Notes From a Small Town

Birthdays, Skirts and New Babies

February is a month of birthdays. Past presidents, to be sure, but ours as well. We also know a special little girl who shares our birthday month. Her first month on this earth (three years ago) was welcomed with this gift:

I think it was only the second quilt I had made (not counting that first one I made in quilt class). It was a pattern from this book. I varied the pattern a bit and had some leftover fabric which I stashed away for another project.

And, so while I was brainstorming a gift for her and her newborn sister, I spied that old fabric in my stash. And, I found this tutorial on toddler skirts.

A little green flower sewn on the top and voila : instant outfit. I find it adorable...hopefully, she will too. Her little sister got one too, but with a paired down skirt (in which I just winged the measurements and I hope they fit in a few months when it gets warmer).

I added some leftover fabric between the ruffles - not too much and I didn't want to add anything stiff or scratchy on the inside for such delicate skin. Just a little Stitch Witchery and it was done in a flash. (Helped to keep down those ruffles too).

And, what did I make for Joey?

A chocolate mousse pie with homemade graham cracker crust. A simple list of ingredients and easy to make. Here's the recipe. Sort of like a chocolate cheesecake. Very, very good.

A Walk in the Woods

...according to Ronan.

On Sunday we were able to get out to a local park and do a little "hiking." (In Florida, it's mostly walking with a wee bit of an incline, but lovely, nonetheless). Our adventure started a bit like this:

Me: "All right, Ronan can you go to the bathroom? Joey, can you change Calum's diaper (hee hee)? I'm going to finish getting the water bottles together."

Ronan: (in a whiny kid voice) "I don't want to go to the park. I want to watch..."

Me: "Argghhh!"

At which point, I may have lectured a bit about the perils of TV addiction and the outcome of said "discussion" was me mentioning something about when he is an adult and no longer living at home he can watch all the TV he wants. Ugh. It sounded vaguely like something my parents would say. So, I promptly realized that the TV at Calum's nap time has gotten out of control. I filed it away and planned my strategy with regards to hiking. Meanwhile, he planned on going to the park and staying in the car with me while Daddy and Calum went hiking. I was a bit agitated. And, so I put on my "parent" hat. (You know, that hat you keep in the bathroom so you can lock yourself inside and think about the situation without yelling?)

And, that's when I remembered about the scavenger hunts. I suggested we make one up and he looked interested, but he wasn't completely in my camp, until I said that he could take pictures of everything we found. BINGO!

And, that's how he ended up with my camera and some completely awesome pictures. I definitely think this boy is ready for his own camera.

And, if you'll notice my new "banner," we seem to be doing a lot of hiking these days. A big thanks to Jen for the completely awesome design (it's a bit easy to tell that you do this for a living, Jen)! It looks great and I LOVE the camping Zebra.

The LEGO Chronicles

Ronan is my builder. He prefers to work out his ideas with sculptures, cut-up paper pieces, wood blocks, and LEGOs. He is learning the process and realizing how to connect a set of pieces to make a particular object. (And, he is reading the instructions completely on his own...)

The helicopter below is a treasured gift from Aunt Randi. And, this one also came with instructions and a lot of tiny LEGOs. It required a bit of help from Joey. Also, it lives on top of the stereo so that baby brother doesn't smash it to pieces in his playing.

I didn't realize that this little helicopter was in the general LEGO instruction booklet because he just showed it to me one day. I was still duly impressed with his ability to look at the instructions and make it. I think it helped that we started him with these blocks. (In Montessori, you work from large and concrete to small and abstract).

And, of course, his own creations - complete with a covered truck bed to house all of the impossibly small tools his tiny LEGO man might need.

And, finally, the Duplos are still finding a lot of love here. We have gotten more each year since Calum's birth and it is the perfect "toy" for all of us to work together. Calum enjoys building very high towers while the rest of us work on some specific structure or object. This time, Ronan and Daddy created a zoo. Ronan's idea.

To your left is the largest snake in the world...blue and yellow stripes. No, it's not an anaconda (I asked), but there are two babies next to it. One has already gotten a blue stripe, the other is still awaiting his (or hers). Joey made those.

But, Ronan made these two animals. And, no zoo is complete without a zebra and a camel. Um, at least in the zoos we've been to...