For the past few days ago Dana over at MADE has been talking about blogs and design.  She posted a great list of free patterns websites... including lostandtaken. I love their watercolor textures! One of my favorite free pattern websites is everydayicons.  I think one of the best parts of having a blog is designing it and learning how it all works!  I still have a long way to go... but I do love changing things up!

Picky Eaters Anonymous

As a kid (okay and teenager, and mostly an adult) I was am was a super super picky eater.  I didn't like anything green, didn't like my foods mixed together, or even touching for that matter, HATED onions, didn't like certain textures... My parents tried EVERYTHING to get me to eat what everyone else was eating... bribery, punishment, even that good old trick of trying to serve me the same plate the next morning for breakfast. Nothing worked!
  
Now as a mom, my worst fear is my kids having the same bad eating habits as I have had.  So we are undergoing a food make-over in our house, trying out new foods, more specifically new vegetables.  I've also completely changed the way I plan meals- but more on that another day.

In the past we put a copy of the food pyramid out where we could see it.  The kids liked pointing out all the food they were eating on the chart.  Now as I'm trying to make more of the food on our plates veggies, I love this new chart:
   It's straightforward and easy for the kids to understand, especially since they use divided plates.  Check out these nutrition plates and these portion plates or these balance plates.   

Thanks to my friend Natasha I discovered that I really like Brussels Sprouts (roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper), and thanks to the great farmer's market we've been visiting regularly I've discovered all sorts of new (to me) salad ingredients.
So... if any of you have tried and true favorite veggie recipes out there- please help and send them my way! :)

Summer Reading

Our soon-to-be 1st grader's Kindergarden teacher's parting words to us (whew- that's a mouthful) were: "Keep up her reading over the summer!!".  Aye Aye Captain!
We've been trying to do that in a few different ways.

First, giving her books she can read mostly by herself.  These are some of her favorites:
1. Berenstain Bears by Stan and Jan Berenstain.  These are the I Can Read version: same great stories with fewer words.
2. Mouse Tales and Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel
3. George and Martha by James Marshall

Second, introducing chapter books that we are reading together.   We read these, a couple of chapters at a time, at night.  Here's what's we've been reading:
1.  Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures by Jeff Brown and Macky Pamintuan.  Fun books, and not too long (we read them in a few nights).
2.  Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

Third, we try to get her to read books to her younger siblings.  These are usually board books that she is SUPER familiar with, and she likes being the "teacher".

And finally, we got her a library card and signed her up for the Summer Reading program.  She LOVES checking out books by herself!

Here are some good articles about kids and reading:
1. ...Why My Books Really Are 12-Up
2. Addictive Summer Reading Lists
3. 10 Ways to Motivate Your Child to Love Reading

Happy Reading!

With school starting on Aug. 1st, our summer break is almost over.  We've made a good dent in our list of "summer fun" activities.  There are more and more great activities popping-up all over the internet... here are a few that I'm adding to our list:

1. Twirling Paper Ladybugs from Make and Takes

Photo Source

2. Sidewalk Chalk Party from Hip Hip Hooray
3. Photo Scavenger Hunt from Make and Takes

4. Potion Lab from Frugal Family Fun
5. Nature Explorer Bag from Chez Beeper Bebe
6. And finally... Super Slip and Slide from The Inspired Housewife.  We don't have a backyard so this one will have to be put on a future "summer fun" list.
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!!

Saw this today over at Bakerella

(source Bakerella)
It was made by "Pop Star Jennifer".
I love it!  I'm going to have to make this someday.
Check out the other cute cake pops being made over there.

Gyotaku

I love our local library.  It's small, and nothing fancy... but a couple of times a year they have great book sales, where I buy lots of kids books for SUPER cheap. They also have great programs, like the summer reading program where we go in each week to claim our prize for reading books!  And they also do the occasional workshop.  Today they had a great workshop on Gyotaku.  

What is Gyotaku?  Gyo (fish) Taku (rubbing)

"Gyotaku is a time honored, traditional Japanese art, that is captured on a piece of shoji paper for the keepsake of the family, and friends, and fishers to come. Once the print is complete, the non-toxic paint is washed off, and the fish is cleaned to be cooked. It is quite simple and pure, as it has been for over 200 years. We fish to eat, and print what we fish to remember and share the experience.  That is what Gyotaku is all about."- Naoki Hayashi
(The non-toxic ink is called Sumi Ink)

Check out these BEAUTIFUL Gyotaku prints by Naoki

I had never seen (or heard of) Gyotaku before living in Hawaii, but I fell in love the first time I saw them.  I love how they capture the movement and life of the fish.  A few years ago, Josh gave me this Uhu (or Parrotfish) print by Shane Hamamoto. Isn't it beautiful? 

Today's workshop was taught by Dane Kai Kondo.  He explained the whole process, and then we got to try it out! It was so much fun!!  Here are my attempts at Gyotaku:

I tried (rather poorly) to recreate what the fish really looked like.

My 6yr old, on the other hand, had a great time making all sorts of different fish!

I think she did a great job!
Want to see how it's done? 
Check out this video!  

Tie-Dye Gone Wrong

This is what happens when you don't read the instructions on the bottle:

It starts out like this- my first solo attempt at tie-dye:

Despite what it might look like, no animals were harmed in the dyeing of these sheets...

Scarlet might not have been the best choice color. It looks like a prop for CSI.

But it still might have looked cute, in a patriotic-4th-of-July-kind-of-a-way if I hadn't just run them through the dryer "to set the color", and then washed them.

Guess what Denim blue and Scarlet Red make in my washing machine...washed-out Purple!

The bottles of Rit Dye that I bought don't have instructions for using the dye for tie-dying, so I will have to check out this tutorial and this one before I try again.

Any wise words of wisdom before I embark on take 2?