Shirts 'n Skirts, Swords and More
I've been into making gifts lately. We are invited to a lot of birthday parties each year and we're at the age where we have a lot of friends having a lot of babies. Although 15-30 bucks a kid for 20 or so kids a year doesn't add up to more than a few hundred dollars, I get tired of shopping on the internet or even locally for educational, green, durable, yet fun toys. Plus, some of the nicest gifts my kids receive are gifts that are made by the creative minds of other moms. I've found also that often times I'd rather just spend some time seeing what my imagination can develop.
100% cotton beach skirt for 2 year old girl,
(<1/2 yard fabric, some elastic, some thread)
dragon shirts for boys,
(art drawn by a friend in jpeg format,
transferred to tees-on-sale by local small business)
dump truck shirts for little boys,
(again good quality shirts on clearance for a few dollars,
a tube of fabric paint for a couple of dollars,
and a silhouette cut out and painted with a sponge)
I also had a good time embroidering some onsies. My free-style embroidery skills are okay but I couldn't fit as much as I'd liked ... for one "Baby Frampdizzle" became "(Embroidered Figure of Baby) Frampton" and for another "1/2 Glad 1/2 Grumpy" just became "1/2 Glad," the mom's maiden name. I've made plenty of swords and shields and I've found that some felt and hot glue makes nice and easy handle covers for the swords and hand slots on the shields. I've also been experimenting with wall cutouts of little boy and girl cowboys for our farm-loving cousins. I haven't made all of the gifts ... some have been eco-crafts, some locally hand-made items, and some have been simple craft activities I have developed.
Spring is always a busy and fun time. The boys sure have been enjoying the snow, slush, puddles, rocks, and mud!
Color
Today, after a week of blue skies and melting temps, the inevitable happened. It snowed. I admit; I liked it. It made me feel all warm, cozy, and crafty. Here are just a few of the things that we did with food color today to make the gray skies feel sunny again.
Homemade play-doh (this batch was a gift from a friend)
Brown eggs, some colored with crayon and all dyed
Snow "paint," just water and some drops of color
A sea
We also dropped water colors I made (in an ice cube tray) onto coffee filters and then cut them into colorful snowflakes. The kids have enjoyed mixing the colors also, for years, to see which new colors they can make. Just a few drops in water, plus your imagination and theirs, can create so much fun for a small child.
The Beginning of Year Four
We now have a six year old (dog), a four year old, and a two year old in the house. The boys spend all day, with minimal intervention by me, laughing, playing games, and discovering things. The imagination of the older one and the language skills of the younger one have really allowed for their relationship to form nicely. They are both so fortunate to have best friends and playmates from the time they awaken until the time they go to sleep.
We had about 40 adults and children attend our son's outdoor bonfire birthday party. The kids really had a great time playing in all of the snow, on the playground, with dump trucks, buckets, and especially with colored water in spray bottles. We played a couple of games where the kids raced to find pinwheels and snowflakes in the mazes (paths) but they were so busy playing together that participation was sporadic so I didn't even have to bother with tug of war or freeze tag. The adults entertained themselves by the bonfire ... for over four hours!
For me, this winter has gone by quickly. We recently were able to make our first snowman since snow first fell around Halloween, five months ago; Spring is here! Our son completed almost a year (8 months) of preschool two days a week. One of his last days of school was crazy hair day. And he completed a tot level ice skating class.
This summer, the boys will resume swimming lessons and in the fall our four and a half year old will take violin lessons from a local teacher and join the other Suzuki preschool children in town once a week to play as a group. We are going to register both boys for a preschool close to our home, but I am not sure yet if we will have them attend. Maybe we will join the ski team, go to MN more, or just let them stay home and play with each other. Being that they aren't yet in school, we have a lot of good options.
Ice Festival
Every year we have a couple of ice festivals in Interior Alaska. One is in around Christmas time and the other is in February and March. Ice festivals to me are like dog sled races. I could take them or leave them, which is why I've never bothered to write about our attending them before, even though we've brought our kids as young as infants. If the temp is above 20 and the sun is out, we'll go and enjoy a few hours outside, but below that they can be painful activities or all too short. Today, it was near 30 and sunny and the International Ice Festival, which has been going on for weeks, will end in a week. We had an excellent time walking through five-foot ice mazes, crawling through three-foot ones, spinning in ice bowls, and of course sliding down the large, dangerous slides of glare ice. The kids loved every second of this adventure.
Suite Dreams and Winter Themes
January and February are gone already and March is here. It has been an interesting winter across the globe. I read in the Daily News-Miner today that in Fairbanks, AK the first three weeks of December were the warmest ever on record, January was the fifth coldest ever, and February was the warmest in 10 years. Minnesota for the longest time had less snowfall this winter than Texas but on "leap day" was dumped on so badly that people had to stay home from work and school. Above you can see someone has made it out on skis 4 times now, which means he's becoming comfortable enough to lean, turn around, and even glide a little. I think I've made it out 8 times, excluding with him, so assuming March is nice I should meet my goal of 10 trips. Above right, the boys are waiting for their friends to arrive to take them to ice skating lessons. Twice a week for five weeks a kind friend has offered to bring our son and another woman's daughter with her own to take lessons. This has been nice because it was quite hard to bring him the six times we did since the little brother isn't quite ready to be on the ice with us yet. Our older son continues to attend preschool two afternoons a week and the teacher reports he is very well adapted and social.
Sometime in January, my husband and I took on a weekly commitment. He is teaching his 4th class (3rd different course in all) for the local university's Process Technology program. And I joined the Fairbanks Community Band. Finding the time for both leaves little time for other projects around home, but they are both very challenging and rewarding. It is always fun to meet new people, friends of friends, and just yesterday I without much effort recruited one of my favorite friends to join the band. The photo above is of us before the community service concert Suite Dreams and Winter Themes, which was held at the Pioneer Park Theatre.
These guys are the absolute best. This last week has been exhausting. My weeks normally go smoothly, without drama but each day I received a piece of news that was shocking to me ... a young friend with cancer, a leak and water damage at a friends home and rental property we watch, and several other horrible things that I won't get into. But, just as I started to get tears in my eyes at the end of the week, the little guy who is barely two says, "Mommy, don't cry anymore." His understanding of the world and language skills are about as good as the average kid twice his age. And then they both started saying, "Please take pictures of us." And I remembered I haven't been taking pictures lately. These boys are full of energy, giggles, "roars," "args," and punches. No week is too tough with their love and animation.
Bring Spring On
One day not too long ago, I realized we had sunlight in all rooms of the house. Since we heat with wood, I can surely say the house plan we chose and the large windows for which we opted are wonderful. Not being from here, it'd be much tougher for me to remain happy in a smaller or darker place. I feel like the kids' energy is amplified also. They run more quickly and shout more loudly. The boy above who has been a knight for months now (but was a pirate in photo in honor of a pirate birthday party) has a running list of things that he would like to do "in the grass," such as juggle, axe wood, and camp ... all of which I agree can be tough to do with mittens and extra gear.
Today feels to me the warmest day of the in entire winter. We've had a few days since late October where it's been warmer than today's +15F but some have had a bit of wind, moisture, or were too early in the year for us to really appreciate them. Warm winter days just don't start to feel really warm until February or March. And I suppose it's just as well because by this time of year the snow is deep and as fluffy as can be. I look forward to this coming week of +15's and I know the boys do too.
A Little Boy's 2nd Year Celebration
We had a quiet birthday party at home today, just me and the boys. It actually was not that quiet but more-so than having a bunch of kids over. The boys awakened to some new movies, new swords and shields, a fishing game, and a pancake breakfast with juice. The birthday boy chose to eat only juice and then after playing took a long nap. During his nap, his big brother and I enjoyed a movie and baked a carrot cake. The little guy is nuts for carrots. Cousin Jennie called to give her wishes. After attempting to blow out candles and successfully eating the sweet treat, we headed to the post office to pick up gifts from Grandma Linda, Grandpa Greg and Auntie Laurie, talked with them on the phone. And just as dad arrived home from work, we enjoyed a surprise visit and Hawaiian gifts from Papa Bob and Grandma Barb. It was a great day shared with close family near and far.
A Wonderful Dozen Visits
My parents came to visit us for their twelfth time in six years. I am getting better at controlling my excitement before they arrive and our disappointment after they leave. I plan things to occupy myself and the kids until our next visit and it seems to work pretty well.
While my parents and I were out shopping, my husband made my mom a red velvet cake with cherries inside for her belated birthday. Puss in Boots here had a good time helping to make it and blowing out the candles. That night my mom, my dad, and I caught the flu ... probably from our son who barfed momentarily a couple of days before us. Sounds like a scenario last February when they visited? Yes, almost an exact repeat.
We had a warm 1st week and were able to play and walk outside but as soon as Christmas arrived, so did the cold. It did not, however, keep us inside or home.
Because I do not have any siblings and my husband's siblings are younger and without families of their own, it means that the boys are the only grandchildren on both sides and the only great-grandchildren that are still kids. They were spoiled by us and grandparents with things like skis, skates, the rocking horse my dad made for me when I was two, a pirate ship, a hunting camp, knight castle, and much more.
The boys had a lot of attention and asked for their grandparents still. Actually, as I am typing this and my son is watching a movie he says, "I want grandma and grandpa to stay here, mom." It's a good thing they will soon retire. Until then, we remember them by having pillow fights each night on their bed, playing with their gifts, reading books about Minnesota, and eating my mom's (my grandma's) cinnamon and sugar bread rolls. Besides, we have memories of sitting outside at -25 and watching fireworks with them, ice skating, swimming, and much more including fantastic cowboy and indian costumes and wooden bath boats made by grandma and grandpa.
I received a scroll saw for Christmas and hope to make many gifts with it. I want to take a knitting class and learn how to expand my knitting capabilities, which should also help me gift creatively. Tomorrow, I join the Community Band and will play the flute in a group as I did from 5th grade - college. I am looking for a used but maintained piano on which the boys will take lessons and hope in other ways to incorporate more music into our lives. I have joined the Ladies of Leisure ski group and want to ski ten times this year which would be probably the most times ever in a year or at least the most in the last fifteen years; I am up to four so I should make it. I want to bike with the Dirt Divas again this summer at least four times a month and bike to the art exhibits on First Fridays at least once. I want to bring the boys camping two times and backpack with either my girlfriends or my husband before I find it completely intolerable (I'm 30!). I want to teach my son before or during age four to skate alone (almost there), ski (he shows promise), swim (I've been slacking here), and to read (he's starting to sound them out) since he shows an interest and promise in all of these valuable skills. I think I will stay busy this year or at least until March, when we plan to see my parents again.
Homemade Laundry Soap
A month ago, a friend shared a pint jar of home-made laundry soap with me. It's opaque white, smells like ordinary soap, and a similar consistency to any liquid detergent. After laundering our clothes with it a couple times a week, it is half gone, and I can tell it works just as well as the earthy brands we have been using for the past couple of years and as well as the mainstream brands that give your clothes odor and leave chemical residue to boost the reflection of light (color!) I like to buy the environmentally-friendly detergent brands because they tend to be fragrance-free, biodegradable, and have fewer additives, which means they are healthier for us as well. Making soap at home seems to me like a good way to keep using a green product but with fewer packages to recycle and at a fraction of the cost. For the price of one jug of liquid detergent, which is not even a gallon in size, I can easily buy the ingredients required to make 15+ gallons of comparable soap at home.
Ingredients:
4 cups hot water
1 bar Fels Naptha or Kirk's Castile
1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
Directions:
Grate the soap and add it to a sauce pan that contains the hot water. Stir until melted on medium-low heat. Fill a container with 5 gallons of hot tap water. Add the soap, borax, and washing soda. Stire until dissolved. Cover and let thicken overnight or until cool. Stir again.
Use:
1/4 cup for high efficiency (HE) machines
5/8 cup for regular machines
There are numerous websites that describe the previous in more detail, with variations, and with photos. For example, here is a diaper site that describes how to make two different powder versions of this soap, which they call detergent for some reason (mistake?). I think I will make the second, the heavy powder, because I already own liquid castile soap, using liquid instead of bar means I don't have to grate it, heat it, or deal with multiple bars since a little liquid goes a long way, and because making powder soap is not only easier than making liquid but it takes up less space.
Note that stores usually sell detergents, which are synthetic, and here we I am talking about making soap, which is composed of natural substances. There is no question that soap is easier on us and our environment, but detergents are better at removing hard-water residue. So, for diapers, which need to remain absorbent or in hard water locations the price of specialized diaper detergents can be a necessity unless other steps are taken to strip the fabrics.
