Welcome new little Foss!

I got back from festivities with my little Darth Vader and little dinosaur to discover the news!
I can't wait for pictures of baby Foss!

Images of Autumn

Last night's pumpkin carvings


Luke and Ella choosing pumpkins at Cottonwood Farms in Boulder



Sammy and I lounging in the pumpkin patch

Sammy and the pumpkins

Luke and Sammy enjoying a wonderful Fall day

My two chefs

The Aspens in my front yard

Paul, Luke and Sammy at the beach near Mystic

The boys (sort of) posing for a picture in Mystic

Krissy and her new husband Dennis. Of course

a bride should get to wear her veil more than once!

Here's the quilt Stephanie and I masterminded for Krissy's

big day. This is months of work involving all her closest friends

and family. Steph and I finished sewing the binding on three days before

the wedding!

Me (looking more pregnant than I thought), Krissy

and Stephanie at the wedding at the beautiful Wayside Inn outside Boston

Here's the bride and groom taking photographs. I didn't

want to get in the way of the real photographer. Way to

go Dennis for wearing an awesome kilt!

My boys

Me and my boys

Concord grapes growing at Lookout Farms in MA

They taste just like Welch's!

Sammy and Ella picking apples at Lookout Farms

Fallen apples

Luke at Lookout Farms

Sammy and Ella riding the kiddie ride at Lookout Farms

Paul and I at home a few days before

we left for the wedding.

What I've noticed

Despite the fact that my boys tell me that they really like their toys, I actually notice that they seem more content playing with sticks, Tinker Toys (okay, these are real toys), flashlights, pencils and other things found around the house. Just yesterday I observed Sammy pushing around a tape measure as if it were a car or truck. It held his interest a lot longer than if the tape measure had been a toy car. Despite the fact that Luke owns three different plastic light sabers (two bought new with his allowance and one found at a garage sale), he actually seems more content playing with a stick found in the front yard than playing with the actual light sabers. I don't think he would admit this, but I've noticed that stick around more than the light sabers. I did warn him to be very careful how he spent his allowance. Did he really need two different new light sabers just because they were different colors?? Maybe I just don't understand that each Jedi has his own color light saber. That's actually true. I have no idea what color Luke Skywalker's lightsaber is. Would he actually play with them as much as he thought he would? These are the questions I ask him before he purchases anything. As much as I knew that he would ultimately find some disappointment with his purchase, I knew I had to let him make the decision himself. I asked myself why he would want to spend his money this way when he never seemed disappointed by his own light sabers/swords fashioned from Tinker Toys.

As I have mentioned before, I am very much a less-is-more kind of person. I read somewhere that children become very overwhelmed with too many toys and then they end up not playing with a room full of abundance. Nothing holds their attention. In a room full of too many toys, there's no room for an imagination to flourish. So, when I see my boys' creativity with ordinary household items, it makes me happy. I have to admit that too many brightly colored plastic things just assault my senses. I think I'm overwhelmed just as easily as a child can be with too much stuff!

So, the other night, my husband and I were talking over our much diminished Christmas budget for this year. We jokingly said that we would just wrap up some twigs from our yard. Maybe we could give them each an orange. (It seems that many of the Christmas books we've read involve a child's delight over receiving a single orange, but that's another story.) Of course, the boys would be disappointed. They already have so many sticks around my house! There's no need for more of them. But what could we buy or make that would be memorable, special and something inspiring for them? I'm just plain out of ideas this year. I know that I have strict criteria, but I don't relish the idea of spending money on something that won't be treasured. I'd rather not give a gift. I have a very small budget, but that doesn't depress me. Actually, it challenges me. Any ideas??

Why can't we finish this book?

I realized that we've had this book on our sidebar for several months now. We've listened to a lot of books on CD in the mean time, but I cannot manage to motivate to finish reading this one to Luke. We loved the first Penderwicks book, but I have to say that I'm really not enjoying this sequel very much. Neither is Luke, but that's because he usually prefers fantasy and well, there are no dragons on Gardam Street! I kind of would like to find out who Bug Man is, but I really want to start something new and I hate not finishing books!!! Ugh...
I guess we'll keep on going and I'll demonstrate some perserverance and then maybe we can start reading The House of Arden.

Fun with Circular Needles

Here's my first attempt at using circular needles.
I'm taking a class to learn to knit a wallaby sweater. I figured it was time to learn how to knit something other than a square and I've been avoiding circular needles for a while. I've also been avoiding learning how to increase and decrease. So, this class forces me to take my knitting to the next level. So, when I'm done knitting this sweater it will be for Sammy. It has a hood and front pocket. So, apparently my knitting style is very loose. Mary, can you help me? I tend to pull the needles far apart when I purl.

A Simple Fall Day

I realize it's been a while since I've posted anything. I'm just getting back into my routine since our trip to Boston and Mystic last week. My dear high school friend got married last Friday evening on a crisp Fall day. I enjoyed some leaf peeping, but most of the trees are not in their full Autumn glory yet. I'm sad that I will miss the New England blaze of color. Autumn is truly my favorite season of the year!!

So, here were are back home and enjoying a simple Fall day around here. I'm trying to take it a little easier these days as I enter the last few weeks before baby girl is born. So, today, Luke did his normal routine of studies. We are expecting some snow tomorrow and I told Luke to take pictures of our Aspens before any wind and snow shakes the leaves from the trees. I will be disappointed to see the leaves gone so soon, but I'm trying to enjoy them while they're here.

The boys sat with me while I read them A Bear for All Seasons and In November by Cynthia Rylant. I told Luke to go outside and enjoy this wonderful day because tomorrow will be different. Sam, my little chef, wanted to help me bake spiced pumpkin bread. So, the taste of Fall bakes in the oven as I type this.

Here's a lovely poem that was attached to the wedding favors. It is now one of my new favorites:

October gave a party;

The leaves by hundreds came-

The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,

And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet,

And everything was grand,

Miss Weather led the dancing,

Professor Wind the band.

-George Cooper