On the Last Night You Were 4

On the last day you were four, we went to the zoo. You were far more interested in muddy snow hills, mud puddles, and the new bubble blower you bought with your birthday money than any of the animals, even the young tigers. We saw a baby Takin and your response was "a hill!" and you ran down it with your friends K & I.

We did errands in the morning and you continued to impress me with your new maturity. You've changed so much in the last few months. You paid for your bubble blower with your own money this morning, which you were too shy to do previously. You're no longer scared of the river valley trails and you surprise me with what you are willing to try.

You love to eat raw spinach leaves, dipping them into ranch dip although you won't touch noodles in any kind of sauce. You tell me that you are a good ice walker, that you are very fast, that you are the fastest walker, that you are very strong, stronger than daddy even and that you are good at building things. Earlier this year you told me "I am so mad! I am going to make a RUDE FACE!" Then you went to your craft box, drew the rude face and cut it out.

We read Charlotte's Web last week and today you told me today "I miss Charlotte and Wilbur". I asked if you would like to see a movie about Charlotte and Wilbur and you said no. You said "I know what we can do if we miss them. We can read the book again!" I asked what your favourite part was and you said "when Charlotte's babies hatched." You shone with delight when we read about the baby spiders emerging from the egg sac Charlotte had so carefully spun before dying. You snuggled up as I read, all wriggly with a big grin on your face, radiant yourself.

Needlework Wall Display

I realized earlier this Winter that I rarely keep things I craft. I tend to make gifts, things for Blackbird Jr and the occasional craft request from someone else. I also realized I have very little art in my home and I wanted more. I bought a couple of little things (like my Red Riding Hood paper doll) and started doing some needlework to hang in my living room. This is what I have so far and I am viewing it as work in progress that I will be adding to occasionally.

A spiderweb, a trio of owls and a star stitched by Blackbird Jr.



The web. I stitched it with a multi-colour thread for the spider and branches and I blended white and grey with filament for the web.



Little barn owls



Jr's star. One of his first stitching projects, he's working on a truck now (his choice of pattern).



What they look like in my living room.



I don't have anything special planned at the moment so I've resumed, again, Jr's christmas stocking. I've been working on it off and on since 2007. It's incredibly time consuming. See that lion butt to the right of the teddy bear in gold? That's 6 episodes of Buffy- around 5.5 hours of stitching. Hopefully the stocking will be done before he moves out as I usually get bored of it after a bit and do something else.



I've been having a discussion with my friend B on whisper whisper about how much we both want a Yudu. Today I was folding tea towels and I noticed mine are wearing out. My thought process quickly went from how I need new tea towels to how I could screen print them with a yudu.

Kid Stuff

"Icebergs" frozen in cups with little toys in them for bathtime.




Spraying construction paper with water and colouring on it with chalk. I think Mater and Harold were helping by towing chalk across the page.

In Progress

Some things I am working on.

Spiderweb Embroidery- for me! I rarely make things for myself, but I've been trying to create more crafts and art for my own home. I still need to stitch the web, I'll probably do a light grey/green blend with some filament to make it shiny.



A polo craft (surprise). A bday gift for my DS.



Only the most enlightened and mastered in Craft can tell this will one day be a cross stitch of a little barn owl.



I am in the middle of reading a number of books. I usually don't read more than one book at a time unless it fails to capture my interest and I start a new one at the same time. You can see what I'm reading, have read or plan to read on Good Reads. My favourite of all the books I'm currently reading is Evernight.

Here is a review from Teens Read Too, via Amazon:

Evernight Academy is a secluded boarding school, tucked away in the woods where its secrets will not be uncovered. Its secrets are prolific, lasting since its founding centuries ago. While it may seem like simply an elite boarding school, Evernight is much more than that, serving as a haven for some of the world's most hated and hunted. Vampires.

K, you would probably like it if you are in the mood for some fluff.

I have also been rewatching the Buffy series and enjoying it even more the second time around. When I first watched Buffy I thought it was fun but a little too cheesy and melodramatic. This watch I have embraced the cheese and have been loving it. I'm also more appreciative of the plot turns in the overall story arc, some are very clever.

A funny Buffy parody, but be warned the song will stick in your head!

Cool Things from the Children's Lit World

Mo Willems (Don't Let Pigeon Drive the Bus!) has a blog. Pigeon really, really wants you to know that you can find a page to colour him here.

Oliver Jeffers' Lost and Found has been made into a short movie.



Dinosaur vs Bedtime might be a new favourite of mine. Off to put a hold for it on EPL's website.

And Polo continues to be a big favourite here with his books looked at almost daily. Even the toddler I do childcare for has started looking at them and asking "what puppy doing??" We're looking forward to the new Polo books out in May this year.



And if you're getting cabin fever here's an activity idea we had fun with this week- baking pans with flour in them. We pretend the flour is snow and make little dioramas/construction sites. Our next project is to try to make a paper machine astronaut helmet, an idea a family friend tried and Jr was interested in. Is it Spring yet?

Twilight Cross Stitch and a Deer

I designed this Twilight cross stitch on MacStitch 2008 after many hours of struggling with grid paper and a pencil! I adapted the border from a purchased design and the fonts are from a pattern book and the MacStitch default font. The hearts were made from a free pattern which can be found here.

I've been wanting to do a cross stitch inspired by traditional samplers and fairy tales and decided to make this as a gift for my sister who loves the Twilight Saga.







and I finally managed to take a picture of the little embroidered deer hangings I made for a few holiday presents this winter.



I made the deer with a free embroidery pattern from Andrea Zuill.

Things I Want to Try

Geocaching or Letterboxing- treasure hunting outside! Mr Blackbird and I have been discussing doing this and it's really captured Jr's imagination. Jr will occasionally suggest looking for geocaches when we are outside and when I explain we need a GPS device he says "well, we can just look around and see".

Letterboxing looks far less popular but I think would be more fun for Blackbird Jr. Maybe some friends (hmm?) and I should start planting letterboxes for our kids to find.

BookCrossing- the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.

The Toy Society- like bookcrossing, but with toys and the finder gets keepers.