Thursday, October 31, 2013

Hey there!

We're still here! Livin' life. Living the pumpkin-picking, sweater-wearing, fall life, and it's been good.





I love the photo albums and journaling in this format, and I'm so sad I haven't been keeping up with it lately. As everyone and their mother has told me ~ time will fly, and it has.

We celebrated Little A's half-birthday this month {with half a cake and a party hat, of course!}.


Alex's new skills include eating, telling us with loud grunts and grumbles when he is definitely unhappy, and sitting up on his own!

That last skill was particularly handy when we spent the weekend in Saxis, transplanting some of the perennials that we thinned out from my house. I've never moved plants like this before, so I'm really excited to see how everything does this spring. If we're successful, it was such an easy {and cheap} way to get a garden started down there {the white "fence" is to help our over-zealous mower stay in the lines}.

The whole weekend we were able to put Alex outside on a blanket with a few toys to play while we worked ~ freedom!


Since there's been far too little knitting around these parts, let's end with the aforementioned wool-wearing. I didn't get much of a chance to wear my Stasis sweater or the Seasons hat {I'm not sure if I've even posted about this after it was finished?} because I was pregnant last winter. The hat is knit from yarn that was leftover from the sweater, and I like having the same-same, but different set. I've been wearing the two non-stop making up for lost time.




Finally, knitting does happen around here! Alex is sporting a new hat ~ just a little cable number that I made up using some Debbie Bliss alpaca-silk. It's uber cozy and uber stretchy for that growing noggin.

And that is it! We are most definitely alive and kicking. If time is on my side, a whole month won't pass without an update.

Happy Friday!

Sunday, September 29, 2013

The Fair!

The food, the people, the critters. It was so good!


























Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Late Summer Hike

Photos from our first hike after returning from California {one month ago now!}. The humidity, lush green colors {with hints of the coming fall}, musty smells, and more gradual incline of the Appalachians jolted our senses out of the Sierras, leaving no doubt that we were home.







Did you spot the toad in the second picture?!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Linking this to that. and that. and that.



Funny thing, I fixed my photo storage problem, and then promptly set up the hard drive on the desk in the room where Alex sleeps, making it impossible to upload photos when he's sleeping and my hands are actually free to do the typing. Oops.

Anyway, we've been doing a lot of listening to fun stuff. Like the record above. Of course, the stories are great, but the telling of the stories is just fantastic on that recording.

And then I found this: A Light in the Attic. It's an album with 35 of Shel Silverstein's poems put to music... and it's free and oh so much fun to listen to. Go grab yourself a copy and thank that artist.

I can't wait until Alex is old enough to start making things and collecting Badges! That link takes you to DIY.org, a site where kids can learn about all sorts of careers and skills while uploading their projects and earning badges along the way. It looks awesome.

Want to see what else people are up to, check out this art. Amazing, right?

But wait! There's more! A whole pile of people are competing for the best job in the world, including my sister Sarah. Either of those links will take you to her submission video. Go there, get inspired, and vote for her. Thanks!

Next week we're back with a whole pile of fun.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Surprise!

Calder turned 35!... and we realized that the beach could wait, it was time to throw this guy a surprise party weekend.


These guys showed up ::



Wishes were made {at this point he still didn't realize that we were serious about the weekend of fun that was about to go down}


Little A transitioned into perfect baby bird form, hoping a piece of cake would fall into his open mouth.


With Alex in full neck-control mode, he easily morphs from bird to plane...

And then Sarah released the confetti bomb {no one was more surprised than her, seriously}.



After the confetti settled it was time for presents, but first a reaction to presents::


Kris could not believe her eyes when Calder opened his one-piece PJs {feet and hood included!}, because Calder was getting a big jealous that Alex had all of the cozy PJs in the house.


An hour {give or take} after eating cake, it was time for a pool party {or a nap if you want to be a baby about it}.


And apparently Sarah is just as surprised to hit water when jumping in the pool as she was in the great confetti incident of '13.


The next morning Calder wowed us with his mad griddle skills.


Then there was more swimming {and napping}. Followed by debauchery and grilled pizza on the deck.







What a perfect wind down to the first summer of Alex. And a very happy birthday to Calder, here's to a 135 more!