MamaPie

Sick Week

Ezra and Reuben were sick all week. Today, Saturday, as I emerge from the house (with the sun shining, no less!), I feel like I an tentatively walking out of a hot, sticky parallel universe, where days and nights all run together, things move at a snail's pace (unless they flare up in a hot second) and, if you don't watch out, you're bound to get hit in the head with a flying quarter or to trip over a chain of eighteen scarves tied together.

My friend, Andrea, just walked in to the tea shop where I'm sitting: "What did you do all week?" she asked. Funny, I was just thinking about that. What did we do to fill all those hours? We read alot of books. I read alot of books as my boys pressed so tightly up against my sides that it was a logistical maneuver to turn the pages. We read some good ones--some old favorites and some new ones from the library and from my vintage children's book collection*. My favorites this week were: Tales of Mr. Pengachoosa, Recess at 20 Below and The Happy Birthday Present. We also started making Valentines--I got out pink, red and white construction paper, some scissors, glue and a heart punch and we sat around the kitchen table working. I kept the supplies out and we revisited this craft every day for awhile. I have this papercraft book and we learned about quilling, so we did alot of that for the Valentines. Reuben, who is almost 4, was really able to do the quilling by himself and liked it alot.

I sent them off to play or rest a few times a day, with varying success. When they did that, I hopped on the computer for a little bit and tried to keep up with cleaning, laundry and cooking.

They're finally fever-free and feeling better and I'm glad we're all stepping out of the house today, but it was sweet, too, and I'm sure I'll miss these kind of "lost weeks" when my boys are older.

 

*You can find some of my favorite vintage children's books in my etsy shop

Thanksgiving 2011

Where to even begin with the thankfulness, for things huge and small (although even the small are really big)?

A very uncomprehensive list this morning:

• First, and always, for Andrew, Ezra and Reuben--my family: my loud, energetic, busy, messy, extremely funny, extraordinarily cute, loving, kind and (thank god, thank god) healthy pack of boys.
• Baloo: the canine member of our family who very much fits in--he's also loud, busy, messy, funny & cute. He's such a good boy.
• My mom and dad, brother and nephew: all crazy, all wonderful--I adore them and am thankful for the many many gifts they've all given to me. In particular today, I'm thinking of the gift I received in being able to spend lots of treasured time with Zeke when he was a baby and young boy and how that experience crystallized in me the wish to be a mama to boys.
• Our house.
• The food we eat.
• Living in the United States, in Oregon, in Portland, in Sellwood, on our street with wonderful neighbors.
• For woolen and warm clothes.
• For kisses and snuggles and chai and vegetables and chocolate and burgers and fries and books and friends...and so much more.

It may seem trite (it sort of does to me) to make a list like this on a blog. But, I also figure that any moment when I can be aware of this abundance, and remember my gratitude, and remember my prayers and wishes and actions to help those who have less are important moments.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Meow!

Ezra made this in his handwork class at school. I can only imagine what kind of knitter I'd be today if I made this in first grade.

Birthday Pary, Part 2

 

Pass the Orange-- where you pass an orange (or ball) tucked under your neck from person to person down a line using no hands-- was another party game we played at Ezra's 7th birthday party. It was funny because, when we asked the kids to line up and told them they were going to pass the orange down the line, they all shouted out versions of "that's easy!", until we told them about the neck and no hands part. In fact, this game was maybe a little to hard/not as fun for them as some of the others. The height differences also made it challenging.

When is a pinata not fun? I don't know the answer to that, but pinatas have always been a big hit at our boys' birthday parties. This year, in keeping with the Fall/outdoor theme, we had a cute orange owl. I briefly thought about making a pinata: there are some good tutorials out there, but then, you know, I didn't. As I try to keep the boys' birthday parties sort of low-ish on the sugar, I filled the pinata with things that feel like treats, but aren't packed with sugar and artificial stuff: fruit leathers, Yummy Earth lollipops and butterscotch candies and bouncy balls.

I made them all felt "First Place" ribbons as a collective prize for all the games, and I pinned them on at the end of the party.

A good party for a sweet boy. I can't believe he's seven. Seven!?

Games 6 & 7 Year-Old Boys Like

After having Ezra's 6th birthday party at home last year, we decided that unless it was absolutely pouring, we were going to have his party outdoors in the park again. Last year there was just too much physical energy trapped inside for the boys to even really enjoy the craft projects and games we had planned.

We were so lucky that the day of his party turned out to be one of those perfect Fall days - clear and brisk and sunny, with fallen leaves all over the ground. The party was great, and the boys (it turned out to be all boys) really loved these games we planned:

1. Chestnut Toss: We spend lots of time in the fall going to walks on various chestnut trees in our neighborhood and gathering those glossy brown treasures. Ezra thought it would be fun to have a chestnut game at his birthday party. So what we did was give each boy a brown paper bag (old school lunch bag) with his name written on it (a good pre-party project for Ezra to work on: write friends name on construction paper and decorate around it, staple it to bag) and then had them go over to the big sack of chestnuts and count out 8. We had them stand in a circle around a basket and toss one of their nuts in; after each child had a turn, we asked everyone to take a step back, so each round they got further and further away from the basket. They liked this so much that we made up variations (throw with the opposite hand than you've been throwing with, throw with your eyes closed etc.) and played it several times. We focused on seeing how many we (collectively) would have in the basket at the end of the game, rather than on who got their chestnut(s) in each time. Definitely a keeper for Fall birthdays.
2. Going to Grandma's House: This game was as much fun for the grown-ups to watch as it was for the kids to play. I packed two little vintage suitcases with various top layers of clothing (hats, gloves, scarves, sweaters) and the boys divided into two teams for a relay race of carrying the suitcase to the end point, opening it and putting on an item of clothing, snapping the suitcase back up and running back (with the suitcase knocking against their little leg) to the beginning to pass off the suitcase to the next eager friend. So fun. So funny.

I will be back again tomorrow with some more "notes from a fun birthday party"!

I'm here!

We've been having a busy fall and I haven't been here in a while. But I miss this place! So, I'll be back more regularly starting tomorrow - with thoughts about birthday party games, Waldorf first grade, fall cooking and more.

For today, I'll present my king and my knight:

 

Lists 9/12/11

Here's what came home from the library with me today:

• Nina Crews' The Neighborhood Sing-Along
• Amanda Soule's Handmade Home
• Stevie Parle's Real Food from Near and Far
• Mercer Mayer's There's an Alligator Under my Bed
• Cooper Eden's The Glorious American Songbook

I've made two new things in the Vitamix this week, both inspired by recipes in Jeremy Safron's The Raw Truth:

• Miso-Tahini Salad Dressing, which is roughly 2 tbs each tahini and white miso, the juice of a whole lemon, a date and water.
• Banana-Chocolate Shake: 4 dates, 2 frozen bananas, 1 big tablespoonful of Artisana cacao-coconut butter.

Both of these recipes are keepers and will be making many repeat performances in my kitchen.

In my sewing "queue" (that endless, constantly reworked jumble in my head of everything I want to sew):

• Oliver + S Sandbox Pants: I bought some beautiful Kaffe Fassett fabric to make a pair of these for Reuben. I'm a little scared to make my first buttonholes, but it's got to be done sometime, right?
• I just got Sewing for Boys in the mail. I'm so excited to dive in to these patterns!

So, tell me: what books do you have checked out from the library? or have you cooked anything new this week? or what are you looking forward to creating? c'mon humor me - answer a question!

Ezra's Nature Table

Getting Ready for Back to School

It's that time: thinking of apples, a slight chill in the morning air, finding the first baby chestnuts and acorns on the ground, some new clothes folded in the boys drawers... Back to school! I love being able to re-experience the excitement of this time as we get things ready for Ezra to go to first grade and for Reuben to have his first school experience.

Some things that we have done, or that are on our to-do list to prepare for next week:

1. I ordered both boys TOMS for their "indoor shoes" at school. The cuteness was pretty phenomenal when they both tried them on.
2. Lots of thermoses purchased and school lunch ideas discussed.
3. Need to buy Ezra's lunch basket.
4. I'm going to make them each a "Kidlet" for their room. The plan is to put the outfit for the next day in before bedtime.
5. I made 12 curtains for Ezra's first grade classroom. A major cutting error resulted in a major amount of stress for me, but they ended up great and, in the process, I learned to use a serger, which is awesome. I want one.
6. I need to make 2 drawstring bags for each boys locker.
7. I need to match the hundreds of unmatched socks that have been languishing in the laundry room this whole (sockless) summer.

Are your kids going back to school? What do you need to do?

Fact Finding Mission

While Andrew as putting Reuben to sleep last night, Ezra and I took Baloo on a short walk to the mailbox: 2 blocks down our street. During our walk - summer night, Ezra shirtless, lots of neighbors out - Ezra found out lots of things. Such as:

1. Who our friend Dave was talking to: his wife's brother Noah
2. What they were talking about: "singing out loud, having fun, life."
3. What our friend Kathy was doing: bringing out her recycling.
4. Where Dawn's daughter Lola was: "inside, changing her clothes."
5. Why Lola was changing her clothes: "so she can help her dad wash the truck."
6. Why Linda parked on the street instead of her driveway: "because it's garbage day tomorrow."
7. What Peter was doing: "changing a flat tire."

He found out all these things from friends and neighbors of all ages (Kathy is 67, Linda is about 50, Dave is 35) in his characteristic friendly and direct way. That he is curious about, and observant of, the world around him is an enormous understatement. He's always been this way - our sweet green-eyed boy - and I only hope the world around him continues to be as friendly, receptive to and delighted by his questions as our kind neighbors are.