asteroid B612

When I saw this tutorial, I had to try it with Ellis. It combined something dear to both of us: a hammer on his part and fabric on mine.

If you put a leaf under a piece of fabric and hammer it, the cholorphyll dyes the fabric, creating a cool outline of a leaf.

I thought it was really fun. E did, too, for a little bit. Then he ran around Fast. fast is his measure of awesomeness and leaves and fabric are not fast.

We had a really busy weekend.

First, we got a new camera.

We helped my parents move out of the house they've lived for the past eleven years--the longest they've ever lived in one place. It may also be the most idyllic location they've ever lived in. We're going to miss the cozy fireplace and fun yard. They don't have a new place yet, so put their stuff in storage and will stay with friends while they house hunt in the area.

And we also did a some fun Eastery activities. I dyed eggs with Ellis for the first time. We enjoyed it so much, i felt kind of lame for only giving him 5 to do. But I didn't plan on eating them, since I didn't use natural dyes, so didn't want to waste too many eggs. Every egg got about 10 dips each.

I also made him a fun Easter basket, with homemade bean bags instead of grass (which he immediately thought were therapy bags that you stick in the microwave to heat up--haha! life with a poor aching pregnant mom) and jingle bell bracelets. He also got a little bit of chocolate and jellybeans, but I felt genius at tricking him with raisins packaged in appealing boxes with Cars characters. He wore his new suit to church, and really did well in the service (which we've been working on). And we had a nice ham dinner at my ILs in the afternoon.

(click on each photo for its respective set)

I love Val Day. I think it's fun. I love the homemade valentines, cookies (because usually I never got around to decorating C'mas cookies, so it's my time to redeem myself), and a yummy dinner with hubby. We don't make a big, expensive holiday. But I like the opportunity to do something a little extra special. We actually ended up celebrating the day after this year, because it was more convenient.

We had some little kids over yesterday for a little Valentine's party.

I laid out crayons, paper, glue, and glitter glue, and they made valentines for their mommies. Some kids needed a little more help than others. But the craft went well, and made me really happy.

I cut out PB&J hearts for lunch for the kids. And after the moms ate (no hearts for us: with 3 pregnant and 1 nursing mom, we were just concerned about FOOD), they decorated a few cookies. for Ellis the cookie merely served as a platter from which to eat frosting.

In the evening for our Valentine's Dinner, I tried to recreate our favorite meal from our favorite Lebanese restaurant in New Orleans. It's simple and dippy. But I don't have a lot of experience with Mediterranean cooking, so I had to look around a bit and consult with a friend for what to do. It turned out pretty near perfect. Trader Joe's helped a lot, too. I got the hummus, baba ganoush, and tzatiki sauce from there, and a preseasoned, boneless leg of lamb. For the lamb, I didn't do a real kebab on a spit. I cut it up into cubes, pan-seared the chunks with red onion and then baked it for a little with tomatoes. And then stirred in a yogurt-tahini sauce. SO GOOD!!!! And so tender! We ate everything with pitas "al fresco" (in the living room). Pretty much perfect. Afterwards we watched Paris, Je t'aime. So everything went as planned and was a lot of fun. I love dippy meals. We're going to have to do this more often.

I've been trying to get more sewing in. I made this for our good friend Maddie, who got great art stuff for Christmas. I'm getting a good solid hold on my smock pattern.

Sometimes I plan an art or craft project with E and it totally falls flat. Other times, I suggest a simple, "let's paint," and it goes in directions I never would've planned.

Ellis was very meticulous and serious when he turned the paintbrush to his hands and arm. At first I was freaking out, "paint goes on paper, kid!" But he wasn't going nuts with his paint, he was really exploring it, so I sat back and watched (very closely) and took pictures as a coping mechanism. When he was done exploring, he went and washed his hands. I kid you not!

When he was done, we hung his beautiful art to dry. That last one is my favorite one. I think I might frame it.

p.s. Like his smock I made him for Cmas? :-) I made it a dark, solid color on purpose. I thought it'd be cool to see the paint mark it up over time...like a built-in canvas.