Happy Birthday, Stephen!

The Helgren family welcomed their second baby boy in the wee hours of July 4th, yesterday. His name is Stephen Christopher and he comes just a week shy of his big brother Thomas's 3rd birthday. We are very excited to meet him this coming weekend.
Look Stephen, we made these decorations for you! Well, actually we made them for our 4th of July dessert and fireworks party, but how cool is it that you'll get fireworks on your birthday every year! Once again, we failed to take photos from the party but it was fun. Lots of kids, lots of dessert and the annual walk over to the open field to see the fireworks. This year I made fresh fruit tart, brownies, blueberry crumble, and peach cobbler. Chris made peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies. The peach cobbler was the biggest hit.

I decided to try batik dyeing silk play scarves for the 4th of July party this year. First, you might ask, who in their right mind tries batik dyeing for the first time and decides to make 17 silk scarves all at once the day before 40 people are coming over? Me. Ok, so it was a little ambitious. But I have a reputation to uphold. Every year we've done this party, I've given some sort of creative, homemade party favor to the kids.

I certainly have a new appreciation for batik dyeing. The results of my efforts were nice enough, but not at all what I intended. Partly the problem was that I had limited tools and it made painting the wax much more crude and messy. I had all these intricate patterns in my mind (I know, silly me). Also, I was under the impression that the blue I used would cover the red better so I really intended these to be red, blue and white - not red, white with a tiny bit of blue. I think I didn't use enough dye and maybe didn't use enough of the fixer.

So, I won't quit my day job to become a batik dyeing professional.
Lastly, here's a view of the birds from the kitchen window while we were getting ready for the party. I'm off to Oregon tomorrow for some soil and groundwater sampling. Then I'll rendezvous with Chris and the girls in the Bay Area to visit with our new nephew and his family. Have a great week!

Happy Birthday, Maia!

We're off to the happiest place on earth tomorrow for the traditional 5 year old birthday visit. Maia's party was fun, although I was sweating for a few minutes when the little crafters were finished with their Valentine making about 40 minutes before I thought they'd be - and it was raining - so I couldn't send them outside. Nothing a little squealy-girl-freeze-dancing and some quickie coloring-page-printing couldn't fix. Maia requested Strawberry Cake and I made this one from an old Bon Appetit recipe. It turned out yummy. I'm about to have a piece right now and go to bed...

Almost 5?

My baby is almost 5? How could it be? Maia turns 5 on Monday. We have a birthday party planned for Saturday and a trip to the happiest place on earth on her actual birthday. For the party, I bought some shirts (Royal Apparel, organic cotton) thinking our activity would involve decorating the shirts somehow. I wasn't satisfied with any of the ideas that I tried, so I ended up doing a gocco print on them myself and we will give them as party favors.
Instead of the shirt idea, I'll set up a table so our guests can make Valentine's cards and I asked Sofia if she would treat us to a puppet show. There will be 5 little girls plus my two. Ought to be fun.

A little knitting, a little weather

We have some friends who just welcomed their second little girl so I knit them up a little something. The booties (aren't they sweet?) came from Saartje knits (a free pattern!), and the hat is just a little something I copied and modified from a hat Erin made for Maia.

This week promises to bring lots of rain, they say. So far, 1.3 inches. It annoys me to live in a place that a week of rain requires so much news and preparation but eh, at least I can enjoy some rain for a few days. Today we are celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by collecting gently used shoes to donate to Soles4Souls. I sent out emails to our local friends asking if they could spare some shoes. Since there is no school today, the girls and I will drive around to collect them from our friends. Sports Chalet is collecting the shoes at all its locations through January 31st. The donated shoes will be sent to Soles4Souls for distribution in Haiti.

In other news, Maia is recovering from another bout with bronchitis. We didn't bother waiting around to see if she could kick it on her own, straight to the antibiotics this time. It was a year ago this week that her scleroderma diagnosis was confirmed and we began treating her. Thankfully her leg has improved a great deal from where we were a year ago. The meds and PT are working, but it won't be a moment too soon when we can get her off these drugs and she can rebuild her immune system.

Weekending

Now that we're back from Encinitas and Rocky seems to have recovered from her mysterious ailment (tongue biting with possible bladder infection on the side?), I can laugh about our Thanksgiving trip. You see, Wednesday night Rocky was not well and to be honest I was pretty sure we would wake up Thanksgiving morning to find her passed away. That didn't happen and since we couldn't leave our sick cat home alone and we didn't want to cancel our trip down south to Encinitas, we took her with us. It all seemed too much like a scene from a Vacation movie and I was afraid we were going to have to transport a dead cat back home. *shudder* Rocky spent the whole way down on my lap or at my feet just resting while I pet her and again, since I thought we might lose her, it seemed like the right thing to do. Turns out it was. By Friday morning she was perking up and by Saturday she seemed mostly back to her 14 year old self. She rode home in her carrier and is doing well.
We celebrated Chris' 40th on Friday with the Hillmans and the Helgrens. He did a nice long ride that morning, we ate a nice brunch made by his dad, and then I served his requested quiche dinner and his favorite grasshopper pie, whipped up by his mom and I.
I made this little painting for him using an ink resist technique I learned a few years ago from an illustration class. Other than the masking tape not working out and the ink spilling out onto the frame, I'm pleased with it and Chris enjoyed it, too. The scene is from a mountain biking relay race Chris did in August in Simi Valley.
This is the original photo. I messed with the contrast of the picture to get the basic look, painted the scene with gouache (everything including white areas and excepting black areas), let it dry and then covered the whole thing with India ink. After the ink dried, I rinsed it and magically, the ink on top of the painted areas washes away, leaving the unpainted areas black. Last I went back in with gouache and a black ink pen and retouched some areas. Now we just need to matte it so you won't be able to see the awful ink spillage - et voila, fini.

Thankful

I've been working on some thankful thoughts for a while now. First, I will mention that our cat, Rocky, or Miss Cat as we sometimes call her, has not been well today and we're facing the possibility that she may have entered her last days. She has been with us for 14 years. I'm thankful for that. And if she goes on a few more days, weeks, months, years (?!), I'll be thankful for that too.

Babies! I'm thankful for babies. Erin and Tom are preparing to welcome their little Nova or Sawyer in December and we just learned this week that another niece or nephew is headed our way next summer. Yes, it's early on so I guess I'll leave it at that.

Good neighbors. There are good neighbors, like those who are mostly quiet, keep to themselves and don't seem to be bothered by any of our activities. And there are good neighbors, like the ones our kids want to invite to their birthday parties (even though they have no children), who invite us over for tea and dinner, who look out for us and call us when we've left the car door open in the driveway (yes, I've done that), and who think to send us a Thanksgiving card (yes, they did). Turns out we have both kinds. Good neighbors and good neighbors. I'm thankful for them.

Work. I seem to remember that a year ago I was thankful for the little bit of work that was coming my way. Not much has changed in the work department and considering how tough things are for some folks out there, I'm thankful for the work that I have. And I might as well be thankful for Chris' work too. I mean, really, that's what is keeping us afloat.

Projects. I have a few projects in the pipeline that I'm really excited about. It's great to be inspired with ideas. My only problem is finding time to do them all. Some vintage fabric came to me via a friend whose grandmother (in law) recently passed away. This fabric is gorgeous (the picture does not do it justice). It's pretty heavy and I'm pretty sure it's cotton. It apparently came from a dressmaker in Hawaii. I'm on the lookout for just the right dress or skirt to pattern after - thinking on the lines of a square neck, fitted a-line dress to the knee.

I'm still plugging away on the linen/wool sweater, there are booties (and now more booties!) to make, and there's that kitchen wall chalkboard frame I need to get back to.
Last, but certainly not least. I'm thankful for my friendship with Chris. Some time this year, Chris and I started to meet each other for lunch at our local Peet's coffee shop. It was probably around the time things had settled a bit with Maia's treatments and around the time work got reallllly slow for me. We always pack a lunch, order lattes and sit for an hour or so to talk. It's fun and good and nice. And I'm thankful for it.

On Friday, Chris turns 40. I'll be back around then to show you a little something I made for him. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Happy Halloween!

We did our Halloween preview photoshoot this afternoon.
I may switch Maia to a long sleeve white shirt and leggings so that she won't be confused for a penguin angel - seriously, a passing neighbor said that (??) Anyway, they both love their costumes, and that is really all that matters.
Oh my goodness, you put a little lipstick on her and she looks 15. Yikes!

Meanwhile, after my last post, Regina gave me a tip to look at these crowns by Bitterbetty. I took one look and knew I had to make them for Sofia's party. I had been planning something less spectacular, like a couple steps up from a 1970s Burger King crown, but her tutorial seemed pretty simple, so I went for it. I ended up deviating from her process because I couldn't find the right gold leafing powder, but I ended up with something very similar. And again, Sofia loves them, so there you go.

14

August 12, 1995 was a really hot day in Napa Valley, hence the shine.
We've only changed a bit.

We Survived

Other possible titles for this post: Not My Favorite Week, "You're in the Right Place" - Really?, and How to Traumatize a 4-Year Old.

But first, the fun stuff! Maia's birthday party was great. We had a big crowd of family - all the grandparents! - an aunt and cousin, a couple of our best friends, and our neighbors. Sofia led the scavenger hunt for the fairy pieces of clothing, and the little fairy guests were just precious.

We brought the fairy clothes, wings, and hats inside to complete our fairy clothespin dolls, and here is how they turned out...

Then we had cream cheese and jam bagels, strawberries, and of course woodland fairy mushroom cupcakes.

Then came Monday. Luckily Grandma (my mom) had offered to stay and help out with the whole treatment thing and we gladly accepted, not knowing what to expect. I suppose Monday was the hardest. They tried putting the IV in Maia's right arm (she's a leftie) and got it in, but while they were wrapping, taping, etc. it slipped out of the vein. Meanwhile Maia had completely lost it and was trying to crawl up my face to get away from the nurses. So we did it again on the other side. This time, Grandma held her and I put my head against Maia's and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in her ear, over and over, until they were done. I couldn't think of anything else. After that, she was pretty calm. She had expended most of her energy. We held her, watched a video, and finally got to go home.

Thankfully, we managed to keep the IV in and functional for the three days so Tuesday and Wednesday were mainly mellow. At this stage Maia is traumatized by any sort of poke and she needed one more on Wednesday. This will be a weekly shot and they suggested that we give it to her at home. Um, really? Because that wasn't on my list of things to do before I turn 38.

When we first met the rheumatologist a few weeks ago, she spent a lot of time with us, listening to our whole story of how Maia's condition had progressed over the last year, including some of my commentary about all the missteps (in my opinion) by our former doctors. She said to me, "You're in the right place now." At the time it was comforting because I knew that she felt confident that they would be able to help Maia. But this week, I couldn't help but feel like, "What the hell am I doing here?" All the sick kids, all the supporting family, the toy cabinet for the kids when their treatment was done, the nurses coming in to check blood pressure, temperature, etc. - these things were not part of my life. But they are now.

I have a good friend from work who's daughter has an ongoing medical condition that has required similar drugs and various treatments and hospital stays since she was 7 months old. She knew exactly what I meant, which made me feel better. All those people who seem so comfortable there, or seem like they are supposed to be there, feel just like me, they don't feel like they should be there either. And they are going along, just like us, fumbling through, feeling sad and sometimes crappy that their kid has to go through this. I'm sure I'll eventually get over this, and Maia will hopefully get better at all the pokes, but for now we are going to whine and complain about it, just a little.

Here's the little trooper after the first day. Thank goodness for Hello Kitty bandaids.

It IS a new day

I can't stop listening to this song (sorry, they won't let me embed it). Much excitement and emotion about tomorrow.
Will.I.Am's It's a New Day

And for your inspiration, a little Dr. King:

Happy Mother's Day

Wedding Poem

My good friend read this poem at our wedding. She recently got married herself (eloped to Santa Barbara in fact) and so I've been working on some gifts: the napkins and this painting. I've had this frame bumping around for a while, originally I think it came from my Nana (my paternal grandma).

Happy Birthday Maia!

Maia turns 3 today. Everyone says she looks just her sister, but we see a totally different little person. For one, she has murky green eyes, instead of murky blue eyes like Sofia :). She is so sweet and mostly easy going. She of course has her opinions, especially about food. And a bit of a sweet tooth. She loves playing games like Hi Ho Cherry O and Orchard and Memory. She loves playing dress up with Sofia.

We spent the morning at the LA Zoo and visited the new gorilla habitat, the chimpanzees, snow leopard, lions, giraffes, sea lions, and the bird show. We have a small "trains and tea" party planned for tomorrow. She's been planning her cake since Sofia's birthday: chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and raspberries on top, cookies around the bottom and ice cream. I'll do my best.

Birthday Party

Sofia mentioned that she wanted to have a dinner party for her birthday this year. I latched onto the idea, hoping to save a little money by keeping it small. There was a total of 8 kids plus the parents, but the kids got to sit at the birthday table. I wanted to create a magical birthday atmosphere, not in a Disney princess way, but with some nice homemade decorations.Each guest got a favor box with chocolates inside. They were a little young to expect them not to eat their chocolate before dinner was served. I used some mismatch silverware I got from my grandmother, and Sofia chose her favorite colors of our cloth napkins to use.
The centerpiece was made of tissue flower arrangements and the birthday ring. Sofia helped make streamers, paper lanterns, and tissue paper cutouts to decorate the walls. It was a lot of fun for her to help. The tissue flower arrangements were an idea from here, one of my favorite crafty bloggers.
I had to recreate this after the party, since in all the excitement of the day, I forgot to take nice pictures of the table before the kids came. Sofia chose a roasted rosemary chicken, broccoli, fruit salad, and bread with butter.