Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Catching up on Pictures!

Matilda--newest member of our family. This was taken before we adopted her, when she was still living on our porch.
Anja spends a lot of time perched on the end of my sewing table.

Martin reading to the kids at the river.
With our friend Lina and her girls Sophia and Brigita

Some unbaked focaccia that turned out really yummy.

The two cats. Matilda = 3.5lbs. Theodore = 30lbs.




Late summer walks

peach canning successs


Anja and Matilda share lunch

Fresh blueberries

Going buckeye hunting in the rain


At the Linden Conservation Club

Funny Hair Greta

Oops! Sideways!



Limited Out

Picnic at Wabash College

If you didn't see the post that includes words below this one, take a look! I'm still breathing!

Knitting and Knotting

Fall is here!

'Tis the season for hot chocolate, hot tea, woolly striped socks, and large crafting projects. I'm excited! Around our house we've been drinking up the last of summer, enjoying the warm days and packing the travel bag with fuzzy footie pajamas. (The only thing better than a toddler in footie jammies is the sight of TWO toddlers in footie jammies!)

Our yardsale was a success. It was especially successful for me, because I came out of it with two new pairs of pants, a new pair of shoes, an adorable wrap skirt, a sweater, and a nice pile of clothes for the girls.... all courtesy of my sister and sister-in-law!

One day last week the girls and I took a trip to Battle Ground. Greta wasn't sleeping, so on a long drive to try and get her to sleep, we stopped off at the Nature Center and went down to play in the creek. It's sometimes easy, living in a place with so much history, and so much to do, to forget about the little treasures that are right out your backdoor.

This past weekend was the annual Walk for Wolves out at Wolf Park. Anja LOVED IT. SO MUCH. It was really, really fun. Afterward we went to the river, hung out with family, and played in the water. Anja has been really into the idea lately of going to the beach... so an exposed sandbar in the river was good enough for the middle of Indiana. We caught a crawdad and Anja found a mussel shell that she wanted to make into a jewelry box. We are still looking for a tiny enough hinge for it, but we're working on it, and Anja probably will never loose her enthusiasm for it.

Last night we took a picnic dinner to Wabash College and ate dinner under a tree and then let the girls run around. We showed Anja all the places Daddy lived and worked and went to school. It was a gorgeous evening.

I bought a candle at Hobby Lobby the other day. It smells like fall and is wonderful. Every time I go to Hobby Lobby I remember how much I love it (they have EVERYTHING!) but I don't think I love it as much as Anja, who has been saying that her NAME is Hobby Lobby, ever since our trip there.

I'm knitting a wool diaper soaker and it's turning out GREAT! It's on straight needles--hoorah! I'm also close to being finished with Greta's sweater. Other projects include a chemise for Anja to wear to the Feast this weekend (it turned out amazingly cute, with cotton lace edging); a girl-sized quilt covered in adorable appliqued owls, using scraps from a box my mother-in-law brought to me from HER mother's quilting supplies; another girl-sized quilt started long ago and just getting finished; cloth diapers, thanks to Anne!.... and then all the Christmas presents. Also, I think I found the pattern for the sweater I will someday knit for myself. Not the hourglass sweater of Joelle Hoverson.... I've instead gone with something I found in "Knitting Noro" which is really cute and versatile, but which I won't be knitting in Noro.... I think I'll use a green I found at the knitting store from the Cascade "heather" line. Unless I look at it again and it seems too "heathery".... if you know what I mean.

And while I'm sitting at the kitchen table nightly knitting my wool soakers and baby sweaters, Martin is standing nearby, practicing his knots. He's tied many a knot around my wire stand that holds my fruit bowl. And when he's not knotting, he's filling our freezer with squirrels.

The Feast is this weekend! We might camp... wish us luck!

I have limited time, but I do have pictures..... So I'm going to post a few of them!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Winding Down

It feels like summer is winding down. I guess it kind of is, since this is Labor Day Weekend and all. Seems like just yesterday I was getting out my white pants, and now I'm already putting them away. Actually, I'm putting them in the yardsale we're having tomorrow. Okay, I'll be honest: I don't really own any white pants. But if I did, you can bet they'd be going in the sale tomorrow.



Every few years we have a yard sale and my mom's house. Location, location, location! We're collecting all sorts of junk from our Big Back Room, clearing out our closets, and anything that isn't gone by 2:00 is being hauled off to Goodwill in one large load. The yard sale is the reason I'm here at my parents' house right now--we brought a load of stuff up here and the girls (who didn't want to come here when we were on our way) didn't want to leave. So now Martin is making trips back and forth bringing the rest of our stuff up here. I'm tired already, but it's worth it to be rid of so much STUFF.



The heat has broken and we've really been enjoying it. Sadly, my tomatoes and green beans are the only produce I'm getting, and even those aren't giving me enough to can... we just get a handful at a time for a meal. Not one single pepper flower all summer long, and now my pumpkins are full of blossoms again, but we've never had a pumpkin. Kind of a bummer, but we have bigger and better plans for next year.
The girls and I have been taking walks again, now that the heat index is less than 110 degrees, and we've discovered a buckeye tree up the street from us! We've been filling our little red wagon with spikey balls and bringing them home to break open, polish up and admire. Also, the oak tree down the street is dropping it's ginormous acorns, so our nature table is filling up fast as Autumn approaches!

Anja's imagination has really taken off lately. She is always pretending to be different things, usually animals. One day though she was a "dragonfly princess"! Also, she tells us stories that she makes up. One of them involves her going into a hole in our kitchen where the baseboards don't quite meet, and borrowing toys. Evidently the hole is also filled with real live cats and dogs. She tells the most magnificent stories!

Martin is taking an HVAC class this semester at Ivy Tech. It makes for long Thursdays for all of us, but that's okay, I think it'll be worth it.

We are going into our third month of being computerless. I love it. Only once in awhile do I really MISS having the internet. For the most part, I don't think of it, and often I come up here and think I should satisfy some "craving" for internet time, but the craving isn't really there anymore. Tonight I felt like I should make some sort of substantial post, just in case anyone still checks up on the old blog, but really I've pretty much kicked the internet habit and am happy to be without it. I've been writing letters to people and spending a lot more time watching my kids play. All good things!

Alright, more garage sale preparations to make! I'm so happy for the cool fallish weather!