laeroport

recap #11 - the girl's birthday

I think the other horrible time of year to have your birthday is May.  There are so may conflicts with end-of-the-school-year activities.  This year we opted to have Aidin's birthday party on the last day of school, which was a half day.  And for the second time, we had a Kit party (moving is good - you get to recycle some of your old ideas).

This party was an out-of-the-box Kit Mystery Game that I bought several years ago on clearance knowing Aidin would eventually hit that magic age where it would be perfect.  Evidently, 10 is that perfect age.

So her friends were invited for tea. In costume and in character.  Aidin, of course, was Kit.  I was Mother in my Grandma's 1930's apron.  Snacks of fruit salad and jam sandwiches were served.  The platter doubled as a clue hiding place.

This mystery game really just followed along with the script.  As a veteran of YEARS of playing mystery games, I was rather disappointed that it was so completely scripted, but it was probably better for girls this age.

They traipsed around the house finding clues and discussing them and ended their mystery in the back yard.  Eliot stood in as Will with help from Dad.  The Hobo Jungle was found under the backyard crazy tent I made out of some cotton net fabric, an old pop-up basketball hoop, a piece of bamboo and a chain.  Classy.

It seems the best part for the girls was the mad dash to Aidin's room after the game was over.  Out came the box of dress-up clothes and it was hard to get the right kid back in the right costume when the party was over.

We ended with cake - but no presents.  In the spirit of Kit, Aidin asked her friends for food donations.  We took 48 lbs of food plus a check down to the local food pantry a few days after the party.  My generous child was pretty thrilled with that.

Everyone left with their teacup and saucer and the same Kit cd mix we used the time before.  I still love that playlist.

And with that we've reached the end of November, and I'm as caught up with this blog as I'll ever be.  Amidst the uncertainties of life, I'll try to stay present here.  Thank you for checking in, for your friendship and support.  It is good to know that I'm not just talking to myself and the crickets.

xo ~L

recap #10 - the boy's birthday

Eliot has his 8th birthday party on Friday, and I've realized I haven't posted about his last birthday party.  So here goes.

It is so difficult having a December birthday.  It is hard to find a time when friends are available to come to a birthday party.  Many times we have moved Eliot's party with friends to another month.  It helps spread out the gifts, too, so the boy is not inundated with presents in December and then hits a present drought for the rest of the year.

So we had his party in March.  At the bowling alley.  It was chaos.  But fun.

Yeah, the whole party was like that.  Boys running wild.  But there was some bowling.  Eliot even made two strikes.

He wanted a Pokemon party and for that I had help from my friend, Stephanie, who passed down some leftovers from her son's Pokemon party - plastic table cloths, banners, nametags shaped like pokeballs with pokemon on the reverse side, and pokemon bingo - which was very much appreciated as we waited for parents to pick up their kids (see the above reference to boys running wild).

The bowling alley had a "no homemade cake" rule, which was annoying.  But Eliot liked his store-bought cake.  He was very specific in wanting the pokemon Ho-oh on his cake, breathing out fire from the candles.  The lady at the grocery store bakery wasn't so sure about "Ho-oh, go!", but she did it anyway.

I whipped up some very simple, unlined tote bags for the goodie bags. The fabric and bias tape handles all came from my stash. I cut up one of the plastic tablecloths and used it as an applique, which turned out to be some tricky sewing.

We stuffed the bags with some pokemon cards, pokemon marbles, and a cd of some of Eliot's favorite songs interspersed with pokemon music that Tim found on-line.

And speaking of goodie bags, I'd better get to work on the ones for this year's party.  Back tomorrow with Aidin's birthday recap.

give and give back

I'm a little bit bah humbuggy about holiday gifts these days.  In this tight economy, the whole Black Friday/Cyber Monday mad rush of consumerism makes me angry.  Which is why I'm making most of my holiday gifts this year, or buying locally when I can.  But there are things that I cannot buy locally or make myself (I sadly cannot write wii code), so I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite holiday shopping sources that give back.

Amazon, via Monarch Watch:  Monarch Watch is one of my favorite organizations.  Their mission: to provide the public with information about the biology of monarch butterflies, their spectacular migration, and how to use monarchs to further science education in primary and secondary schools.  They are concerned with the loss of monarch habitat and establishing backyard waystations along migration routes.  Over the years their funding has dropped, but, in addition to purchasing items at their annual plant sales (I have for years) and via their shop, you can also support them with every amazon.com purchase, if you link through their amazon portal.  Scroll down and click. So easy.  And so appreciated.

(at last spring's plant sale)

Montessori Services:  For the little people in your life, you can't beat gifts from Montessori Services or their sister site, For Small Hands.  We have ordered so many things from them over the years from drinking glasses and vegetable choppers that we still use every day to woodworking tools to gardening tools, their products are well made and sized perfectly for the tiny hands that just want to help out. And this time of year, if you specify your local Montessori school,* the school will earn credit for free materials.

(super old picture of Eliot at Raintree)

The Greater Good Network Stores:  Choose your cause, from the Rainforest to Breast Cancer to Child Health to Veterans. buying through the Greater Good Network helps two-fold.  First, you are helping the cause that you link through, by providing mammograms or immunizations or purchasing land to be preserved.  Second, you are helping artists and craftspeople around the world, many of them women, support themselves and their families through their trade.  There are countless beautiful, unique, handmade items to choose from for the home, the garden, or to wear.

I've got five minutes left today - so Happy Cyber Monday.  I hope your shopping dollars do a little giving back.

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*If you don't have a local school, I suggest Raintree Montessori in Lawrence, Kansas, or Rainbow Bridge Montessori School in Cotati, California.

hiking the Flint Hills

I meant to be here a week ago with these pictures, but between computer glitches and my head exploding with thoughts of Christmas gifts, it didn't happen.

So today while I drive east to celebrate Thanksgiving with our cousins, here are a few photos from our hike last Saturday. 

This three mile loop through the Konza Prairie has quickly become my favorite thing about Manhattan.  As you walk along the trail, you can imagine yourself as Laura and Mary rolling along with Ma and Pa and baby Carrie and their bulldog, Jack.  The sky is so big and the trees are so few.

Although the wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour, we had a beautiful morning for our hike.  It was 65 degrees at 9:30 and only a few fluffy clouds in the sky.  Glorious sunshine compensated for the wind.  Quite a contrast to last year's cold and grey Cub Scout Day on the Konza.

 

And in true Kansas fashion, 20 minutes after we got home the sky clouded up and that strong wind turned cold, making us all the more thankful for our splendid time out on the Prairie.

it's (black) Friday night again

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a wonderful celebration yesterday, surrounded by those you love.  This was the first Thanksgiving in 14 years that we haven't hosted both families for dinner.  It was a pleasant change to just bake a few pies and mash some sweet potatoes, and not worry about anything else.

Our biggest reason to give thanks was having Tim's mom with us.  Three full months after she first entered the hospital, she finally got to sleep in her own bed Wednesday night.  What a blessing.

Another blessing, spending the evening in one of my favorite places, my brother's farm.  This was my grandparents' farm until they passed away 11 years ago and I spent a good chunk of my childhood taking in the same scenery, the same sunsets.

Tomorrow we have round two of Thanksgiving with two more dinners with cousins on both sides.  I guess I'd better get to work on the round two pies.

Friday nights are too busy to blog

We've had a busy week at chez laeroport.  Science fair preparations, the science fair, Cub Scout pack meeting, delivering Cub Scout popcorn, a Girl Scout meeting that I planned and prepared, organizing extra cookie pick ups, selling Girl Scout cookies in our neighborhood, collecting troop cookie money to deposit, planning a birthday party, and celebrating the school's 50th birthday.  It's been busy.  And tomorrow we have a pancake feed, a hike, and an out of town guest.  I'd better clean up a bit.

But we only had half a day of school today.  Eliot went to play with his friend who is homeschooling this year while Aidin and I snuck off to the donut shop for a snack and a round of Scrabble.  Yes, they have board games and a piano and bikes to rent at the new donut shop, as if the donuts were not enough of a draw.  You understand why it is our favorite place in town.

(My dad's name is Larry.  He likes peanut butter and jelly.  Perfect.)

And Scrabble is now the hot item at chez laeroport.  Target had Scrabble this week for $10, so while I was there scoping out Christmas and birthday gifts I picked it up.*  Since Wednesday afternoon we've played at least four rounds with the kids, not keeping score, just trying to make words.  And Tim and I have played two abbreviated games between trips to school to volunteer.  He smoked me both times.  ::grumble grumble::  Who me, a sore loser?  Pfft! ::grumble grumble::

Happy Friday - or if it is already tomorrow by the time you read this - Happy Saturday!  I'll be back tomorrow with (fingers crossed) some nice pictures of the Flint Hills in autumn.

* I picked Scrabble over Banagrams because a.) I'm cheap that way and 2.) I think the board will help keep us from getting CRAZY!

Recap #9 (#9, #9) - yarn over....

I couldn't resist that Beatles reference.  Nevermind.  Moving on....

We did not hook up cable  or buy a satellite dish when we moved to Manhattan, and we are so far out in the sticks that we don't get TV reception any other way.  So our watching for the past year+ has been limited to Netflix.  And I have loved it.

Aside from the occassional live sporting event, I have not missed TV at all.  We haven't been regular TV watchers in years.  We didn't have TIVO and frankly, our kids' bedtime routine was more important than making sure we were sitting down at 8:00 to watch some show.  And the beauty of being late to the game is that you can do it all in one go.

So in the last year we've watched all of Heroes and Lost, as well as the first two seasons of Glee, three seasons of The Cosby Show (Aidin's new favorite), half of the Young Indiana Jones Files and a whole lot more that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

But I can't just sit and watch TV.  Nor can I do something too complicated.  So I've made a few afghans.  It started with finishing a thrifted afghan for Aidin.  Then Eliot  picked out some yarn and I made him an afghan, which I will forevermore refer to as "The Lost Blanket" because I made the whole thing watching Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Claire, Charley, Hurley, et al.  It is huge.  Each of those blocks is a full skein of yarn.  I think I used 12 skeins, all told.

Then Tim wanted one.  I bought some yarn and stared, but he didn't like my color choices, so I put that one aside and drug him to Hobby Lobby with me to pick out his own colors.  Which he did.  And I love the way it turned out.

Well used already, and covered with lint and fuzz.  Hey ho.  That's the way things go in this house.

Lastly, I crocheted a graduation afghan for our former next door neighbor and favorite babysitter, Ally.  She graduated from high school in Lawrence last spring and started here at K-State this fall.  I made her an appropriately colored throw for her room in the scholarship hall.

 

They are all made the same way.  Single crochet down the row, double crochet back.  The narrower stripes on Tim's and Ally's are two rows of single crochet.  But that's it.  No pattern.  Just making it up as I go along and keeping one eye on the television.

I'm itching to start on another one, but really, how many afghans does one family need?

Autumn

 "When the trees their summer splendor
Change to raiment red and gold,

When the summer moon turns mellow,
And the nights are getting cold;

When the squirrels hide their acorns,
And the woodchucks disappear;

Then we know that it is autumn,
Loveliest season of the year."
-   Carol L. Riser  

the view from here

I keep my laptop on the kitchen table.  When it is time to eat, I move it to the little book case next to my chair, along with all the mail and school papers that threaten to overwhelm us from time to time.  I spend probably 50% of my time each day sitting in this spot.  When it is cold, I love the feel of the warm sun at my back.  It doesn't hurt that my chair is directly over the heat vent.  It is a good place to read a magazine or work out our menu for the week or do a little sewing by hand.  I have a straight view to the front door, the dining room, the family room and what's on the tv, and out the kitchen window. 

And yesterday, while going through photos for the annual Christmas calendar, I discovered two photos from this spot.  In January:

and in October:

I wish I had taken one in April when that redbud tree was in all it's glory.  But just look at the way those succulents on the windowsill have grown!  All from a little cutting from Ben & Martha's wedding almost exactly two years ago.  Amazing how things grow with a little love and light and a good view.

Recap #8 - school sewing

We had our school carnival last spring, which included a basket auction, so I sewed a few things to be included.

Aidin's class sponsored a K-State/KU basket.  Although it nearly gave me hives, I bought one yard of K-State fabric and sewed a K-State tote bag and coffee cuff.  It is lined with black.  I also donated a KU t-shirt to offset all that purple.

Horrible picture.  I think I took it with Aidin's camera.

Eliot's class sponsored a cooking basket.  I made two crocheted dish cloths, two potholders and two aprons - one in parent size and the other child sized.   I  refused to go with any local team colors on this one.

I liked the potholders.  It made me think I should make some new potholders for myself, but of course, I haven't.

Hey ho.