Cleaning the Oven, 1830's style... and more!

On the way out the door Bennett requested his hat.

Membership at OSV definitely has its perks!  To begin with, the cost of membership pays for itself in two visits.  We've now gone for 16 consecutive weeks.  Sure, that might be a bit excessive, but our price per person is now approximately $2.64.  (14 weeks where we only had to pay for 2 people, and 2 weeks for 3 people.  This is because Bennett was free before age 3.)

But if it hadn't been for the membership we wouldn't have gone so much and then I likely wouldn't have had the opportunity that I had this past weekend.  But first, a little more about the day in general.

It was Apple Days this weekend so there were lots of apple-centric activities.  In fact, more than we were able to experience.  It also was Friends Day, with a few events just for members.  The sawmill was also rededicated after having some repairs done over the summer.

In the Spring we had received a mailing requesting a donation for the sawmill.  Seeing how we love OSV and Chris loves saws it was kind of a no-brainer that we would support this campaign.  As a "thank you" donors were invited to hear Norm Abram (This Old House, New Yankee Workshop) speak.  Norm is one of the trustees of OSV and we had seen him on a visit around this time last year.  The talk was interesting as they discussed some of the repairs to the sawmill and other buildings, but it really was a chance to drum up support for a new fundraising campaign that they were kicking off.

While we were listing to Norm speak Bennett was off gallivanting with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry.  They made mulling spice sachets, sampled heirloom apples, played on the playground, visited the Cider Mill, and stopped to get a morning snack of cookies.  Wow, that was a busy hour! 

When Chris and I got out of the talk I texted Andrew to see where they were.  He said they were at the playground and would then be going to the Cider Mill.  So we slowly made our way to the Cider Mill, stopping to ask Rhys (one of the interpreters) who we should contact to try to get some information about a Christmas present that we want to make for Bennett.  When we got to the Cider Mill we didn't see Bennett, but we did see Dave (another interpreter) who was working with Blue, the ox.  We chatted with him and then asked if he had seen our son.  Yup, we are now at the point of being able to ask them these sorts of questions.  He hadn't seen Bennett, so we headed back towards the rest of the village.  And that's when we saw them at the "cookie store" having their snack.  Turns out when they had been at the Cider Mill Dave was addressing a much larger crowd so probably didn't notice Bennett.  Or maybe he only recognizes him when he's with us?

We then made our way down to the Freeman Farm.  We checked out all of the animals and then made our way into the Farmhouse.

Checking on Summer (the calf) inside one of the barns.

The kitchen was pretty busy, but as soon as we walked in the door Victoria (see, I told you we are learning all of their names) recognized us and said hi.  She was about to sweep our the bake oven and asked for a volunteer.  I said I would and she replied, "I had a feeling you would want to."  I think that this is an opportunity that likely wouldn't have arisen if we hadn't been to visit so much.  Since we've watched this process numerous times before, I didn't need much instruction as to what to do.  When I was done she said I had done a good job.  I said that she had to say that.  She clarified that she only had to do one quick sweep to finish, so it was in fact a good job.

So how do you know if your bake oven is at the correct temperature?  After sweeping out all of the coals you need to let it cool down a bit to the correct temperature.  Each individual has their own count to let them know what the right temperature is.  I think Victoria said that her count was 15.  Basically, you put your arm in the oven and start counting.  The count is the number that you get to before you have to remove your arm because you can't stand the heat anymore.  So I gave it a try.  At this point, my count was somewhere between 4.5 and 5.  Victoria then tried it and her count was a 7.  Hmm, I guess she can stand the heat a bit more than I can.  

During the talk earlier in the morning we had learned that there had been a fire at the farm.  Turns out it was back in 2007 and it had burned all the wood around the fireplace and most of the ceiling.  However, it had allowed them to discover that there had been a drying rack and initials on some of the wood from when it had been at the sawmill.  The fire had been caused by a hairline crack in the bake oven, so always have your fireplaces checked before using them!

In non-OSV news, on Friday we had Bennett's annual Cardiology visit at Children's.  On the way there we told him that we were going to "Children's".  He asked, "the Children's Museum?"  Nope, sorry bud.  But understandable how he would get them confused.

Checking out the ball maze/thing in the lobby.

First up, after height and weight checks (14.1 kg and 100 cm), was an EKG.  He wasn't really a fan, especially about being asked to lie down.  I'm sure it also didn't help that we had the CNA that we REALLY don't like!

Next up, after about a 30-45 minute wait back in the waiting room was an ECHO.  We hadn't realized that he would be having one.  Again, he didn't like being asked to lie down, especially since the lights in the room had been dimmed.  We were completely shocked.  Bennett stayed so still.  Of course to get him to do this I had to pull up the most horrible of shows for him to watch on my phone.  He knows it as Grandpa's Toys, but it's really Wee Sing's Grandpa's Magical Toys.  They have the VHS at school and the kids all love it.  As an adult though, it's absolutely horrible!

Sorry for the super dark picture, but the room was dark.

Then after the ECHO it was back to the waiting room for another half hour or so before being brought back into a room, waiting for the Fellow to see us, and then more waiting for the doctor.  We had brought a whole slew of toys and books, but Bennett was getting pretty tired of waiting!

The Fellow came in and she interacted well with Bennett.  We asked her our questions and she gave us her answers but said she would check with Dr. T as well.  Then finally Dr. T came in, for what was about a 5 minute visit.  And that's being generous. Bennett was a bit aprehensive about Dr. T but overall did ok.

So now for the update...
No change from last year.  He still has "moderate" tricuspid regurgitation.  No immediate concerns for surgery- maybe he'll need it in a decade or two, but there's really no way to predict.

And as for our questions?

• He does not need antibiotics before dental visits.  (Apparently this is common procedure for many heart patients.)

• No worries about amusement park rides, at least not for now.  At this point, the rides that he would be allowed to go on wouldn't cause a problem, but in general, those warning are more for patients with a different type of defect.  I guess we can ask again in a few years when he's more interested in serious roller coasters.
• He's been cleared to play varsity sports!  Yes, we really did get a letter that says this.  We needed a note for the public school (where he gets speech therapy) stating if there was anything that they need to be aware of.  So if you read between the lines, this means he's just fine and they don't need to be concerned.

After lunch at the hospital we headed home.  Bennett took a nap in the car, and then slept a bit longer at home and then shortly after he woke up it was time to take him to the pediatrician for his 3-year check-up.  Again, he's doing great.  Their stats measured him at 32.2 lbs and 39.25".  They also tried giving him a vision test.  He did moderately ok with it, but wasn't fully cooperative.  He got a flu shot (in fact, we all got them) and then we were told to come back in a year.  Although it's a good thing that we don't need to come back for a year, this actually makes us a little sad because we love our pediatrician so much.  And we saw him so much the first couple of years (monthly for the first two winters, not to mention other visits) that it feels strange to go so infrequently.  In fact, we haven't had to go for any extra visits in the past year other than a check-up 6 months ago.

On Sunday Bennett went with Nana to visit Auntie Hanna at college.  Apparently feeding the ducks is a highlight of Wheaton.

Meanwhile Chris and I rearranged his room.  Bennett is ok with change as long as you don't try to move things around while he's there.  Otherwise he just tries to put things back where they were.  We decided it was time to make the transition to a big boy bed and this meant moving the crib/toddler bed out of the room and rearranging the rest of the furniture.  When he got back he kept asking where his little bed was.  Luckily the appeal of Curious George sheets is good and he seems to be doing ok in the new bed.

When I put him to bed that first night he didn't want to lie down, but that's not completely abnormal.  I left the room and I think he fell asleep pretty easily.  He woke up at 5:45 the next morning fussing and when I went in to him he asked for me to lie down with him.  I did, but it was extremely uncomfortable for me, so I hope we don't make that a regular occurrence.


And finally, here are some other pictures from the week.

I was wearing a headband and he decided that he should wear it instead.

A drawing of a "haunted house"

A drawing of carrot/ cucumber from the garden.

It's starting to feel like fall

Thanks to his birthday, Bennett now has some new games to play with. The first one that we opened was Zingo Bingo.  They have this at school so Bennett was familiar with it already.  Two chips with pictures on them are revealed at a time and you have to match them to the images on your card. 

This week Bennett also spent lots of time working on his new puzzles.  The 24 piece puzzle he can practically do with his eyes closed but he still asks for help with the 60 and 100 piece puzzles, although I'm sure he'll master those soon enough. 

We also played some Memory.  This one will take a little longer for him to get the hang of.  He likes to turn over more than 2 cards at a time.  One thing that's nice is that at the moment he doesn't seem to get upset if he doesn't win.  I'm sure this will change soon enough, but for now it's nice.

Doesn't everyone do headstands on the couch?

Friday was Daddy's birthday.  Bennett was very excited to help open presents and blow out the candles on the cake.  He also said that he had a big birthday but that Daddy had a little birthday.

And blowing out candles (after making sure the lights were out first)

Sunday was WGBH (public broadcasting) Member day at OSV.  Because of this Curious George (and Clifford) were there!  We got our pictures with George and then went inside.

We spent some time in the Fenno House where Bennett made a "quilt".  Normally he just zips through this building, if he goes in at all.

Interestingly none of our favorite people were working, not that we dislike many, but some are better than others about interacting with us. 

We went down a different path than normal and saw the backside of the potter's shop. Mystique ruined when I then peeked in through the windows and saw the thoroughly modern workroom.

After Sturbridge we headed off to Lynn (with Bennett getting a decently long car nap) to go to Fiona's birthday party.  They had a camp theme and all the kids got matching camp T-shirts.

Bennett loved running around and diving into the tents.  I'm surprised he didn't hurt himself!  After making s'mores in ice cream cones, everyone headed off on a nature walk, eating their snacks along the way.

My "baby" is growing up!  He knows to get in line and wait his turn.

On Sunday we went apple picking.  There was an event for the Children's Hospital Miracle Makers as a way of saying "thanks" for raising a certain amount of money.  The orchard was PACKED!  The elements that were organized by Children's were well done, but the lines, misinformation, having to ride the train, etc (all issues related to the orchard) were very frustrating.  We were able to pick some peaches and apples, had lunch, and did some playing, but it's not an orchard I would recommend- really overpriced (luckily we didn't have to pay admission, just for the extra apples we bought) and way too crowded.

And on a housekeeping note, I now have ads on the sidebar of the blog.  It probably won't amount to anything, but I figure if it gets me even the tiniest bit of revenue, it's better than nothing, right?  So if you feel inclined, please consider clicking on the ads.

A Curious George Party: Bennett's Third Birthday Recap

I'll be the first to admit it.  I didn't come up with most of these ideas.  Hey, that's what the internet is for, right?  We just took a couple of things to the next level.  I think a friend of mine hit the nail on the head when she said, "It’s what set designers do when they need a creative outlet. Plan elaborate parties to make us feel um… well too low key."  True, we're not set designers, but a Technical Director and a former Costume Designer wannabee are close enough, right?

Let's start with the invitations.


I decided to put a picture of George on the envelope just in case people couldn't figure out the theme from the invitation.  It's obvious to me, but we're a little obsessed with Curious George in our house.

This is the first idea that I got elsewhere.  The wording was probably pulled from a bunch of different places.  I've looked at so many CG invitations over the past few months that I can't keep them straight.

We used spray adhesive to adhere the cardstock with the wording to the back piece of felt.  Then I used fabric glue at the bottom to hold the top piece of felt on.  Then I added a bit of brown ink to the bottom to make it look more authentic.  I actually had a happy accident with these. The spray adhesive had gotten on the edges of the cardstock so it lightly held the top piece of felt in place so that they didn't shift around too much.  Random question: do you typically peel your bananas from the stem or from the bottom?  I know at least one person tried to open their invitation the "wrong" way.

For those of you who are familiar with the PBS cartoon, you are likely well aware of the Doorman.  We found the original idea here, where they had the doorman on a piece of posterboard.  We kind of joked around about Chris getting one of the grad actors to dress up as our doorman, but then we abandoned that idea (lack of costume) when Chris got a CNC router at work.  Perfect project to learn on!  We were going to have a life-size doorman!

The doorman's dog also is a fixture of the lobby, so naturally we needed a Hundley as well, which Bennett was holding and "petting" in this picture.

From the same site where I got the doorman idea, I got the idea of turning our dining room into Chef Pisghetti's Ristorante.  Since we weren't planning to serve a full meal I figured that our dining room table wouldn't really be needed.  Could we move it out and bring in some smaller tables to make it look like a restaurant?  I think this was the main element of our party that made our friends think we are nuts- we turned out dining room into a restaurant!

Again, Chris put his CNC to work, creating the sign.  We had originally talked about converting the whole wall to look like a building exterior (brick wall, sign, door, windows) but time and money constraints proved to be too great.  You can't really tell in this picture, but the letters and the Chef, as well as the black frame, are raised up higher than the white background.

I sewed strips of fabric together to create the awning (don't look too closely from underneath as I left lots of loose threads), which hung on our existing curtain rod.  Then I made a sleeve at the front in which we slipped some aluminum angle iron and then hung it from the corners using monofilament to a could of nails on other walls.

I had the last minute idea to get some vases of flowers to put on the restaurant tables, but when we were at the grocery store I saw these ornamental pepper plants.  They were perfect!

So what did we serve at Chef Pisghetti's?  Since the party started at 3 we didn't need a full meal.  We stuck with snacks and desserts.

For Bennett's first birthday I had Chris make a few food stands.  It allows me to fit a few more dishes into the same space since they overlap a bit, plus it adds visual appeal.  So every year they get a new coat of spray paint in whatever colors I'm using that year.  Then I just put my food on white plates and put them on top.  Easy peasy.

The cake was another idea that I "borrowed".  There were lots of fun ideas, but this one looked fancy enough but it also looked like something that I might be able to do on my own.  And I got to try using modeling chocolate.  Everything was edible except for George, who was a purchased figurine.  I ended up not putting all of the vines and flowers on because at 11:30pm the night before the party I decided sleep was more important than practicing my piping skills and possibly messing up the cake.

 

I was afraid that there wasn't going to be enough cake (turns out there was more than enough), plus I needed a treat to send in to school on Monday, so I also made monkey cupcakes.

For additional decor, we also had Curious George and The Man With The Yellow Hat.  After all, it wouldn't be a Curious George party without him!  I was inspired by this and this, but ultimately we went with what you see below.

Balloons!  I tend to think of them as being overpriced and unnecessary, but I do love them and find myself getting some every year.  We had the bunch in the photo above, plus the ones below.  I had hi-float put into the latex balloons, so they last about a week.  (Except for 2 that had deflated in less than 12 hours.)

And it wouldn't be a party without games!  It's a little tough to plan some things out since our younger guests range in age from 3 to 11.


Again, borrowing from the internet, we had Yellow Hat ring toss.  These were just sports cones with some electrical tape for the hat band.  And then since they had a tendency to fall over, Chris attached them to a piece of plywood.

We also had Pin the Tie on The Man with the Yellow Hat.  Unfortunately The Man was a bit too tall for Bennett, but he still seemed to have fun.

Since we had such a large range of ages, for prizes I got a selection of books, trying to have something for every age/interest, and let the winners pick which one they wanted.  (Thanks Mel for this idea!)  And the books that weren't chosen will get added to Bennett's collection for when he's a little older.


As we sent our younger guests on their way, they had Curious George favor bags.  (Inspiration from here.)  These were filled with Curious George fruit snacks, a Barrel of Monkeys game, a banana pen, and stickers.

Overall it was a fabulous day. We hadn't told Bennett in advance that he was going to have a Curious George party because we wanted to surprise him.  Grandpa took him out of the house for a few hours in the morning while we decorated and we were expecting him to be really excited when he returned.  He wasn't as excited as we thought he would be, but later in the day he had his George say hi to the cutout George.  And every day when he gets home now he says hi to Hundley, the Doorman, etc.


And of course, Bennett received numerous wonderful gifts!  To name just a few, he got books (both Curious George and others), toy farm animals, a fife, and then this... We have one family who every year create an elaborate gift/packaging.  How awesome is this hot air balloon?

 And to make it even better, inside the balloon (there was a slit in the back) was this photo of a Curious George sand sculpture that they had made for Bennett.