Davey and I: Weavers

Posted on June 25, 2014 by cpeezers

I am kinda fascinated by weaving. I think it would be fun to have a loom someday and weave fabric. But in the meantime, I found a weaving activity on pinterest. It’s from Made By Joel where I discovered the fun Paper City. This is an easy easy way to begin weaving, and he provided a great pictorial tutorial.

I used the lid of a shoebox for our cardboard. I actually cut the lid in half. We each had one half as our “loom”.

The tutorial provides good pictures on how to set this up. Here’s how the back of the loom looks.

I set up the looms for us and then showed Davey how to weave. It’s very easy. Any yarn would work fine. I had some leftover bulky wool yarn that I thought would be easy for Davey to grab and maneuver.

We just took a length of yarn and went over and under the yarn on the loom. I did wind a little bit of scotch tape at the end so that the yarn wouldn’t fray as much. It gave him something to grab onto as well.

Davey did great for awhile.

I loved watching his little hands work. I think it’s a great activity to build fine motor skills.

He started to get a little weary of it though after not too long. So I told him that the yarn was “breaching” and going back in the water, and coming up and “breaching” again. He loves whales so this inspired him to weave on for awhile longer.

So that’s about as far as he got. He did really well, and I could see how it could become kind of repetitious for him. I found it calming and fun – kinda like knitting a row so I kept on going.

At the end you just carefully take the end loops off and you can adjust the weaving so that those loops work in smoothly. I did have to weave in the ends where I did the color changes, but that was ok too. Being a fiber fiend, I enjoyed the whole process.

The ending result was a somewhat primitive square that could be used as a coaster maybe? A person could get inspired and make a larger loom to make placemats or hot pads.

I think with a little practice, I would have a smoother result.

I thought it was a lot of fun. Davey thought so too – for a little while anyway!

The Imposter (a little knitting)

Posted on June 20, 2014 by cpeezers

It’s been about a year since I went on my last visit to Fancy Tiger Crafts. This was my favorite yarn shop in Denver so I wanted to get some yarn and a project to have as a fun memory of the shop.

I chose a pattern written by a Fancy Tiger designer and some Fancy Tiger Romney Yarn. It’s a USA raised, milled and hand-dyed yarn. It’s a sturdy yarn. They describe it as rustic. To me, this is yarn-speak for scratchy. It is a little scratchy, but I soaked it in Eucalan and that did soften it up somewhat. It will feel great in the cold winters we have here. Not that I am in any hurry for it to get cold so that I can test that theory out.

I tried to get some pictures of the shawl. This one is ok. My lovely little garden serves as the background.

Despite its “rustic” feel, this yarn was really nice to work with.

It’s a really well written pattern too.

Hey where did he come from? One of my nicknames for Buster is “my little friend”. He’s always with me. He was watching me try to take a decent picture of my shawl.

The pattern is really a variation on a basketweave pattern (the woven look is part of the “imposter”).

The other part of the “imposter” is the scalloped edge. It looks like it is a crocheted scalloped edge, but it’s knitted. A crocheted edging would have gone more quickly than this edging, but I loved doing this edging. There were yarn overs at edge of each right side row. After I bound off, I went back and picked up stitches on these yarn overs. I then knitted a row with increases and then just knit a second row. Here is where it got interesting for me.

I had to knit into that yarn over two rows below. Knitting into a row other than the one I am currently on is one of those things that makes me feel like a “real knitter”. So I had to do this 4 times with each yarn over. It ended up with 425 stitches to be bound off, but I love how it ended up!

This would be a nice pattern for a comfort or prayer shawl although I’d use a softer yarn.

Paper City

Posted on June 17, 2014 by cpeezers

Pinterest is a bottomless well of creative possibilities (now there’s a sentence!). It’s especially perfect for the summer days as I try to find creative activities to do with Davey.

This weekend, I made him a Paper City. I discovered a website (through pinterest) called Made by Joel. He has all kinds of free paper crafts on his site, and specifically I found templates for a Paper City. I had more fun making Davey’s little city.

There are several templates. I made a mini Paris with a little Eiffel tower. I cut out the Sydney Opera House. There’s a neighborhood with people and cars.

All I had to do was print out the templates. I glued them to cardstock so they would be sturdier and then cut them out. It would be cool to laminate them I think, but we are also slowly adding colored pencil to several of them. We means me actually. I am having fun doing that. Davey’s not much for coloring. He’d rather get right to the pretending part.

I made him a circus.

I even made the Taj Majal!

The circus has a hot air balloon. I attached yarn and a button at the end of the yarn, so he could fly the hot air balloon around. I did the same thing with one of the helicopters for the helipad.

The circus is his favorite of these, and he likes flying his hot air balloon and helicopter around.

We could add more guys to it. I am thinking it could use a few superheroes. Davey would really enjoy that.

I had a lot of fun cutting them out and getting his city ready. It’s such a simple fun imaginative activity!

Flappy and Friends (kinda)

Quote

Posted on June 16, 2014 by cpeezers

This past quarter I had the pleasure of working with a 4th grade reading buddy. I worked with her for about 40 minutes twice a week as part of a literacy class I was taking. She was great. She was so curious, and we had fun learning together.

So on the last week of the quarter, she came up to me one morning and the first thing she said was, “Can you have pets at your home?” I told her that I could (I was not sure at all where this was going). She then said, “Would you rather have a turtle or a fish?” I told her that I’d never had a turtle so probably a fish.

I didn’t think that she’d really get me a fish. I told Davey about it, and he really hoped that she would get me a fish!

So sure enough Thursday morning she came to our lesson carrying a small fishbowl. She had gotten me a betta. She had me all fixed up. Food, water conditioner, and some greenery for the betta. It was so thoughtful of her.

Davey was fascinated by the betta who he immediately named Flappy.

It wasn’t too long though until we started feeling sorry for Flappy. We just thought that this was no life for a fish. Flappy should not be destined to spend his life all alone in a tiny fish bowl.

We decided to buy a small tank. David took over at that point. Turns out that he really really really enjoys fish. He has researched carefully to see what fish are compatible with bettas. Then he made daily trips for almost a week to get our water tested. It wasn’t easy to get our aquarium water habitable for fish. Turns out our water has an amount of nitrates in it that are not good for fish. Then the ph was too high. David was diligent though and kept working on the water.

Finally we determined that the aquarium was ready for fish. Davey picked out some colorful rocks and plants. We bought a glow in the dark alien egg. The tank was ready.

It’s hard to take a good picture of this little tank. I can hardly find the fish in the picture.

We began with the betta, some tetras and rasboras.

The tetras did not fare well. We are pretty sure the betta chased them down and fatally injured them. Our research had indicated that tetras could live in harmony with the betta, but either we didn’t pick the right ones or he just didn’t like these poor little guys. So the three tetras died in the first 18 hours with Flappy.

The rasboras have done great. They are a little larger and maybe a little faster. We bought some more of them, and now the betta and the rasboras are living in peace and harmony (at least it appears that way). They are a lively bunch and lots of fun to watch.

Big David loves them. He feeds the betta these rather gross looking blood worms. I’m pretty sure that the betta recognizes David when he comes over to the tank.

We weren’t expecting fish to join our family, but Flappy and friends have been a great addition. Here’s hoping for long fish lives.

Farewell to Kindergarten

Posted on June 13, 2014 by cpeezers

Today was the last day of school. What a first year. It is amazing to think about how much Davey learned and experienced. I look back through the year, and I can hardly organize it all in my head.

Davey learned to read. He found that he loves math, and he is pretty darn good at it. He loves science too. He has his career path lined up and ready to go. He will be an ice cream maker first, then an oceanographer, and then he will be a veterinarian.

Here he was back on the first day of school throwing his jitter glitter in the air.

Here he was today with an end of kindergarten gap-toothed smile.

He made lots of friends this year. He had an awesome teacher who introduced them to so many fun topics. They raised butterflies. They learned tons about the rain forest ecosystem. They learned more about the ocean than I have ever known. He no longer describes a whale as jumping out of the water. No, they are breaching.

So much imagination and creativity in his class too. They created leprechaun traps and worked their hardest to capture leprechauns.

They created aliens. I confess to getting a little too involved in that project. I had a lot of fun knitting his alien body.

They even had a giant actually stomp across the roof of their classroom one day!

My favorite creative moment was when I saw him perform in the school talent show. He was a fearless kindergartener performing YMCA in front of a pretty large audience.

Oh the dancing from this little guy. He has more moves than David and me combined – times 20. He loves music!

Someday Davey might ask me what he was like as a kindergartener. I would describe him like this:

“He has a big sense of humor. It is just hilarious when he identifies all the Hearthstone cards by their voices. He is quite the mimic.

He loves to learn. Math and Science are his favorites.

He loves his friends and his pup. He is protective of everyone around him and never wants to see anyone upset. He always tries to help them. He has a huge kind heart.”

Wee Tot!

Garden Love

Posted on June 9, 2014 by cpeezers

This year I have planted a garden for the first time. In the past, I tried container tomatoes a few times but without much luck. One year I planted them in Texas, and I had the containers on the concrete slab patio in the backyard. I am pretty sure that I cooked the plants.

I think I tried them in Texas again the next year, but then Timber, our Siberian Husky, discovered the green tomatoes. He walked around the plants and ate every single one of them. That dog would eat anything.

This year though we are renting a house that has two small raised beds. I was determined to grow a garden with Davey. David very much enjoys the benefits, but he’s not fond of dirt. That’s ok, because I love it enough for both of us.

I started all my plants inside from seed. They all did great, even the tomatoes.

I planted everything a few weeks ago. I was anxious to get it all into the garden because my starts were outgrowing their little pots. Turns out I think I was lucky there was not one more freeze! Typically, many people around here don’t plant until Memorial Day from what I understand (or at least Mother’s Day).

I have been reading up on how to take care of my plants. Of course, Pinterest is my great source to gather information.

I learned that you can harvest the larger leaves on kale and keep it going all summer. I have learned that there are little sprouts that grow on tomato plants called “suckers”, and from what I have read so far, I need to pluck those off so the tomatoes will do better. I learned that lettuce starts to get bitter once the temperature is over 75 degrees. I am learning lots because I knew zero!

Yesterday, I harvested our first lettuce and kale.

We made kale/lettuce salads for lunch. (The salad looks dirty, but that’s the dressing! I just noticed that when I looked at the picture!)

I acknowledge that I sound like I am the only person who has ever planted a garden in the history of the world, but it’s just so fun! I even like weeding it. As a matter of fact, it’s time to go water right now!

Time to blog

Posted on June 7, 2014 by cpeezers

I haven’t written a blog entry in over a month. I have missed it! My quarter is pretty much over, and so we are having a great not do too much weekend. David is having an especially not do so much weekend as he has had a 101 fever for the last three days. No fun! But we are all getting in some nice relaxing.

Davey and I decided to try to make ice cream in a baggie last night. I’d help prepare these in the kindergarten class I work in, but I wasn’t there to watch them shake the bags and to see the final result.

So Davey and I tried it. We mixed the ingredients, double bagged them, and then put them in a gallon sized bag of ice and rock salt.

It took some shakin’! In hindsight, I think I could have used a little more ice.

Davey was very enthusiastic at first.

But then his enthusiasm began to wane. It does require a lot of shaking; however, if you are patient, it happens! The mixture turns to ice cream. We finally got there and it was so neat!

Davey was a little hesitant to taste the ice cream (he is not a food adventurer). He said, “this is good”, and then he said, “but it’s not the best ice cream I have ever had”. I think there was a “no offense” quickly added at the end.

I thought it was really good though. Big David was staying clear as he likes to eat ice cream in 30 seconds flat before there is any sign of melting. This ice cream was melty for sure.

It was a fun Friday night end of the quarter activity though.

Today Davey and I went to the farmer’s market. It’s early in the season, so our trips to the farmer’s market have mostly consisted of getting homemade dog treats for Buster. Davey’d buy out the vendor if he could.

We sat down for a bit, and Davey enjoyed a hot dog.

Ketchup only!

I also sat on the porch and did some knitting today. ahhhh. It’s nice to be knitting again. I went to the library and checked out a couple of books. It was nice to read again. And now, I am able to blog again. I missed that too!

6.5

Posted on May 3, 2014 by cpeezers

Today is Davey’s half birthday so we had a little celebration. He also went to a friend’s birthday party today, so he had a big fun day.

I made him a cake and he requested red icing. I did my best to not have it turn out pink.

I didn’t get the typical big Davey grin pictures, but I like these a lot too. This is tired Davey who had a big afternoon at the park. Saturdays are also typically a recovery day from a busy week at school!

He did a great job blowing out those candles.

We sang and ate cake. Happy half birthday to our sweet boy.

Davey’s Teeball Debut in pictures (lots) and stories (some)

Posted on April 26, 2014 by cpeezers

Davey had his first teeball game today. The notorious Ellensburg winds gave us a proper welcome. Windy! We thought it was fitting as well that Davey’s team is called the Colorado Rockies!

Davey is a great hustler and he is always enthusiastic.

He was focused at the tee and had several nice hits.

Off he ran as fast as he could. After the kids hit, there is often a slight hesitation for many of the players as they locate first base, and then realize they are supposed to run there. Once the realization hits them though, they run just as fast as their little legs will carry them.

Waiting on second.

He made it home. Looks like such a big kid to me in this picture.

He was no less enthusiastic in the field. Not much came his way but he was ready and even willing to run all the way across the field at times to try to retrieve the ball.

Finally a ball came his way. It slipped by, but he was on it.

He gave his best effort on his throw.

A lot of the Davey teeball experience involves the social interaction aspect. He very much enjoyed chatting with each coach as he waited on base.

Running again.

At one point late in the game, David and I noticed Davey out in the field adjusting his stance or playing around with balancing on the edges of his cleats? Not sure, but all of a sudden he toppled over like a little tree. He fell pretty hard, but he bounced right back up. We watched him flop his wrist around, and then he started trying to get our attention. He didn’t know that we’d seen him so he pantomimed his fall. I wish I would have gotten that on video! I was trying to zoom in to see if he was upset. He wasn’t.

Blurry picture, but I could see that he was ok – just a hat that was askew.