HP Party - Castle wall artwork

We have to decorate that castle wall, right? As I cannot draw and Hen's production of artwork is not as vast as many of his peers, I had to think of another inexpensive way to add flair to the castle wall that leads to Gryffindor Tower. Enter Melissa & Doug's Picture Frame Pad and a stack of our favorite books. I'm curious to know if this falls under fair use. If not, I'm going to have some explainin' to do.

Just in case, I did email the authors/illustrators to request permission to use the images. If those requests aren't granted, they will be removed from the wall immediately. Although, since the decorations are in Hogwarts, and Hogwarts is a school, and at Hen's party there will be at least one class (Potions), I'm curious to know if I could make the educational purposes claim. Hmmm...

Book Fourteen: Life 100 Photographs that Changed the World

A collection of historic photographs from the first images produced through an experimental photographic process to the first camera phone photo, from the first x-ray photo (taken of a woman's hand) to the first photograph of the earth. The book is divided into sections that cover arts, photographic art, society, trick photography, war and peace, stop actions, and science and nature. A lot of the images are hard to see but it is a book not to be missed. There are some truly iconic photos that are able to express so much more about a given moment than words ever could.

14 down plus 38 to go.

Wise words from Ron Swanson

"You choose a thankless job, you can't be upset when nobody thanks you."

HP Party - Faux candles

Yep, we're doing an Enchanted Ceiling and there will be floating candles. To make these, I bought a package of battery-powered tealights, held onto nearly two dozen toilet paper rolls, and bought some tempera white paint. It was almost too easy. I haven't quite figured out how to hang them - most likely fishing wire - but I'm excited to see it when it's all done.

HP Party - From condo to castle

Darr thinks I've reached a whole new level of crazy. Yeah, right, like turning parts of the condo into a castle make me crazy.

HP Party - Balloon owl deliveries

I can't take credit for this idea, I saw it on Pinterest, but I can say Hen chose the look of the owl from Google images that I drew on the balloons. I am no artist and the owls aren't pretty, but you can imagine they were drawn by someone attempting to make owls. The envelopes were handstamped with addresses like this: 

MR HENRY

Bedroom down the hall

Portland

The acceptance letter invites were sealed with red wax in which was pressed the letter H (for Henry and Hogwarts - woot!). The letters were then tied to the owls. We delivered them around town Thursday morning and afternoon. At one point, an owl tried to escape. There was a moment of panic when we realized what had happened - the owl had been sucked out the window and was flapping frantically to get away, must have seen a mouse - but we were able to drag the owl back in thanks to the letter getting wrapped around the passenger side seatbelt. 

In order to further document these party preparations, we have pictures that show what all the owls looked like upon arrival at their destinations. 

I also have a few more shots of the invites and owls in action...

The 99 W is getting a digital projector!

Honda is sponsoring Project Drive-In to help save the remaining 300+ drive-ins still operating throughout the country. Recently a local drive-in - 99 W in Newberg (my hometown!) - won a digital projector that will keep it showing movies for hopefully decades to come. Last night, the 99W held a special Thursday night showing of one movie before it hit theatres - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. Since Hen had Thursday and Friday off from school for Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, it was an opportune time to introduce the young lad to the drive-in movie experience.

We arrived early to nab a good spot and were welcomed with free admittance and a car blanket from Honda. Honda rocks! We read some books, hit the concession stand, and took some ghost shots of Hen to pass the time until dusk. The 99 W still runs awesome vintage ads before the movie starts and at one point we were all singing the National Anthem. (Note to Timbers fans - this song is forever changed after a game and I had to restrain myself from yelling "Timbers!" at the end.) Then the show started and it was all fantastic!

Of course there were pictures...

Chickpeas. It's What's For Dinner.

Tonight's recipe is chickpeas simmered in tomato paste, garlic, cumin, and spinach over toasted bread rubbed with garlic. Darr is eating so many of these beans now we should buy stock.

Totally Irresponsible Science: Turning Milk to Stone

We had to wait for the perfect time to do this trick. You want to have a milk jug that has enough milk to do the experiment but not so much that you'll be wasteful emptying out the jug for the trick you can perform once you are done with the experiment. As far as experiments go, this was sort of a letdown as we used a lot of milk and vinegar and did not get much out of it. I would recommend doing multiple batches to get lots of stones. It does get high marks for the trick, though. Hen was super excited to ask his papa for milk that night, and thought it was super funny when the stones came out of the jug instead of milk.

HP Party - Invitations

There are a couple standard ideas about how to age paper but mainly it's about dipping or painting tea on your page and letting it dry. Here's what I want to remember in case I ever do it again:

1. print your item with a laser printer, inkjet will bleed
2. use black tea for a darker stain
3. steep the tea bags in hot water for a few minutes before beginning to paint
4. use the saturated tea bag as a brush and paint the tea on the paper
5. once the paper has been painted, tap the paper lightly with your fingertips to create little tea dots
6. blot the paper with toilet paper to remove any puddles and help set the tea dots into the paper
7. move to another location to air dry

HP Party - Butterbeer

Why, yes, we did make a batch of Butterbeer to make sure it would be a worthy addition to Hen's upcoming party. Yep, it's worthy. And I got to make a Butterbeer beer label. Note: It was Darren's idea to use Session beer bottles for the HP brew. Nice, right?

the ingredients

Magic 6% by volume

melting butter in brown sugar

pour into the Butterbeer bottle before consuming

have a taste

enjoy

Books with a school theme

I pulled a few school-themed books to share with Hen before school started from that gigantic haul Hen  and I got at the Scholastic Warehouse sale back in June. My favorite is Morris Goes to School. Hen prefers Chester the Brave. These books address topics such as why school is important (you need to learn to read and count to locate and buy candy), why you should listen to your teachers (to avoid being eaten by a dog), what routine you should expect (math, art, P.E., etc.), how to overcome fear of public speaking (kisses from your mama and your very own pep talk), and what you can do to make friends (just be yourself). This parenting thing can be really awesome sometimes.

Book thirteen: The Time Between by Karen White

I finished this a couple weeks ago and cannot for the life of me remember what it was about. So, I'm guessing it wasn't that memorable of a book. I do recall writing down one quote I found interesting. Should I run across that piece of paper, I'll update this post. 

13 down plus 39 to go.

Knitting: Colorblock handwarmers

I'm nearly done with the first one. These fingerless gloves are super cute, surprisingly warm, and very soft. Plus, they knit up quickly. I have enough leftover yarn to do two more pairs if anyone wants a pair.

HP Party: House scarves

We are not having the Sorting Hat ceremony to sort partygoers into houses for two reasons: 1. I want to make Hen's room into the Gryffindor dormitory and we don't have enough rooms in the condo to make dorms for all four houses; 2. I figure everyone who is familiar with Harry Potter will want to be in Gryffindor and everyone else won't understand the ceremony or care if it doesn't take place. This means I am currently knitting six HP-inspired house scarves using the Gryffindor scarlet and gold colors. I have Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter book and there is a pattern in the book that is a much closer version of the house scarves featured in the movies but that pattern requires knitting a tube in the round and would have taken much longer to complete, so I'm using a modified version of a ribbed scarf pattern I've used before. Here's a preview...

Here's the relevant knitting details -

Color A - 3 skeins of Caron Sheepish yarn, color Red(ish), medium weight (4)
Color B - 2 skeins of Caron Sheepish yarn, color Yellow(ish), medium weight (4)
needle size 8 (5.0mm)

Pattern:
Using Color A, co 21 stitches
R1 - k3, p3, repeat to end
R2 - p3, k3, repeat to end
Repeat first two rows for a total of 19 rows
Switch to Color B and repeat rib pattern until have 19 rows
Continue knitting alternating blocks of color until scarf reaches desired length, ending with a block of Color A
BO using rib stitch pattern
Weave in loose ends
Optional: Add fringe to each end

Kindergarten, day one

Well, we got the kid this far. I'd say we're doing all right. Of course, there were pictures...

the whole kid

from above

flying

ghost student

smile

all about the sweater vest

Wicket the chinchilla

drawing bubbles and Harry Potter