Little Red

Tomorrow is a big day in Kindergarten...... it's the Fairytale Festival. The 7th grade buddies organize all sorts of games for the kindergartners, who come to school dressed as a fairytale character and then everyone celebrates with lots of fairytale treats in the cafeteria. Sarah has had a long list of the characters she wanted to be - Humpty Dumpty seemed to make it to the top of the list more than once, but I knew that I would get carried away with that as a costume (I was envisioning a paper mache/hat attached to a box that she would wear and would serve as the wall) so I was thankful when Little Red Riding Hood started making it onto her list. The cape is finished, but photos will have to wait until it can be modeled. The snacks are ready now too. I got my inspiration from the book Hello, Cupcake! . I had so many ideas after going through the book, but finally settled on cupcakes to match her character.

First I melted red candy wafers in a baggie. I trimmed the tip off the baggie and piped the melted candy onto wax paper under which I had copies of my hood design. The hoods aren't as smooth as I'd hoped for, but I'm pretty sure that the kindergartners aren't going to be too critical. I chilled the hood shapes in the refrigerator for a few minutes and then went back with yellow melted wafers and piped in a bit of hair peeking out from the hood.

When the hair had chilled, I gently peeled the hoods off the wax paper and placed them on the iced cupcakes. I got lucky in the fact that the shape of the hood was pretty much equal to width of the cupcake, as I hadn't paid any attention to that when sketching out my design.

Facial details were provided courtesy of mini M&Ms for eyes, half a pink Jelly Belly for the nose and a bit of red licorice rope for the mouth. Rachel's hoping there will be some left so that she can have when. I'm thinking I may have to set one aside for her or else she might not get a chance to bite Little Red's head off.

Costume pictures to follow in the next day or so!

Birthday Cake

Someone had a birthday yesterday. How lucky to time your birthday for gorgeous weather, the likes of which we haven't seen in months and months, and three day weekend! I guess some kudos go to my mother-in-law as well. I am so lucky and grateful that she raised such a wonder son who turned into an incredible husband and father (and she did this with three other boys as well.....as a single mother!)

We had a great day as a family, hanging out, eating eat, going out and having fun. Part of the fun included cake, of course. Sarah and I made this cake. It's Chocolate Cake with Almond Buttercream and Toasted Coconut and you can find the recipe right here. It is tasty. So tasty that I was tempted to have cake for breakfast, but because I am the kind of Momma that is inclined not to let her kids do such things, I too abstained. Don't think some won't find its way to my belly today though!

No more fire though. My girls are kind of insistent on a candle for each year, although I think Sarah threw in at least one extra this time. What was the saying, "One to grow on"? Perhaps that's what she was thinking. Rachel was thinking that she'd stay in the living room until the fire had been extinguished. We may soon have to limit this tradition to the birthdays that have spanned less than two decades!

We've got exciting plans for this Labor Day holiday. Clean up and clean out! So far I think only the adults are on board, but maybe with the promise of cake after they clean up, the girls will join in too. Wishing you a lovely holiday as well.

Deja vu

It seems like it was just a few months ago that Rachel finished her first week of kindergarten and was in the teddy bear parade. In reality two years have passed and it was Sarah's turn to sing the song (We're going on a teddy bear parade, we're going on a teddy bear parade, 1, 2, 3 here we go, we're going on a teddy bear parade) through the school halls today before meeting her 7th grade buddy. The pictures aren't much, but it is hard to get good photos in dark halls with 40 kids on the move and almost as many parents.

The march through the cafeteria brought me (and I wasn't the only one) to tears. The second, third and fourth graders were having lunch and everyone joined in on the song and applauded for the kids - it was really neat. Well, except for the crying mothers bit.

I think the seventh graders were more excited about getting their buddies than the kindergartners were. I also think Sarah was a bit overwhelmed - it was hard to get many smiles from her. These buddies will be accompanying the kids on their first field trip and are involved in a lot of other activities from Christmas parties, to flying kites to reading to the kids. It's a really neat idea that gives the little ones someone to look out for them and gives the older kids a sense of responsibility. Win -win.

The buddies had questions for the kids, and they will use the information they gleaned to write a personalized fairy tale for their buddy later in the year.

We're looking forward to getting to know Sarah's buddy, who seemed very sweet. She will know a thing or two about kindergartners as well, as she has a younger brother in Sarah's class.

Summer in a Pan

I've got big crafting plans for the future, but for right now I'm savoring Sarah's last days at home with me and quite frankly, it leaves me a little wiped out at the end of the day, especially when combined with my new rise and shine time (which is now an hour earlier). Today we read, went to the used book store, watched cartoons and made this blueberry crisp (amongst other things). It's a combination of three recipes. If you've still got blueberries that you'd like to transform into dessert, here's the recipe I ended up with....

Blueberry Crisp

4 C Blueberries
1/4 C Sugar
1 T Cornstarch
2 T Lemon Juice

1/2 C Oat Flour (I grind my oats in a coffee grinder)
1/2 C Oats (GF)
1/4 C Brown Sugar
1/4 t Cinnamon
1/4 t Nutmeg
1/4 t Allspice
3/4 C Chopped Pecans
4 T Butter at Room Temp.

Combine first four ingredients and pour into a lightly buttered 8x8" or 9x9" baking dish.

Mix remaining ingredients until crumbly and add to top of berries.

Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. You might want to top it off with ice cream as well.....I'm just sayin'.

I've got peaches and pickles waiting for my attention tomorrow. Don't worry, I'm not planning to mix them together! I'll have some time to do this, as Sarah will spend her first full day at kindergarten without me. Last year I would not have anticipated tears over this, but I think they're on their way now. Sniff sniff........

And the Blue Ribbon Goes To.....

Well, the pink and blue ribbon, that is. Our neighbor's had agreed to watch the girls tonight while the Mr. and I went to a meeting at school. This afternoon, out of the blue, Sarah declared that she wanted to make a ribbon for our neighbor (age 7) to cheer her up. I am a bit unclear as to the reason why she was sad, or why that subject had come up the last time they played, but I obliged. This is what we came up with. While Sarah wanted to cut into some nicely folded yards of uncut fabric, I suggested a dig through my scrap bins (a.k.a. kitty litter buckets). Since I wasn't quite sure what her vision was, or how to execute said vision, I'm pretty happy with the results. I attached some iron-on stabilizer to the back and then sewed a pin onto it so that it can be worn. Part of Sarah's vision was to leave the blue mark-be-gone pen on it, but I had to insist it be removed - just didn't get to it before the (very) brief photo shoot. Now I've got more ideas for these and am also wondering why I haven't made more yo-yos - they're so fun!

And yes, those are flannel winter pajama bottoms on Sarah. We were out in the rain this morning and returned home damp. Apparently, now that it's in the low 90's some of us are feeling a chill.

Choked Up

Oh man, I thought I was ready for this....even looking forward to it a bit (we tend to frustrate each other), but today, when we walked into the auditorium where all the elementary kids gather in the morning, I had to work hard to choke back tears. This is my baby, my buddy, the one who went on afternoon walks with me and chatted with me through the grocery store. Now she's a kindergartner!!

She has not been terribly excited about this day until last night when she set out her clothes, placed her shoes and and backpack by the door and insisted on helping make her lunch. This morning she was checking with her sister about all the rules in kindergarten, very concerned that she not break any (and breaking my heart with that worry).

So off she went, sporting a special back to school shirt that I made for her, my little horse lover. She specified a green shirt so that the horse would have grass around it and I let her pick out the fabric for the horse. I offered lots of bright, colorful options but she insisted on this pale yellow when we couldn't find a good brown (??) in my stash. It made me feel good sending her off with a bit of momma-made love - I hope it made her happy too.

Oh, but don't think they waved good-bye and were gone. Noooooo. Thankfully we have a great phase-in program and the parents actually spent the morning in the classroom participating with the kids. And no, there are not seven kids in her class either - they break the classes up into thirds and bring one third in each day for the first two weeks. She won't go again until next Friday and will meet up with the rest of her class the following Monday when the fun really begins!

She seemed so much more comfortable and cool with it all than I had anticipated. She's really stepping up to be the big girl, which we have been stressing this summer. Perhaps someone let her be the baby a bit too long. She met some new friends today and will have several classmates from her preschool in her class as well as one more special friend that she's known since Rachel started kindergarten.

So one more week of me and my buddy and then I really will have to wave good-bye and leave. Hopefully my hormones will be in check by then!

Oh, and it's just really too darn hot. Too hot for school, too hot for anything. Granted, this was just as we turned the car on, and the temp. dropped, but still...I don't think I've ever seen this temperature before in my life!

I've Been At It Again

I just can't stay out of thrift stores. Every time I drive past one I wonder what treasures are waiting inside...and what if I don't get in to find them? My girls will not willingly go to a thrift store...but if I ask them if they want to go to a "treasure store" they are all for it. Knowing that they will more than likely walk out with some small "prize" of their own that we really don't need. At least not like I need fabric!

The above lovelies were picked up at a thrift store that supports the local animal shelter. I love that! I also loved that everything was half off!! (Yeah, half off...YAY!! More exclamation points!!) The stack of linens is sitting on a purchase from there as well. I almost cried when I found it. It's a table cloth, the colors are brand-new vibrant and save for two small spots in the center, which is white, it is in perfect condition and I know my Oxi will take care of that for me. It set me back $4. That may have been the happiest I've ever been to spend $4! I am also in love with the bottom sheet, which is really heavier than a sheet, soft, but not flannel. I know not what it is, but it was a $1 and I loved it!

This stack was bundled together at the local Goodwill. I really wanted it for the patchwork piece about two thirds of the way down, but after getting the whole bundle home and washing everything, there are several other vintage pieces in there that I'm quite excited about. I also love the two knits on top. I don't know to work with knits, but these will be fun to find some use for. Oh...and the bundle was $1.99.....but it was also half off, so $1 well spent!

And....totally unrelated, somebody started second grade today. Seriously, I have tangible memories of second grade (some good, some not so good)...how can I now have a second grader? She was nervous about this year - I'm not sure what had her worried, but by the time I picked her up, everything was great. Phew. My baby starts kindergarten this week as well. She doesn't go until Friday and will only be there once a week for the first two weeks for what they call "phase-in". She is not excited, but hopefully the fact that I will be with her almost all day Friday will be reassuring and she will actually get excited once she sees all the cool stuff she'll be doing. In all fairness though, she will get her own post. So two more weeks of hanging with my little buddy and then I'll find myself a stay-at-home mom with no-one at home. Sniff...sniff....