Rainbow Gnome Adventure, Part V: The Final Installment

Well, the lovely Cullis family has finally reached their destination:  South Africa.  There they will stay....man!  That's REALLY REALLY far.  Boo.  Seriously though, so glad for them.  Now they can start growing some roots and maybe, maybe someday we'll win the lottery and go visit them in the beautiful country they now call home.

We miss you guys!  Thanks so much for sharing your travels with us!

"On Dee Why beach (Australia) watching the crazy life savers row their huge wooden rowing boats out through enormous surf."

"At Sydney Opera House. One incredible architectural feat."

 

"Nina on Fisherman's Beach, Simon's Town (South Africa)."

Homemade Dream Catchers and Recycled T-Shirts

Just a couple of fun projects to share today!

One of Zoe's favorite shows is called "Noodle and Doodle" on Sprout.  It's a cute little show...it's very short and always has very doable crafts and recipes you can do with your kids so I like it too.  For some reason, although I often find myself saying "Ooo, we should totally do that", I forget to actually do them.  I think it's because I don't have a good system for reminding myself of the projects I see on TV...once we switch it off, we're on to the next thing and I forget to write it down or something....the craft we saw yesterday, though stuck with both of us and since we had all the components already physically in the apartment it was easy to do...

Here is Zoe's homemade dream catcher!  We only had a few feathers but a bunch of wool roving, so it's a little thick and she didn't want to trim the edges when it was done but hey--she loves it!  She also loved talking about how it "works" and informed me this morning that she had a bad dream so....I suggested turning it around tonight since it appeared to me to be hanging up backwards. ;-)

First we stapled the netting (a clementine bag) to one paper plate...

....then weaved in whatever she felt like weaving in...

...done with weaving, before gluing the other plate on...

....and done and hanging by her bed!  I had visions of painting the plate and using a better string to hang it, but when doing such things with 4 year olds, sometimes you have to settle with where they are when they get tired and/or bored.  ;-)

Then, after a day of purging the entire house of things we don't use anymore, I finally got up the nerve to get rid of a bunch of ill-fitting-pit-stained shirts that I've hung onto for years for sentimental reasons.  I filled a big bag with old (stain-free) race shirts (*snif*) and sent them along to the Salvation Army, but there were a few that I just couldn't bring myself to throw in a bag and never lay eyes on again...I found this t-shirt quilt on Pinterest a while ago and knew that I'd want to make a modified version of it one day, and I finally feel like I'm ready to.  I haven't tackled the quilt yet (although I DO have all of the shirts in a bag and actually out of my closet...one baby step at a time, people!), but I made this cute little skirt for Zoe out of a few of (the backs of) the shirts.  It's pretty uneven and crazy, but that's kind of what I was going for anyway (certainly not because I'm a terrible seamstress).  Also, you'll have to forgive me because I meant to take more pictures so I could better explain how I did it but I really just blindly fumbled my way through most of the time so...if anyone wants me to try to be more specific just let me know and I'll do my best!

Before...

The colors/patterns I finally settled on...these are just the backs of the shirts cut out...

I ended up cutting each piece into 2 rectangles, each about 13" long and 8-10" wide.  Then I cut into the middle of the tops of each rectangle, making them 2 1/4" wide at that end, cut down into the fabric about 3" and then diagonally down to the bottom corners...(make sense??  They ended up being shaped kind of like an upside-down funnel)...I made small hems on the top tab and then sewed all the pieces together in the order I wanted, leaving the last two unattached so I could work with it flat until I put the elastic in.  I hemmed the entire bottom of the skirt and then folded the top tab over the elastic (about 22" long) and sewed it in, being careful not to sew into the elastic so the fabric could bunch if it had to.  Then I sewed the ends of the elastic together and the last pieces of the skirt together (proving to be the trickiest/messiest part for me because of the thickness of the elastic and fabric together, but I didn't really care at that point)

After!  Made my little Punky Brewster a little more Punky...not only am I happy with it, but she liked it enough to wear it to school today!  Yay!

Car rides and conversations

One of my favorite ways to spend time with Zoe is while traveling.  Air travel is especially fun (no, I'm not kidding) because she LOVES it and is a total peach almost all of the time.  She asks really sweet questions, likes to do most of the stuff herself (carry her suitcase, hand over her ticket etc.) and is sincerely thrilled with every mode of transportation involved in the journey to our terminal in Denver (shuttle from the parking lot to the airport, escalators, train to terminal, moving walkway, etc).  She enjoys watching her movies with her own personal pink earphones while on the plane and gets excited every time the flight attendants come around with snacks and apple juice.  She's also fascinated with taking off and landing and says goodbye and hello to wherever we are taking off from and landing in...this last time we came home to Denver, she gazed out the window while quietly singing "Maybe" as the plane roared and our bodies jolted around upon landing.  With the risk of jinxing the whole thing, I'm telling you I could just eat her up during those trips.  It's one of those things I hope I never forget.  I watch her bop around the airport, holding her Daddy's hand or going it alone with her little Dora suitcase and I find myself trying to burn the whole thing into my memory...

Anyway, while it's not always that honky dory (since we are in the damn thing almost every day), the car can also bring about some super sweet, "This is what I love about being a parent" moments...Nathan and I sneak a lot of ear to ear grins while listening to her sing along to her music or trying to find the words to tell us about an exciting day at school and I have a lot of great one-on-one conversations with her when it's just me and the kids.  The other day, we were borrowing our friend Gretchen's car while ours was in the shop and Zoe had a grand old time checking out all the different stuff they have in their car ("Mommy, it's cool they have toys in their car, huh?"  "Look, Mommy they keep their floor clean!").  There was a play phone in there that she was messing around with for a long time that she ended up getting annoyed with because every time you put it down it rings so that you'll pick it up and (hopefully, in the manufacturers eyes) never want to stop playing with it.  It has a couple of phrases it says every time you pick it up, one of which is "Do you want to come outside and play?"  At first, she thought it was funny and was pretending to make phone calls all over town ("We're just putting gas in the car right now.....yep and then we'll be on our way....my Mom's just putting me back in my car seat now...what did you say?  Yes...what apartment do you live in?") Eventually though, I started sensing...shall I say a slightly irritated tone in her voice as she answered it:

ring ring...
Zoe: **sigh** mumbling "Hello?"
phone:  extra cheerfully "DO YOU WANT TO COME OUTSIDE AND PLAY?"
Zoe:  mumbling  "Okay, fine"
click.............ring ring....
Zoe:  ****sigh and grumble***** "What?"
phone:  extra cheerfully "DO YOU WANT TO COME OUTSIDE AND PLAY?"
Zoe:  mumbling "No, thanks"
CRASH directly next to my right elbow where the phone had just landed...............ring ring....
Zoe:  "Mommy, will you get that?"
Me:  "I can't, I'm driving.  It's not safe to talk on the phone and drive."
ring ring.....
Zoe:  reluctantly "Alright, just hand it to me then......Hell-LO?"
etc. etc. etc.....

This went on, around and around, for a good five minutes.  I kept reminding her that it is a toy and that she could just NOT ANSWER IT but she just couldn't help herself.  It was hilarious.

Then today, we had to take a "snooze cruise" for Owen in between a meeting for work and a doctor's appointment for him and she and I had an awesome conversation.  We had about an hour to kill and she filled that hour with question after question, all starting with "Mommy, why did Mother Nature decide to...."  We covered more topics than you can imagine and I found myself a couple of times wishing I had access to Google right there in the car.   I'm not afraid to admit when I don't know something so I wasn't talking myself in circles trying to make up answers to questions like "Why did Mother Nature decide to make clouds?", "Why did Mother Nature decide to make people different colors?", "What IS Mother Nature?" or "How does Mother Nature make babies?" (that doozie was the one that started the whole conversation. Talk about straight out of the gate!) but I also don't want to say "I don't know" to everything so I gave most of them a shot.  I'm pretty proud of myself because I think I managed to walk that fine line between over-explaining and totally lying most of the time (yes, believe it or not the line is VERY FINE...you don't realize that until your own kid starts sincerely asking you these kinds of questions) and only had to say "I don't know, we'll have to look that up together later" once!  I try not to put too much pressure on myself in those moments but I can't help but hear a little voice in the back of my head saying "Okay Mom, you're up!  You'd better not screw this up!"  I enjoyed it today though and could laugh at my stammering self right there in the moment, which is maybe why I ended up satisfied with most of the answers I gave.  For instance, I like to think she now has a basic, honest yet non pornographic understanding of how babies are made...a topic that terrifies every parent I've ever talked to. Of course the true test will come in a few days when she randomly blurts out what she got out of the conversation to her Daddy at dinnertime.  We'll see!

Holy s@#t, I made a sweater!

You guys.  I totally made a sweater.  I'm so proud of myself it's a little embarrassing but I don't care.  Yes, it's a tiny one but it's a bona fide sweater and it fits Owen perfectly.  The hood is supposed to have an edge that I decided to leave off (for now) because Owen's big ol' head was too round for it to be worn off but other than that, it's just as it should be!  I had visions of one sleeve ending at his elbow and the other going past his fingertips so I'm thrilled to say the least.  Here's the pattern and here are a couple of photos:

Next up is a sweater for ME believe it or not, and also a dress for Zoe.  I'll keep you posted...

Other than that, we are just recovering from an awesome break together.  We had a fantastic Christmas at home in our little apartment and then a great trip to Oklahoma to visit family there.  Feels like we had the best of both worlds when it comes to Christmas vacation so I can't complain but I'll admit, I'm in the inevitable phase (for me) where I'm bummed out and equally relieved to be getting back into a regular rhythm.  My brain feels a little foggy...can't seem to get many thoughts together so although it's been a while since I've posted, this will have to be a short one....gotta ease my way back into real life here.....

Handmade Gifts

I'm officially done with my gifts--yay!  I've been a busy bee this last month because I decided to make two gifts each for the kids..one a knitting project and one a sewing project.  Although I have a really bad habit of being excited about a project the entire time I'm working on it and then finding a reason to be less than thrilled with the final project.  It's pretty annoying because it doesn't happen until the very last moment, but it happens almost every time.  That being said I am proud of myself and will spare you the reasons I'm NOT happy with these:

I Spy Bag for Zoe...I found a tutorial on Pinterest but when I actually sat down to follow the directions, I discovered that it was explained in this really horrible, unclear way so I'm not going to post the link to it.  It's basically just a pillow with a vinyl window sewn into one side.  On the other side is the list of (about 30) small items I found around our house that are hidden inside among some "Polly Pellets" that I got a the craft store.  I printed the list on an iron-on transfer sheet that you can also get at the craft store...

Fishing game for Owen.  I just improvised totally on this one.  I stuffed the fish with cotton stuffing, dropping a little magnet in first so it would sort of settle into the mouth.  The fishing poles are dowels with yarn wrapped around one end for the handle and then more yarn wrapped and glued to the other end and to another magnet at the end of the yarn.  I bought some really inexpensive "minnow catchers" (75 cents) at the hardware store and put everything into an inexpensive, basic flat tackle box.  I was hoping the poles would fit inside too but they were a bit too long, so I sort of made a pocket thing on the side of the box for them.  I'm sure it won't last so might end up making the poles shorter so it can all fit inside for easy storage and cleanup...

Knitted lamb for Zoe with a leotard and skirt.  This one was totally unplanned but I'm so glad I decided to do it.  I had all the materials from other projects so it didn't cost me any extra...really hoping she will like it.  Here is the pattern for the lamb and here is the pattern for the outfit (and other outfits for it).  I'm excited to make more outfits for her sometime soon...

Finally, the first of all the projects I started almost a month ago...Woodland creatures for Owen.  The pattern includes a little hat too but after struggling with the correct gauge quite a bit I decided to just not make it.  I like them without it anyhow!  I also took the leftover material from the fishing game and put together a little bag to store them in...

There!  Wrapped and officially done!  It felt good to spend way more time working away at home as opposed to making trip after trip out to shop at the stores...I did do plenty of that too I guess but the majority of the preparation leading up to tomorrow for me was just working away on my couch with a glass of wine...much better than waiting in long lines!

Merry Christmas!

Winter Solstice!

The official first day of winter could not have been more beautiful around here as we welcomed in possibly our biggest snowstorm so far this year.  Zoe went out into it this morning and took a few pictures and it still continued to snow through to the afternoon...

Zoe and I spent some time making our solstice cupcakes (we got this idea from a great children's book that we checked out from the library this year titled The Shortest Day) and decided to give some to our friends the Rech's and the Smith's.  We love them so much and wanted to share this beautiful day with them.  It was fun getting bundled up to deliver our goodies to our wonderful friends on such a quiet, peaceful day. We had our cupcakes after dinner...lit the candles, sang the following song to the tune of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and then blew the candles out, making a wish for the coming year:

We wish you a happy solstice

We wish you a happy solstice

We wish you a happy solstice

and a happy winter!

Headed out to make our deliveries..Zoe is holding a hat I made for Gretchen's cutie pie baby girl and a picture she made for the family.

For dinner we made our own pizzas...as we ate we talked a little bit about the cycle of the seasons going around and around like a circle...

Our finished "Thankfulness Stars" countdown to the solstice.  We each took a turn every day this month to write something we are thankful for on a star and hung it up.  Today, we all wrote something on a sun and hung it on the last pin...this is my favorite window this time of year...looking at it at night from both inside and out makes me feel really peaceful and happy....

The first light of solstice is the light of stones

Light that lives in crystals in seashells and in bones,

The second light of solstice is the light of plants

Plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance

The third light of solstice is the light of beasts

Light of hope that shines in the greatest and the least

The fourth light of solstice is the light of you and I

Light of hope and love and peace and harmony

I'm so happy to have had my interest in Winter Solstice sparked randomly last year.  It has inspired us to add so many wonderful new traditions to a time of year that we already cherished more than any other.  I hope you all had a wonderful day!

Naughty or Nice?

Okay, okay...so I feel I made a controversial decision this Christmas season.  If you are friends with me on Facebook, you may or may not have seen the video message that Santa sent to Zoe last week.  A few of you commented on it, but many of you did not.  That, along with the fact that I had at least 2 people tell me directly that they couldn't believe I'd done it to poor, sweet Zoe leads me to believe that many people have the impression that I'm a cold hearted mother.  I MIGHT agree with you, but let me at least explain and maybe we can all come to a decision together.  Maybe not, but whatever...if there's one thing that's become crystal clear to me over the last 4 years it's that guilt is one of the most common feelings involved in the mothering business...on both sides, actually...sometimes we use it to our advantage but many times we inflict it upon ourselves...hey, it's the name of the game so let's all just accept it and move on.

Anyway, it all started on the first night of our Winter Solstice candle lighting.  We were having a lovely dinner when Zoe decided to have a huge meltdown.  As she slowly calmed down, we started talking to her about how she had to be careful because Santa was always watching.  We told her that if Santa decides a kid has been naughty he gives them coal for Christmas instead of presents.  She asked what coal was and as Nathan was describing it, I closely watched her face as it slowly registered a look of panic. I braced myself for the reaction and she finally said in a wavering voice as she threw up her hands and cast her eyes skyward: "I like coal but I also like presents!!" and then folded her arms and plopped her pouting face onto them. Nathan and I both did our best to stifle our laughter but we were both almost immediately unsuccessful.  I continued to watch her and I swear to you she looked exactly as if she were trying to decide which path to choose...."Well, I could be nice and get presents, but coal really isn't so bad so I could just go ahead and be naughty...hmmm..."  Boy oh boy, this kid is something else.

A couple of weeks later I read someone's status update on Facebook saying that she's been pretending to call Santa when her kid misbehaves.  I thought it would suit us perfectly so instantly told Zoe I'd gotten a hold of Santa's number.  It was working like a charm....all I had to do was open my phone and pretend to start dialing and listening to the ringing and she would stop misbehaving right away.  One day though, she was having the mother of all meltdowns and I opened my phone and started pretending to listen.  All of the sudden she said "I want to talk to him" and I panicked.  I was making dinner at the time so I bought myself a few moments by saying he didn't pick up and that I'd try again after I got the pasta off the stove.  I decided to call Nathan's phone knowing he was at the library and wouldn't be able to pick up.  After I listened to his greeting I gave her the phone and she left him a message (instantly putting on a sweet voice and asking some sort of innocent, cute as a button question like "How do your reindeer fly?") and hung up.  I felt relief at getting through the moment but all I could think was "Okay, but what happens if Nathan is with us next time?".  So, I described what happened in my status update and asked if anyone would be willing to pretend to be Santa and return Zoe's call.

I got a lot of responses, one of which was a suggestion to make a free Santa video message at this website. (If you're interested, here is the video I made for her).  It's really cool because you can put in information and pictures about your kid so it actually looks like Santa knows all of this stuff about them.  I knew she'd eat it up, but the only dilemma I was  having was that you have to choose either the "naughty" or "nice" version.  The naughty version isn't horrible, but Santa does utter the words "Uh oh!  Looks like you're not on the nice list yet." and I was worried that it might be a little harsh.  The nice version, though was just TOO nice.  All they do is throw confetti and cheer "Yay!  You're on the nice list!"  What I really wanted was something in between...maybe something that said "Well....you're doing pretty well, but be sure to keep behaving!"  but that wasn't an option. I made the video late at night and spent that whole night and the next morning going back and forth, trying to decide if I should show it to her or not.  I finally just bit the bullet and showed it to her, prepping her by saying I'd heard that most kids go back and forth all year and that when you do things like throw tantrums, Santa usually takes you off the nice list for a little while...I said that it didn't mean you were on the naughty list, only that you were off the nice list for a bit.  Anyway, she loved it.  She was completely mesmerized the whole time...it was super sweet (I actually got it on film, but can't seem to upload videos from our camera to Blogger) but at the very end she totally decided to ignore the fact that he said she wasn't on the nice list.  When I asked her about it, she pretended to have no idea what I was talking about.  She is a tough nut to crack I'm telling you.  Since getting her video message from Santa, she's watched it at least 30 times and now has the whole thing memorized.

I think it's safe to say that this adventure along with the fact that I now have Santa and Mrs. Claus on speed dial (they've been sending text messages and Santa actually called and talked to her yesterday) made her visit to the actual Santa on Pearl Street yesterday one she'll probably never forget.  She brought along some carrots to give to Santa so he could give them to his reindeer and was so in awe she hardly uttered a word.  It could not have been more perfect.

SO, am I a mean Mom for having Santa tell her she wasn't on the nice list?  Maybe.  Could I have scarred her for life?  Maybe.  Does this whole thing totally contradict with my belief that Christmas should not be about the gifts but about spending time with people we love?  I'm afraid it might.  Does it clash with my efforts to instill in my kids that seeing is believing and that there is no such thing as a higher power?  Hell, yes.  There are a lot of things I don't know but what I do know is that I'm not perfect but I love my kids and believe in having fun.  Believing in Santa is magical and short lived so I'm milking it for all it's worth while I can.  I also have a sweet kid who happens to be getting very good at pushing my buttons and bringing out the worst in me.  I love her and she's super smart.  She knows deep down that there's no way she'd only get coal for Christmas...although apparently she wouldn't mind. 

Totally off topic, but I love this and wanted to show you...Zoe, Nathan and I made this together under her direction....it's our Winter Solstice picture...as she put it "So, everyone who comes can look at it and say 'Oh! It's Winter Solstice!'"