Snoodle

Rewind

Once again, I never typed a word here in December.  Oh, I've composed posts in my mind, but until Typepad can upload that, you'll have to settle for a little rewind!  The whole holiday season (yes, Thanksgiving through New Year) felt a bit ...strange.  Vermont conjures up images of skiing, Snowflake Bentley, and the white-capped roofs of postcard towns.  But we've had snowier Easters than this winter.  Last night, we actually got some accumulation, and it is still here!  Nora and David are out sledding right now.  The computer is free so I thought I would start with a little rewind.

We had Thanksgiving at David's mother's house.  David's sister brought one of her turkeys.  Last year the turkey was 38 lbs.  This year:  41 lbs.!  It didn't have a chance of fitting into a roasting pan so an aluminum foil juice-funneling system was developed.  It took three people to do this, but there was a lot of hard cider involved. 

 

I made a scrumdiddlyuptious almond torte which was devoured long before dinner.  Note for next year:  Thanksgiving day requires lunch.  There was no way that bird was going to be done by 2:00 which is, for some reason, the official time of Thanksgiving dinner.

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We got our Christmas tree from a fundraiser at Nora's school.  David schlepped it home over his shoulder.  The neighborhood children thought it was quite entertaining.  I think this photo is quite entertaining:

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Somehow, our whole family was in the Nativity play at Nora's school this year.  For the theater major and dramatic child, this is no surprise.  However, this was a step waaaay out of David's comfort zone.  So, what was his role?  Why, Joseph, of course!  As we say, "If you're gonna do it, do it to it!" He did it and was great.  Mary helped him remember to face the audience, and he remembered all of his lines which was perfection for this performance which included a host of giggling angels and concluded with baby Jesus wailing during the last 15 minutes of the show.  I wish there were more photos, but being on stage as the innkeeper's wife, I was unable to snap any.  These were taken by Jon Hughes.

David as Joseph sleeping.  He's been in training for this scene for years!

 

Nora as a shepherd (perfect!)  She also did great with her lines. 

I made these costumes.

 

I also made the sheep costumes.  I think they're sleeping in this scene.

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Our church's Nativity event continued this year.  We showed our family's nativities:  Playmobile, our slowly-growing Ostheimer (Mary was added on Christmas), and the one that Nora made when she was in Kindergarten.

 

My mother has many Nativities and depictions of the Holy Family.  I think the official baby Jesus count on Christmas day at Grandma's house was 42!  Here she is at one table filled only with her Nativities:

 

My favorite, though, is the nativity that we had when I was a child.  The original figures are long gone/ broken.  Mom wistfully wishes she could have the same style again.  I've been searching ebay.  But the stable is the most nostalgic piece for us.  During some lean times with three children and one (me) on the way, my father took at 2x4 and split it into thin slats to make the rustic outside.  The base is a Tide box!  For years, you could see the bright orange logo on the back, but feeling embarrassed about it, my mother since covered it with the sturdy paper of a grocery bag...  I think I'm getting a sense of where my frugality came from!

 

The Nativities were blessed by our Monsignor.  If you're Catholic, you'll recognize that this was Gaudete Sunday as he is wearing his rose-colored Chasuble.

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On an entirely different note, we say this display on the way to Nora's Christmas concert.

This is an SD Ireland tradition.  They also entertain us with pink concrete mixers and a parade of their fleet on March 17... I wonder why?

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We had a fun time at my sister's house playing games (Awkward Famly Photos, Scategories, and Apples to Apples) on New Year's Eve.  Some of us didn't make it for ringing in the New Year, but I'm glad you made it to the end of this post!

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I'm not quite done rewinding.  I'll fill you in on why this child is running next time!

 

 

 

The Night of the Gypsy Princess

If you had asked me a couple of months ago, I would have guessed that my evening tonight would have been spent with a Revolutionary War Era lass or even a large rabbit, but this wasn't the case.  Instead we spent the night with a gypsy princess.  Now, I'm not sure where the gypsy idea came from.  I don't actually know if my darling daughter knows much about gypsies other than their fabulous skirts made for twirling and a knack for the tambourine.  So, I drew my inspiration from where most of my inspiration seems to be flowing:  Mad Men! 

I thought I would buy a vintage pattern, but it wasn't necessary for this project.  I had my eye on the one below from New Vintage Lady on Etsy- which is still available. 

Instead, I took inspiration from it and set to make do with what I had.

The top is white quilting fabric from my stash.  It could serve as a future underdress layer this Fall/ Winter.  I used the same pattern that I used for her Easter ensemble and beloved green dress that I wrote about here. 

I just gathered four tiers of colorful fabric to make the skirt- fast and easy!  The bottom tier is over 200 inches and the others decrease to the top tier which was the 45" width of that fabric.

The head scarf is folded in a half triangle and tied in the back.  The striped waist scarf is just tied at the hip.  We borrowed both of these as well as numerous other options from our local Front Porch Forum.  Thanks, neighbor!

Grandma loaned the shawl which was essential as it's dang cold on Halloween in Vermont!  She's also wearing a leotard and a long sleeve tee and fleece pants under there!

The necklace and clip on hoop earrings were the only items that I purchased.  I got them at Claire's on a rare mall trip.

Thanks to my friends in music and theater, we borrowed the perfect gypsy tambourine from a local high school theater department.  I tied ribbon streamers into a jingle-less slot.

 

Overall, it was deemed a very successful costume.

More Cake

So, it's the post-birthday weekend and time for an extended family birthday celebration.  Mom, of course made the cake and remembered to print as Nora is extremely frustrated with not being able to read or write in cursive.  It makes me chuckle.  In an age when schools are cutting out handwriting skills, Nora in her typical old-fashioned way, can't wait to learn how to write in script which she will  at her school.  I  like cursive.  I often use it when I'm observing children at work because I can write quickly.  I also just like the action of writing that way.  It's almost always how my mother has written on the hundreds of cakes that she has made.  I think that's why this one looks so strange to me.  Sweet, but not the usual.  As a preschool teacher, she also has nice printing!

The birthday girl decided that she might like a birthday dress made by "mo."  As an aside, she's taken to calling us mo and doe.  When she was younger, she called David "daddy-doh" and when she was learning to spell, she called me m-o-m.  Then, it deteriorated to m-o, and finally just "mo."  So, mo and doh we are... for now.  Anyway, she wanted a dress.  I had made her a little ensemble for Easter that was quite easy.  The fabric is the last of the new ds quilts at Joann's.  I was thrilled to find anything left by the time I got to Joann's.  I love blue and green on Nora so I was glad that the local sewists and quilters left me a couple of coordinates to work with.  It was for Easter, so I went with my go-to twirly skirt.  I may branch out next year.  Though, it will probably behoove me to start more than a couple of days before the holiday! 

Nora looks a little funny in this photo because her tooth was hanging by a thread.  It came out about 24 hours after this photo! 

The shirt pattern was made from 1979's McCall's 6501. If you do make this shirt, note that it seems to run very wide.  (The photo is of my unused size 1.)  I used a size 4 for my nearly seven year old if that helps to give an idea of the size discrepancy.  I always go with bust size as age and size numbers never seem to coincide.  The bust is for 23" which should be right for Nora, but it is still a quite big  I had to take in the sides a lot.  It's still pretty wide, but as I mentioned, I was running a little last-minute and going with the "done is good" philosophy. 

 

The pattern worked a little more nicely as a dress.  Again, it is really tent-like but works for a twirly seven year-old.  I worked hard at getting a picture of her wearing her new dress but couldn't get her to stand still!  And I don't know how I could expect her to when there were cake and presents!

The fabric was part of a magnificent pile of free fabric that I blogged about here.  I knew that I wanted to make Nora something green, and I had just the right amount of fabric to make her this dress while using the coordinate.  The dress pattern is seriously short.  Nora was take aback when I held the tissue to her.  She told me exactly how long she wanted her dress -such a modest girl!  I just lengthened the dress from the original hem to where she wanted it.  The pockets and her headband are made out of the same fabric as the bottom of the hem.  She was thrilled with her new dress.  Though, maybe not as much as the cake... it was really good cake.

Funny Bunny

Today, our rabbit, Sweet Pea, helped to pack Nora's lunch. 

(Thanks, David, for snapping a photo before hiding it in her backpack!)

timothy hay, fiesta max, grainola bar, yogurt treats, and pellets.  Yum!

Hope you had a little foolish fun, too!

Snow Day!

Last night

A month ago

Two simple but magical words:  snow day.  We have our rituals to make it happen:  sleeping with pajamas inside out, snow dances, staying up reeeealy late hoping that the news will announce our school.  Not only did I have one day off, but two!  Nora didn't.  Poor dear had to go to school today.  But yesterday, we had a  day full of games, dressing up in play silks, dancing, reading, watching the Muppet Show, knitting, and making snow ice cream.  We really wanted to get out to go sledding or at least build a snowman, but the snow is deep.  24 inches, I think.  When David ventured outdoors, it took a considerable amount of effort just to open the door-- and that's the porch door!  Short of layering on those play silks (we were fairies), we pretty much just stayed in our jammies: as it should be on a snow day.

 

We were really enthusiastic about making snow ice cream.  It turned out to be delicious, but I was hasty.  I scooped the snow and used it fresh.  You really need to pop it into the freezer first or else it melts just about immediately.

Snow Ice Cream

Freeze a big ol' bowl of scooped (not packed) fresh snow

Freeze about half an hour

While your waiting, mix:

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

until sugar disolves

Add snow, a cup at a time until it's the consistancy of ice cream.

About 4-6 cups

Top with chocolate syrup and crushed peppermint sticks left over from Christmas!

 

 

 

Real men wear bacon

I am so fortunate that my family is all in the same state.  Actually, we're within an hour of each other.  It's a big family with the four of us children, spouses, our children, and an uncle Rob.  (everyone should have an uncle Rob).  For Christmas, each adult draws another adult's name and the cousins draw names.  This year, Nora drew Ben's name.  Ben is twenty-one so she wasn't as inspired as she may have been with her three-year-old cousin.  But I was.  Ben loves bacon, and Ben has a great sense of humor.  I knew he'd love, or even better *wear* a bacon scarf.

I forgot how easy it is to work with fleece.  Maybe the layer of grease helped it slide through my sewing machine.  In any case, I discovered the bridging stitch, and it worked perfectly.  It also made a reversible scarf so there was no special finishing needed.   My initial fleece purchase was the white, pink and some brown, but the brown wasn't right.  It looked like neopolitan ice cream with the other colors.  So, I ordered "dark burgundy" online from Joann's. I thought I would have used more of the pink, but I like just the little hint.  I did lots of research on bacon online and in the skillet.   I think it looks pretty realistic.  Ben makes it look delicious.

Pulling. It. Off.

 

 

The Return of Mr. Bear

April 16

Dear Dolphins

On Friday me and Mr. Bear went to joans and we got smele markrs.  Befor we did that we went to the siins fair.  Love Nora

Nora

On Satreday my mom fixd Mr. Bears nek and bow tiy.  me and mr. Bear went soping.  me and mr. Bear plad a game.  Mr. Bear mad now frens named Jane and Lula.  and Dade was vare laze.

 

On Sunday me and mr. Bear made waffles.  in the afdernun we went to mass.  and wene we were going to mass I herd a woodpeker

Happy Easter!

Have a wonderful Easter filled with all of your favorite traditions:

Nibbling your chocolate bunny...toes or ears first?

Eating Peeps...or would you rather let them go stale and enjoy them in June?

Picking out the black jelly beans from the candy dish...you know who you are! 

Hoping mom will fill the lamb cake with strawberry jam... it'll never happen.

Clearly, my sweet tooth is in charge of keeping up with traditions!

Happy Easter!

Tee Hee Hee

There were some lovely Spring plants on our porch this afternoon.  Nora agreed that they would look nice on the coffee table.  She carefully carried them into the house, and we started reading some books... until mommy started nibbling the dirt.

"Mommy!  Ewww!"  (thanks to David for keeping up with the disgust!)  After daddy started tasting it, Nora thought she would try some.

Yummiest plant ever! 

Actually, it was chocolate pudding with ground Oreos:  scandalous, but oh so dirt like!  I put in some gummy worms, too which totally caught Nora by surprise!  The seedling, by the way, was a little snip of cilantro.  We had some in the fridge, but mint would have been nice, too.

De-licious dirt! 

Happy April Fools Day!

Simple Joys

Whew, I was pretty bummed out there for awhile!  I'm doing better.  I've been on a quest to look for the simple joys.  It was easier than I thought:

*  We found a potential school! 

We're going to visit next Monday. It's a good Catholic school only a couple of blocks away from home.  We went to a parent to parent night to speak with parents of the area schools.  We had a great conversation with these parents.  There were a lot of things about the school that we liked.  The art teacher looks like she does amazing things like teaching perspective and shading from the earliest grades.  There is French class. (Nora insisted she wanted to continue with French!)  The teachers update the class blogs regularly so I think I will feel connected to what's going on in her classroom.  Even the after school enrichment programs look very interesting.  I'm not too excited about the fact that I have to keep her at school for so long, but I'm trying to let it go. Among other things, they offer Odyssey of the Mind, Tae Kwon Do, Afro-Cuban drumming, and Chess Club.  She'll be just fine!  I'm getting excited about the possibilities.

*  Thrift shop score:

I always search the dish aisle of the thrift shop in hopes of finding Pyrex... and I did!  I love vintage Pyrex.  I especially like the sheaves of wheat.  The flower girl at our wedding carried wheat.  It's very pretty to me as well as meaningful. I think I'm going to make a lot of bread in there!

*  Treats left between our doors:

Turns out my sister-in-law had some luck thrifting, too!  This washboard is going to be perfect for felting and cute hanging up... somewhere.  The book, The World of Little House,  is just great.  It has floor plans for all of the "little houses", recipes, how to make thimble pictures, nine-patch quilt squares, and to do the polka and waltz.  What fun!  We're already making plans about what to make first; pulled molasses candy is looking good!

Looks like I need to clean the porch.  Yikes, pine needles from Christmas!

*  Yummy $4 wine:

*   A school project:

My Animol is a Cipmoc.  cipmocks

eet nots.  thay slep. thay Go cip cip.

*  Taxes are done!

... and we're getting a return!  I'm thinking a good restock of the fabric shelves, a fancy new camera, bedsheets, new glasses, more fabric, a little shopping spree on Etsy.  Oh, what fun!

*  Interesting find while cleaning:

"I was going to draw a unicorn, but it turned out to be a kangaroo... with a party hat." -Nora

 

6.  LOST

Tomorrow!!!  I shall not Lost-blog.  Let's just say I'm super psyched and will be firmly planted on my couch at 8:00.  Oh, but what will happen?!!

 

What's making you smile today?