small wonders

Oh, hello there. Has it really been a month since I've been here? Sorry about the absence, and thank you for the notes of concern- we are all very well, busy with lots of things, but I've not been managing to photograph and post about it here. I'll try and get here a little more regularly in the coming months! So- a very quick catch up:

 Winter has arrived truly and fully. There is snow to play in and we are needing to bundle up well to go outside. Ari and Dori have taken on the job of filling the bird feeder on their own now- they have developed a system where Ari stays up the ladder and Dori hands up the containers filled with seeds and then Ari drops them down to be refilled. It works very well!

We had the wonderful treat of a visit from my sister and her adorable daughter. We were all thrilled to have them here and to love up the littlest cousin. Cute is right!

 The boys have been very busy with their projects and constructions. We got a new freezer recently, and the most exciting part of this was these cardboard pieces that have provided hours of marble-run- making entertainment. Also Dorian has been loving the lincon logs and has decided he will grow up to be a builder.

Homeschooling has been going very well. We finished our first math block and are half way through our second Language Arts block, working with the vowels with a terrific story and lots of painting. Maybe someday I'll get to writing more about all that like I said I would!

Also this month I had one of the most incredible, moving, beautiful experience of my life- attending the birth of my best friend's perfect, adorable baby girl. I took pictures for her during the birth, though all I will post here is the little knitted vest I made for her. It is using some wool I hand dyed using lichens I gathered last autumn (or was it two autumn's ago- sheesh, it might have been!) I had originally planned to knit a shawl with it, but I am loving how soft and subtle is is for little baby wear. There are a couple more skeins of it- there may be more little lichen garments to report on someday!

So yes, all is well here. We're happy and busy with all we are doing, and I will try to get the camera out more often for keeping track of it all here.
 I hope you are all well out there friends!