A Time to Keep

We picked up the most charming book at this year's Friends of the Library sale for Multnomah County Library, a withdrawn school library copy of A Time to Keep: The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays. Clara loves looking at all the little details and already identified the 'doll fair' tiny bake sale with buttons for currency as the main event for her next birthday party. (She decided this in October. Her birthday is in August). Our attention was captured, too, by the old-fashioned fun to be had. Floating birthday cakes down the creek? Goat-drawn sled rides? Beetle races? Sign us up!

Hence the launch this evening of our own McAuley challenge, a year of Tasha Tudor. We will be using A Time to Keep as inspiration for our own year of holidays. This evening we went to a lovely party hosted by some neighborhood friends, invited ourselves over to Ken, Marissa and Delia's for a late night bonfire around their fire pit (late night=8 pm!) and ate the requisite apple pie with cheese. We added in sparkly drinks for everyone and yes, Clara and I did dance around the bonfire and shout Happy New Year. If you go to Amazon and click "Look Inside" and then select "First Pages" you can see the Tasha Tudor version of New Year. This was ours:

Surprise!

Totally unexpected snow this week, the very best kind. There really is nothing like looking out the window on what you expect to be a grey and rainy day to see fat, fluffy snowflakes coming down. Ellis went to sleep on a regular wet afternoon and woke up two hours later to this--fantastic!

Easy Placecards

Amy chalked this one up as "classic Kirstin," but 30 min. before our Christmas dinner guests were scheduled to arrive I came up with a brilliant plan for our placecards! Clara had them all almost finished by the time they arrived, she was just adding the names. With more time you could dress them up with sequins, tiny real candies, etc. But they were so easy and looked adorable with Clara's gingerbread house centerpiece.

At Bedtime, Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas from the McAuleys

Clara and Ellis making cookies for Santa, 12/24/09

The Budget Gift Champion

No eggs, less than a stick of butter, no flour, no chocolate, and mason jars are less than $1 each. Hooray for the tastiest Christmas-on-a-budget gift ever! So happy Molly published this recipe on her blog. We thought it was much like Cracker Jacks and so included our own little prizes. Okay, I admit I could not help myself from writing "Have a cracker jack of a holiday" on them. Clara made the Nutcracker drawings for the jar lids. We ate more of it than we'd planned to, but we hope we have some happy neighbors, as well!

Workshops Completed!

Thanks so much to everyone who supported us this winter by participating in the crafty Winter Workshops at our house. Since the VW's check-engine light is back on AGAIN, we are going to really rely on that extra boost this December. We had a great time and so appreciate your participation. We hope the kids were all proud of their wonderful creations. It was all actually so much fun that you should look for another set of workshops for Valentine's Day, this time to benefit Emanuel Children's Hospital.

Clara's First Performance

Knowing this little diva, it will not be the last. Gosh, was she excited and proud!

Winter Workshops

If you're visiting to find out more about the winter workshops we're offering at our house (otherwise known as the 'Never Buy a Volkswagen Passat' parties), here's the info! I can accept three children for each workshop, recommended for ages 3 and up. Each workshop includes a healthy snack, the craft or cooking activity and, if time allows, some indoor playtime in our playroom. Each child will leave with a unique item they've crafted suitable for gift-giving (or will have them delivered by the next day if the item requires drying time or an adult's hand-finishing like the pincushions). I've leveled the workshops for your convenience. Easiest is something a child can do even with emerging fine motor skills. Medium level is for a child who has experience using a pencil and scissors and who can draw basic shapes. Advanced skill level is for a child with some crafting and/or specific fine motor experience like cutting on a line, using a needle, etc. So drop your child off for two hours of creative fun while you shop, run errands, get a holiday haircut, or just read a magazine and sip some cocoa somewhere quiet! Email me for scheduling and fee information.

December 8th, 1:30-3:30: Sewn books (pamphlet stitch like the largest of the books in the photo, but with artwork by your child on the front cover). Medium skill level.

December 11th, 9:30-11:30: Original stuffed creatures. Medium skill level.
December 14th, 1:30-3:30 pm: Tiny Villages. Medium Skill Level.
December 18th, 9:30-11:30 am: Embroidered pincushions. Advanced skill level.

December 21st, 9:30-11:30 am: Mini board games with shrinky-dink game pieces (drawstring bags will be premade an included with each game). I'll try to make a sample soon so I can post a photo. Medium skill level.

December 22nd, 1:30-3:30 pm: Chocolate-carmel pretzel treats and gift cards (involves pecans). Easiest skill level.

Holiday Card Swap 2009!

Thanks so much to Kids' Craft Weekly for hosting their holiday card swap--we had a great time making our cards and sending them all over the U.S. and world. We can't wait to see what arrives in our mailbox, as well! Clara's cards are made from black construction paper, white glue and chalk pastels. Though we ran out of the plain white glue that worked best and had a little trouble with our substitution, I love how differently each card turned out. This site provided the inspiration; check out what older kids can do with this strategy. The envelopes are folded pages from December magazine issues--instructions for the fold can be found here.

Launching the Season

Clara and Ellis visited Santa during our weekend visit to see her grandparents. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for the excellent holiday outfits! We enjoyed a fun, warm Thanksgiving--hard not to be filled with gratitude when around these cuties. But now that we've seen Santa it's official; we're charging on toward Christmas!! If we survive Clara's list of holiday things she wants to make/see/do. Wow. Pretty extensive!

It Begins!

Clara has been really interested in both letters and numbers lately. She had a good little independent writing stint awhile back and then stopped for a long time, only writing if I spelled for her or if she was pretend-writing (lots of speedy scribbles with a few letters thrown in for good measure). But things really seem to have kicked in this week and boy, is she excited about it. She did a crazy dance after finishing these today, whirling around and singing "I can write and soon I will be able to READ!!!"
Did you figure these out? Shark, ghost, butterfly, monster, forest, walnut. Ha. I do not know why she wanted to write walnut. It cracks me up when little kids want to write the w sound and say "wh, wh...Y!" Makes sense to me! Shark and ghost were hers on her own, and Amy helped her hear some of the sounds in the others while I was on a walk with Ellis. This next one was all on her own:

I can't remember all of these, but see if you can find:

Crow, dog, cat, bat, bam, pot, block, fish, cow (and no, the green 'KO' is not cow).

So Sad To See This Go...

Clara and her friends made this play mat for her school auction. I think we're going to have to bid on it, I love it so much. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would! I love the details of the little vegetable garden and the cherry tree with branches that hang to the ground for climbing. She said she's going to make one for Ellis for Christmas, but you know how it is when you try to have a child reproduce or make another version of a craft you loved, it's never quite the same. Clara used fabric marker and fabric crayons to make the play mat and then some of her friends came over and they all made creatures to play on it. I tried to talk some of them into doing vehicles, too, and more animals, but they were pretty into fantasy creatures. They also chose the fabrics they wanted to back their drawings and then Clara and her friend Josefina stuffed them with PolyFil and I hand-sewed them closed.

One of my favorites, Clara's fairy. Doesn't she have funny flea-like legs?
The creatures, clockwise from bottom left: Princess (Clara), Alien (Josefina), Gardener (Josefina), Frog (Clara), Ghost (Clara), Snake (Zadie), Ballerina (Zadie), Fire Witch (Max N), Fairy (Clara), Mermaid (Clara).

If you live in Portland, Clara's school auction is actually a pretty great event. There is an evening opener that is more adult-oriented with wine and such, and then a Saturday event with live music, storytelling, face-painting, etc. There are photos up of all the kids and they each do a piece of artwork for the auction. But there is also a ton of artwork for sale by professional artists as well as handcrafts, gift certificates, etc. It's a great place to score holiday gifts. I made some kids' activity kits to auction and my friend Jennifer donated some fabulous items from her new children's bookstore, including a $25 gift certificate. This year's auction is at the Chelsea Ballroom (1510 SE 9th Ave.), 6-9pm on 12/4 and 11 am-2 pm on 12/5. Let me know if you want some raffle tickets! ;)

Art and correspondence kits made by me (kids' kits have stickers, markers or colored pencils, notebook and pen), there are two at the auction.
Green Bean Books pack with gift certificate, handmade finger puppet, really great coloring book and one of the kids' activity kits. Thanks, Jennifer!

The Opera Stars

From our local photography studio, which donates their services and hosts very inexpensive photo shoots on Halloween to raise money for the Oregon Food Bank--thanks, Campbell-Salgado!