Another new skirt

This is some fabric I bought last summer.  I finally got around to it for this summer.  I didn't have a plan when I bought the fabric, I just liked it, but decided on a skirt.  It is a light weight lawn so I originally thought that I would line it.  I made the lining out of grey cotton but decided not to put it in.  It just dulled the color to much.  I used bias tape from the Mom/Grandma stash at the hem and waistband.  At first I wondered what I would wear it with and then found that I have several things.  So nice not to have a wardrobe orphan.

News Flash: Dr Inferno's Monster Robot attacks the city

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Philosophy for kids

I saw this article in the NY Times today about a professor who has developed a curriculum for teaching philosophy to 8 year olds through picture books.  It looks like a fun idea.  You can get the book list and suggested discussion questions at his website http://www.teachingchildrenphilosophy.org/.  We have a few of these books around the house already.  Buddy boy may be a little young, but it will be fun to see what he thinks.  Happy thinking!

Poor Teddy Panda

I made the mistake of sitting on the beloved Teddy Panda the other day.  Apparently I broke his foot and wrist and he needed a wheel chair to get around.  A full recovery is expected.

By the way, you can stick a bamboo skewer through cardboard along the ridges and use it to attach the wheels so that they will turn.  Teddy Panda has to get around you know.

Le Petit Tournon

My sister-in-law lives in a little village in France.  I haven't been there, but thanks to GrandDad I have a great photo of the picturesque place.  I decided to try another landscape paper cut.

My first try wasn't very successful.  So I remembered that it was all about light and shadow and redid the scene with less detail and a less literal interpretation.  I also used the white paper as the foreground instead of the back.  I like it a lot better.

Happy Birthday

Happy 5th Birthday Buddy Boy!
What a day!  It started with a serenade call from Grandma and Grandpa.  Then off to preschool with Dad.  It was Dad's parent helper day so Buddy Boy took his latest Lego creation to share with the class and #5 cookies for snack time.  Someone in the class can't eat eggs so I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe and used the tip from Cory Ramey of the NY Times to substitute 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of flax seed meal and 3 tablespoons water.  I've done this with oatmeal cookies as well.  I think it works better there since the brown flecks are hidden in the oatmeal.

That afternoon I finished up the cake and party prep.  Jack had a few requests for the party.  One was a Lego Power Miner Crystal Sweeper cake.  Hmmm.  Well sometimes it's OK to get just what you want, so I did the best I could and I was quite pleased with the result.  It was a fun challenge.

Then party time!  Why does this make me so anxious.  I can speak in front of hundreds of people, lead a class discussion, and a lot of other things, but a party of 4 and 5 year olds makes me nervous.  I HATE to host parties.  I don't mind the planning or the prep work, but the actual party thing is pretty crazy making for me.  I hope people had a good time.  He wanted to invite the "whole world".  Well, we didn't invite the whole world, but there were a whole lot of kids there, including friends from church and school and a few cousins thrown in the mix.  We played at the park.  We had a few games and played with the parachute.  I overestimated their attention span and game playing ability so it ran a little short.  After strawberries, juice, and pizza we ended with a little crystal treasure hunt.  The crystal hunt was another request from the birthday boy so we came up with something.  We used pictures for the treasure hunt to tell the kids where to go and ended with a prize for each kid. 

GrandDad and his camera were there.  I wanted pictures, but didn't want to have to worry about taking them, so GrandDad took all the photos.  THANK YOU!

Buddy Boy was happy.  That is why we did it all.

the Police Jones website

Buddy Boy kept asking for the Police Jones website.  Well, Police Jones is his own combination of Indiana Jones and a policeman.  He made it up, so of course there is no website.  So we made one.  He wanted games, and products, and movies.  So we have links to his favorite games, the Police Jones hat, and then his story.  He made up the story himself with his little Legos.  I did the typing, but they are his words.   We may have more stories in the future.  It was a lot of fun. 

garden peas

The Spoonflower contest theme for the week is Gardens.  Since my peas are producing right now I thought I would work them in to a design.  I like it, but I don't love it.  I like the sketchiness of it and the simple color scheme.  I like the staggered waves.  It is just lacking a little something.  I thought of putting some kind of subtle all over pattern behind the peas, or having a larger repeat with different drawings, but never got around to playing with the ideas before the contest closed. 

I thought of doing something with vintage looking seed packets, but I thought that someone else would probably do that too.  And they did, so I'm glad I didn't.

Daffodils

Every spring when I see the daffodils blooming I think, I need to plant some this fall.  They are so bright and pretty.  Then come fall I forget.

So here is my contribution to daffodil season.  It is also my entry to the Spoonflower contest this week.

More cakes

I love my little dome shaped cake pans.  If I could I would by every shaped cake pan out there, but I resist and try to be creative with my little dome pans.  So far so good.  I've done spiders, ghosts, acorns, and easter eggs.

So many options.  For the shamrocks and balloons I trimmed a flat spot on the bottom so they didn't roll away (you could also cut them in half) and trimmed off the little ridge to make them more oval.  My ceramic knife was perfect for this.  No crumbling or jagged edges.  Lots of whipped cream, colored sugar sprinkles, and pipe cleaners and we have shamrocks and birthday balloons.  Not on the same day, but it is birthday season around here.