First and Last

This morning, snuggled together in bed, I asked Soren if he could stay little forever.  No, he wants to get bigger, and have bigger feet and grow up, he said.  I told him I didn't want him to grow up and move away, but he reassured me by saying that he will live in this house with us always but just get bigger clothes.

Today is his last day of his first year of school.  If that sentence boggles your mind, imagine how boggled mine is knowing my baby went from this

to this in a matter of months.  He doesn't look so different, but I see it in other ways.

Inches grown, pounds gained, letters learned and written, numbers counted, and three haircuts later, he leaves behind that first difficult month of tears, as well as those other eight months of smiles.

I know he's going to miss school and his wonderful teachers, but I honestly think I'm going to miss it more!  These Tuesday and Thursday mornings have been blissful.

His teachers really have worked hard to create a positive learning environment and experience for the kids.  From the Mother's Day brunch and tea, complete with adorable singing and handmade gifts from the kids

to the deluge of craft projects stuffed in their backpacks to the fact that my baby can write his name and I had nothing to do with it!  They're simply amazing.

What do you give a teacher to show your appreciation, short of a massage gift certificate and a comfy reclining chair?  I made up a simple teacher gift for them that I found via Pinterest.

One is for a teacher, the other for the aide.  Mine didn't look as pretty as the ones above, mostly because I had trouble finding nice cups at the last minute.  I got mine from Target, along with the other supplies.

Also my photos suck.  I hate taking shots at night under the kitchen lights, but that's usually when I work.

For the gifts, I bought

insulated drink cup | gift card for a bookstore |instant lemonade packs | lemon-themed pens and lemon sticky note pad (from Target dollar section) | chocolate!! | yellow gift bags | ribbon

Assembly was easy. Just stick everything inside the cup while sneaking a piece of chocolate for yourself.

Once the lid was in place, I cut out little pennants from cardstock and wrote a note on them, as copied from Lisa Storm's blog.

For the aide: "thank you for being a great "ade" to the class!" and for the teacher "thank you for quenching my thirst for knowledge".  Cheesy, but fitting for this gift.  I debated writing something like "this is the last straw!! love, Soren" or "you certainly made lemonade out of my lemons, love Soren" but I didn't think that left the teachers with a positive image of my son. :)

I slid the paper onto the straw and taped it closed.

A cute and practical gift, rather than more kitschy junk to decorate the classroom.  Hopefully they can use this throughout the summer at the pool or on the beach.

Slip the cups into a gift bag, add a card and ribbon and you're done.  I drew some cardstock lemon slices as name tags for the gifts which Soren colored.  He also made a card for inside, the sentiments of which he dictated to me.

Here's hoping this last day of pre-school turns into a pretty spectacular first day of summer for us. 

A Garden Lunch

Though my desire to eat outdoors in the garden has not yet been realized due to the lack of an outdoor table, we still are enjoying the garden's bounty during lunch and dinner at the kitchen table.

Soren bringing in kale from the garden

We've been munching on greens including lettuce, kale, swiss chard and arugula, as well as radishes and herbs, which have become plentiful over the summers, having wintered quite well.

For lunch today, I made an easy vegetarian Portuguese Kale and White Bean Soup using fresh kale, herbs and even frozen tomatoes from last year's harvest.

VEGETARIAN PORTUGUESE KALE AND WHITE BEAN SOUP

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced,
• 2 potatoes, cut into chunks
• 8 leaves (give or take) of kale, tough stems removed and finely chopped
• 3 cups chopped tomatoes (canned, frozen, or fresh)
• 1 can tomato paste
• 2 cans of white beans (or 4 cups cooked beans)
• 6 cups of vegetable stock (or water)
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• handful of fresh sage, chopped finely
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat a dutch oven or soup pot, then add the oil.  Saute the onion and garlic and 1/2 of the sage leaves.  When the onions are translucent, add the stock, potatoes, tomatoes, paste, kale and vinegar.  Cook until potatoes are soft and the kale is tender.   Add the rest of the sage, and salt and pepper the soup to taste.

Serve with crusty bread or rice and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese (not really Portuguese, but tasty!).

I think this would be great with a Spanish Rioja wine, which I haven't had for years.  I see a trip to the liquor store in my future.

UPDATE: My adoring, blog reading husband brought home a bottle for dinner (we had leftovers).  And it was as good as I remembered from our Spanish honeymoon. :)

Kid-Made Mother's Day Gift

This morning the neighbor kids and Soren got together to make some painted glass coffee mugs for moms and grandmoms.

I used my trusty glass paints again (you can get them at craft stores too) and let the kids be creative with their designs on some Irish Coffee mugs I picked up at the dollar store.

It was cute hearing the siblings "argue" over their mommy's favorite color and what kind of hot beverages she likes best.

We also had painted some baby food jars to use as vases or containers for little trinkets.  When the painting was done, I baked the glasses in the oven for a half an hour.

Oh, that loooooong half hour wait!  Finally, the hot-to-the-touch results.  Here's Soren's cup and vase below.

I think we mamas will treasure these personalized gifts for years to come, and for me, I'll treasure the memory of watching my son make it.

Colorful Summer Clothespin Wreath {tutorial}

Now that the weather has been consistently warmer, beckoning summer, it was time to change out my wool wreath from the front door to something that went a little better with the front porch color scheme.

It seems like I've been churning out lots of wreaths lately, but no matter. I decided to add one more to my portfolio, this time using clothespins.

I love using materials that are cheap and plentiful, and clothespins certainly fit that description.  Though my laundry will be a bit lacking for a while, until I replenish my stash.

Here's how I made it and what I used:

Clothespins (roughly 40) | Mod Podge | Scissors or craft knife | Decorative paper 
paint brush | Cardboard | Ribbon and a pin for hanging | mini chalkboard (optional)

STEP ONE
Make your wreath base.  I traced two bowls onto a piece of cardboard to make a "donut" then cut it out with a craft knife.

STEP TWO
Once I had my shape cut out, I glued it onto a piece of decorative paper.

I cut the paper a little larger than the donut, so I could fold it over and conceal the cardboard edges.

You just cut some notches in the paper and fold them over.

Then I glued them in place with Mod Podge

STEP THREE
On to the clothespins.  You'll want to cut out rectangles to fit the front of the pin.  I used a paper cutter, but you could do this by hand.  I cut 6 rectangles of 7 different colors, then glued them onto the clothespins with Mod Podge.  I forgot to take a photo of this step, but you should get the idea.

STEP FOUR
When dry, simply pin your clothespins to your wreath form in whatever color pattern you'd like.

STEP FIVE
Add a ribbon for hanging, by either stapling, gluing, pinning or tying a ribbon to the back.

Note: Sandie commented below with a brilliant idea: decoupage the back sides of the clothespins with another design! Maybe something seasonal or a holiday color scheme.  You've got my wheels turning, Sandie. Thanks!
 
Hang and enjoy!  You could even pin little notes onto your door with the clothespins.

STEP SIX (optional)
While the wreath would look fabulous as is, I ended up using one of the leftover mini chalkboards from my other summer wreath to make a little "welcome" sign inside the circle.  I love how it looks!

You could write all kinds of things on it, like "happy summer", "here comes the sun", "at the beach", etc.  You can buy the mini chalkboards HERE.

Happy crafting!

Simple Mother's Day Bouquet

We have our own little cottage industry/art studio here in the afternoons when our neighbor kids come over.  Since two of them are older than Soren, they make the perfect students for me to relive my art teacher days.

Within moments of opening the front door, they're asking about making a craft, which makes me smile, even if I don't always oblige, depending on the events of the day.

Yesterday I broke out the glass painting markers (great buy for under 7 bucks) and let them decorate some baby food jars, ahem, vases (pronounced with the highbrow short 'a').

I scrubbed the jars, then removed any sticker residue with Goo Gone.

Then it was a simple as letting the kids color the jars.  Soren did great writing the word "mother" as I spelled it out loud for him.

Once the paint was dry (in a few minutes), I wrapped the top of the jar with ribbon, then wire to make a hanging vase or May Day basket of sorts.  Then we headed outside to scavenge some flowers and greens from the backyard.

I think Soren's choice of a hosta leaf is perfect for a backdrop.  It's not something that I think of adding to my flower arrangements, but he's inspired me to do so.

I'll bet we'll be making more of these for all the special mothers in our life this coming Mother's Day.

Vegetarian Black Bean and Zucchini Soft Tacos

If I'm in a good mood, I enjoy being creative in the kitchen.  I cook 95% of our meals on a daily basis, the majority of them being vegetarian.  I have my stand-bys, but every so often, I make up something that really pleases this guy.

I've found that my most inventive and successful cooking happens when I have only a few fresh ingredients on hand.  Today I had a really ripe mango, a really ripe avocado, corn tortillas, and some pantry staples.  So I made this:

I mashed up the avocado, diced the mango, added a teeny bit of finely chopped raw onion and a squeeze of fresh orange juice.  Our garden is already producing itty-bitty cilantro plants (volunteers from last year's crop) so I added some of that too.

For the bean mixture, I sauteed an onion and 3 minced garlic cloves in olive oil, added a teaspoon of cumin and a teaspoon of chipotle pepper liquid (from a can of them) and cooked until the onion was translucent.

I added a can of black beans, partially drained, a diced zucchini, and a cup of frozen corn kernels.  I salted and peppered it to taste.

Right before serving, I toasted corn tortillas on our iron stovetop grill until soft and pliable. 

Then you just tuck the bean mixture inside a tortilla, sprinkle on some cheddar jack cheese, and top with the mango/avocado salsa.

Served alongside rice (I love my rice cooker! So easy to throw on a pot of the stuff), this is a tasty yet messy meal.  Keep the napkins near by.

I alter the ingredients depending what I have on hand or what's coming up in the garden.  Enjoy!

Cafe Play

I'm thrilled that Soren has hit the stage of pretend play, as in dressing up and play-acting "real life" scenarios.  Other than the ones that involve pretending to be me ("I said No!!"), I really enjoy watching him and his friends play pretend and dress-up in costumes.

We've gotten hours of play this week from our own mini cafe, tucked into a corner of our laundry/mud room.

Over the years, I've collected various things for such a space, the table and chairs having appeared one trash-day in our alley (ah, the joys of living in town), the vintage spice tins came from Gigi's kitchen, and the kitchen was a birthday gift from a few years ago. It's gotten lots of use from boys and girls alike.

Soren and I created a special menu for the Cafe, and though the prices are a bit high, the place has been a hit right from the get-go. 

I highly recommend the Salad Stew and Sugar Spices.  Apparently, the menu is a seasonal one, and changes frequently. That in itself is a fun activity to imagine with children.

I find that the kids really like playing with real things, like ceramic cups, a fresh flower arrangement on the table, water for drinking and snacks like fruit, vegetables, and popcorn for the tiny plates.

It's a great way to get your kids to eat their veggies! Soren must have had a dozen baby carrots.

Even if you don't have all these props at home, you can still fashion some pretend kitchen items from boxes.  There are lots of options via an online search for "cardboard box kitchen".  This one from Family Fun magazine is adorable and do-able,

as is this one from Parents magazine.

The best part about our cafe--it's always open and ready for play.

Hope you're enjoying some imaginative play on this lovely Sunday.