More random creativity

This was the bag Sabine put Bret's Father's Day gifts in. Love legos. This is the book we got for him.


The completed (b)rain barrel. Idea courtesy of these folks.


Bret's finished model surfboard. We might need to start a surfing club for our many Playmobil friends.

Random fun and creativity

It seems the whole family has been having bursts of creativity:

These are little bags I sewed to sell at the Untrepreneurial fair at the upcoming Life is Good conference (can't wait!). The original purpose is that they can be sewn onto people's conference bags, so that it becomes a little handy tote (like this) that you can keep in your purse/backpack. But I realized that they can also be used as a little bag to put a gift in, or keep safe a special treasure. The photo isn't the best, as most of these are still inside out (serged thread ends still need to be sewn in), but the girls helped me pick out the fabrics, and I must say, they are really cute!


Vivian had a friend over to play the other day and Sabine asked if they wanted to play Twister. I thought "hmmm...we don't own Twister" but (thankfully) kept quiet, and Sabine proceeded to make a twister board out of fabric and books, then the spinner (pictured) out of cardboard and wood.


As you may know...we live in the Pacific NW...and we get our fair share of...the wet stuff. Bret found a container suitable for making into a rain barrel (except that it was clear-ish plastic, which lets in UV rays, or something like that) so he painted it brown. The white circle will be artistically designed later (it looks like a giant bottle of peroxide, no?). When Bret told the girls he was making a rain barrel, they heard BRAIN barrel...so there it is, our barrel of brains.


The orginal slice and bake cookie - one of the things I remember my mom baking when we were growing up. They are Belgian Ice Box cookies, see recipe at the bottom right hand side of the blog - under "What We're Eating".


The girls received a present of two matching Pixie dolls from our friends Kristin, Al and Acacia in Wyoming. They've been busy here in Portland...climbing trees...


...and babysitting at night.


The girls have been making good use of the hand rings from IKEA.


Apparently the doJump lessons are working.

art, gingerbread house, pantry, theme cooking

Really, just some random stuff from the past several weeks...


Sabine's been doing a lot of drawing lately -- this is her "Mr. Toast" -- in this one he might be a fairy (see the wings and wand?) but then again, there's a baseball cap...hmmm...



We wanted to make 2 gingerbread houses, and got half way there. The girls had a blast decorating this one (bought pre-assembled from Costco...someday I'll make my own gingerbread/royal icing/etc...but not this year...)


And for Memet...the pantry! Bret built the shelves -- it really makes my (not overly cabinet heavy) kitchen WORK to have this space. While I sort of miss the doorway that used to be there, it was totally worth it.


We went to a Mad Men (1960s) themed holiday party in December. I had found the orange flowered tray recently, and it made the perfect vehicle for the cucumber herb butter mini sandwiches. The mandoline made easy work of creating ultra thin cucumbers.


Us, with friends Ben and Kristen at said party. My dress was bought at Deseret Industries for $6 (and it's hand made!), gloves belonged to my grandmother, Mimi, Bret's vest and tie are from my Great Uncle Lionel -- the tie clip says "GE - The Golden Value Line of the 60s". Classic.

awesome art classes

The girls have been able to take a couple of classes offered by Becky at Portland Art Adventures. She's a super facilitator for creativity. Her classes have a basic structure, but she really understands unschooling and letting the kids take the projects where they think they should go -- there's no "This is what your finished product should look like" just lots and lots of amazing materials (she said most of them are from yard sales/S.C.R.A.P. and the like) and help/guidance when asked for.

These are the mini worlds the girls made back in December.

This weekend...

Was brought to us by the letter P...

P is for Playfort that was free on Craigslist...and is now re-assembled in our back yard...


P is for Pulley...set up by Sabine and Bret...


and P is for Panniers...sewn by Carolyn for the Yuba Mundo bike (note the black ninja kitty on the bike)...


I found the fabric at SCRAP (I think it was $6 -- and I have some left over -- it is a thick, lined material...formerly curtains), the straps were left over from a sewing project I did for our friend Bud back in Wyoming. I did have to by $6 worth of "D" rings once I finalized my design (I had a bunch, but used them all...). Much less expensive than Yuba's (albeit, nice) ones at $119 each.

Xmas, New Years

These were from Christmas morning, girls in their matching PJs...





Vivian sporting the Hula Girl outfit from Uncle Erik and Donna Sue!



Sabine is way into designing things, including outfits...(I admit to watching What Not to Wear and Say Yes to the Dress with her!)...these were the New Years Eve outfits she picked out for Vivian...


And herself...

Lego house...

Sabine's is below. James May's is here.

What we've been doing...

...instead of blogging...

Lots of pattern block designing...




Visiting with friends young (little Eileen Cunningham-Maloney, or is Maloney-Cunningham???)...


...and old (well, compared to Sabine and Vivian)...that's Chloe on the couch (younger daughter of Frank and Ronnie, they and their elder daughter MJ came down the following day), Seth (token boy...) and Qaci (daughter of Zenmomma and Jon) all came to town to see the CSI Exhibit at OMSI, and other Portland delights! Vivian and Sabine were delighted with having teens (and other grown ups) around, as were we!














Building with Kapla Blocks (marbles make a nice addition)...

Keeping cool during the heat wave (Bret's birthday canoe made a really nice (if expensive) wading pool, but at least we didn't need to run out and buy a wading pool!)...














Finding scores like this one at Goodwill ($8!, but we did have to spend $7 on mallots...but it's an amazing instrument -- has beautiful tone!)...














And finding/tying up just the right pony for the Portland Horse Project. (We have a ring in front of our house)...














I like this one because it shows not only Cicso (friendly neighborhood ambassador cat) but the chalk board where we were writing/reading words (and drawing pictures) with Sabine.














Oh, and I almost forgot -- saw the Indigo Girls in concert at the Oregon Zoo...an amazing evening, made even nicer by Dave's offer to babysit so Bret and I could go sans-children...Zenmomma was in town the night before to hear a speaker, and we talked her into going with us. Very fun!













Photo credit here, since I didn't even bring our camera with us to the concert!

Now we're making plans for the fall (including DoJump Classes for Sabine and Vivian), playdate swaps with homeschooling friends, park days, OMSI visits, and more...stay tuned!

Reading nook

I was making lunch the other day and heard Sabine running back and forth, up and down the stairs. She said she was creating a surprise. She used the pillows from the guest room (under the pink blanket...she said we'll put them back in the guest room when people come to stay, don't worry) the ever-popular Chix Rule blanket made by our friend Theresa, some throw pillows from the couch and a $5 end table from Goodwill.

The window is at the mid-level-landing of the stairs...


The older book on top is a Webster Consolidated Encyclopedic Dictionary from 1950. It belonged to my grandparents. It has several pages of full color animals, plants, etc. Sabine's been enjoying it. Bret bought The Knowledge Book on one of his solo-job-hunting trips to Portland last year. Dave took him to the National Geographic Society's huge warehouse sale that only happens every couple of years...I can't wait to go to the next one!