breakfast

I just found this snap of my ideal breakfast in my phone. Plain omelet, toast with cream cheese and smoked salmon, heirloom tomatoes, some Earl Grey tea... and a long lovely conversation with my mom. Have a great trip, mommy, and come back soon!

Homeownerhood

I think after the last couple of weeks, I am safe in rephrasing the old saw: into every home, a little rain must fall. Yes, that's right - we have now joined the proud ranks of those whose basements have flooded in the midst of seasonable weather. And while this was happening? Our fridge died a noble, but not nearly drawn-out enough death (I, for one, would have really appreciated months of very slow decline rather than a sudden episode of kaput.)

The new fridge is now finally in, the food that went bad is gone, and the basement... well, no one has yet actually figured out what exactly is wrong, but all signs point to the need to dig up our whole street to investigate the drain pipes, which still might be the susceptible, terracotta kind from the days of yore. Still, we are now newly aware of the dangers of falling leaves, and the kids enjoyed sweeping and bagging as a novel backyard game.

Daily Candy

Thanks so much to Daily Candy for featuring the Little Cardboard Toys in their roundup of Playhouses and Dollhouses!

Cool, Dark, and Serene

The guest bathroom recently underwent a complete overhaul, complete with floor demolition and plumbing updates. The old drain pipes were still made out of lead and the old cabinet was some seriously deteriorating MDF-vinyl affair!

From our other small bathroom, I had already learned the completely counter-intuitive trick that tiny, well-lit spaces do really well with dark wall colors. The dark walls recede and actually make the space feel bigger - a very strange optical illusion that I think is heightened in this case by the sharp contrast with all the white tile and fixtures. We went from this:



to this:



Here is a shot of the other side, with the fun tree curtain I found for the bathtub. Before:



after:

Parents.com Hanukkah Crafts

Thanks so much to Parents Magazine for featuring one of my Hanukkah crafts in their roundup of fun things to create for this holiday! Check out all the awesomeness here.

Heroes of the Emerald Vale

And, lo, there came a day when the valiant Lady Lionheart knew that her next adventure would require the aid of her most trusted cohort. So she sent word far and wide, for who could know where in the known world her ally wandered?



At last the message found its way, and at once brave Sir Sharksbane ended his peregrinations to meet his oldest companion.





Their reunion was joyous for as they looked each other full in the face, they recalled many a campaign past where their staunch friendship oft saved the day.



It did not take long for the two to agree to set forth together.



Though the journey was arduous, they did not lose spirit. On foot, they traversed the land, marveling at bounty of nature around them and the many wild and monstrous animals in their path.



Still, they could not persevere unmounted for even their travel-hardened limbs at long last grew weary. With luck, they found an able squire to tend to their dusty armor...



... and an experienced groom whose stabled creatures would gladly bear their weight. Onward to the next part of the journey!

In the Park

We spent a peaceful Columbus Day in Arlington with my mom, basking in the most glorious late-summer weather by passing as much time outside as possible. What a lovely way to end an otherwise very wet and overcast season.





I realized recently that summers are probably ipso facto less crafty. Every available second is dedicated to the outdoors, and there is no energy left at the end of running, jumping, climbing days. But of course, nature provides for those who think on their feet. Lara and I did a little weaving with grass and sticks in between bursts of action and it was a wonderful stolen moment. I need to try to remember to keep looking for the make-able all around.

Getting a Head Start on Halloween Decor

Thanks so much to Parents Magazine for featuring my work!

Check out all of their wonderful Halloween-themed projects, including my own spooky-face garland here.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Comme ci, comme ca

On the one hand...



On the other hand...