12 Best Photos from Christmas 2010

Christmas was a fun time in our house this year. Sean was home for the whole 3-day weekend, we were still anticipating our trip back to Chicago (our flight wouldn't be canceled until Sunday night), and there was much fun to be had together. Below, I get lovingly attacked while trying to get the kids bundled for some Christmas Eve playing at the park.

Can you resist kids with tassels on their heads? The answer is, no.

Below, Auric walks in snow for the first time, in his steel-toe (just kidding) work boots. I find these boots hilarious for some reason, perhaps because he looks like a man from the ankles down, but is still clearly a big baby. We were about to get over a foot of snow in about 48 hours.

Christmas Day

Auric gets a bottle first thing in the morning. And even new presents could barely command his full attention. Here he is opening his first present, a recycling truck (made from recycled plastic) with little sorting holes on either sides, which is great for his love of inserting objects into containers.

The Thora Puzzle Stool now has a companion piece, the Auric Puzzle Stool.

Our friend, Nicole, who bought Thora this awesome coat last year, happened to see its matching hat this year. It is perverse how sad I know I will be when she outgrows this ensemble.

Our Christmas decorations: the most we've ever done! Normally, we just plug in our 36" fiberoptic tree and that's that. I continued last year's tradition of displaying our holiday cards on a string along the ceiling above our windows. But this year, we actually put lights up: my old red chili pepper lights that I bought in college in Tucson, probably 12 years ago! And this year, we hung an ornament on the tree, one that Thora made at school.

Auric playing with his new pushing lawnmower.

Thora, the Rockstar

Thora got this Barbie Electric Guitar from her Grandma Jane. At first, I cringed at the thought of the noise this thing would make. (My mom acknowledged that she couldn't resist, even knowing that the adults may grow to hate it.) But within a couple seconds, I realized how perfect this is for her. Thora has lots of energy that she must channel. She spontaneously runs around in circles, regularly sings/yells a narration to accompany whatever activity she's doing at the moment, and periodically needs to kick the air or crush something into nothingness. She has a feistiness that has to get out. And what better way to express those screams, those growls, those rhythms, than through Rock and Roll!

At first she didn't have any real concept of what an electric guitar is for, how it's special, how it fits into the context of all other musical instruments, the attitude that people bring to it. And so, the first thought that came into my head was, "Joan Jett. I'll introduce her to a strong, confident, awesome female rocker." And so I played her "I Love Rock and Roll." She didn't quite get it initially, so I instead, I said, "Let's watch her on YouTube." And she saw, for the first time, what a rock star might do with an electric guitar. And she was transfixed! It took her only about a half dozen viewings (she kept asking, "Can we watch the lady that rocks out?"), and she had absorbed such a wealth of rock and roll moves, and postures, I couldn't believe it! Here is a video of what she can do, indeed could do, after only the briefest of exposure. The kicks, the stomping, the behind-the-back guitar solo?!? It's insane! Which makes me wonder, either she was born to be a rockstar (which is probable), or rock stars mostly go around dancing like a 3 year old. Maybe a little of both.

She couldn't quit rocking.

Here she is with Sean, dressed in her new favorite outfit, another stylish number from our friend, Nicole. In the ten days since Christmas, I think she's worn this outfit at least 5 times.

And here is Sean and Auric, holding his new stuffed lobster from Nicole.

Thora wasn't the only one to rock out. While I was giving the kids a bath, I heard sounds coming from the living room that sounded suspiciously like the Barbie guitar.

Fasteners Box Update

I've been working away, cutting and stitching and hot-glue-gunning, for the last few nights and I'm making some good progress. I feel a little pressure (self-imposed) in that my goal was to have this completed before we headed west on our trip to visit Thora's grandparents. I thought this might make for some good, in-flight entertainment.

The Fastener Box has taken a new direction, namely a Fasteners Book. This was something that I'd wanted to do in addition to the box, but decided to work in to the project at hand.


Here is the front cover, with a magnet snap fastener to bind the book closed.





On the book's first open page, I've given Thora two more buttons.







Then on the book's next page, I've given Thora her favorite fastener of all: a click!






Then on the next page, I've given Thora a buckle to do and undo.

There are a couple more pages left in the book and I've got ideas for them. Stay tuned for more updates and the finished product.

Creative Outlet: Fasteners Box

This is a project that I'm finally getting started on after thinking about forever. Actually, I was inspired by a "quiet" book that a friend of mine had. It is a handmade cloth book, and on each page is some kind of fastener, that when unfastened, reveals something. Long before seeing that book, I'd been thinking about covering some of these small boxes with felt and hiding photos or other small toys in them. But after seeing this book and watching Thora's growing interest in all sorts of fasteners, I decided to create a box with many different fasteners in and on it, some of which need to be unfastened in order to open the box. I'm in the early stages so it looks a little rough. But I'm pretty tickled that it's finally coming to fruition that I wanted to show it off.

Here is the top of the box. There are two large ladybug buttons and below them, a large hook-and-eye fastener. These are hot-glue-gunned to the top of the box, which is wrapped in felt. (The edges look pretty rough, but I'm hoping to edge them in a length of felt.)

And once the box is opened, there are suspenders, with "overall" fasteners.

I have more big buttons and fasteners that I plan to work into the inside and outside of the box. Stay tuned for the completed project!

Play Kitchen: A Centerpiece to Thora's Play World

Two weeks after it was built, Thora's play kitchen is still holding center stage in her playtime, and also, still holding up! And if you're thinking of making one of these yourself, please glance at the designer's blog here. In addition to other interesting and beautiful posts, she's posted photos of some of the people who've followed her design and built their own kitchens. (Mine is there, too!) Some people have made some very creative and interesting adaptations. They have me very inspired.

While I've yet to put the very final finishing touches on it, I added a couple reinforcements--very discreet strips of extra cardboard glued for support. Thora was using the kitchen to pull herself up, and so the horizontal shelves and countertops were sagging a bit. This was normal wear and tear by a toddler. But also, she's been known to do exactly what I'm asking her not to do, since it gets such a wonderfully intense and immediate reaction out of me. Like, "Oooh, please don't climb the kitchen. No, don't climb it. It'll break. No, DON'T climb it!" Ahhh... year two. The joys!

But seriously, I'm terribly proud of my work; extremely happy with the design and instruction from anna at forty-two roads; and I'm quite satisfied that such a well-used and stylish toy was made from recycled material.

Ta Daa: Play Kitchen

I don't have much time to write about this, since I'm totally spent and dying to get to sleep. But I couldn't resist posting a photo of the finished product: Thora's new play kitchen made out of recycyled cardboard. I'm very pleased with the end result. Firstly, I completed it before Christmas day, which I was beginning to think was an impossiblity. Secondly, I think it looks really nice and seems relatively sturdy. I say "relatively" only because toddlers are known for some unpredictable and wobbly movements. And also, I say "relatively" since my measurement and cutting was done with a less than machine-like accuracy. Part of me is stunned that it even fit together! But I do think it's going to be a great addition to Thora's play toys. So pleased!

Here's a closer view of the oven door.

The one thing that this is missing is a fabric curtain below the sink. That will come soon. And I think I might like to create a window in the oven door.

I'll write more about my experience in building this later. Now, must... go... to... bed.

Building a Cardboard Play Kitchen

So I'm moving right along, building Thora a play kitchen made of recycled cardboard. As I mentioned before, I found this project here, on Etsy.com. I spent what seemed like an eternity scouring my neighborhood for pieces of cardboard big enough for this project. (The main upright pieces, actually not pictured anywhere here, are almost 40" in height.) Then the other day, recylcing day in our neighborhood, I was lucky enough to spot an intact box that had recently held a storage shelving system. If only friends of mine could've seen me, a crazy woman, running down the streets of Cambridge with a huge cardboard box over my shoulder.
Our living room is currently overrun with bundles of cardboard that I've gathered from the neighboring grocery stores, most of which are too flimsy or small. But once I scored the gem of the storage box, I began actually following the instructions. And that was measuring and measuring, cutting and cutting. I would suggest you really invest in a metal ruler!

Anyway, I've finally got all the pieces cut out and reinforced. Now I'm ready to start cutting out the notches that create the joists. Don't want to get bogged down with blogging about it. Better just get back to it. I mean, this thing isn't going to build itself by Christmas. And Georgia and Kitty are shitty elves!

Holiday Shopping

I am so compelled to hype all the great gifts I've been finding for friends and family this year, many of which are green. Except that my readers consist almost entirely of friends and family. I don't want to spill the beans and so will post about some of the big hits after the gifts have been opened. But I can say this: I've fallen hard for Etsy.com, a site that hosts artists, crafters, designers, etc., and their products. As someone with a creative impulse, I feel a connection to these artists, posting their art, jewelry, clothing, and I'm happy to support them.

And it was on Etsy that I stumbled upon this gem, the instructions for building your own child's play kitchen out of cardboard. Check out the link here. The materials are recycled cardboard (I'm going to the Trader Joe's on Monday to collect some of their broken-down boxes), hot glue, wire hangers from the dry cleaners, and some other odds and ends for detailing, making this is a very post-consumer waste, eco-friendly piece of play equipment. I hope to get the odds and ends this weekend, the cardboard on Monday, and to start building next week. This is one of Thora's Christmas gifts. And for as much as she's wanted to be apart of the kitchen activities, I'm hoping that this will encourage her kitchen play. I'll definitely post my progress and final product. So stay tuned.