A Little Autumn Craftness

The school district sent me an email yesterday (Wednesday) reminding me that there will be no school last Friday. I realize that sentence makes no sense, but neither did their email. But it did remind me that Caitlyn and I spent some project time together last Friday, at her request, with somewhat mixed results. Our first project was a kind of leaf printing. I’d done a search for crafts with fall leaves and found this. Note for next time: it could be significant if there are no photos with the instructions. Without pictures, my imagination provides the expected result, which, …

Another fall leaf post

The leaf pile was deliberate this year, I’m sure of it. And when the bus let the kids off, several dove right in. So much joy from one pile of leaves! Which, frankly, isn’t much of a pile anymore, now being unevenly redistributed around the park. Fortunately the maintenance crew has blowers and can make short work of re-piling leaves before they haul them away. The Annual Big Pile of Leaves in the Park Event means we are well and truly into Autumn. There was frost on the grass and some roofs this morning, and the kids played at being …

Candy Corn Restrospective

It was supposed to be quick and fun. Instead, it took more than an hour and inspired some… er… colorful language. So, should anyone else want to attempt making candy corn from the how-to provided by The Harvard Crimson Flyby, here’s what I learned: If you are using ingredients from the natural foods aisle (eg, not C&H powdered sugar), sift everything really well. I used powdered sugar from Wholesome Sweeteners and powdered milk from Organic Valley. Both of these clump up as a general rule but it’s never been a problem with other uses, although those usually involved a mixer. …

Back to School

Caitlyn has been pleading for pigtails as a hair style for at least a year, and I have finally caved. I’ve never been fond of the hair style and I may have been concerned it would take too long for Miss Fidget. But she holds still, more or less, and will even hold half her hair to the side so that the part is mostly straight down the back of her head. We’ve also discovered that this is the current best hair style for circus class, since there’s no lump of ponytail on the back of her head to make …