About Me

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i am a stay-at-home mom living, learning and loving by the bay!I love to take pictures. I love to crochet cozy things for my family and friends.

September 27, 2010

O W L S




We are heading to the theatre today to see Legend of the Guardians.  We have been eagerly awaiting this film.  It looks great!  We are very fond of owls around here.
I found this fun project to get us into the spirit of the movie.
Gail, that artist woman, has even more fun owl projects if you are in the mood.  Perfect for this time of year, I think.  We'll have a movie review for you tomorrow!

September 26, 2010

autumn corn necklace





Goose loves autumn corn.  She loves to grind up the kernels in her mortar and pestle. 
She loves to make potions with her magic corn.
I thougtht we could do something a little more decorative with it.
So we soaked the kernels overnight.
Then we used a needle and embroidery floss to string our "beads" into a necklace.
Can you see the garnet, carnelian and amber?
This is definitely an adult supervised project.  And I recomment using a thimble!
I love these necklaces!

September 23, 2010

autumn afternoon

the afternoon was spent at the dining room table.
i with my tea
and the kids with their brushes,
paint brushes, that is.
while they were creating their masterpieces
i was crocheting!
yep, i'm slowly but surely getting
the hang of it.
what i love more than anything is the relaxed state i fall into while doing it.
sipping tea and listening to goose and binky chat
about friends, snowboarding, and autumn projects was heaven.
there was a peaceful calm in the room that i did not want to end.
it was a blissful afternoon filled with art and love!






September 22, 2010

S e p t e m b e r





September
by
Helen Hunt Jackson

The golden rod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.

The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow-nook;
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook.

From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes' sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.

By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer's best of weather,
And autumn's best of cheer.

Happy Autumn!


September 17, 2010

scarecrows and pumpkins







Yesterday was a scarecrow kind of day.
Binky reminded me how much he loves making these every year
so I printed some more copies from
This year Binky articulated his scarecrow and added a sword.
He looks quite scary, don't you think?
I love the top hat on Goose's scarecrow.
We've also had fun decorating paper mache pumpkins.
I laid out all the materials, tissue paper, glitter, paint, fabric, and let the kids
go at it.  I love how they turned out!
We are in full autumn decorating mode.  I will show more
when I get home.
We are off to the SF Opera house today to see a dress rehearsal of
The Marriage of Figaro!
I cannot wait!

September 16, 2010

september in the garden








Our favorite garden, where we spend a lot of time watching the seasons change,
was filled with the smells and colors of the season.
The sunlight is so clear and the shadows so long in September.
We know each nook and cranny of this garden.
It's a wonderful place to witness Mother Earth's seasonal bounties!

September 12, 2010

Renaissance Faire


Bon jour!


My little knight


Ladies of the court


Sir Jeffrey and Sir Thomas


Sir Thomas ready for jousting


a Noble snack


tavern tail


beautiful drums for sale


my little archers




Goose on the rock wall


We had such a wonderful time at the faire yesterday with Grandma and cousin.
Even though it was in the 90s!
I've never been to this particular faire before, but it was better than I expected.
It takes place on a local farm called Ardenwood.
We watched some jousting and sword fighting. Sir Thomas was defeated!
The kids played darts, watched a fire-eater, practiced archery and enjoyed the sights.
There was even a rock wall to climb.
I'm not sure how this fits into the renaissance theme, but my kids LOVED it!
We had such a good time, that when we got home I searched for another local faire to attend in the coming weeks.  This time we can bring Daddy along.



September 11, 2010

Atoms and Molecules with VanCleave


















We spent most of Friday studying atoms and molecules.
And Janice VanCleave is the perfect person to lend a hand!
Goose added carbon and helium to her atom model collection.
Daddy makes the wire shells and the kids add the string, protons, neutrons and electrons.
Then we moved onto molecules with clay and toothpicks.
I glued the molecules to the cardstock so I can hang them up.
We studied water molecules, their constant motion and cohesion.
Finally we denatured egg white proteins.
We love this book!
We've done the first 6 experiments so far.
If you haven't looked at these books before, I highly recommend that you do!
You won't be sorry!!

September 9, 2010

w e d n e s d a y






Since Goose is seriously into the Warriors series right now and there just happens to be a clan of ferrel cats living next door, I thought I would turn her daily feeding and observing into a writing exercise!
So she started a journal.
I took photos of each kit to add to it.
There's Barkkit, Shadowkit, and Birchkit.
They are just too cute!


Binky made a drawing of his latest lego creation.
He took it apart, piece by piece, to do it.
I love how the clone figure turned out!





Last night we celebrated Rosh Hashanah, in a relaxed setting, complete with a shirtless boy!
We stuffed ourselves with amazing challah bread, sweet apples and delicious
clover honey.
And no celebration would be complete without funny faces!