A Valentine's Tragedy, by the 5 year old

Once upon a time there was a mermaid queen.

She roamed the ocean swimming and looking beautiful.

But then pirates caught her

and burned her up

and ate her for dinner.

She was unfortunately delicious.

A little room for Princess Pea

Melissa and I each like to collect old clock casings. You just never know what a little box might hold, you know? Like maybe a chandelier made out of birthday candles.

Don't you love finding things like this around your house? That's right, child #2. Mom is Lynne.

I found my old re-furbished first digital camera (1.3 mega pixels) in the back of a cupboard the other day. I like the way the black and white pictures look on it, so I used it to take a few shots around the house. And it ran out of the (new) batteries I'd put in it after only 20 pictures. Ah, the good old days of digital photography. Incidentally, have any of you discovered Hattie Big Sky? It's a great little book. ... what are your January reads?

Art Mondays: Landscapes

I love art. My obsession began when I was a little girl - I grew up right outside of Washington, D.C. and my parents took us to the Smithsonian museums all the time, most often the National Gallery, consequently one of my most favorite places in the world. Once I threw up there (right by the rotunda). Another time a friend and I pretended we were sick and wheeled around in wheel chairs (I'm not sure why we did this). Another time our seventh grade went there and some kid stuck a Hari-Krishna sticker ("be happy!") right on a Botticelli. Two out of the four times I ever skipped school were to go there (I know, I am such a nerd - one of the other times was to watch the whole 8 hours of Anne of Green Gables & Anne of Avonlea with my friend Suzanne because I don't want sunbursts and marble halls. I just want you). I've taken/dragged all (3) of my significant boyfriends there, and continue to bring boyfriend-3-now-husband and our 3 kids to it as often as I get the chance (which is a lot less now that I live in California and my parents are in Florida for a three year stint, volunteering for our Church). All of this is to make the point that I love art and I really, really, really, really want my children to find the same kind of joy looking at it that I get. It doesn't take anything but your eyes and heart to be moved by a great painting - no fancy clothes or money (*except if you have to buy a ticket to get in to the museum. Another reason that I love the National Gallery - totally free).

I've mentioned before that I'm the art mom in my son's second grade class - my son's teacher is nice enough to let me come in once a week and we have an hour to talk about great artists and great art, and then do a project based on what we've learned (definitely one thing that I've found is that the talking part needs to be really short). The first part of the year (and last year) I was kind of disorganized, just doing this or that, but I've finally tried to get my act together and write up the lessons in little units (like, landscapes, portraits, etc). Here's the first lesson that's in this format - an introduction to landscapes. I'm trying to make it so that if you are interested in doing a similar kind of thing in your child's class you can (if you need a starting point) print this out and have everything you need information-wise to present a little lesson/activity. I need to make the point though that I'm not an "art education professional" - just a mother with a degree in art history, so take it for what it is and absolutely if you have suggestions - send them my way!

A lot of the art activity ideas I use come from MaryAnn F. Kohl's book Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters, a book I highly recommend if you are at all interested in getting your kids into art. Also great is Sandi Henry's Making Amazing Art! 40 Activities using the 7 Elements of Art Design. Really good resources. I often start with an art activity idea from one of these books and then supplement it with more art history - lots of pictures and hopefully a good story or two (the Smart about Art series is excellent). We have an art timeline on the classroom wall, where we post up small images of famous artists' paintings to try and give a little sense of where the art fits in.

Finally - to find some statistics on the impact of the arts in education, see www.americansforthearts.org.

wanderings coat: blue velvet

my girl and her favorite outfits: you might recognize some of them...

a peak at the back neck gathers

a peak at the inside melange of blues and hand quilting

Voila a soft blue velvet coat for those freezing January days. I slowly quilted the inside layer over the Christmas break while watching a plethora of BBC movies. The quilting adds weight to the coat, providing warmth and lushness in stitched layers. The inside has much entertainment potential too: a menagerie of blues melt into a mind-wandering ocean of heavy sand and blue-dyed linen. A large pocket serves to hold all the laminated watercolor paper dolls of my girl and her many outfits. (No I did not copy the ingenious Black Apple; I've been working on these for quite some time...) If you're not skilled with brush and pen, perhaps you could make some personalized dolls from photographs of your girl. I described how to do this in a post last year.

And if you've already ordered a wanderings pattern, I'll soon post some more tips for sewing the hood with fur...not the simplest endeavor. But well worth the adventure...

grey servant dress, round neck with french trim

Yesterday I sewed for the first time in months. I think I was massively burned out.

I'm so happy Melissa finally shared her seven-month secret! Melissa, you remind me of a Vermeer woman, gracefully and calmly keeping your own quiet counsel. I wish I was more like that.

I loved reading the comments from the last post - especially the one from miss anonymous, who said "grounded children grow up to be grounded adults, who are able to do much to help this hurting world."

Here's to a much slower 2009.

slow living

My new mantra for the new year is "slow living."  More reading, less t.v.; more doodling and sketching, less Internet trances; more quiet sewing, hand stitching, knitting, less frenetic errand-running; more nature hikes, less Walmart and Target; more speaking French with my kids, less PBS kids. Perhaps my mantra is a bit of a chimera, given my three, almost four kids.  Or maybe I'm just feeling really fat and slug-like in my seventh month of pregnancy.  But I think this year I want to say the word: "hurry" less often.  And truly enjoy my kids even more.  

A Child's Prayer

From the 5 year old:

"Heavenly Father, bless that my parents aren't so borin' tomorrow. And please bless that my mom starts dressing like a Bratz doll."

Wallpaper at last

Finally we wallpapered our little family room nook! I love my mini-forest.

If you haven't had a chance to read a little bit about the new Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act, click on the Save Handmade button to the right. The effects of this law (while I totally get the need for safety) sound absolutely devastating to our ability to make choices as consumers. It makes me feel like the marketplace for children's items after February 10 will be stricken down to Walmart and Target. What a depressing thought! Am I blowing this out of proportion? I hope so. What do you think? Please share some optimism with me...

sweet little girls

Happy New Year!

My goals are made, Christmas decorations away, and we're kind of ready for next week, when school etc. all begin again.

Look at these sweet little dolls. The two on the sides were Christmas gifts for my girls from their Auntie Courtney, who made them from this Black Apple pattern. Aren't they fabulous? The doll in the middle I picked up for baby at Pottery Barn Kids on clearance. She's terrified of it. (Would you think less of me if I told you that I have fun asking her to hold it, just because I think it's funny to hear her say, "no scary baby - eyes!"?)