bunny design :: art barn blog

first days of school

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:50:36 -0800

My little baby girl has started school! She's done very well so far. There's only been a few minutes of tears mostly it's been lots of exploration and excitement. Yay, "wow school" as she repeates after I've read and reread the book during the days leading up to this start date. Vivi has a pretty easy going temperament and likes to do almost everything. So far the transition is going well. Today was her first day of staying by herself for a few hours. I was heartened when I came back to pick her up and she was happily sitting at a table enjoying a book by herself. When she saw me she said "mommy back!" and ran up and gave me a big hug and wet kiss (she's a big kisser!). Tomorrow we'll try a longer day and if that goes then we'll try for a day that includes a nap and second snack. I think once she gets comfortable she's going to love it. She'll get to play all day and make friends plus eat lots of delicious healthy treats made by the beloved chef Celestina. What's not to like about preschool? Sign me up please!

hot type

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:08:24 -0800

I've thrown caution to the wind as they say and purchased a set of lead type from an Etsy seller called Salvage Nation — the fonts and style and sizes will vary so there you have the windy part. Fortunately the random set was only twenty bucks. I'm excited to see if I can heat them on my hot plate and press into wax works. I'm feeling attracted to visual poetry again! Now if I can just find the time to experiment. . .and write!

Technorati Tags: Letterpress

sweet beauties

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:05:52 -0800

I never tire of Jen Corace's illustrations. They are dreamy, sweetly strange and beautifully mesmerizing. I could post them for days, so best just visit her site or google her to find lots of places to buy her gorgeous work!

Technorati Tags: art, drawing, illustration

lip sticker

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:32:31 -0800

Thanks to Maga & Paga for the Valentine sleep over. The kids are crazy about the kiss me "boo-boo stickers" aka bandaids. Of course none will likely cover a wound, instead they are stuck all over our house and or used for hours of playtime funsies. xoxo

paint paint class

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:26:09 -0800

Lots of snaps of the ever expressive miss Vivienne while she enjoys herself at her friday art class. Vivienne seems to love it all, her exuberance for life is inspiring!

shower ballerina

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:42:12 -0800

While wearing her favorite "jeeyish boo-boo" (aka Hello Kitty) dress Vivi added a ballerina tutu skirt and ballet slippers and danced in the shower. She now loves dancing in the shower and keeps asking when her tutu will be back from the laundry (t'was covered in jelly). She also likes to play sleep party in the shower and will drag in her pillows and nigh nigh blankets along with her baby doll collection, most of which are named "baby Tano" after her cousin Caetano. She'll ask you turn off the lights so she can sleep. Oh and shhhhhhh, baby sleeping.

j town playdate

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:48:43 -0800

Max and Willow played very nicely, well except when Max got too bossy about putting Willow in the dungeon or jail. Most of the time they just ran, ran, ran around peace plaza chasing and capturing each other. I had fun playing with the toy camera app on the iphone (as you can see).

tie fighter

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:44:40 -0800

Max has been playing almost non-stop with his LEGO TIE fighter. (thanks Grandma!) He's also crazy about the little Vader character. He took him to breakfast with us and pretended to have Vader try to eat each item that Max liked. Grandma-in-law Sylvia sent us a link to a LEGO Vader Christmas movie and now Max has been watching that non-stop too! He's crazy for Star Wars and hasn't even seen the movie yet. I was thinking it might be time but when I asked him he said, I will see it when I'm six. Ok then.

sledding siblings

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:28:03 -0800

What a gorgeous photo of Max taking Vivienne down the hill on the toboggan thanks Paga! What a wonderful big brother he is, he was so focused and in control of the sled making sure they both were safe — meanwhile miss Vivienne squealed with delight and enjoyed every second of the thrill ride.

I wish I had time to post more...

snow bunny

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:37:47 -0800

I hope to have time to format and upload more photos from our Christmas in Tahoe trip as there are some cute ones. The trip was fantastic. Snow is so fun and Miss Vivienne really enjoyed rolling in it and mostly she liked to eat it!

chocolate holiday cookies

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:43:37 -0800

For the holiday coming next — yes that'll be twenty ten, I'd like to make these two gorgeous chocolate cookie recipes found on the Thimble blog, so yummy:

Salty Chocolate Shortbread
adapted from Essence of Chocolate by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg

1 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 cup cocoa powder 1 teaspoon sea salt (I used coarse kosher salt and this seemed to work well also) 12 tablespoons butter, room temperature 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix together the flour and cocoa powder in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl beat the butter and sugar together for about 5 minutes until light colored and fluffy. Add in the vanilla.
Slowly add half of the flour-chocolate mixture and mix on low speed. Add the rest of the flour and cocoa and mix until just combined. Stir in the salt. The batter should form a kind of doughy ball. If needed, at this point you can refrigerate the dough for up to a week, but no refrigeration is required.
Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper to 1/4-inch thickness. Using cookie cutters or a knife, cut the dough into whatever shape you want. I used a small glass to make circles. Sprinkle a few grains of coarse sea salt on top of the cookies for extra salty deliciousness.
Place the cut-out cookies onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes, rotating halfway. They should be slightly firm but not hard when done. Let cool on wire racks.
You can store these in an airtight container for up a week. They are nice warm and soft straight from the oven, but also develop a deeper flavour and texture over a few days.

Chocolate Espresso Snowcaps
from Martha Stewart

1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 4 teaspoons instant espresso 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/8 teaspoon salt 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar 1 large egg 4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled 1 tablespoon milk Confectioners’ sugar, for coating
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well combined; mix in cooled chocolate. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture; beat in milk until just combined. Flatten dough into a disk; wrap in plastic. Freeze until firm, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Pour confectioners’ sugar (about 1/2 cup) into a medium bowl; working in batches, roll balls in sugar two times, letting them sit in sugar between coatings.
Place on prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies have spread and coating is cracked, 12 to 14 minutes; cookies will still be soft to the touch. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
Makes 18

fortune follies

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:03:02 -0800

Max's school puts on an elaborate "follies" show every holiday season and performs it on stage at Herbst Theater. All the songs and short skits are written by the eight graders. Costumes are handmade by parents, while the staff helps pull together all the needed props.The dramatic arts teacher choreographs the dances and the music teacher performs all the music live. The entire performance is amazing, truly a feat and it's wildly entertaining and touchingly sweet too. I laughed, I cried, I gasped in amazement. We all were so impressed! Max performed in the TK cookie song along with his classmates. Each child was a unique cookie. As you can see, Max was a foam fortune cookie. His fortune said "Merry Christmas" thought up and hand written by him. His cookie was folded, cut and spray painted by mommy and daddy in the wee hours of the nights leading up to the follie festivities.

I wish I could remember the darling lyrics, or get Max to recite them...but alas. All I can remember is "if you lookie lookie lookie you can find a little cookie like me."

artist in the house

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:55:54 -0800

These are a few of Max's art pieces that are hanging in and around his classroom.

max wants more presents

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:23:19 -0800

Max built a beautiful menorah from crayola model magic (his new favorite sculpting medium). The finished piece just barely balances and a few of the candle holding tips didn't dry together and later fell off. It's a bit of a work in progress. However, I was really impressed with his vision, dedication and intense need to complete this project. It took him a few hours to get through it and there were some tears in the beginning. He was struggling with what he envisioned and how the clay was not working in his hands. Right about now you might be wondering if we are Jewish? Nope closer to WASP but without the powerfully elite background and religious upbringing. Max's school has been teaching the students about the holiday of light and Max has been really interested. He even played dreidel and of course wants to win some chocolate "gelt" money. On the way home from school he said, "mommy did you know that during Hanukkah they get eight presents. Do we get eight presents at Christmas?"

green ribbon winner

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:32:06 -0800

Max has been taking lessons at La Petite Baleen and loving it. His teacher Rachel has got it going on and knows just what to do to keep him trying. Max has been doing really well and progressing quickly. He still complains a bit before we get there and asks when we can play hookie. He also likes me to tell Rachel that he feels nervous. Once we get those rituals out of the way he's in the water paddling and doing his balloon up faces and giving me thumbs up while I watch. This day he got his green ribbon! I'm a proud mama. We all can't wait to go back to the Melia in Mexico and swim to the pool's center island and then get a yabba dabba do from the bar.