Granny Nanny

From mouse house

I had so much fun making this little house.  I saw a similar one at the Bennett Valley Preschool and fell in love with it.  I’m told there’s one at a school in Healdsburg as well and a whole story that goes along with it.  It seems there’s a little mouse that lives in the house and is away working at the cheese factory while the kids are at school.  I built our Smiling Tree, house out of scraps of wood and twigs, stones and moss.  I built the house and painted some little stones with mice and bugs and an owl.  I tried not to draw too much attention to the little house even though I was excited about it.  I’m thrilled to see the kids stop to play with it and sit and imagine.  Today three little boys sat together and discussed what might live in the house.  One of the boys was quite sure that a fairy of some sort lives there…..so cute!!

From st misc + worms

I’m happily doing some more nanny/doula “work”.  The family I’m helping has a charming and bright 3 1/2 year old girl and a sweet new 3-4month old baby boy.  I brought our prayer flag project to do with Emma.  We put a little spin on the project though.  Instead of using koolaide to dye the flags we used beet juice.  The beet juice was great because it gave Emma an opportunity to taste fresh cooked beets.  I boiled, peeled and sliced the beets then had Emma use a small cookie cutter to cut the beets into Teddy bear shapes.  That was all well and good, she cut the beets and arranged the little beet bears on the plate but was quite sure she didn’t want to eat them……we’ll try again another time!  The other thing that was different about the project was that Emma stitched the flags on the cord.  At camp we stapled the flags on but with plenty of time Emma stitched the flags herself.  The way we did the sewing was I poked the needle in and she pulled it through until she got the hang of it and then did it all herself.  I helped by holding the work for her. 

I explained to Emma that the idea was that when you hang your flags and the wind catches them it takes good wishes all ’round the world.  She asked if good wishes would go to her Uncle Jeff and I said yes…so sweet!

I’ve become a “granny-nanny”.  One of my Smiling Tree moms has a medical condition which is causing her much pain and after having her mom spend a month helping her out with the kids and her husband taking time off work and her brother coming up from the city to help I’ve answered the call for more help.  I’m delighted to be working with this family.  I’m picking the kids up from school and helping out with cooking, cleaning and laundry.

I picked the little one up from nursery school and my open window was too windy for him in the back seat so I closed the window.  During the short ride home we talked about push button windows and crank windows.  Once we arrived home I let the little boy open and close my car door window over and over and over again….he was throughly intrigued by this “new” gadget I let him work with.  It’s fun seeing the world through a 3year old’s eyes!

From halloween turnip

  When you live in the country and your kids are all grown you don’t get trick-or-treaters.  That didn’t keep me from enjoying the spirit of the season.  I bought this turnip to test out thinking I might buy enough for the parents who come to Fun School.  I opted to buy miniature pumpkins for the kids to decorate instead of having knives and carving for the adults.  This was fun!  I hollowed out the turnip then carved a design on the outside.  As a bonus I cooked the turnip “meat” I scooped out and served it with dinner….it was good; kinndaI will do this again and recommend it for your adult Halloween party; less mess than pumpkins and so cute….don’t you think?

I had so much fun making clothespin dolls with the moms and kids at camp that I started making them myself. Everytime I walk past my new dolls they make me smile.  Now I have more than I can “play” with so I’m offering them for sale.  The play for me is in the making.   I think these dolls are special enough to sit on a shelf and admire but I hope a child will actually play with them.  Here’s my latest line up but I’ll gladly made a set of dolls to order with colors of your choice and “maybe” even a theme…storybook, ballet, ??? Please order early …

From st clothes pin line up

I have two different sets available (3dolls in each set):

Fun & Fancy $30                                                                                                                                                 

Fun & Simple $18

These dolls are sturdier than they look  but of course children can love their toys to death.  If you buy a set of dolls and they need “fixing” just bring them back to me and I’ll give it a loving makeover for $5 per doll