the name game

Now that we have young children, New Year's Eve has become a night of marathon game playing. Kids play Monopoly and Candyland with their grandparents and cousins. Adults play a card game we call Blackout and maybe a round of Carcassonne or Ticket to Ride.

It also happens to be my sister's birthday so we usually spend it together, ringing in the New Year and singing Happy Birthday simultaneously. Looking for a fun game to play tonight while you wait for the clock to strike twelve? Try the Name Game. I'm sure this game goes by many other names, but this is what my friends and I always called it. It's great for groups of about 6 to 12 adults, and requires nothing more than paper and pens.

Cut some paper up into little strips (you'll need a decent amount). Each person grabs a handful of paper strips and a pen and writes one name on each. Names can include celebrities, historical figures, people you all happen to know, fictional characters, etc. As you can see from the sampling above we like to include a wide range of interests, and it's best to try and think of names that are well known but a little obscure. Remember that both teams will be using the names, so if you make it TOO obscure like John Tyler (our 10th U.S. president) you'll be hurting when you pull that name yourself.

All the names are folded in half once and put in a large bowl (the folding is important since you don't want people to see other names). Divide your people into two teams, alternating turns between the teams. Each person takes a turn. Reach into the bowl and pull out a name, then try and get your team to guess who it is. There aren't a lot of rules about what you can and can't do. Obviously you can't say the person's name, and you can't do any "rhymes with" tricks.. but you can list movies they've been in, or sing the theme song for their show, or name the books they wrote.

For example, if you pulled out Wes Anderson, you'd say "He's the director who's really skinny and he did Royal Tenanbaums and Rushmore.. and they always star Bill Murray and the Owens brothers!" Your team tries to guess as quickly as they can. The turns are timed (1 to 2 minutes) and you win by scoring the most points for your team. If you get stuck on a name, you can throw it back in the bowl and choose another, but you lose a point. The team with the most points at the end of the bowl wins.

new year's eve

Once upon a time New Year's Eve was the most anticipated night of my social calendar. I was young and single and living in New York City and had friends who lived right in the heart of Times Square. Living on 43rd Street left you fighting with tourists all year long, but come December 31st, it was the best location in town.

Our friends held a party each year, with way too many people jammed into a way too small apartment. One million people come to Times Square each New Year's Eve, and it was always tricky fighting your way through the snow and the barricades and the crowds to get to the party (in heels, no less!). We found that carrying your invitation with you helped, so you could hold it up to a kind policeman and beg to be allowed to cross Broadway.

A little before midnight we'd all head up the stairs to the rooftop of the building, where the ball loomed bright and beautiful across the street, and count down the new year along with the huge crowd gathered below. It was loud, and crazy, and when the confetti exploded.. downright magical.

Photo from The New York Times via The Craft Dept.

the christmas toys

This is how I find Bee most mornings.. downstairs in the family room playing with our Christmas toys, still in her pajamas. Breaking out the Christmas boxes is always fun, the kids love to see the ornaments and the lights and our growing collection of Christmas books (we add one new book each year). But the most anticipated boxes are the ones which hold our Christmas toys.

My sister-in-law has started a lovely tradition, which I believe was started in her family a while back. Each year, around the first week in December she sends our family a package that reads "Do not wait until Christmas! Open immediately!". And inside is some sort of Christmas toy. When my children were smaller she gave us a new Little People set each year, first the nativity.. then Santa and his reindeer, next the Christmas village. (Word to the wise: Most of these play music of some sort, so we have an Only-One-Toy-Has-Batteries-at-a-Time Rule. Trust me, you'll want to do likewise.) This year she sent the Playmobil nativity set (which I have had my eye on for quite a while.. it is awesome!).

The kids love their Christmas toys, perhaps because they are only out for a few weeks each December and are then packed away with the other decorations. (And I love that the kids are happily occupied for a bit so I can get a few items crossed off my To Do list!)

on keeping calm

It's December! And somehow that makes my heart beat a little bit faster. The list in my head is growing longer and longer each day (get the Christmas tree, put up the decorations, design the Christmas cards, finish the shopping, frost the christmas cookies, mail the presents, etc. etc. etc.)

I love Christmas. I always have. But Christmas as a mother of three is leaving me a little breathless. There is a fine line between making Christmas a special time filled with fun activities and family events, and making Christmas a harried season that's too busy and filled with stress.

So my mantra this Christmas season is to keep things calm. I am trying to be more intentional about how we celebrate this year. Choosing carefully the things we will take on as a family, skipping things I feel will add stress to the holidays and focusing on the simple things that we can do together.

My list is looking like this now: Hang the advent calendar. Trim the tree. Find some small acts of service for those in need. Read the Christmas story as a family. Mail our packages early. Enjoy our week of being still.

I will still want to make Christmas cookies with the kids, and hand sew a doll for Bee, and sew pajamas for the kids (all those years at Martha Stewart are still with me). But I will choose carefully the projects I take on, and if I feel the stress rising, I will put things aside. I don't want my children to look back at holidays and remember a mother who was stressed and crazed and taking on way too much.

If anything, I want the days surrounding Christmas to have a special feeling. Calm. Peaceful. Loving. And that is how I would like my children to remember their mother at Christmas too. (Why is this harder than it sounds?)

preschool co-op

Bee went to a traditional preschool last year and loved it, but when I heard some friends were organizing a preschool co-op, I decided to try it. We've been having a Monday morning playgroup with these same kids for two years now, so all the children are buddies, all the moms are well acquainted with each child's personality, and the kids feel really comfortable at each home. (And I should mention that all of the moms in this co-op are pretty amazing, so I knew Bee was in good hands.)

A few details, in case you're interested:

-There are five children in our co-op, and all are 4 to 5 years old and starting kindergarten next Fall. (I think 5 kids is the perfect size for a class).

-We teach in two week rotations, two days a week for three hours, rotating houses. (It makes for a busy two weeks, but once you're in the preschool mode it's nice to stay in it for a while and then you have a little break before you teach again a few months later.)

-We follow a pretty detailed schedule so that the structure of the day stays the same no matter who is teaching. The kids are really into the order of things, and can usually tell you what we're going to do next.

-We're basing our curriculum on children's books. A new book each week which helps you figure out your art or science projects. For example, I just taught Where the Wild Things Are, so during the week we made Wild Thing masks, talked about manners and how we are not Wild Things, learned all about seeds and how things grow (like the jungle growing in Max's room), and for music had a wild rumpus dance party.

Last week we focused on Thanksgiving, and I chose the book The Story of the Pilgrims. It's not a complete history lesson, but it was perfect for this age group. During the week we learned about the pilgrims and the indians (aka Native Americans), focused on being thankful, baked pumpkin muffins, made Thankful trees with paper leaves, and dressed up as pilgrims and indians for a feast.

I remembered these paper bag vests from an old Halloween costume we did at Martha Stewart Kids, and the kids had fun fringing the bottoms and decorating their vests. We strung indian necklaces (cheerios on some yarn) and made feather headbands (grosgrain ribbon with a slit cut in it for a feather).

We also made these super easy pilgrim bonnets and hats, so the children could decide whether they wanted to be a pilgrim or an indian for our feast.

The kids and I are in charge of the decorations for the kids table at Grandma and Grandpa's this year, and I'm thinking these would be awfully cute at each place setting. Bee and C will have way too much fun chasing their cousins around while we finish dinner.

Family nearby, good food, happy kids.. all things I am truly thankful for.

a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

There seems to be two constants in my sons life: legos and Star Wars. Other toys come and go, but he always returns to those two. So I wasn't totally shocked when C told me he wanted to be Luke Skywalker for Halloween.

We always try to make our costumes from stuff around the house. And if we do need to buy something, I try to make it something that will go in our dress up box after Halloween. The boot covers gave me a little trouble, but all in all, this was a pretty easy costume. We borrowed a karate shirt from a friend (a few sizes too big so it hangs down like Luke's), grabbed some tan cords we already had, and made some boot covers and a belt out of some tan felt.

The poses C came up with are awesome, I think he's been practicing these for a while.

My daughter Bee had specific instructions for her costume. "Princess Leia, but not when she's wearing a dress... like when she's a fighter." I can't recall Princess Leia actually wearing this outfit, but Bee thought it was perfect.

We found some cream colored long underwear for $8 at Target, we made a cape out of some cream fleece and boot covers from brown felt, and I happened to have a white yoga belt that we wrapped around her a few times. We put her hair in buns, and handed her a Nerf gun.

Baby M joined the group as Yoda, wisest of the Jedi's. We already had a light green onesie and pants, and a brown wooly cardigan. I cut some ears out of green felt and sewed them to a light green pilots cap (a hand me down from Bee). I wish I had a photo I could show you.. the serious little faces Baby M makes were perfect for a wise Jedi master.

Just your average brother and sister team taking on the Empire. Happy Halloween!

potted pumpkin pies

My friend asked me to make little potted pumpkin pies for her witch party last weekend. They were super easy to make and look great in a big stack! I think these would be a nice addition at a Halloween party or to add a little twist to Thanksgiving dinner.

Make your favorite pumpkin pie recipe (I used this recipe from Everyday Food). I doubled the recipe which gave me enough filling for roughly 20 little mason jars. Fill the jars, stopping about 3/4" from the top. Bake at the usual temperature, but start watching them carefully after about 25 minutes since they won't take as long to bake as a pie. Pull them out when the center seems set (mine took about 35 minutes). Let cool for an hour or so, then throw them in the fridge while you make the whipped cream.

The whipped cream recipe includes a bit of unflavored gelatin, which you dissolve in some water and then fold in. I worried this would change the texture of the cream, but not to worry, the whipped cream was delicious and the gelatin helps it keep its shape so it doesn't fall the way ordinary cream would when left out for a bit. Spoon some cream into each of your jars, filling all the way up to the top, and screw on your lid. Return your jars to the fridge until you are ready to serve. These can be made up to a day ahead.

A few shortbread cookies or ginger snaps would be nice for a little crunch.

happy easter

I'm so looking forward to this weekend and Spring Break all next week. My kids love Easter, almost as much as they love Christmas. In fact Bee's favorite saying lately is "We have the luckiest life.." and then she goes on to name all the things she gets to do. First on the list is always "Because we get to go Easter egging! Mom, did you know some kids don't get to go Easter egging? Not ever!"

I've got to finish up a few Easter related items, like sewing Bee's dress (in a pretty green and white gingham) and stitching these sweet bunnies (I'm following the pattern from the book Hand Stitched Felt). Wish me luck!

our news

I mentioned we had some news that we shared with our friends in our new years card (and a special thank you to our patient friends and family who actually sat down and de-coded the card!). We wanted to share our big news with my parents and our children Bee and C on Christmas morning, so we decided to tell everyone all at once.

I offered to help my parents with their Christmas card this year and decided to do a Family Tree showing how our family is growing (there were 3 new babies in 2009). My parents have six children (I'm the fourth) and between my siblings and I there are 14 grandchildren. While I had everyone together this summer for our annual family reunion, I asked each person to stand against a wall so I could take their photo (mug shot style, with a sideways profile..).  Later I traced the photos in Illustrator to make silhouettes of each person in our family. The result was a family tree chart that we printed on 10x14 sheets of paper and folded in fours and mailed out as Christmas cards.

For a gift to my parents I printed a large poster size version, framed it in a simple black frame, and wrapped it up for them to open Christmas morning. My mom unwrapped the gift with Bee and C sitting next to her. Immediately Bee and C wanted to know where they were in the chart, so my mom pointed to their silhouettes. And that's when she realized that this chart had a new addition (fourth row).

A new little baby for our family. It was perfect. My mom screamed, and the children literally jumped for joy (they've been asking for a baby for over a year now). It might be the happiest Christmas morning ever.

honest abe

I hope you're enjoying a lovely President's Day weekend. Bee brought this log cabin home from preschool last week and proceeded to dazzle us with her knowledge of Abraham Lincoln. Not bad for a four year old...

"This is Abraham Lincoln's house. He wears a big black hat and he's really really tall. He was very poor when he was little, so he lived in a house made of pretzels. Then he died. But he never ever told a lie, so they put his picture on the penny."

Awesome.