The October that was

My little corner of cyberspace has been so neglected of late. Honestly, I just haven't felt like blogging recently. Since I returned from my trip to the UK and Iceland, we were without a computer. After the demise of our last laptop, we bought a new one only to have it quit on us after five days! We sent it back and for whatever reason, they could not send a replacement within a month. The shipment kept getting delayed and we decided to cancel the order. So, I started taking lots of pictures on Instagram and posting them to Facebook while we were without a computer. I have to admit that Instagram is just so easy and quick. I suppose that some of my enthusiasm for blogging has transferred over there. Anyhow, I'm back and I apologize if you've seen some of these pictures already either on Facebook or Instagram.

Here I am on the first of November lamenting the end of my favorite month of the year. I love October as it's truly the best time of the year for me. The oranges, browns, yellows, greens, and earthy hues fill my senses and make me long for warm hand knit items and pumpkin spice lattes. It's cozy and well, it's over for this year. The trees are now looking almost barren, but there are some that still have leaves, but they are past their prime. It doesn't matter. I still love that deep complex brownish-orange. I soak up all of Autumn until that last leaf drops.

Here's what made our October. Our little twins, Liam and James turned 2. I actually cannot believe that they are 2 already. Our little chunky monkeys are 2! I'm so happy that they decided to be born in my favorite month. October got even better with their arrival. This year, I wanted to celebrate in a low-key fashion and head out to one of our favorite pumpkin patches in Boulder, but it was a very rainy day. We went to the pumpkin patch anyway and only Sammy and I got out of the car. We raced in and bought three pumpkin pie pumpkins for the twins and Tesss and then, since we trekked all the way to Boulder, I dragged everyone to a yarn shop. Liam ended up getting sick in the car and well, it wasn't the birthday I had envisioned for the twins. I baked them a little pumpkin bundt. There's a picture in my collection of October photos above. I think it goes without saying that I love Autumn baking (all those spices!) as well.

I did my fair share of knitting too. I started a sweater for myself! It's miles of stockinette and I've already started to doubt that this sweater will look like anything other than a hand knit sweatshirt. There's a reason I don't knit for myself. There's a picture of the sweater in the photos above as well. It's the red, pink, and black-striped yarn. What was I thinking with horizontal stripes? Of course, I've set it aside for other projects like a blue dress I'm knitting for a certain little girl I know (not Tess).

Luke and I are tackling a lot of school work  right now. He's doing a fair share of his work independently these days, but I still ask him to cook with me or write with me. We're planning to read Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival together for some science reading beginning tomorrow. It's not the kind of book that I would normally read aloud. We're each going to read a chapter every couple of days and then discuss it. He's plenty busy reading, making stop-motion films with his Legos, taking care of his five chickens, learning high school Latin, writing a novel, and finishing up Algebra I. He would have been done with Algebra in early summer, but that's when we started to have some computer issues and the computer lost all of his work. I made him do it all over again, but Algebra has become something that he loves. He keeps a nature journal. He grumbles about French, but I'll get him back on track there. We're diagramming sentences and we talk the importance of good grammar every day. As the weather has become more chilly and the twins are napping, we watch The Story of Us and talk about the history of the United States. I love the home educating life and I'm passionate about lifelong learning. It's the biggest lesson that I try to instill in my children. I want them to want to learn all the time. I want them to be curious. I got off on a home educating tangent, but all these things are/were part of our October learning. For some reason, I'm always more optimistic and idealistic about our learning plans in October. Right now, as I blog, Luke is in the room with me. He's working on his novel. I'm sure it will be in the science fiction/fantasy genre. It's quiet right now and we have this time together. I'm cherishing this moment. Right now.

As I move into November and the Advent Season, I hope for more moments to cherish.

Time for the Tooth Fairy!

His tooth has been wiggly for a while, but I was hoping it wouldn't fall out just yet. There's something about losing that first tooth that just makes me so sad. It means he's growing up. I love looking at those small baby teeth. Now, a big tooth is ready to emerge and it will start a domino-effect on the rest of his tiny teeth. His little baby face will change and re-arrange and I'm not ready for it. This growing up happens way too quickly.

Luke, who is 12 seems to be losing a tooth every other day these days. I don't remember losing a single tooth during junior high, but I guess I did. Even though I've seen him lose numerous teeth since he was 7, I know that this is the last of the baby phase for him. His visits from the Tooth Fairy are numbered, but Sammy will get his first visit tonight! Farewell, first baby tooth!

Autumn Aspens Ablaze

    Yes, I know that Liam is missing. Paul had him in the front carrier when he took this picture.

Trying to capture all 5...

isn't easy.

Just some cuteness

James

The Snugglers

Buddies

Little T does bug Sam sometimes.

Luke reading to little T before bed

On the last day of 2010

Bedtime on New Year's Eve
How blessed I've been by these five little faces!


Happy New Year Friends!
I'll see you in 2011!

Scenes from July

I've been meaning to upload a couple of pics from the recent
Rocky Mountain Catholic Home Educators
Conference July 9-10, but I know that I've been
neglecting my blog this summer.  I finally got to meet
the super sweet Meredith Henning of Sweetness and Light.  We've been blog buddies for a few years now and
now we are IRL friends!  I also got to meet the very talented
and quite funny Danielle Bean of Faith & Family as well.
Wow, I sure look super pregnant, don't I?
I can't seem to get my blog to work the way I want to today.  So, I'll just write everything here instead of putting a caption for each photo.  I like that second photo of me and Meredith because you can't tell that I'm pregnant!

Okay, it was truly difficult trying to pose two toddlers wearing their Haltermelons!  This was the best that I could do.
I made a Haltermelon for Evelyn's 2nd birthday and of course, I thought it would be fun to get both Little E and Little T together in their matching knits!  Anyway, it's clear that Evelyn loves her wearing her Haltermelon in that second pic!

The next few pics are from our day on Evergreen Lake.  We took the kids out on the peddle boats and walked around the Lake.  I think little T really enjoyed being out on the water.  She looks like she's ready for a snooze. 

Yesterday, Paul and Luke were outside sanding down a small rocking chair.  This chair belonged to both me and my siste when we were little girls and we've been meaning for years to sand down the two coats of paint and repaint it.  I thought this would be a good summer project for Luke and Paul.  I remember this bright yellow chair from my childhood.  My sister Kat admitted to painting it gray at some point.  So, there are two coats of paint to remove.  That yellow paint is pretty stubborn, but they'll get it!  Little T sat in the Radio Flyer while the boys worked on her chair.  Yes, she's a princess!

Of course, what post would be complete without a little knitting?  I finished this pair of socks using merino sport from Sunshine Yarns in the colorway Victoria this month.  I had finished knitting the first sock several months ago, but I  got a case of Second Sock Syndrome and neglected  it while I knit Haltermelons.  At the Rocky Mountain Catholic Home Educators Conference this month, I started knitting the second sock during many of the talks.  I find that I listen so much better when I keep my hands busy!!  I've now started another pair of socks (that's the pic using the blue self-striping yarn) using the Sock Recipe found in Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.  This is the first time I've actually used sock yarn to knit socks.  I'm using 2.5 mm needles and so far, I think that I enjoy knitting socks with sport weight yarn more.  This new pair seems awfully thin and flimsy, but I suppose I'm not used to working with sock yarn yet.  I'm really enjoying the blues in Berroco Sox.  I think it's good to have a pair of socks on the needles at all times. 

I've really neglected my little corner of cyberspace this Summer, but I think it's been good to disconnect a little.  I haven't been in the blogging mood of late, but I think I really wanted to soak in my summer and enjoy it all.  Next up??
The Zucchini adventure!  I hope you're all making wonderful Summer memories!

Regular Guy Beanies

So, I knit these hats in the last two days, but they weren't intended for the boys. I used the Regular Guy Beanie pattern that I found at Ravelry. After I knit the first one, I determined it was just slightly too small for Paul. I then gave the hat to Luke and I proceeded to start on a second hat. I added a few extra rows, but again, it was too small and so I gave it to Sammy. Yes, I was too lazy to do a gauge swatch, but now the boys have wool hats for the winter! Now, I'm off to find a new Man Hat pattern for Paul!

By the way, I forgot to mention that I received the most awesome Christmas gift! I got a new camera. I had been unhappy with the quality of my photos on my blog for a while. So, these photos are the first on my blog using my new camera!!!! Thanks honey! I love the new camera!

Strawberries and random thoughts

I got up really late this morning and I don't even feel bad about it. Paul is home and he fed the boys leftover chocolate chip pancakes and milk for breakfast while I snoozed until, gasp, 8:30. It's been a productive weekend. Paul and I went to the nursery yesterday to buy things for our hopefully more-successful-than-last-year's- garden and we got the bunk beds up and Sammy moved into his new bed. The boys are now officially sharing a room! I remember how exciting it was when my sister and I got bunk beds. Since I was older, I got the top bunk. My mom installed a light up there so that I could read without disturbing my little sister. We're going to do the same for Luke. Now, we only have one child in our room! We'll dismantle the toddler bed later today and bring it back out when Tess it. Things are a changin' around here.

I admit that I'm a little giddy that our school year is about to wrap up at the end of this week. We're going to take a couple of weeks off in June and then start back with our Summer term of math review, typing, French and some casual nature study. We've got a nest above our garage and we know it belongs to a dark-eyed junco. We recently re-filled our bird feeders and are hoping to attract some new birds to our house. So, we're on our way with our bird-watching plans!

Today, I want to go buy strawberries. I have been craving them and I'm excited to make some jam. I saw this recipe linked at As Cozy As Spring and I have to make it! I guess I need to buy some blueberries too!

I just finished reading Nina Planck's new book Real Food for Mother and Baby last night just in time for Tess's first meal. I'm trying to decide whether I should feed her avocado or slightly cooked egg yolk first. I'm leaning toward the avocado since I just bought some delicious looking avocados last Friday and that's what I originally had planned for her first meal.

I love this time of the year. I just get so excited over all the possibilities of things to do and learn. Okay, we're off to have some Memorial Day adventures.