this week's library book

If you haven't discovered Virgina Lee Burton yet, you are sadly missing out. I adore everything she ever illustrated including Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, Maybelle the Cable Car, and Katy and the Big Snow. But my favorite of all her lovely books is The Little House (winner of the Caldecott medal in 1942) when Virginia was 33 years old.

This sweet book tells the story of a happy little house who lives out in the country. She watches the seasons change and the trees grow and takes care of the little family that lives inside. There is a city far off on the horizon and sometimes she wonders what it would be like to live in the city.

Over time, the little house notices that more and more cars are driving by and soon a steam shovel is widening the road so more and more cars can get to the big city. The little house misses her quiet meadows. The city that was once far away seems to be getting closer and closer.

And before she knows it, the meadows and fields by the little house have been replaced with tall buildings and city streets. Now that she lives in the big city, she realizes she does not like it one bit. One day a woman walks by the little house and says "This looks just like the house my grandfather lived in, but it was way out in the country." Upon further research she realizes that the little house is indeed the same.

So they rescue the little house, still sturdy as ever, and drive her back out to the country. "As the little house settled down on her new foundation, she smiled happily. Once again she could watch the sun and moon and stars. Once again she could watch Spring and Summer and Fall and Winter come and go."

lovely lovely

About three years ago I was freelancing on a color palette story for Martha Stewart Weddings. We needed some paper goods and the stylist, the uber-talented Shana Faust, sent a query to Sharilyn of lovelydesign asking if she might have anything we could use. Sharilyn sent us a package that had us swooning and in it she included one of her wooden card catalogs. Everyone in the office wanted one. So when my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday that year, I knew. And I have had Sharilyn's beautiful card catalog sitting on my desk ever since.

Sharilyn has now started selling little packs of cards to add to your card catalog, she designs the patterns herself. She did a little giveaway on her blog and lo and behold, I was one of the winners! Soon after this sweet package arrived at my door.

I love them. I don't usually talk about products on my blog, I try to keep things as commercial free as I can... but when I see a product that is made with so much care, I just wanted to tip my hat a bit. Thank you for my cards Sharilyn.. I love them!

wrapping things up

I'm wrapping up my week at Design*Sponge with two posts: one on ABC wrapping ideas, and the other a downloadable ABC card you can make yourself. I'll be back to business as usual here on Monday!

design*sponge

I'll be hosting the guest blog over at design*sponge all this week. The theme for the week is one of my favorite things - the ABC's. I hope you'll join me.

halloween 2009

When my kids were little, I could always talk them into the Halloween costumes I wanted (which usually involved a cute part for Dad to play as well). But they're getting older, and who knew a 3 year old and 5 year old whould have such strong opinions! So although they already dressed up as Peter Pan a few years back, the kids had their hearts set on being characters from Peter Pan yet again. And the characters they chose made both my husband and I laugh. C wanted to be the crocodile, and Bee wanted to be Captain Hook. How could I object?

Luckily we still had a set of green pajamas that C could wear for his crocodile costume. Props to my husband for engineering the crocodile mouth, we always work on these costumes together and to be honest, he's really the brains behind the operation. The stuffed snout has a wire hanger sewn inside and is attached to a baseball cap so C could wear it like a hat. Add some crocodile eyes and some teeth, and you're all set.

For Bee's Captain Hook costume, we already had the perfect red coat and the black wig (from when her dad was Captain Hook). I turned her pink pajama pants inside out, added a feather to a pirate hat, and fashioned a belt out of felt to house her sword. Bee spent the night yelling things like "Wendy! Walk the plank!" or "I'll get that Peter Pan!" and correcting people who called her a pirate, "Um, I'm not just a pirate, I'm Captain Hook!" For Bee, Halloween is very serious business.

Another Halloween come and gone. Last night the kids were already brainstorming costumes for next year. "I'll be Willy Wonka and you can be Charlie!" "You be James and I'll be the Giant Peach!" I can't wait to see what they come up with next.

a homemade halloween

I was asking my son C last night as I tucked him into bed which holiday is better: Christmas or Halloween? Such a tough choice for a kid. Halloween was always second to Christmas in my book, but not by much.

Now that I have children of my own, I love coming up with their costumes each year. Like my mom did when I was little, I try to find things we already have around the house that can be transformed into costumes. Or if we do buy something, I try to make it something we can use after Halloween. Here are a few of our costumes over the years.

2004: tiny blazer + red ribbon shaped into a bow tie + doll wig = ventriloquist dummy

2005: C: long sleeved onesie + white tights + white bonnet + felt wings = Hedwig the owl

Dad: black graduation robe (he'd just gotten his master's degree) + Hogwarts sticker = Harry Potter

2006: C: brown long sleeved pajamas + brown hat + brown sock tail = Curious George

Bee: white long sleeved onsesie + yellow felt + Chiquita sticker = banana

Dad: yellow shirt + yellow pants + very tall yellow hat = the man in the yellow hat

2007: C: green long sleeved pajamas + green felt hat = Peter Pan

Bee: borrowed costume + homemade wings = Tinkerbell

Dad: red velvet pants + white ruffled shirt + long coat + black wig = Captain Hook

2008: Bee: denim skirt + blue shirt + white tights + cape = Super Bee

C: blue pants + red shirt + cape = Super C

We'll share 2009's costumes tomorrow! We've got too much going on today between cookie decorating, pumpkin carving, soccer games, and trick-or-treating with the cousins. Happy Halloween!

candygram

small flat box + happy birthday sticker + mini gumballs = my kind of birthday card

it's raining, it's pouring

We live in Southern California. Sunny Southern California. And I love it, really I do. But when October comes around and it's still 90 degrees and you've worn flip flops for 8 months in a row, I start to get a little homesick for Fall. Beautiful, crisp, lovely Fall.

When I saw the forecast this week called for rain, I was secretly excited. Rain! And temperatures below 70! I may not have the brisk autumn chill of New York, or the beautiful trees that lined our block in Brooklyn with their orange and yellow leaves... but I do have a little rain. And a reason to wear jeans, and close toed shoes, and maybe even a sweater!

And a three year old so thrilled she can finally fit into her ladybug rain boots that she actually danced her way through the puddles in our backyard all afternoon. Bring on the pumpkins and the apple cider, Fall has arrived!

books and pie

I am lucky to take part in a small book group with a few friends. Over the years I've participated in quite a few book clubs, and they all have their own particular flavor, some more successful than others. Because I know many of you do the same, I thought I'd share a few things we've been doing with our book club in the hope that you will share things that are working particularly well in yours.

1. We read one book each month. (Sometimes we combine July and August if everyone's going to be off on vacation, or December and January to avoid the holiday rush). Every six months or so we pick the next few books we're going to read. We have one rule: You have to have read the book before you can recommend it. And we try and pick books that are easy to get a hold of (via Amazon, the library, local bookstore, etc.).

2. We meet the same day each month, and at the same house. (For example: we always meet the first Tuesday of each month, and we meet at my house.) We used to rotate around to everyone's houses but meeting at one house seems to be working better for us, it may be simply because we always know where we are meeting!

3. We discuss the book. We used to just sit around and talk, but we've been trying to make a concerted effort to actually discuss the book. We ask one person each month to take a few minutes to write up some questions (you can usually find some already written online somewhere) and we write them up on little 3x5 cards. When you arrive, you pick a card or two and when it seems appropriate, you pipe up with your question and everyone weighs in. Book club is about socializing as well, so we definitely get off on tangents, but the cards help us to guide the conversation back to the book from time to time.

4. We keep it all pretty low-key. I've been to book clubs where there was a full buffet offered, and lovely as it was, it sets the bar so high that people are nervous about hosting or bringing refreshments. We just do dessert. Sometimes we can use the book we've read as inspiration (we recently read The Madonnas of Leningrad and my friend brought a delicious honey cake she learned to make while she was in Russia). Other times we've just had berries and ice cream. Everyone takes a turn bringing the dessert.

This month was my turn. Since we had read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, I made my first every sweet potato pie. I looked over a few recipes but settled on one from Everyday Food. And it was delicious! Sweet potato pie is similar to pumpkin pie, but with a slightly different flavor and consistency. This recipe has a mixture of pecans and brown sugar that you spread on top, which makes it especially good. I might have to make another one for Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie this year. Top with a big dollop of whipped cream, and you'll see what I mean.

If you'd like to share what's working in your book club, I would love to hear it. The books shown above are ones I've read and enjoyed in various reading groups. If you have recommendations, I'd love to hear them..

baseball party

I'm a fan of simple, thoughtful birthday parties, especially ones that pay attention to detail. A great kids party doesn't need to be elaborate, or cost a ton of money, or require renting out the local bounce house. I think this baseball party, thrown by my good friend Emily for her son Thomas, proves just that.

The invitations were cardstock circles printed with the party details and then "stitched" with wax twine to form a baseball. A second card shows a map to the baseball diamond where the party was held.

The kids lined up in the infield for pre-party warm ups, coached by Thomas' dad. Emily had put together a CD with baseball songs including The Star Bangled Banner, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and We Are the Champions. They stretched, did some jumping jacks and took a few laps around the field. My favorite part was when all the kids took turns batting and the dads caught balls and tagged the runners as they ran around the bases. Games included a water balloon toss and a relay race around the baseball diamond.

The place settings were tan cardstock cut in the shape of home plate, and each child got their own box of Cracker Jacks. Dinner included submarine style sandwiches (on Emily's homemade french bread), watermelon and grapes, fresh veggies, and chips and salsa.

Cupcakes were made with white frosting and red icing stitches and Emily made little pennant cupcake toppers. (You can find some great vintage pennants online, like these.)

Favors were cellophane bags filled with baseball cards and old fashioned candies like Tootsie Rolls and Necco wafers. My children had never seen baseball cards before and spent the next week trading players back and forth trying to get more "red guys" (they know we root for the Angels!)

Happy Birthday Thomas! And well done Emily!