...chocolate air...

swapped.

Kristin just posted about the things we sent to them in the Miniswap a few months back, and it made me realize that I had never shared it myself.

I had so much fun with this swap. Kristin had mentioned that her Margaret likes playing school, and since that was one of my favorite things as a kid (and still kind of is... homeschooling is so fun!), I decided to make up a playing-school kit. We put it together almost entirely from things we had around the house.

This box had a lot of odds and ends for the teacher... office supplies, stickers, old rubber stamps, a jumprope for recess time, a school bell, etc.

You can't have a school with no chalkboard, so this slate was put in, along with a little bundle of chalk and a pointer that Zach made from a wooden dowel and a couple of spools. A few books for reading/writing.

I made this smock from a felted wool sweater, and am truthfully unsure of how it was meant to be used. School uniform? Teacher's apron? Art smock? Lunchtime apron? I guess it's multi-purpose.

Speaking of lunchtime... my favorite bit. A packed lunch. I actually squealed when I realized I could make this as part of the kit. The lunchbox itself is a tin with sticker labels on either side, which have pictures of Margaret apple-picking that I swiped from her mother's blog. The juice box was made from a wooden block, a dowel, and a bit of paint, and then I made a label for that on the computer, too. The apple was a thrift store find, and the cookies and sandwich were whipped up from more wool sweaters.

I am really happy with how the lunch turned out. I need to make some of these for myself for Zachary.

Kristin and Margaret were such great (and patient!) partners, and we loved putting this together for them. Thanks girls!

fools.

We attended a little friend's April Fools' birthday party yesterday, where much fun was had by all, mostly because of the silly string and whoopi cushions...

There was also a bit of a cupcake fest, wherein the kids helped themselves and went a little wild. Susan, methinks there be a bit too much sugar in your cupcakes. Did you SEE the kids' teeth afterwards?!

Happy birthday, Miss Claire!

big stuff.

Yes, he's very proud.

whales, iguanas, and dinos...

Oh, my!

When I think of the contents of a child's Easter basket, I usually think of the year that I was seven, and we got stuffed bunnies that looked real (well, we thought so, anyway), and the usual Mommy-made chocolate bunnies and jelly beans. Simple. Sweet. Eastery. I try to maintain that same feeling when we do our bunnying, and yet somehow, the child ended up with a dino puzzle, a stretchy rubber iguana, and a whale. I drew the line at Transformers though... they have no place in a bunny basket.

This whale was my creation. He was done in just a few hours, and I think he's adorable. (Thanks a million for the sewing machine help, Susan! But I still wimped out and hand-stitched the darn thing.) This is another felted sweater project. He was pretty simple, the same on both sides, about a foot long. I used the cuffs of the sweater to create the grooves on the underside of the jaw. One of his fins is a pocket, specially made to hold a little boy's tooth so it won't be lost before the tooth fairy can get to it. Soon, people. My boy has his first-ever wobbly tooth. And he couldn't be prouder.

His camera smile, by the way, is improving quite a bit. I'll be sad to see those baby teeth go...

swap received.

Okay, yes, I've been completely negligent. We actually received this gorgeous swap box over a week ago, while we were still flu-ish, but after spending the whole of last week just trying to get everything caught up, I am FINALLY blogging about it.

We gave our swap partners an odd list of things Zach was interested in, and they pulled it all together to create a nautical-themed box, that somehow incorporated pretty much all of his interests. Amazing. I'll start with my personal favorite, this little Sock and Glove rabbit. I've had this book for over a year, and still haven't created anything from it. (I think that's due to my sewing machine fear...) But Kristin had the book for what? two days?! and had this guy whipped up and in the mail. I mean, really.

Zach named him "Ahoy". I love his wee belly button, and that adorable scarf that matches a bag she stitched up for some seashells they sent.

And then there's this pirate mask... seriously, have you ever seen a cleverer little thing? Genius.

One of the things that amazed me about this package was how really talented Miss Margaret is!! The child is not yet five (!) but she went all out creating several things for the box, including this ocean puzzle she drew.

And all the rest of the loot. We have here a whale shirt that Zach wears every chance he gets, a pirate yoyo he's a bit obsessed with, a CD of whale songs (obviously a winner around here), and a few other cards/collages by the lovely Margaret, and the shells with their bag.

Kristin... you seriously rock. What an amazing package you two created for my boy. It made a really lousy week oh-so-much better. Thank you, thank you!! (And your box is soon on its way, I swear!)

cozy.

Am I the only adult who looks forward to snowy days as much as kids do? We're giddy around here. Well, Mike wasn't quite so chipper as he was shoveling the drive, but still... I feel so cozy on days like this.

Zach wasn't feeling well last night, so we decided to stay in this morning until we could guage how he was doing. So this morning we read wintry books, The Snowy Day and Snowballs, two of my favorites. Then we talked about the collage style of Lois Ehlert, and what she used to create her illustrations. And then we took that a step further and created a little mural. It's about 2-3 feet tall and hangs in the living room. Using crumpled white paper and odd bits we found around the house, Zach made a snow boy and I made a snow girl. I especially love the chicken bone unibrow on Zach's. Very clever.

Finally Daddy came home and it was time to play in the real snow. Happy day!

And also we did something brand-new to me... we made homemade bread!!! It's funny how even though I'd never done it before, it was still so familiar from seeing my mother bake bread as I was growing up. And yum, it's good. And much easier than I expected.

Buttermilk and Honey Bread

3/4	cup warm water
1	tablespoon dry yeast
1	teaspoon sugar
1 1/2	cups warm buttermilk
2	tablespoonsunsalted butter, melted
3	tablespoons honey
1	tablespoon salt
6-6 1/2	cups unbleached white bread flour
1	egg, to glaze

• Lightly spray two small or one large loaf pan with non stick cooking spray or coat with melted butter.
• Set them on a baking sheet and set aside.
• In a kitchen aid mixing bowl, hand whisk the water, yeast and sugar together and let stand for 2 minutes.
• Stir in buttermilk, butter, honey, salt and half the flour.
• Stir with a wooden spoon.
• Fit machine with a dough hook, then kneading, add in more flour as required to make a soft, but firm dough, about 8- 10 minutes.
• Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise 45- 90 minutes until doubled in size.
• Gently deflate dough and divide into two or keep as one loaf.
• Shape into oblongs and place in prepared loaf pans.
• Insert loaf pans into a large plastic bag and let rise until doubled in size, about 30-45 minutes.
• Glaze well with a beaten egg.
• (You can also brush loaf with melted butter).
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Place breads in oven and bake about 45 minutes until well browned. You may want to cover with foil partway through baking.)
• Turn breads out onto a cooling rack and cool well before slicing.

One more cozy thing. My sister taught me how to do a basic knit this winter, and I actually created something! I made her this scarf for her birthday, and she finally got it only one month late. I think that's pretty good. Here she is modeling...

home at last.

*I've got plans in the works for some new projects this year, but I need your help. Please click on the Comments button below this post, and let me know what your favorite nursery rhymes/fairy tales are. Thanks!*

And a little love to share. Zach really, truly adores his floppy little stuffed animals. They all have voices and personalities, and they get carried around everywhere. This particular one has always been a favorite of his, but she got lost at my parents' house for a few months. She is safe at home now, and has been his sidekick all week.

quick holiday recap.

Ummm... yeah. Number of handmade Christmas gifts given: eight. Number of handmade gifts I remembered to photograph for your blogging pleasure: zero. Sorry!

For my parents 40th wedding anniversary, I made them one of these accordian photo galleries. Oh, so cute! But not as easy to make as the article implies, due to the fact that I couldn't find the right supplies and had to improvise. Also unphotographed.

My favorite Zach moment this holiday season? At church they of course discussed the nativity story, and then the kids were each supposed to draw a Christmas scene to hang in their home. Some kids drew elaborate nativity scenes, while others chose to ignore the religious aspects and just draw trees and gifts. Zachary? Zachary drew a tiny donkey in the middle of the page. Mary and Joseph's donkey, of course. And at the top, in huge letters... the donkey's name, PATI. The world according to Zach.

Here are a few random family snapshots from Christmas, taken mostly at my parents' house. (Nope, none of me. But there's my good-looking husband on the bottom left.)

o thanksgiving tree, o thanksgiving tree.

At the beginning of the month, Zach and I pulled out the brown and purple paint and went to town on a big roll of paper. We painted an area of about 3x4 feet and let it dry. Then I sketched and cut out a really ugly simple tree trunk with a few branches. After we cut out about a million construction paper leaves, we were ready.

All month we've been writing down things we're thankful for, and then adding the leaves to our bare tree with sticky-tack. My favorites from Zach? Aside from the fact that he wrote "food" on about a dozen leaves, there is also "Dad comes home", "fishing", and my favorite, "I, Zach".

Such a happy life.

overheard.

So we're out shopping for a winter coat for Zach, and are of course drawn in by the toys. There's a boy there who is probably about eight, and he strikes up a conversation with us.

Boy: I'm, like, the coolest kid in my class. Cause I'm the only kid in my class... I'm homeschooled!

Zach (as he pulls a Barbie laptop off the shelf and starts pushing buttons): Yeah. Me, too.

Boy (with all the energy of his soul): Eeeww, Barbie's so gross! It's so dumb! Ew!

Zach (very matter-of-fact, without glancing up): No, it's not.

At this point the boy looks closely at Zach as though he's sizing him up, and I guess he decides that Zach's serious and that he's okay, because at this point he gets really close and says...

Boy (in a loud whisper): Okay, I'm going to tell you a secret. I play with Barbies sometimes! Do you?

Zach (all matter-of-fact still): No. I don't want to.

Boy: Okay, well, don't tell anybody, kay?

Can I just say, I totally had to hide behind a rack of clothes so that kid wouldn't see me laugh. Too funny.