A Maileg Mouse Birthday Party

"A party without a cake is just a meeting." - Julia Child

Heidi B., one of our fabulous buyers, told me how she and her grandkids would binge-watch YouTube videos of people creating miniature meals using real ingredients. This, and the fact that I love to play with anything tiny, convinced me I needed to take a look. Heidi was right, it is fascinating! The grandkids and I also became fans. Luckily, on our next buying trip, we stumbled upon the perfect "Tiny Baking" cooking set. It has become a favorite activity for me and my granddaughters. You can search "Tiny Kitchen" on YouTube and see what I am talking about.

For our first attempt, we decided to set the kitchen scene with our Maileg chef mouse and kitchen. The girls gathered all of the needed ingredients and put them in small dishes. Fortunately, their grammy is slightly obsessed with little things, and there were plenty to choose from.

We decided to jump right in and create our own video, and a few rookie mistakes were made in the process. Time-lapse goes fast, but the actual process takes much longer, and I soon realized that a tripod would have been a good idea. The video isn't perfect, but it's still fun for us to watch and remember our time together. The girls threw baby Maileg mouse a first birthday party. If you watch closely you will see him blow out his candle. :)

For their next project, the girls asked papa to bring home some pizza dough and toppings from Dutchman's. They wanted to provide a romantic date night for Mum and Dad mouse. Every now and then, parents deserve a break from all of their little mice. Especially when they've been working and homeschooling little ones during the pandemic!

We have been baking our famous Frosted Pink Sugar Cookies at Dutchman's Market since 1986. If you do the math, that equals a LOT of cookies! So, for her pièce de résistance, Tessa made some of her own pink sugar cookies using her papa's special recipe.

Chef mouse proudly served cookies and drinks out of our miniature Dutchman's drive-thru window. Our plan was to try our hand at a stop motion video with all of these little critters. Unfortunately, our dog, Boomer, ate the cookies when we stepped in to get the camera. So we decided to call it a day, and it was a good one at that!

What's next? With the holidays right around the corner, pies are going to be our new passion. The possibilities are endless! Buy your own Tiny Baking Set here!

Build Your Own Maileg Treehouse

TREE HOUSE

"A tree house, a free house,

A secret you and me house,

A high up in the leafy branches

Cozy as can be house.

A street house, a neat house,

Be sure to wipe your feet house

Is not my kind of house at all- 

Let's go live in a tree house.” 

― Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

It's family reunion time again. Coordinating school and work schedules with our six kids, and all of their people, is a challenge, to say the least, but every now and then the planets align and all twenty of us end up in the same place. It usually consists of a few days where we disconnect from the outside world, somewhere without the internet, and focus on what really matters most, each other.

I have assigned myself the job of making sure there are plenty of art supplies for the little ones and the big ones. I show up with pens, paints, canvases, wire, glue, popsicle sticks, and all sorts of odds and ends that I've collected over the years. I stack it in a pile by the table, ready for the taking when inspiration hits.

My 12-year-old granddaughter, Tessa, is always ready and willing to dream things up with me, and this year we decided to build a treehouse for our Maileg mice. These magical little creatures are so small that I can easily throw them in my bag and bring them anywhere.

I gave my grandkids a canvas bag, and we walked up to the lake to see what we could find. They collected small pieces of driftwood, rocks, and pinecones. We also found an old weathered board to use as our treehouse platform. Papa is always working on a project at the cabin, so his power tools are readily available.

Tessa put pinecone shingles on the roof of the porch and used this Wooden Wool Loom to weave a colorful hammock.

The treehouse evolved into more of a ninja warrior course.

While tubing down the river we picked up some pretty green moss and cut little branches from pine and aspen trees, to use as landscaping. Queenie looked very royal on her throne.

I am often caught playing... I mean working on things when no grandkids are around.

The bridge and the swinging cradle were a couple of my favorite additions.

All the little details add to the magic.

Jammies are always in style at the cabin.

Sometimes a little guy just needs a soft place to take a break from all of the action.

The final-ish (things are always being rearranged) treehouse was a hit with both the mice and the grandkids. It had lots of use over the weekend and we decided to haul it home with us so we can continue to add to it.

I have been doing these unstructured arts and crafts sessions with my kids since they were little. Two of them actually have careers where their artistic skills are a big part of their jobs. I like to think that maybe these creative explorations helped them to find their inner artist. At any rate, these projects have given me a chance to be with them away from any distractions – i.e., screens. These days my grandkids tell me their ideas and we brainstorm how we can make them come to life. It takes a little time and patience to make it all happen. It’s definitely not as easy as getting lost in the digital world, but the end results are far more rewarding.

Maileg Mice Go Camping!

If you ever find yourself in the desert of Southern Utah during the spring, you might just be lucky enough to catch an event that only happens every few years. Heavy spring runoff flows over the dam of Gunlock Reservoir, cascading down the brilliant, red rock cliffs, turning it into a desert waterpark, where people (and mice) from all over, come to play in the ponds and swim in the dazzling pools. 

Our Maileg mice friends, Jackie and June, decided to take a weekend trip to see what it was all about. They found the perfect spot to set up camp.

Day 1

Couple photos are always a must!

Off to explore.

A perfect place to rest.

The desert is in full bloom.

Day 2

Exhausted after all of their playings, they found the perfect beach at Gunlock Reservoir.

While soaking up the Southern Utah sun, they dream of their next adventures and decide this one is worth repeating.