The (b)rain barrel

I've been meaning to post this one for a while...Bret's finished project. He is a pretty awesome artist!

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.

And yet another reason to love Portland

Vivian and I had meandered up to Faubion School (right up the street from us) on Sunday afternoon so she could practice her training-wheel-less bike riding. We were getting ready to head home, and I noticed a person in a bunny suit riding a bicycle towards us. (It was Easter, so I wasn't too surprised...) but then I noticed another, and another, and WOAH -- about 60 of them! And one bunny on a tandem with a guy in a chicken suit in front.



Vivian and I left the playground while they were still waiting for all the bunnies to catch up. They then biked down our street -- Bret was already out front, and I was able to run in the house so Sabine could come see them too. It was a riot!

Apparently it's a Portland tradition. We'll have to catch it next year.

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.

Learning through mistakes

Very cool article here about the science of mistakes (and how people actually learn things)...thanks to my friend Margareta for passing this on!

The girls had a great class at S.C.R.A.P. today (love, love, love that place!) and I found, among other things, a comb binder for $6 (not as fancy as the one pictured...but it works...and did I mention it was only $6!). I've been wanting one for a while...and now it's here! Now if I could only will a die cut machine into our world...I miss working in a library that had all of these things...

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.

Tree swing

Bret used a piece of wood from a shelf we pulled out of a closet, and bought a length of rope from the hardware store to make a front yard swing.

Hours of entertainment!

Slacker blogger

So it seems we continue to be busy with life...and just not so into posting these days. Ebb and flow, right?

But for a quick update of what we've been up to...


Playing at the school playground that's up the street from our house...


Sabine's still been into creating outfits for me (might not be able to see it here, but there is jewelery placed to go with it too -- a necklace and bracelet and earrings)...


We finished the Dealing with Dragons series by Patricia Wrede -- mostly read by Bret to Sabine at bedtime, but sometimes throughout the day when we're on a roll! It has a very feisty heroine -- reminds me of some girls I know! Just started the Inkheart series...


We had a really fun trip to the coast a few weeks back when we were having mock spring here. Vivian's posing with the skim board. Bret pulled both girls along the water to let them experience the fun, then Vivian proceeded to take an hour-long nap, snuggled up on our blankets. Sabine and Bret explored the driftwood, and Sabine made friends with another little girl. We each brought a bag of Catalina ashes to sprinkle -- on the path, and around the beach where she loved to dig.

We also had a fun trip to Great Wolf Lodge in WA -- a local homeschooling parent set up a trip with great group rates, so we jumped on it. Aside from the flat tire we got on the I-5 on the way up there it was an amazing trip (thank goodness Bret was a speedy tire changer -- we were no where near an exit, and fortunately the flat was on the passenger side, 'cause it was scary having all those big rigs speed by!).

Designing girl

I forgot to take a photo of the centerpiece Sabine made for the New Years Eve party -- with plastic shiny ornaments, a string of white lights and some plastic fish...very cool...but here is one she made out of greenery from our yard and snips from the Christmas tree. She found the glass bowls in descending size, and set it all up...



The flowers below were given to us from our friend who works in the floral department of our local grocery store -- she gave us a BUNCH of flowers that were on their last legs and Sabine arranged them like this (while friend Marley and Vivian played bride with the two "bouquets" of tulips):

I'm a winner!

So you know those people who always win raffles? Yeah, not me. I never win drawings. I mean, really. NEVER. I buy the raffle ticket(s) write down my name and contact info, and just forget about it.

OK, now that I really think about it, maybe I won a thing or two at one of the Life is Good Conferences, but then again it might have been Bret or Sabine or Vivian's names on the ticket...usually I stick with things that I can semi-control like silent auctions (out of my way, I have a pen and will use it!!!).

But as of tonight, I'm a winner! First, I got out of the house with minimal mommy-clinginess from Vivian. (Granted she was upstairs in the bath when I left and Bret was talking to her, so maybe I just didn't hear the screaming.) Then, after a blissful 15 minute drive where I got to blast the radio and sing loudly to the station of my choice without another soul in the mini-van asking me to pick up the water bottle that fell under my seat, or what snacks we have in the car, or telling sisters to please stop antagonizing each other (so, not every car ride is like that, but you know what I mean), I arrived at Bolt Fabric Store for Amy Karol's book signing for her newest work:



I just bought the book tonight, so I can't comment on it, but I'm thinking it's going to make me more than a little distracted from packing! Must...concentrate...on...filling...boxes!

I have had her first book



for several years, and have found much inspiration from it. While the projects and patterns are great, I think the best thing about it is the attitude that ANYONE can sew, and that there's no need to be perfect...It feels like you're working alongside one of those nice friends that is supportive/funny/kind and wickedly creative.

Did I mention how deliciously wonderful Bolt is? I found it a few years back during a visit to Portland when I bought another sewing book (Sew What Skirts) at Powells, and the cashier asked me if I'd been to Bolt (nope). I wrote down the name, and lo and behold it was down the street from the Community Cycling Center which was on Bret's to-see list, so it was a win-win.

(Confession, I still have the fabric, washed and everything, that I bought that day to sew a skirt from the book...fortunately, I still love the fabric, and really will make that skirt someday...)

Anyhow, we were talking about me being a winner, right? So the time for the drawing arrives (this is after I've asked Amy to sign my newly purchased second book, and my first book, found in the house out of its Dewey decimal order on the bedside table and we've had a nice chat...she's just like she comes across in her book -- very warm and sweet -- wait, that sounds like I'm describing a Krispy Kream donut...never mind...), and my name is drawn. Mine! Me! Wahoo!

This is what I won:



It says on the outside: This bag contains very important craft supplies and possibly some chocolate. Yes it did! Two packages of iron on fabric transfer paper, a copy of Bend the Rules Fabric (which I had Amy sign for Kat -- she needs a nice surprise, right?) two bundles of sweet fat quarters, a box of Amy's new labels (they have just the amount of sarcasm that I love!), and indeed, some chocolate (shhh, I didn't tell the girls, though Sabine read it on the bag...I tried to gloss over it...). It was such a nice treat to win, and just what I needed at the end of this week.

I also got to talk with several interesting women -- many of whom are teachers of classes at Bolt (did I mention that Bolt is about a mile from our new house?) And that they have not only an amazing fabric selection, but also some amazing classes? And there's a solar waffle cart across the street? Oh yeah.

Oh, and when I got home, Sabine presented me with this creation (the photo does not do it justice):



Bret has made some lovely little sculptures with copper wire (dog, cat, flowers...must take some photos...) and Sabine got a hold of a little wire, a bead and a button. Sweet little flower. Creating things is so wonderful, as is receiving things that have been created by hand.

All right, this ended up being a much longer blog post than I intended...but it may be the last one for a bit. Tell me to go back to packing if you see me here again in the upcoming weeks.

Boo!

Had a great time trick-or-treating with the girls -- last year I stayed home to eat, I mean pass out candy, but we only had 3 people come by (2 of which were our neighbors) so this year we all went out.

Ronnie was down here to take her girls to the teen-unschooler-portland-party, and so joined us for the evening of fun.

Made yummy easy veggie chowder (with butter instead of margarine) with bread from Little T, then remembered at about 4pm that we still had a few pumpkins to carve, so whipped them out...














(Bret's alien pumpkin)

Then put the finishing touches on Sabine's costume:

from here. (Worth every penny...we use this daily...)

Then facepainted Sabine:



And then took some photos of both girls with Catalina -- Vivian was a PIXIE, by the way, NOT a fairy. :) She picked out the costume at Goodwill (thank goodness...as she said it was itchy and wanted to cut the sleeve off of it when we got home...go for it girl!)



Here are a few of my favorite photos from the night...some folks went ALL OUT on decorations/costumes...very fun.







Not sure if you can see them very well, but I made treat bags for both of the girls from fabric they picked out (when we went to the fabric store to buy elastic to fix Vivian's wings...). Sabine spotted the zebra fabric, and we knew we had to do something with it (besides sew a zebra costume...that's what masking tape is for!) and Vivian picked out a very cute blue owl print. Just right for a pixie.

Sabine and Vivian have been generously sharing their "loot" with the grownups...we're all almost candied out. Bring on Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Carving Fun

Must have been a fun party, as we forgot to take very many photos! But here are some of the jack-o-lanterns that were created.