Adventures in Living!

We Love Halloween!

I was not impressed with the hot, sticky weather we had, but Halloween at the Brandel household was  terrific !

Friday night, we carved three massive pumpkins...

 

 

 

 

RAAAAWR!!!  (Wren is so awesome...)

Noah says "Raawr!" too!

Halloween Night...spooky dinner...Mummy Hot Dogs....Monster Face salad...and a glass of sparkling green Monster Juice to drink!

Getting ready....everyone gets glow sticks and glow bracelets.

Going out....the bat, the Tinkerbell, and Professor McGonagal (from Harry Potter).

At the neighbor's house....."Trick or Treat!!"

The kids had a blast! It was unseasonably hot and humid, which reminded me of Halloween nights in Miami. Travis and I were sweating by the time we got done. The kids were great; polite, cooperative, and everyone had fun. There was one fantastic house that was totally done up with spooky decorations and a fog machine and a scream soundtrack. Wren was a little unsure, but Noah just marched right in with Kira. We have to spend more time decorating our yard next year. I definitely want at least one inflatable things, and to put some ghosts and some lights up in the trees. I think we might need a spooky graveyard, too. 

Kids are in bed now, lights are off, and I am trying to stay away from the unsupervised pumpkin buckets full of candy. We'd set a big bowl of candy on the porch before we left, only to come back home to find someone had stolen it! Low-rent jerks! Ah, well, it IS trick OR treat, right? I can get another bowl next year.

I think I will also avoid getting started on my yearly Halloween rant about the people who DRIVE their kids from house to house for trick or treating. I could understand it if the houses were a quarter-mile apart, but this is suburbia! Sigh...you walk, or you don't go. That's how it should be. (well, unless you're two, then you can ride in the wagon)

Anyway.

I love Halloween. We had a great time! Hope everyone got lots of candy, got scared if they wanted to, and had the best costume ever!

Been a long time...

Okay, I have been a slacker. I have failed to post now for ....many....days. It's not like there's nothing going on around here; hell, *something's* always going on around here! I guess I could just blame my recent attack of Life. Good excuse as any, I guess.

Let's see....the kids are all back in school. First day was successful for Kira at middle school, and the little guys are loving being back in preschool. Honestly, Mom loves them being back in school a little bit, too. I like having structure and some semblance of order to my day, and the little bit of free time and peace and quiet doesn't hurt, either. ;)

Travis and I continue our quest to obtain motorcycle licenses and scooters. I cannot wait. We got a little piece of junk Chinese import scooter the other day, and Travis ahs been working on it and we have both been riding it around the neighborhood. It's really fun, and it totally solidifies my desire to have a bigger 'real' scooter SOON. It's only 50cc, so top speed is 40mph if we're lucky, but it's prefect for practicing riding around and stopping and turning and such. I feel so much more confident now, especially with turning, since I have been riding it.

This is not our 50cc scooter. This is Kira's Razor scooter, which is battery-powered and attains a top speed of 10mph. Noah loved riding up and down the driveway on it with me. Poor Wren is dying for her own scooter.

We went to the Children's Museum with my brother and his two kids and my mom. It was great fun, especially since we just about had the place to ourselves!

Noah has the worst case of strep I have ever seen in one of my kids, so he is down for the count, but rallying back with some antibiotics. We were so sure it was the H1N1 flu -- super-high fever, lethargy, vomiting -- but thankfully, he "only" has strep. Yay for bacterial infections.

Today my mission includes ridding the house of all the outgrown kid clothes, putting things in the attic and taking things out of the attic, and planning an assault on the bedroom of my pre-teen, who seems to be incapable of throwing anything out. This weekend looks to be full, with a trip to the farmer's market, the Richmond Folk Festival, and other enjoying-the-fall weekend fun.

Pumpkins must be obtained, and costumes decided upon, as Halloween is coming! I need to develop the pre-trick or treating weird and wonderful dinner menu. Last year's supper included such delicacies as Worms On A Bun and Dirt Dessert, so I want to find something equally startling to eat this year. I love Halloween!

I also have a rant going on in my head about the people who continue to refuse vaccination for their children and place all of us at risk for resurgence of crap like smallpox, polio, diphtheria and widespread measles because of their uninformed opinion that vaccines cause autism.

Additionally, I have something to say about awarding the Nobel Peace prize to someone based on the things they *might* do, rather than the things that HAVE been done to further world peace, but hey, then I'd be branded a hater, and I don't have time for refuting that kind of nonsense today.

And the proposed names for the Richmond minor league baseball team? Seriously, the Richmond Rockhoppers? Flatheads? Flying Squirrels? HAMBONES!? What. The. Hell? If I cared more about baseball, I'd probably be more upset, but since I don't have a dog in this fight, all I can do is shake my head incredulously at the dorks who are potentially making my beloved city a laughingstock.

The tourism people should be having a cow about now.

Ah, well. Lots to do. Guess I'd better get to it.

Playing in the Kitchen

So, my kids really like to play 'kitchen' and use their (and my!) pots and pans and plastic food to make dinner and serve snacks and all that. We used to have a big, upright Little Tykes kitchen for Wren that we got from Craigslist, but over the year or so we had it, it got kind of trashed to the point that it wasn't fun to play with. Plus, it was a fairly good size, and took up a lot of room.

Once we started the remodeling of our living room/library area, it had to go. I kept all the nicer pots and pans and utensils and play food in a large fabric bin for the kids, and just ignored the fact that there was no kitchen. I noticed recently that both Noah and Wren were getting into kitchen play, and this time, they were using all kind of flat surfaces for their stove. I thought how nice it would be if they had a kitchen again, but there really isn't room for one, even in our larger living space.

Hooray for the internet! I found a blog, Balancing Everything, that featured a tutorial for making a fabric roll-up kitchen play mat!  It was really cute and looked like something the kids would love, so I read through the tutorial and adapted it for my own purposes.

Took me about two days and I am especially proud to say that I bought nothing to make it. All the fabrics and embellishments were already in my stash! Yay !

Anyway, here it is:

 

It has a grill in full flame, a sink, and four stove burners. I used bleached muslin for the top, with cotton fabric for the appliances and various ribbon and felt scraps. The electric burners are detailed using a big fat Sharpie marker, and there is dimensional fabric paint for the stove knob tops. I drew the sink drain with the Sharpie, added a few water droplets with a glitter paint pen, and used packaged tubular bias for the grill grate.

The whole thing is backed with a layer of cotton canvas and a cotton print. I sewed a strip of bias binding to one end to use as a tie when it is rolled up. The three layers of fabric have a nice weight, and it rolls up and stores in the fabric basket with the kitchen toys.

Best of all, the kids love it!

Here is a detail of the stove:

 

and a shot of the sink:

 

and the grill:

 

Noah really liked it; when I took this picture, Wren was busy gathering her 'gredients' for the lunch she cooked.

 

I have to say that normally I HATE machine applique, so in making this project, my skills were definitely tested. However, it really came out nicely, so I am not complaining. And it kind of encourages me to do a few more projects with machine applique.

Hmmm....maybe Noah needs a toolbench....or a soft busy book to practice dressing skills...

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To all of my friends who are traveling to Charlotte this weekend, safe travels, and give our love to Valharic. Please let him know we are thinking of him.

Summer season

The scenes of summer, here at our house.

riding on the Washington metro, June 09

  nasturtium flower

the herb garden, early July

Hershey Park, Hershey, PA with the Girl Scouts

playing in the pool

  gathering from the garden

tomatoes by the wagon-load this year

Wren goes adventure riding, August

Ah, summer. It's been a great one, and although I am seriously done with the heat, we have managed to ahve fun, grow vegetables, and travel a small amount. Fall is coming, and I am waiting.

Status report

avoiding: chocolate chip cookies, candy and ice cream. For today, at least. Apparently my daily dose of these items is not helping my weight. Plus, I am exhausted from being up constantly with Noah for the past few nights. I tend to overeat -- especially sweets -- when I am very tired.

eating: leftover roasted potatoes, tomato salad, and a nectarine, all from the garden or the farm market.

feeling: too old for this getting-up-all-night-with-a-teething-kid crap.

watching: Wren discover some basic principles of magnetization and poles.

thinking: about a variety of things, none of which are very productive at the moment.

hoping: Noah feels well enough to sleep all night tonight.

wishing: I could take advantage of this rainy afternoon and pass out on the couch for a few hours.

loving: the fact that Wren is playing "farmer's market stand" with some of the veggies from our garden.

Aaarghh!

I haven't posted in a while, mostly because every time I thought of something good to write about, I would forget about writing it by the time I sat down at the computer.  I hate when that happens.

It's been an interesting few weeks, creatively speaking. I have been getting all kinds of fantastic ideas for new work, both glass stuff and other stuff, but I have been having a hard time making the visions become reality. I keep running up against a number of factors that are limiting my art-making. To begin with, I can't draw. Well, that's not entirely true. My drawing skills are...unrefined. It's not a simple task for me to sketch out an idea and have it look like something I can turn into a piece of art later. I can rarely make my sketches match my visions and that frustrates me.  I always see other artists' sketchbooks, where they work out ideas and plan projects, and I can never seem to do that. I know I shouldn't judge myself too harshly...I'm self-taught in everything I do, pretty much, so any drawing I can do that even remotely looks like what it's supposed to is a good thing.

Anyway....so.....what I really think my artistic issue is, is that I am having a hard time finding my 'voice'....making art that has depth and reflects my inspiration or thought process for the piece. Some of the work seems random and disconnected. I guess I shouldn't judge here, either, because art is truly individual and I know I spend too much time comparing myself with other artists. I just have such a hard time getting a project going and keeping it going and seeing it through to the end. I'm working on it though. I think it all just takes time to develop.

I have to say that I am also kind of sad about missing out on a glass class with someone I kind of idolize a little. Brad Pearson is a local glass artist who teaches fairly regular beginner classes at the Visual Arts Center (used to be the Hand Workshop, which I liked better...). I have been totally struggling with my glasswork lately, so I searched for and found his class....hooray, it starts in August!....and I registered and paid for it. Then later I got a phone call from the center that the class was actually full, so I'd need to call back and get a refund. I was upset, more than I thought I would be, actually. The likelihood that he will teach another class in the fall is pretty high, I think,  but I am feeling more than a bit desperate for some technical and creative help and inspiration and a chance to try out a dual-fuel torch. NOW. I have been burning and breaking glass and destroying colors and copper foil like a crazy person...everything I touch lately has turned to crap. Blah.

Hopefully when I call the art center, they can tell me if he will have classes in the fall. I hope so.

It's taken me about twelve actual tried to get this entry down, and although I am not sure if I have completely emptied my brain of all the junk flopping around in there, I need to be done. Noah has been in here at least six times, dragging me off the chair, and we need to get to the store for some things, too.

Picking up Kira for the weekend tonight! Hooray! I miss my girl.

What we've been up to around here

Okay, so the end-of-school-year whirlwind has come and gone, and now we are on summer time. I wish I could say that means sleeping in and lazing around, but with two highly active little ones, well....there ain't much sleeping OR lazing.

Here's a recap of June in the Brandel family household:

We ripped out a wall in our living room....
which turned the living space in our home into the greatest great room ever....
(don't mind the dirty couch bottom....blame the dogs)

Kira received her Girl Scout Bronze Award for service, and bridged to Cadettes...

And fifth grade came to an end.

Travis took a week of vacation, and we had a picnic on the carpet of our new living room, and Kira and I went to see Night At The Museum. Then we took ourselves and the kids to Washington!

Riding on the Metro was a new experience for all the kids.
We saw the Smithsonian Castle building....

WHile we were there, we saw the 'pile of treasure' prop that was made for the Night at the Museum 2 movie:

We also went to the Air and Space Museum, where Wren was in awe of the tall, tall planes and spaceships...

And we lost her briefly, in the museum. Scary, but not surprising.

Kira loved the Washington Monument!

I always like seeing the Capitol at one end of the Mall and the Monument at the other. Very cool.

Of course, we  went to the Museum of Natural History...

Kira and Wren touched a HUGE amethyst chunk.

We saw the Hope Diamond in a huge crush of people all clamoring to see it. I liked it better when it was a walk-by window in the gem hall. Now it's in the center of the room and people just crowd around it. Very hot and disorganized.

Noah, without his usual three hour nap, was starting to be done with the whole sightseeing thing.

We had a terrific time, though, and the kids behaved wonderfully. We tried some astronaut ice cream, the kids ran in the grass at the National Mall, and we got to see Julia Child's kitchen which was reproduced in the American History Museum. Awesome.

Since everyone was exhausted, we didn't get to see Oscar the Grouch, or the American flag or much else in the American History Museum, but I imagine we'll go back again. Maybe in the fall when there aren't so many school groups traveling! Plus, because of the way the Metro fares are sold, we have at least two Metro passes with nearly $20 in fares on them still. Sounds like a trip to the National Zoo, among other places.

I really want Kira to visit the Portrait Gallery and some of the other art museums.

The Best Mother's Day ever!!

Seriously, today was probably the best Mother's Day I have ever had in nearly eleven years of parenting. What a great day and a superb weekend!

Saturday, we did our weekly farmer's market run, picked up our CSA allotment of veggies, got some sinful cinnamon rolls and whoopie pies, and then checked out a new market in the area that I hopefully will be selling my glass at. We made a stop at the pediatrician's office to find out if Noah had an ear infection (he doesn't), and then back home for lunch and naptime. During the kids' nap, I knocked out about 19 of the daisy beads I have to make for a custom order, and roasted in the heat and humidity. Wren got to go over and play at the Elkins' house for a while, and when Noah woke up, we joined her there for dinner.

After dinner, playing, and bundling the kids off to bed, Travis and I watched Prince Caspian. I was surprised how good of a movie that was. Now I have to read the Chronicles of Narnia again. It's probably been a good twenty years or more since I read it.

Sunday, all I wanted for Mother's Day was breakfast at my favorite buffet, Joe's Inn in Bon Air. It's so popular that even when it's not a holiday, it's best to get there a few minutes before they open. It was yummy and worth the wait. I always get a plate of fruit and Belgian waffles covered in real butter and whipped cream. MMmmmmmm!  The weather was so fantastic that just going home after breakfast would have been a waste of a day. We went to Maymont Park to let the kids run themselves silly.

Maymont is a Gilded Age mansion and 100 -acre grounds in Richmond. It's beautiful, and HUGE. There's a Children's Barn with lots of animals, some wildlife that is being rehabilitated, and bears! We always have a good time there.

We started at the Children's Barn.

Wren got acquainted with a goat.

Noah learned about goats, too.

Then we found a large expanse of grass and we RAN!

"Look! There's Daddy!"

On our way back to the car, I checked out Maymont's vegetable garden, and got ideas I plan to steal for next year's garden.

Home in the afternoon for naps, then, and I decided to take myself out for a walk. The James River is high these days, what with all the rain we've been getting, and I really wanted to walk down by the rapids at Pony Pasture.  It was beautiful, sunny, breezy and not at all humid. The trails there are wide and flat, and there are a bunch of spur trails that make for fun exploring. I am definitely bringing my mountain bike back there this week to ride.

I didn't take my camera, so no pictures, but take my word for it, it was amazing.  The river was actually closed to general activities because it was high, so no swimming. I walked the 2.5 mile trail, and then found a seat on a huge rock with a good view of the upper rapids and just relaxed in the breeze.

We ended the day with huge cheeseburgers and milkshakes from Cheeburger Cheeburger, and a road trip on the scenic route to pick up Kira. The kids watched movies and Travis and I looked at all the gorgeous farms along the way.

Now the kids are all in bed, and I am headed there myself, soon. I'm happy to have had such a great day. I love my family so much!

Catching up, and the Inaugural fountain run (image-heavy!)

Sorry I haven't written in a while. Had an attack of Life, coupled with some food poisoning and it kind of derailed everything for a bit.

BUT.....now I'm back.....and I have pictures....

So, when we last left our Intrepid Heroine (that's me), I was eating a salad the size of my head. I managed to finish that, and a few others in the last week or so. Fresh organic produce is yum! Let's see....

We went to see Kira's artwork in the annual All-County Art Show.
This year, she had two pieces entered, a sculpture and a mask.
Both were just incredible! (not that I am biased or anything)

Wren gave an impromptu performance of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" on the available chorus risers.

We also visited friends for a barbecue. It was HOT.

The kids played in the sprinkler. Noah got a bit of sun.

I harvested the first vegetable from our garden, which was a cute little pink radish. We promptly ate it in a salad that evening.

And that bring us to today....a warm day with plenty of humidity after a week of rain. It was time to reintroduce the kids to the joy that is the Stony Point Fountain!

Wren was all about it.

Noah....not so much. At least, not initially.

But then he warmed up to the idea.....

....and ventured out into the middle, while the spray was off.

Wren was right in it, and having fun!

And apparently performing some kind of interpretive dance.

After a while, Noah got braver and by the time we left, he wanted to stay and play.

It's right in the sun, so sunscreen is a definite MUST, but it's a free and fun activity for the kids on a  hot day. I have to say that this, and the Children's Museum's outdoor sprinklers, are my favorite free things to do with the kids in the summer. There's even a Starbuck's right near the fountain, so Mommy can have her SB fix. Look out, Stony Point, we'll be back! A LOT!

After the fountains, we picked up some Burger King yummies (Wren says into the drive-thru intercom, "I'd like chicken nuggets and fries, please, and do you have any doughnuts?") and headed over to Kira's school to have lunch with her as a Friday surprise. It was fun, even if we had to go alittle early to prevent toddler meltdown on the cafeteria floor.

The afternoon is stretching out before me now with a productive feel....Noah is in bed, and Wren will go lay down, too, after the Wonder Pets is off. I plan to relax with some iced tea, and organize my business documents for A Hot Piece of Glass. Market season is upon us, and I need to sell some glass so I can buy my new torch this year!

Happy Day

Yesterday, I celebrated the last birthday I will have that starts with the word 'thirty'.

Yikes.

It was a truly fantastic day, filled with sunshine and good stuff, and my three kids. After I dropped everybody off at their respective schools, I had to go into work for an hour or so to go to a meeting (boo!). Of course I wore a cute summer skirt because I thought it was going to be much warmer than it actually was....wardrobe fail! No matter, there were jeans for after work.

This week is Historic Garden Week in Virginia, and Wednesday was the open house tour for an area of historic homes near where we live. It's called Bon Air, was once a resort town, and it has many, many surviving examples of Victorian-era architecture and decoration. Most of the people who live in the old homes do a great job of restoring them, and making gardens with a nod to period practices. There is this one house that I drive by nearly every day, the Hazen House, that I adore. 

(Photo from the Midlothian Exchange)

It's huge, and Travis and I actually saw the inside of it with a realtor about seven years ago. Oh I loved that house! But at the time, it was a crumbling wreck, needed extensive restoration and was basically unliveable. Also it cost a quarter of a million dollars. Out of our price range on all fronts.

Anyway, I saw in the paper earlier in the week that the Hazen House was going to be open for tours. I decided that would be a present to myself, so after work, I rushed over there and got tickets for that house and for the Withers House, another one fo my favorites. I didn't have near as much time as I wanted to wander around because I had to pick up the little ones from school, but I managed to see both houses and still had a little time left over. The houses were spectacular! The period details and the restoration and decorating were phenomenal! I wish I had interior pictures, but no photography was allowed. Bummer.

I'm just glad I got to see that house on the inside. I remember what it looked like as a wreck, and now it is just so beautiful...oh, I hope I have as beautiful a house someday.

The rest of my birthday was pretty darn good, too. I actually took all three kids out by myself for dinner at Red Robin. This is a major undertaking, as sometimes both Travis and I together have a hard time handling just two of the kids in a restaurant. I sweated the decision a little bit, but ultimately I stuck by the tried and true dining out with kids rules....

1. Go early.
2. Know what you want to order before you get there.
3. Lower your expectations just a hair.
4. Bring sippy cups and something for the kids to fiddle with at the table.

Done! I am proud to say that I successfully accomplished dinner out with my kids! Yay! They were all well-behaved, and we managed to get home in time for us all to have cake.
MMmmmmm...black and white cake fromUkrop's......

You have to have cake on your birthday!

We even got wild and took a group shot. I love the self-timer on my camera, it make it fun to try and get in the pictures once in a while.

After four or five attempts, we got this shot, that my kitchen sink took.

Just look at those guys! Aren't they just the best!? I love their smiles.

It was really a great birthday. Kira and I finished the evening on the couch, with more cake, and a new episode of Mythbusters, our regular Wednesday-night show.

The only thing that was lacking was that I didn't have my friend and soulmate to celebrate with me. He'll be back on Friday and I can't wait. I think we have something of  a celebration planned for next weekend, when my mom can come down to babysit.

This week has been just incredibly looooooong. I am so very tired. (but happy!)