From this:
To this:

To this:

Wow!

Just the 3 of us

The digital camera is on its last legs. I need to shop for a new one, so until then, no pictures. Sorry.
Sunday, M left with my parents for 2 weeks of fun and adventure. G was initially quite excited about the idea when it was introduced. Upon seeing the reality of M getting into Gramma and Papa's cool van with all the supplies necessary for an 8 hour drive (EnjoyLife cookies, chocolate bars, books, and a personal DVD player), it seemed rather unfair. So he screamed for awhile. Today, 3 days later, he's still having a hard time adjusting. We rented Cars, we've eaten lots of rice and canned peaches, and pretty much taken it easy. Today we went to McMinnville to enjoy their funky and friendly downtown. I bought yarn for a couple of projects (I will finish them, I will finish them, I will finish them), we stopped for lunch at Harvest Fresh and we stopped and played at Hopscotch toystore. I even found a toy for my niece that I think she will love. It is a lacing toy that has a wooden "needle" attached to yarn that gets threaded through lots of holes in a (3-D) beehive. She's at the age where she will sit forever and stick something small into a hole, especially keys. But we're having a hard time find key toys for toddlers. Anyone know of anything?
The weather here absolutely cannot make up its mind. We had lots of sun and warm weather for awhile, then it got cold again. As in, polar fleece jacket in the afternoons. Now it is sunny and warm again. It might decide to stay this time since summer officially starts tomorrow. Yay Solstice! Maybe G and I will find a Solstice celebration tomorrow or Friday and go to that. We'll see.
Time to wake sleeping munchkin!

Couple of pictures as promised. First, here is the finished product of M's efforts in the glass blowing shop. Didn't he pick great colors? This will look so awesome hanging up in his room.

Here is where we have been living the last few days. Its been pretty warm out and our a/c doesn't work. So I bought a pool at Target, C found this great table at Costco and we set up the tent today--mostly because the neighbors set theirs up so we had to, y'know? In the back right side you can see the beginnings of our garden. We lost a melon or two, but everything else is limping along okay I think.

M is taking a class called Math-a-Mania taught by an architectural artist named Alice Cotton. This term the class has studied bridges. So, for the end of the year fun, we all got to go on a bridge tour in Portland. The woman who guided us on our tour has studied these bridges for years and was a wealth of information. In the picture above, she had groups of people stand in a circle and touch toe to toe and hold onto each other's shoulders. This made a triangle. She then demonstrated tension by having everyone lean back and slip their hands down to the elbow and then the wrists of the person next to them. The circle held! Then they reversed and leaned in until they were touching heads in the center of the circle. Very cool!
Then we headed off to the ODOT office in Portland where we got to sit in command central and see some of the 150 cameras in use to monitor traffic in PDX. Their job is to keep all 1 million cars on the move. If they see an issue they can have a truck sent out relatively quickly to provide free gas, battery charge, flat tire service, or help the stalled vehicle out of the flow of traffic. We also had a crash course in bridges. We learned that Portland has all 6 kinds of bridges right in town. No wonder they call it Bridgetown!
Then it was on to the Morrison bridge. Those under 9 climbed the stairs to the control tower and met with the bridge operator. They learned about the history of the bridge, what all goes on in the tower and some of the history of the tower itself. Then we learned about bridge rising procedure. Finally, we got to see the bridge raise and lower with a bird's eye view. It was so amazing!
Adults and kids 9 and up got to go down to the pit to see the inner workings of the bridge. The gears, motors etc. C got to go down and reported that the biggest gear is 36' across and the counterweight is 900 US Tons!
It was a fun tour and then we just hung out and enjoyed the waterfront for a hour. I love homeschooling!

Glass Blowing

On our recent trip to the coast, we were looking for a place to buy some groceries and happened upon a glass blowing studio. C and I agreed that it would be most productive if I shopped by myself and he took the boys over to watch the glass blowers and work. But this is no ordinary glass studio. This is Lincoln City Glass Center. Here you can blow you own glass with the help of the glass blowers on staff. Luckily, M, being 8 is just old enough. So we came back the next day when C, M and Grandma R all took a turn blowing glass. C and M made beautiful floats and Grandma R made a ball.

Rolling the molten glass into a round shape

Rolling the molten ball in colored glass chips. M chose yellow and orange.

Reheating the ball to melt all those color chips in. Definitely a hot job!

M used big tweezers to swirl the colors into the glass so the finished object would have that swirled glass look.

Finished picture coming soon!

They're actually done!

I got good shots of M's pants because he is willing to hold still. G's look the same, trust me. They haven't been washed yet or gone over for stray threads--so please disregard those. I made the mistake though of not measuring M's waist before I started. They are sooo loose on him. And he doesn't like the low rider look. If I can talk him into a belt, he can wear them, otherwise he can wait till he puts on a few inches. Shouldn't take too long based on recent history.

I made them from Ottobre's 1/06 issue. They are view #27 in sizes 134 & 92. They are supposed to roll up--my guys aren't that short ;). I used corduroy and twill from JoAnns. I wish there was more shaping to the waistband. It was just a simple sew&fold. Other than that I like them. They were also pretty easy to sew--typical of Otto.

It Hailed?!?!

I can't believe it hailed in MAY!! It hailed for a little while last Wednesday, then hard again on Friday (5/4). Not only did it hail, but it lasted about 10 minutes. Long enough for the kids to get shoes, raincoats and one of my stainless bowls to try and catch some of the hail. But then it warmed right up to 75+ yesterday and we were plenty warm. M talked me into buying a pool at Target. We're ready for summer I guess.

"What is this stuff, Mom?"

"BRRRRRR," says M.

Yup, that's hail. It looks just like a skiff of snow. G thought it was and it really got his hopes up. He was remembering the snow storm in January and probably hoping to work on his throwing arm aiming snowballs at M.

We dyed again today :o

I'm still waiting for finished products to take pictures of, so I'll post them later. We had dye left from our tie-dye party and used them on some stuff. I was especially excited about the results of our silks. I have wanted playsilks for the boys for quite some time. I can't bring myself to buy them though because I know what the blanks cost from Dharma. So I found a great, permanent but quick way to dye them and they turned out great. This method doesn't make them all smooth and even and perfectly one color. It gives them a mottled look. Almost marbled.
First, we put the scarves in a stainless steel bowl and poured white vinegar over them and let them soak for 30 minutes. Then we wrung them out and put one-at-a-time in another stainless bowl. I let the boys squirt dye over them. We did lapis/midnight, yellow/orange, forest/bright green, red, and then lots of colors to try and make brown (as per M's request). After it looked good and dye covered, I put it in my microwave steamer, covered it and nuked it for 2 minutes. Then rinsed. And rinsed and rinsed and rinsed--silk holds it's dye well! After we did each one, I washed them in synthrapol and dried them. They look great! The boys had so much fun playing with them before bed too. I really should have taken pictures, but oh well. Tomorrow.
I also painted a skirt. I had this cool watercolor flower idea. I mixed the dye up thicker than I planned and then I couldn't get the look I wanted on my practice fabric. So I painted yellow and purple asters instead. I think I'll like it alright. We'll see. Who knows, maybe I'll love it?

G is astounding me with his growth the last month. He is talking so much better. He says all the grandparent names, repeats just about everything, and forms full sentences. He is starting to do scribble writing, where he writes a line of scribbles and tells us what it says. And he loves drinking out of a regular cup instead of sippy cups. AND he is more interested in using the potty. He has been great at using it as long as he is naked, but the other day he wanted his pj pants on with no diaper. He remembered to go to the potty and pulled down his own pants.
If this blog still exists when he is old enough to read, he will be horrified to find this here and I will be the cause of much emotional damage I am sure. But I'm thrilled at the progress he is making.
M on the other hand seems to have decided that 8 is darn close enough to 13 to be a total pill. Actually he is a really sweet kid. He just knows how to push my buttons. But that is pretty normal I guess.

On the sewing front, I used up some more fabric in a baby gift. So I didn't really use that much I guess, but it felt like an accomplishment. Then I cut out matching pants and shirts for the boys. The pants are taking awhile as they are 12 pattern pieces each and I'm double topstitching them. They had darn well better turn out! But they used a lot of fabric. Yay!!