Maundy Thursday

We did a bit of celebrating Maundy Thursday last evening, beginning with some discussion about this icon, purchased in Italy on a trip Paul and I took there in 2005.  We have several icons in our house, but this one is my favorite with the bright, almost modernist, feel.  I also like that you can't tell which one is Judas, making me suspicious of them all.

We also had a simple meal of homemade bread and vegetable soup.  I imagine the Last Supper was pretty simple fare.

Also yesterday, I finished up the last piece I wanted to add to Finn's Easter basket.  He has been in love with Owl Babies for quite some time.  "Poor Bill..." Finn says when Bill starts yearning for his mommy.  I hope he'll give this Bill a little lovin'.

Moviemaking

About 18 months ago, Paulie and Philip were in a student film written and directed by a friend of their mother.  The short film was accepted into several film festivals, including a local one, where we were able to see them on a big screen.  The experience left Paulie bitten by a bit of the moviemaking bug, and he frequently requests to use the video camera.  He and Elizabeth spent quite a long time last weekend in the library setting up scenes, practicing dialogue, getting takes from many angles.  I just got the chance yesterday to download their work from the video camera.  Here is a snippet of their labors:

Meet Ella

My first needle felted human form, which Elizabeth promptly named Ella, was born yesterday.  Ella and Elizabeth became fast friends although Ella resides on a high bookshelf, much higher than Finn can reach.  I asked Elizabeth if she was going to feed Ella her needle felted food.  Elizabeth looked at me, confused, and said, "Of course not.  That's my frogs' food."  
  

eggs and black eyes

Finn had a rough evening last night resulting in a black eye this morning.  He slipped out of his chair at the dinner table, hitting his left eye on the metal edge of our table, smacking the back of his head on his chair and then landing on the floor and falling backward again.  Poor guy!  Of course, the torturous mommy that I am, I needed a picture of the eye this morning, which he roundly rejected cooperating for, as you can see below.  Although you can nicely see the low water immersion dyed shirt that I managed to eke out for him last night following all the headbanging.

Also last evening, Elizabeth and I decided to get all the eggs ready for our hunt on Saturday.  Below you can see all the lovely crocheted, felted and wooden eggs.  (The wooden eggs can be found on etsy.)  Such lovely bits of nature...

Oh, and also here are the garish plastic ones.  Ones I did not have to buy, but we had saved from egg hunts past.  The ones on the left are filled with organic dark chocolate and organic jelly beans.  That makes them ok, right?  Elizabeth actually calls them jolly beans.  You get it?  The 'O' is for organic.  The plastic eggs on the right are filled with small polished stones, only for the big kids, hence the separate basket.  You can see which eggs Finn prefers...

Hope your evening was calmer than ours!

weekend of not much

I had to work again all weekend.  Ugh.  I feel like I've been saying that alot lately.  I also feel like I shouldn't complain because I really do have a fantastic job that allows me to be flexible with my weekdays, to some extent, so that my kids get more of my time during the week than most kids with working moms, but the weekends lately have been crazy!

Anyway, Finn and I worked on some tie-dyeing this weekend and made part of his summer shirt wardrobe.  He loves all the bright colors.  We were even able to take a few breaks outside to enjoy the sunshine in his happy new shirts.

Then we went to visit our soon-to-graduate-from-high-school neighbor/babysitter who was making these cupcakes with a quote from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf for one of her classes.  Finn was fascinated watching her work on them.  

So that was about the extent of my weekend, aside from convincing my dear husband to carve the rooster in the card stock that you saw in the photo yesterday (from the template in All Year Round).

Lenten Blessings

Felty Girl

Elizabeth's been busy since her first felted wedge of cheese yesterday. She has a whole cupboard full of felted food now. From top to bottom, she made a buttered baked potato, an ear of corn, an orange and the wedge of cheese, a slice of bread, and at the very bottom, some blueberries and a plum.

For dessert, a bundle of cotton candy, of course!

I took a break from work for a few minutes this afternoon to make Elizabeth this wool bracelet. I've been wanting to try this idea from 5 Orange Potatoes, but I don't have any wool felt yet, so I decided to try making a crocheted bracelet with a needle felted embellishment in the meantime.

Elizabeth was quite happy with this version of the bracelet.

Little of This, Little of That

Elizabeth came to me this morning with one of those paper fortune tellers.  You remember the ones you made in elementary school with the numbers and colors, and you would open and close the paper until ultimately the fortune you had written under the flap was revealed?  My fortune said "You will make a felt pie."  Hmmm...coincidence?  I think not.  But I humored her and made a blueberry pie for her to share with her froggy friends.

Ok, so it was a hastily felted pie, but she declared it tasty.

Then, finally, she decided to show a bit of interest in the needle felting pen I bought for her and needle felted her first project...

a wedge of cheese.

I also finished working on an Easter hare for Finn's basket.  He's my first knitted animal, and I thought he turned out quite cute.  The directions came from All Year Round.  Seriously, who knew about this book and didn't share that information with me?  This book has wonderful ideas for celebrating the various seasons and holidays of the year.  I know the whole family will get much enjoyment out of the projects we're discovering in here.

Elizabeth spent part of her day watching this adorable movie that we found on Netflix.  A charming story and sweet characters...Elizabeth asked at the end if they had made a sequel yet.  Why can't more kids' movies be like this and less pop-culture-y with silly plots and shallow characters?  Truly magical.  Next up is Miss Potter, and we're looking forward to that one as well.

happy birthday, my love

Although this photo is almost a year old, it's one of my favorites of Paul with (most of ) the kids.  You can't even really see him, which is how he prefers it, but his presence is everywhere--carrying one, holding another's hand, arm around another.

On this, my husband's legal birthday (his actual birthday is up for debate according to family folklore), I would like to tell you some of the many reasons why Paul is the best husband around:

1. When I call to say I'm feeling crummy, he goes out to buy his own birthday cake -- vegan carrot cake, my favorite.

2.  When I call later to say an unnamed child, who is home for spring break this week, left the car door open and my battery is dead, he leaves work an hour early so he can pick up Finn.

3.  When I still feel crummy, he says we should wait to get Indian food (his birthday meal choice) another day so that I will actually enjoy it.

4.  Well...the list could go on and on, but you get the idea.  Wonderful man, this one!

And what do I get such a wonderful man on such a special occasion, what every good caffeine addict needs...a 12 cup coffee press, from which he will undoubtedly serve me the first cup of coffee.

Yumm-o!

The Froggy Fair

I have a wicked cold right now and don't feel much like blogging, so I'll just leave you with a few pictures of Elizabeth's second day home for spring break.

The Froggy Fair

The Froggy Balance Beam

(knitting needles taped to computer stand over soft blanket...

cause all froggies need a soft place to land)

The Froggy Zipline

(playsilk tied between the chair and counter
with felt bag to ride in)