Art Class

I love volunteering in Leia's classroom, especially when it's art day. 
 
Today's project was to draw a portrait, half human and half wild thing (from Maurice Sendak's great book). The kids started with a folded paper, added a few baselines and then went wild.
 
I love how these turned out - Leia's is on the left; her friend's is on the right.
 
These crazy guys were also in the classroom - 
 
I forgot to ask Leia what this one's name is, so I'm calling him Mr. GrassMan. Cool, man.

Make Cookies!

Me, in the car after picking up Leia from school: Soooo, what do you want to do today?
 
Leia: Make cookies!!
 
Me: Are you sure?

Leia: MAKE COOKIES!!!
 
So we made cookies. It's a shame this kid is so wishy-washy and can never make up her mind about things. (Not!)

Stash Update

My fabric stash has been out of control for awhile. It was spread throughout the house, with piles here and bins there. Sewing ground to a halt because I couldn't find anything.

Earlier this week, My Pal Reyna got tired of hearing me complain came over to help organize the mess. The night before, I'd piled all* my bins, bags and boxes of fabric on the living room floor. (Hubby was soooooooo happy.)

It took us all afternoon, but Reyna whipped my mess into a logical, efficient system. Two big bags of fabric were donated to a charity quilting program. All the rest is in labeled bins, sorted by color and type of fabric (batiks, kid prints, backing fabric, etc.).

Thank you, Reyna! I can actually find things again! Sewing can begin again - starting with all those works-in-progress we unearthed and that are now neatly corralled into one two three bins.

View of the stash room, from the doorway.

Yarn bins still outnumber fabric, but not by much.

 

* Maybe not all the fabric. Christmas and Halloween still have their own special drawers outside the stash room. 'Cause they're my favorites.

 

Exercise Help

Leia decided she should "help" Pop with his stretches.

And by "help" I mean see how often she could get in his way.

I missed the shot where she was sitting on his stomach.

They were both laughing so hard they could hardly move.

Fun times.

 

*These were taken awhile back; guess I should download pics from my 'real' camera more often.

 

Quilt Show

I'd made arrangements with My Pal Reyna™ to attend the Camarillo quilt guild's annual show today, not knowing that Leanne would be out of school for a teacher in-service day. Leanne was not pleased when she discovered she'd be going to the quilt show with me . . . until I said the magic grandma words: "Disney princess store!"

"Love Notes" by Sharon Lewis. I want to make this, someday.

And they really are magical. During the four hours we spent at lunch and the show, I only had to remind Leanne once that visiting "Disneyland" was based on her good behavior.

For Rachel - a gigantic chicken purse, with long spindly legs. It was awesome!

Between the guild's scavenger hunt for kids - with a cute prize bag for completion - and anticipation of the Disney treat, I think Leanne actually had fun. I know I did.  My little Pumpkin is growing up!

He Wins

This is how I spent most of my day -

staring at crochet charts and working on class samples*.

This is how Pop spent most of his day -

with Marie and Leanne on Santa Monica Pier.

He wins best day, hands down.

* I love my 'job', but crunch time - when I have to have 12 samples made, with patterns written and photos taken, by Saturday - is a royal PITA. (Pain in the tushie)

 

Haircut Surprise

Marie and I have been trying for a month or more, off and on, to talk Leanne into getting her haircut.

The conversation usually goes . . . Me: "Hey Leanne, how'd you like to get a sparkly haircut today?" Leanne: "No!" (On more mellow days, it's "no, thank you.")

So you can imagine my surprise when I asked again today, just for the heck of it, and she said "yes".

A fast phone call - before she changed her mind - and 15 minutes later Leanne was perched in a barber chair,

happily watching Charlie Brown and Snoopy, while her hair was cut "to my shoulders, please."

 

And the final verdict?

Happiness on all fronts. Leanne loves her new 'do with the sparkles and rainbow colors. I love fewer tears during brushing sessions.

Isn't my Pumpkin Princess the cutest??

 

Baby News

It's a girl! Maybe.

This is the second ultrasound where little missy has kept her legs tightly crossed. The tech thinks she's a girl. Guess I better stick with neutral colors on my baby projects for a bit longer.

And? Leanne, who has been adamant from the beginning that she's getting a baby brother, has decided she's ok with a sister, but only if the middle name is Rose so Leanne can call her 'Rosie', Mom and dad have signaled tentative agreement.

 

Clickety-Clack

Addy is fascinated with typewriters. One of her first requests when she arrived was would we pleeeeeeeease get Pop's old typewriter down so she could try it out.

It took a bit of finding - this thing probably hasn't seen the light of day since Pop graduated from the Academy 1975-ish - but he hauled it down for her. Pop never could resist a little girl batting her eyes and saying 'please'.

And it turned out to be the hit of the weekend - all three girls were enchanted. The look on Leanne's face when I showed her how to use the shift-key for capital letters was priceless!

I was amazed that the typewriter - and the ribbon - still worked. Pop has had this relic since at least high school, making it a verified antique. He wanted to get rid of it years ago but I wouldn't let him. I knew it would be worth something someday.

And that worth showed up this weekend in the faces of the grand-girls.

 

Early Up

We were up bright and early to make the most of Addy and Rachel's remaining California time.

Once Leia and Leanne arrived, we piled into the traveling movie wagon (note the headphones in photo; in-car dvd systems are wonderful!) and headed to Ventura and the beach.

The recent storms have washed away most of the sand, leaving the beaches covered almost entirely in rocks.

The girls were a little disappointed that they couldn't go swimming or hunting for shells (there weren't any!)

but we broke out the dollar store sand toys and they quickly forgot about everything else.

Note the attire preferences - Leia in bathing suit; Addy with shorts and shirt; and Leanne in her favorite coat.

Lunch was Dickey's BBQ in Ventura - kids eat free!! on Sunday's, including ice cream cones -

then we headed back to the house for a couple of hours of cousinly play time before heading to the airport. More on the play time tomorrow . . . .

The new street lights at LAX are weird interesting.

Bye, Addy and Rachel! We miss you already!

Day 3 - Craftcation

Pop and Addy had big plans today - Amtrak to Santa Barbara and the Sea Center on the pier; or Moorpark Zoo with a behind the scenes tour - but the heavy rain and threat of thunderstorms put an end to outdoor adventures. Instead, they saw Zootopia at the movie theater, then watched the first Harry Potter movie at home. Can you believe Addy has never seen any of the Potter movies?? Rachel has really been neglecting important aspects of Addy's education. . . .

Meanwhile, Rachel and I were on our last day of Craftcation. We built terrariums in our first class -

mine has a little sheep; Rachel's has a bunny and chickens.

Next up was how to take great photos for online shops (or class webpages, in my case) using just an iPhone camera. Learned we need an LED light box . . .

Our after-lunch class was canceled - can't make sun prints if there's no sun! - but Rach was able to get into a needle felting class, which she'd never tried before. Only stabbed herself twice, so we're counting that as a win.

Last up was an LED light workshop which turned out to be really cool. I made a chicken wire frame with lights and flowers that I plan to use for small snapshots. Rachel used the same frame and similar flowers, but hers will become an earring holder for Addy.

Tomorrow's the last day of Craftcation but we're going to give it a miss. In the morning we're off to the beach so Addy can gather shells for her friends in Colorado. Then a family lunch and it'll be time for Rach and Addy head back home. It's been a fun visit but - as always - much too short!

Craftcation - Day 2

Rachel brought the rain with her from Colorado, but despite the dreariness outside, things were bright and fun inside Craftcation. My first class today was Sashiko coasters -

This was the workshop I'd been most looking forward to and it did not disappoint. Relaxing, fun, productive . . . loved it!

Rachel's first class was hand-sewn notebooks and, unfortunately, it was a snore. She made 3 or 4 books in the first 30 minutes, then went looking for another class - any class! - to learn something new.

Our afternoon was spent making the Quick Market Bag, with the same teacher as my Sashiko class, and it was awesome.

Great instructions, beautiful fabric, fun, fun, fun.

Rach and I both finished early and we're thrilled with our results.

Great way to end the first part of the day.

Meanwhile, Addy and Pop headed back to L.A. and the Science Museum.

Addy is fascinated by space and was super excited to see the space shuttle.

She was even happier that she got to see it before her Daddy.

Not that she'd rub it in or anything.

And since they were in the area, Pop and Addy stopped by the Natural History Museum to admire the dinosaurs too.

And to finish off the day? Dinner at Stacked and a trip to Bare Minerals makeup store. I needed to update my 'look' for the Queen Mary 2 cruise and apparently Addy loves her some lipstick.

We made the sales lady's day - and the store's profit margin for the day, I'm sure - but Addy and I are both very happy. And that's what really counts.