She looked down her nose at things like latch hook, or needlepoint. My embroidery lessons began at cross stitching, but my mother was chomping at the bit to teach me the other stitches. Embroidery was one of the few crafts she taught me that I took to with a gusto, entering some of my crewel work in the County Fair, etc. (I won a few ribbons for it as well–1st, 2nd and grand prizes, if memory serves).

But when I took my mother’s approach with my own girls, I was disappointed. Yanni never finished her cross stitch picture. The stitches were too small for her to handle, and she had a hard time reading the diagram. We never finished that project begun when she was 10 or 11. So I dialed it back a bit and started buying needlepoint kits. Yanni finished 1, a butterfly, and even framed it before she lost interest in the craft altogether.

Last month I found the fish kit I’d bought years ago for Yanni to work on. It was missing yarn and needle, so I thought I’d go to Hobby Lobby and find those things so I could give the kit to Joy. I didn’t see the big plastic needle I was looking for, but I did find other simple needlepoint kits, (after I almost fell for the temptation of cool cross stitch projects), and a latch hook. (Despite my mother’s snobbery, I fondly remember the 1 latch hook set she’d bought in the 70s that the whole family sat down and worked on together).

I thought it would be wise to get Imani and Joy a needlepoint kit, and that was a good idea. I sat them both down and showed them how to work on the picture, and both of them liked it. Imani called it “the best craft ever,” because it was interesting and not messy.

Sometimes you have to do what works for your family.

Note: We haven’t started the latch hook set yet. I’ll let you know how that goes when we do.

This summer, I pulled out a bunch of kits my mother had bought years ago for the children. One of them was a house you could assemble using brick and mortar. She had bought the dollhouse kit for Xay, my second born, to design a castle. I was intimidated by the idea of designing a castle. I couldn’t figure out how to make a house like on the box, let alone wrap my mind around round towers, turrets, etc. So, though we may have measured out how to lay the foundation on the provided platform back when we got the kit, we never proceeded with the house.

I wanted to remedy that this summer, and so we set out to make the house. Talk about an exercise in cooperation and patience! We copied the diagram best we could, laying out the foundational bricks. We mixed the sand mortar mix with water, and figured out how to lay bricks. We called Xay in to help at one point, but for the most part it was a project for the babies and me. Bricklaying was addictive. I wanted to keep going, and I ended up laying bricks where I should have set windows. Our project became very mortar-covered, and slightly crooked.

We let the house dry before we proceeded. The next time we worked on the house, Yanni helped us. We agreed we needed to tear the house down and start over. Thankfully, the mortar is water soluble, so we wet the house to pull the bricks apart. This time we glued the house to the foundation. Yanni worked on one side of the house while I worked on the other side. Imani did the ornamental work–the archways for the front porch. Joy laid bricks across the back wall, while Esteban scraped excess mortar. Even Chanya could spread mortar on a brick so I could lay it.

We worked on the house whenever we had time. Now it is ready for a roof. We still need to tile the roof. If we work on it daily, the house project should be done in about a week. We may drag it out by taking our time.

Structurally, our building is solid, but we have too many bricks on the front of the house. We make up for gaps in other places by mortar. We would do things differently if we started over again. It is not perfect, but it has been a great learning experience. When we finish this house, I’ll display it on the breakfront next to the other house. I neither want to make it again nor do I want to let the children play with it.

We have a wooden dollhouse kit beckoning us from the laundry room shelves. We have only just begun our dollhouse making adventure.

I have a few childhood origami memories. I think we did a unit on Japan in first or second grade, and we learned to write a character or two, and we learned to make a simple origami shape–a dog, or something. Then, as a teenager, I spent the night at our (unitarian) church folding paper cranes for our sister church in Japan. Why they’d want butchered terrible cranes done by American first-timers, I don’t know, but our goal was to make 100 or so cranes to send.

Joy, my crafty kid, was obsessed with creating the perfect paper airplane, so I thought she might like origami. I got a book, Super Simple Origami at Hobby Lobby, along with a 100 sheets of origami paper.

Intimidated by the pretty paper, I was paralyzed. I left it to Yanni to see what she could do with it. She was able to figure out how to make a balloon from the paper package instructions, but got stuck trying to use the book. I carefully tucked away the paper and book for a later day. That was at least a year ago.

When Yanni’s friend Jasmine came over one day, she asked for the origami paper. (How did she know we had any? Is that a usual provision in one’s house?). Jasmine has spent the summer working at the art institute, and she learned a thing or two about origami. She made various boxes and cooty catchers, and used up enough paper to pique the little girls’ interest.

I pulled out the book again, and discovered that, while the directions were in English, they still needed decoding. Not that I made this discovery from a rational mind. I was flipping out, throwing book and paper across the table in frustration, wondering what in the world a valley fold and a mountain fold was. I turned the book back to the introduction and found an explanation for the different types of folds, and even how they look in directions. I muddled through some of the birds at the front of the book, but really parked myself at the flower. This was what Yanni had been trying to make from the beginning.

The directions actually looked like you were to pull the pedals in a rounded direction, over the back of the tiny folded square you’d just made. I pulled it carefully, rip! There was much discussion as to what the flowers really looked like. Imani had her own version, that was very pretty. Joy and I mudded through to the penguin before I put the book and the (now basically ugly) colored squares away.

I talked to friends about how hard origami was, and they wondered why I’d even attempt such lunacy. I decided to google origami, and I found this site. The site further broke down the reading origami patterns code, and reacquainted me with my old friend, the crane. I made some rather shaky and inaccurate cranes before making a box. I really liked making the box, and I made a few. Then I wandered away from the traditional designs and tried to make the site’s author’s original designs. Doomed, I tell you! Doomed!

I went back to google. I found this site. The title, Origami That’s Fun and Easy caught my attention. This site even had designs for kids. I made a ladybug right away. Then I followed their directions for a crane, and it was nice and neat. (this has nothing to do with all my folding practice, right?)

Joy and I watched a video for making a rose. Talk about intimidating! The video had no words at all, just a pair of hands creasing, and re-creasing, and then gently coaxing the paper to form the proper shape. When she was done, she indeed had a beautiful paper rose. I decided to go back to the children’s designs. I made a cup. Then all the kids made cups. We poured actual water in them. They were thrilled.

But the real strength of this site is what happened today. The little girls asked if they could go to the Origami That’s fun and Easy site by themselves, and they started making things! They started out with the ladybug, and then the dog face. A little later, they made more cups, and by the time Joy was finished, she’d made a horse that flipped when you pulled its tail. She’d even returned to the book and made a cat face. Esteban proudly showed me his creations, and he even had origami on the brain at bathtime, folding up every towel he could get his hands on into some sort of shape.

Although I felt like a raving lunatic at some point this weekend, this is one craft I’m glad I stuck with. The patience, persistence, ability to read a diagram, follow directions that origami breeds is worth the time and frustration of starting. I see beautiful greeting cards on the horizon.

So I don’t dig either activity particularly.

But I have one daughter who really needs to do crafts. She is restless to learn knitting, crocheting, origami, whatever craft you can put in front of her. She got an Indian bead loom for her birthday, and innocently asked if we could work with it this summer. I panicked inside, but I opened it up and dove in. Have you ever seen how tiny those beads are? I began to break out in a sweat. I suddenly lost patience for anyone small as I concentrated on reading the instructions.

Trying to get the tension just right on the loom nearly drove me crazy, not to mention trying to actually weave beads with it. This thing was made for 8 year olds? She kept saying things like, “This is way too hard for me. . .” Hours later, my daughter had long since moved onto another activity, I managed to finish her 4 bead pattern bracelet. The moment had come to remove it from the loom.

The design I’d precariously woven on the loom fell apart in my hands. It was a loopy, stringy tangle of beads. My daughter donned a lopsided smile and tried to wear it anyway. She told me that it was ok, Mommy, it’s still pretty.

It would be weeks before I attempted the bead loom again. This time we tried a more complicated design–I thought I’d try to write her name with beads. I drew the design on the graph paper myself. (The first time, I’d had her design the bracelet).

I carefully measured the elastic and strung the loom. I wove the needle and thread over the elastic for every row of beads. Her wrist is so tiny, I only had room for her nickname (3 letters) and a couple stars on the bracelet. It was a thing of beauty. I was proud of myself. Then I tried to take it off the loom. The same result as the same bracelet. We both agreed to leave the bead loom alone indefinitely.

What did we learn from this experience? Maybe I should google bead weaving?

Next craft: origami–can you say confusing?

My thoughts turn romantic this time of the year. I remember getting married 19 years ago, and I swoon. I watch episode after episode of ‘Say Yes to the Dress.”

I swoon over wedding pictures on Facebook. Yes, I am a hopeless romantic. Yes, I am very happily married. Yes, I would recommend it to everyone.

But I have some serious adult books I’m consuming simultaneously. I’ll list them here.

1. Book #2 from the Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series, called Parents and Children. The 19th Century educator, sometimes called the founder of the Homeschool movement, is very heavy reading. I’ve read the first book in the series, and started the fourth book as well. I’m determined to finish book two before summer’s end.

2. Pilgrim’s Progress . After Charlotte Mason, this is such a refreshing change of pace. It is light reading, by comparison, but still no day in the park. I read the children’s version years ago to the kids; I hope to finish the adult version this summer.

3. The Imperfect Homeschooler’s Guide to Homeschooling. I just got this one in the mail, and I can’t put it down. I like author Barbara Frank’s writing style; I want to read her book, Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers. Frank is a 20 year veteran homeschooler with a sense of humility and humor. Nice combination.

4. Mansfield Park , by Jane Austin. Because I didn’t have enough to read already, I found myself checking this book out yesterday. There is something so accessible about Jane Austin. Her 19th century British prose is so much easier for me to grasp than Charlotte Mason’s. Maybe because it’s fiction?

5. Winning by Losing, by Jillian Michaels. I got this book a while back, and I put it down for a while. I might as well finish it up; after all, I’m in a couple reading games! Don’t get me wrong; this is a good book. It’s also a reference book, and I find it hard to read about various exercises without actually trying them out. First things first, I guess.

6. The New Rules of Marketing and PR. This is an interesting read. It goes along with a couple of others I recently finished.

7. When I finish Barbara Frank’s book, I will read another new book I just bought: Homeschooling at the Speed of Life: Balancing Home, School, and Family in the Real World . I look forward to sinking my teeth into this one.

What’s on your summer reading list?

So I was trolling through what’s available instantly, and I found: 1. Jim Gaffigan Beyond the Pale. This is the routine that is chopped up into various bits on Laugh USA: a lot of Hot Pocket jokes, other jokes about food, including the cake bit: “If you eat 6 slices of pizza, people say, “You were hungry.” If you eat 6 slices of cake, “you got a problem!” Watching him do his bit in context makes it even funnier.

2. I also found: Frank Caliendo, All Over the Place. This is the routine where he talks about Scooby Doo, John Madden, Adam Sandler, John Madden, Kermit the Frog, and, did I mention John Madden? The name of this act says it all–Frank Caliendo is really all over the place, but is so funny to go there with him. You have to see this DVD to catch all the jokes. For example, I’ve heard him do Adam Sandler on the radio, but had no idea that’s who he was doing. Check it out.

3. I watched two Brian Regan Comedy Central stand up specials, looking for one of the bits I’ve heard on the radio. I didn’t hear one. But Regan is still hilarious, and clean.

4. Demetri Martin is also available in Instant Queue, but be warned: he cusses in this routine. You might want to send the kids out of the room before you hit play on this show.

5. You can watch 4 comedians for the price of one with the Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie. These guys aren’t on my top 10 list, but they are funnier on television. The Blue Collar Comedy Tour features: Bill Engvall, Ron White, Larry the Cable Guy, and Jeff Foxworthy. Larry the Cable Guy and Ron White may be too raunchy for the kids to watch; you can fast forward past them if you want. Bill Engvall and Jeff Foxworthy are classy, and they do routines that you hear on the radio, so that’s a bonus.

Clinton Jackson, Carlos Mencia, Kathleen Madigan, Mike Birbiglia, and many others are also available in Netflix Instant Queue in the TV series: Comedy Central Presents.

Lighten your summer with some good comedy on your TV or computer. Don’t have Netflix? Click here.

I’ve been busy elsewhere on the web. I wrote about our 4th of July on imswimming. Then I tried to stir up controversy about swimming attitudes.

My hats are still listed on etsy. Go over and check them out. They’re all lonely. They’d love a new home.

I have another blogging project I’m working on that I don’t think I share here just yet. Suffice to say that it takes up a lot of my time and energy, and it’s really exciting and important.

In other news, those 4 bikes I mentioned out in front of our house the other day have all been taken. It is satisfying to have a successful “free store.”

Tomorrow is Curtis and my 19th anniversary. I can’t wait. Until then, I hope you had a great 4th, and a decent 5th as well.

I think it’s important for children to know where food comes from, yadda yadda yadda, but that’s not my front of the mind reason for taking them fruit harvesting. It’s something about being out in the fresh air, doing something productive, possibly learning a lesson along the way.

The trees preached a sermon today. Sweet cherries are much higher up than sour cherries. Sweet cherry trees are taller and more mature than the sour cherry trees. The sour cherries are so pretty–bright red, they look like a textbook picture of a cherry. The sour cherries are almost black. And we found another sweet cherry today, the yellow cherries. These are like albinos. Even their pits are light in color, and their juice is clear.

The baby was too small to do much in terms of picking cherries, and she was grossed out when I took the pit out of a cherry so she could taste it. So she ate the cherries whole. She didn’t have a problem. I found myself climbing trees, jumping out of trees, jumping up to snatch a berry directly overhead.

It’s physical work, cherry picking, is what I’m saying. My teenage son, who was 3 the last time we went cherry picking, was into it way more than strawberry picking. He was up a ladder every time I turned around, wise-cracking and picking to his heart’s content. My oldest daughter spent some of her time squealing about wasps and bugs, but got over it and pulled branches down for picking, climbed trees, and used ladders as well.

But the two little girls seemed to enjoy the outing the most. They went off with their tree-climbing friends and created an adventure for themselves. The little ones never uttered a word of hunger or thirst the whole time we put in our hard labor.

The U-pick cherries cost $20 a 5 gallon bucket. We managed to fill it half-way in 2 hours. Sweating and exhausted, we and our friends left. I can see why cherries are so expensive. It ain’t easy getting them in your bucket.

That left 6 bikes in the garage.
And 1 in the basement for the baby when she grows.

So I asked the question, “Do we have 11 bikes?”
And the answer is actually,
12ish

That’s a lot of bikes for a family of 8
And still somehow not enough for us all to have 1.