dancing legwarmers

look at my girl and her legwarmers!

legwarmers

a few weeks ago, elias told me about his ballet and how cold it usually is when they start the class. he came up with the idea of wearing some legwarmers, but they should not be pink. i understood and felt the same way. legwarmers are great and pink is just not quiet his favorite colour which i also grasped very quickly.
on my end, i didn't want to spend half a fortune on them. there was one way left to deal with this: make your own.
it's an easy quick knit and had some yarn ready for this in no time. he even liked the colour and the idea of a little cable pattern too. a week ago i was done and he was excited. even more excited about the idea of legwarmers, was naomi, i could have vorseen this couldn't i. so two days ago we were digging ourselfs through my stash of wool and yarn and she picked some pinkish ones.
so here we are in the middle of the second pair of legwarmers...
it's spring, perfect for legwarmers, as naomi likes to run around bare feet and i often feel like she should rather wear socks or tights...
there are some fun looking ready to buy legwarmers out there for baby's and bigger kids too. i especially like the ones from this store, they seem to have a great selection!

start with pie

it just so happened that i felt like baking last night and so i did...
the effort ended up in a pumpkin pie. it was still too warm last night to dig in and i was too tired to stay up for one more minute. this made for a nice breakfast...
it's not usually the case, that we have fresh pumpkin pie for a monday morning breakfast. with some pretty tulips to brighten our start of the week. of course we enjoyed it and yes we got off to a good day and hopefully week!

as it is still raining outside, as it was most of sunday, we make the best of it and enjoy a bit of amsterdam spring in our kitchen. i'm sure we will see more tulips this spring be it cut in a vase or the one's we have to be very very patient for, in our front yard!

painting "with klee"

i had the kids tonight and we ran around the house for almost an hour. it's great to have the dark of the night not creeping in already at 5pm...
there was not a lot of preparation involved on my end, i love paul klee and am very familiar with his works. and then, it just so happened that i stumbled upon two books, Paul Klee animal tricks and the newly issued Paul Klee coloring book. Two great resources to enjoy his work with kids. i could not resist, having 5 kids around the kitchen table, to give them the same sheet of paper with a few lines on it already and see how each of them transforms it into their own "masterpiece".

this is the original piece i showed them with a few comments and a short discussion of what we see and what paul klee inteded when he painted it for his niece...
(his niece was sick in bed, he wanted to explain to her, from where our good food is... the egg and the good roast!)

elias started out the way we discussed it, lots of water with little paint, a typical way for paul klee to work on his paintings.

z fell in love with turkoise, as soon as he discoverd it in his colour palette.

there was lot's of talking going on about the colour turkois. all five used it at some point, it was there in the original, but not very permanent. the younger ones loved the painting with mor pigments, watering down was not really on their mind. bright and clear lines.

naomi wanted to go on with her paints... as she usually does! i didn't expect anything else. i handed her a card and a sharpy to start out with drawing something and then colouring it in with the paints.
lovely isn't it. she is definitly the painter in the house and very determined in her intention. no distraction and no ones input wanted.
alright with me, let her work and i will enjoy the result.

Modern Pirate Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

i could picture naomi so well in this pirate dress!
wow once more she would rule the seas and of course the land would be all her's too
Modern Pirate Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

atc

the march atc exchange at CMP is in full swing, "luck" was the theme and i somehow was working on it around st. patrick's day. can you tell?
of course, it was an evening with a few friends around the kitchen table, chatting away and enjoying the company i started to cut out 4 leaved clover's. the paper i had on hand was an old calendar and the card i used to glue it on, has been coloured with oil pastels. i love the smoothness of colouring with oil pastels and how the colours blen into each other. go and look at some february atc's with the theme "red" at flickr, i think there a few very lovely ones and so inspirational.
the monthly atc's challange is working well for me, to dedicate one or two or three moments and focus on my own little world and crativity.

preparing lunch

amos wanted to prepare lunch... the plan was to use up some left overs and then i had the idea to pack the ground meat with tomato sauce, pumpkin, ricotta into a little pocket.
the idea was received well by amos and so we went about.
the result: delicious and loved by all my kids.
as i was mixing some dough ether for this, i took the opportunity to also mix a big batch of pie dough.... we will see what will become of that within the next few days.

muffins and concertina

Amos came across a muffin recipe and of course it had to be made right then and there.
so here we go, i was able to get a few photos of the process, enjoy!

of course big brother had to come to help...
i was afraid for a moment that everything will end up in chaos, but no. they both worked together, better as i could have expected and it was fun to watch.

they really look good and we will serve them for dessert after dinner tonight!
i'm sure the grandparents will be impressed with the works of their grandson...

joel has found a new instrument....
how fun is that, he started experimenting a few months ago, here
and put now an order in for his own little instrument, follow the photos of it's making!

one more thing, i stumbled across this blog, creative and worth sharing. stop by and enjoy nancy's creative ideas.

afternoon walk

spring is on it's way, but it does take him longer to arrive then i was hoping for...
never the less, we go for walks and enjoy every little sign of the new season.
aren't those pussy willows wonderful. seeing the photo instantly brings an urge of wanting to touch them. so soft! i love the colours too, the red and yellow on the white! a miracle which is unfurling every spring.
photos by theo

creative writing!

naomi really want's to learn how to read and write, this has been going on for a few months now and finally i started to help her with some more concrete materials. the basic manipulative set (matman) for "hand writing without tears" is one of the helpers. it's a very nice set of wooden shapes and printed letters on paper, a chalc board and a foam pad to use for different activities.
of course amos had to help her build things, ending up in a car...

the ribbon

this little short sleeved jacked just happened to me. it was a sweater and i washed it too hot, usually it does not happen to me, but this time it did. i was too lazy and threw the second hand sweater in the regular wash...
i loved the colour and texture of it even though it was washed to hot, and shrunk, and i wanted to wear it anyway.
the only way to do this was to cut it apart and fix it up with one of the really nice jacquard ribbon i found at jcaroline. don't ask me how i stumbled upon that web site, but i liked her ribbons a lot. i put a little order in back in january and am so happy now with the way this project turned out. i did not know then of any specific use for the ribbon, but i just had to have it...

this for the moment, it's very busy at our house with joel's parents here.

the kids love them and want to be with them at any given moment in time, which is not easy to joggle, but we deal with it case by case. e & t are great, they love the kids and it seems like they can't get enough of our band of four! we went to the museum today, it was very nice. naomi and i got to spend some time in the japanese collection, which i rarely visit. the boys got each a grandparent, amos to attend an art class and elias walked a second time through the special exhibit on view, about the venician painters titian, tintoretto, and veronese. i went with him last week and he loved it. the same this time, and he wanted again to listen to the whole curators talk! great, what more do you want from a 10 year old boy apreciating art! he will give a little presentation at the upcoming geography club (italy).

naomi's house

a while ago we were all cutting and gluing paper and things...
naomi came up with this house and some people. i'm so proud of her craftiness and imagination. the craft has since served as a center piece on our kitchen table. soon it will be replaced with something spring inspired, that's at least my intention.

signs of spring

it has been a great long and snowy winter. we enjoyed it and stayed a lot indoors.... more then i expected, still it was a good winter.
but it is pulling us outdoors now! temperatures in the mid fourties (~8 C in the metric system....) no hats no mittens and crocs on our feet! the boys love theirs, i do mine too and naomi has first to search for her's (they are next to her bed, but she refuses to look for them and take them down stairs).
we went to the library, harvest, walked amos' favorite path's and walls, stopped at the play ground for an other hour and then headed home. where elias stayed outside and quickly read "revolutionary war on wednesday" (by mary pope osborne). amos got a few old magazins from the librarien, he treasures all the ladybug, kids national geographic, ranger rick ones, reads them over and over again.
naomi of course could not be without a craft, she was doing some beadwork for a special friend, a so called key chain, adding a key ring with a few cartboard keys, sorry no photos of that one.

book bag

before we left for the quick trip to switzerland i quickly sew a book bag for amos to take along to his sleep over. an old canvas from a broken director's chair as well as a very nice ribbon i purchased a few years ago in switzerland. i put a backing on the ribbon band and here we go, amos's monsters love to hop along for a "ride".

tracing

a sunday morning, when everyone has breakfast in the church basement...
the grown ups are just not to stop talking with all their friends and amos has found a new passion. the black board, chalk, and "claudia" (naomi's doll) make for a creative moment.

after two or three minutes i have to just stand back and look at all the work amos has been doing on the black board. he has a mind of his own and all the energy makes me wanting to work too.

of course, having n and j around is producing even more thoughts and ideas in all our minds and we are running home to get the thinking into our hands and onto paper, card board, into clay and what ever else crosses our paths in the near future!

Necklace

isn't these a fun necklace? i love it and did through my name into to give-away pot. i really enjoy the special things at Grosgrain, it's inspiring.
Muntedkowhai%Necklace GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

the bonnet

i took the opportunity last night to sew naomi a bonnet, she wanted one a while ago. of course we are studying the colonial times and every girl ran around with a bonnet, so she needed one too.
amy has a very nice pattern in her shop, it came in the mail about a week ago and i just had to have quiet evening without distractions to be able to focus on what my hands have to do. it's so easy i'm sure i will make a few more and this time in the midst of the daily craziness in our house.

amos doings

the kids are hardly to kept indoors in this sunny weather. amos was collecting moss on our walk yesterday and is working on a fairy house. maybe it's more a blackfeet tent... (he is reading om-kas-toe) but who cares it's his creation and i'm so happy to see them loving to play with nature

i found this note taped to the lid of the toilet....
amos is lately often illlustrating his note's. his way to show us his mood in regards to the experience he is in, what a great way to help us understand his feelings.

Baggu Grosgrain Guest GIVEAWAY!!!!

Baggu Grosgrain Guest GIVEAWAY!!!!

yeast

after a few moments of nursing and cleaning up after lunch i discovered this beautiful little "mess" on the kitchen counter. the yeast mixed with some lukewarm water and molasses was outgrowing the cup and i just had to take a photo. every time i'm mixing and kneading bread dough i'm in awe of those little living creatures called yeast...
the bread turned out great, chicken dinner, celery salad, and a fresh loaf of artisan bread. i discovered a new kind of nice and crusty bread in these book and love it. it's not really quicker as my old way of providing bread for the breakfast and dinner table but it's nice for a change to eat almost warm and crusty bread. it takes me more baking time as the "old" regular way of baking 5 loafs at a time.