Art for all

I think it may have started with the wooden egg painting on Easter. We had a fun time pulling out the paints and a basket of wooden eggs, with everyone gathered around for some decorating. Despite the fact that I have never really felt terribly artistic, I enjoy the fact that parenting has really helped me rediscover that art can and should be for everyone. It's just fun to get those creative juices flowing and to play around with paints!

In any case, the egg painting has inspired us to get into quite a bit more painting and art this week. Cassidy revisited the painting of her egg on an almost daily basis, adding new bits of color. We painted on paper, which led to Cassidy discovering how to paint her hands and then make handprints. She took an interest in painting directly on the porch, which led me to redirect that energy into sidewalk chalk :). 

It's been a fun week for art and for being outside. We're enjoying some lovely spring weather and getting ready to do some planting in our garden this week!

Finding the snow

As you may know, we don't exactly live in a snowy place, and yet pretty much every children's book you'll find about winter takes place in some kind of winter wonderland. Needless to say, Cassidy has this understanding of "winter", but little opportunity to experience it first hand.

All of that changed this weekend.

With a return to cooler, rainier winter weather around here, we got the idea that perhaps, just perhaps, if we headed towards some higher elevations we might find some snow. And find it we did! A mere 40 minute drive from our house!

Cassidy was so excited and kept repeating over and over "Cassidy play in the snow. Cassidy play in winter". It never really occurred to me that she would think of winter as a location, more than a season, since everything we typically think of as winter is not part of her daily experience. But we had a great time playing in the snow and making little snowmen.

It was fun to see the wineries all covered in snow too.

We finished off the trip with some hot chocolate in the "cowpoke cafe", while looking out at geyser-dotted snow covered peaks. Not a bad Saturday!

Scenes from the holidays

We spent Christmas at home this year. While we missed seeing all the family, it was fun to have the chance to put time into starting some of our own little holiday traditions with Cassidy.

We decorated our front window with paper cutouts (Cassidy suggested the cutout ideas, while I did the cutting). One of my sewing projects was to complete this advent calendar with each pocket containing an activity for the day and a wooden figure to use in constructing a nativity scene. 

We baked gingerbread...

And made a gratitude garland with paper and clothespins.

At the same time we didn't really do as much as maybe I thought we would. Maybe the lack of snow means that my instinct to really get to baking and holiday-ing never quite kicks into full gear. I don't know. But I do know that we also enjoyed the chance to be out and about and enjoyed a couple of Christmas eve walks in some of our local parks. (A good Christmas eve walk or two is a tradition I'm ready to embrace!)

We returned home from our afternoon walk to discover that the local church had a full live action nativity scene underway. A mix of young and old participated (there was also a little boy on the roof of the manger in an angel costume) along with the livestock. Cassidy loved it.

Christmas eve followed on with Cassidy's new table from Nai nai and Bop, and a reading of Maisy's Snowy Christmas Eve dressed in new pjs. We even had time to take some cookies over to our new neighbors.

A few scenes from the rest of Christmas day...Christmas trees, gifts, Nutella toast, a Christmas dress...

The post-holiday season has not been without it's challenges, but we are weathering them and looking for the ways we can enjoy the rest of winter.

Happy Birthday Cassidy!

A little photographic proof that Cassidy did indeed turn 2 last week, for those who were not able to join her for such an auspicious occasion. As I'm sure all parents say, "Where does the time go?" But it really does feel that way. 2 years! Wow! At the same time I can also say that so far, it is still just getting more fun by the day.


So we kicked off the birth-day with her new (to her) play kitchen awaiting her in the living room. When we brought her into the living room we said "Cassidy what's that?". To which she replied "Oh! A stove!" and got right to work:

We followed that up with a little excursion by bike (in her new birthday dress and toting the Maisy library book bag I made for her):

For some cupcakes! Mmmm...one pumpkin and one gingerbread (she promptly ate the little ginger-man off the top of the gingerbread one). We also picked up a lovely red birthday leaf along the way:

Next we hit the library to find, read, and check out every Maisy book we could locate. Turns out, there are quite a few:

The day ended off with a chat with Aunt Caitlin and the opening of a pint-sized Kohahna t-shirt, giving Cassidy the chance to transform herself into a little blue elf:

We followed up the day itself with some weekend birthday festivities -- a trip to the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, more lovely gifts from her many admirers and cake with candles -- but these pictures are scattered hither and thither amongst many cameras and will have to be gathered together at a later date. In the meantime, I'm pretty sure this little girl knows how loved she is, and we look forward to seeing what the next year brings!

The little individual

As Cassidy gets older (almost 2!) we're starting to see more of this fun little individual appearing. It's fun to see her thought process at work. Here are a couple moments that made me smile recently.


On a beautiful morning, I suggested a trip to the park. Cassidy agreed and quickly gathered together these items, which she decided we simple must bring along.

Apparently, her stuffed snowman, a tiny plastic pumpkin, a wooden spoon and my old t-ball hat were all necessary park-going gear.

This girl has definite ideas about what should be worn and taken with on various outings. Here's how we ended up going to the grocery store recently:

Yep. That's right. The diaper is over the pants. You see, after she had used the potty I asked her if she wanted to put on underwear or a diaper. I felt a minor sense of accomplishment when she said underwear. What I didn't realize was that she wanted underwear, pants and a diaper. When I questioned this approach she lay down on the floor insistently trying to put the diaper on by herself. I thought I would humor her briefly, so we put on the diaper, took a picture and played around the house. I thought I would take it off before we headed out to the market, but one has a way of forgetting these things and  I didn't quite take note that she was still sporting her baby superhero look until she was charging ahead of me into the grocery store...ah well.

A a random aside, not captured on camera is the time at the park one afternoon when Cassidy gleefully patted the backside of a girl wearing low-rider jeans and exclaimed "bum!" Low-riders on an eight year old bothered me too, but only the innocence and curiosity of an almost two year old could offer such an original response.

It's these unique little moments that bring a smile to the daily routine!

Happy Hallowe'en!

A little taste of some Hallowe'en fun here. 1 little girl, 2 great costumes, 4 pumpkins and her first go at trick or treating!

Summer to fall and back again

Hopefully with the onset of fall, I will have returned from my summer of spotty blogging to a little more regular posting. Now that we've just returned from our annual pilgrimage to the midwest, I guess it's truly time to take down the mental "On vacation" sign and move into the focused and productive cooler months I also so love.


These pictures from the first weekend of September are indicative of what our end of summer/early fall has been like. A morning can start with a winter coat and hot chocolate, and end in a day warm enough for a swim in the river. One moment I'm ready to fire up the oven and bring out the soup pot, the next it's all I can do not to just spend the day in a vegetative state on the couch, hoping to escape the 100 degree temps if I just don't move at all. But I've enjoyed September, with all it's weather oddities, to just appreciate what there is to like about all conditions. We'll see what October brings!