birthday songs

I've been feeling quiet lately, though there has been lots to talk about and celebrate- a birthday (mine!) the sun shining, the boys continuing to grow and change and wow us with their loveliness...
I've been listening to Oliver Schroer these past few days- for me, his music gets it just right- the intricacy, the simplicity, the fragility of a full, beautiful life.

green vest

I finished this little green vest this week, though that last little garter stitch part took almost as long as the whole rest of the vest- as the weather has warmed and we are getting out more, and have been out visiting and playing I've not been able to just sit by the fire and knit like last week. Dorian is pretty thrilled with his new mama-made vest, the only vest we had for him was way to tight in the neck for his little noggin and it was traumatic to try and get it over his head, so this one with a nice wide neck is welcomed. I loved knitting with this summery colour during all the snow and cold. I found two skeins of this wool (knit picks: wool of the Andes in "grass",) in a sale bin at a craft fair before Christmas, and so my challenge was to squeeze this vest out with just the two skeins. It was close, but I managed with just a wee bit to spare.

This is the second pebble vest I've knit for Dori- the second green pebble vest I've knit for Dori, in fact. The first one I knit on larger needles to size it up a little, as the pattern is only sized for newborns. This one I made some changes to the pattern this time, I added a bunch of stitches to size it up to size 2-3 and I simplified it a bit. Though I love the buttons on the original, I found I never undid them, and just pulled it over his head, so I I decided to knit this in the round and just skip the button holes. I made the back shorter than the pattern called for too- by the time I got to that back section, I was wondering if I was going to have enough wool to finish, so it is the same front and back, which works just fine.

And this is one of Dori's favourite games these days- it is called "Ghee." It starts with a mad face, and then he makes us laugh by saying "Gheeeee!" and grinning wildly. This is often repeated many times. He's a fun little monkey, this one.

And here is a picture of Dori in his last pebble vest- he's about a year and a half here I think.

A few days back Ari got very involved in a project making boats and people and water skis. It is fun to watch him really start to get engaged in creative projects and to be able to put his ideas into motion. He kept adding to his boat and was so excited. It had to stay out to show until Papa got home, of course.

(and yes, he is very much in need of a haircut... he wants to keep it long, so we've settled on a haircut that will get the hair out of his eyes but still be "cool" and "awesome" and "rockin'." I am not qualified to give him this haircut however, so we will be bringing a magazine with a picture of a little boy with this haircut to the hairdressers this week. He's four, not fourteen, right?)

Playing with friends last night. The cowboy-detective-jester pirates are a fierce bunch, beware of the sequined foam swords and all that nasty pirate-talk.

Goodnight mateys!

surviving the cold snap

That was quite a cold snap. It was so cold (-32 with wind chill!) and so much snow and such wind, we didn't leave the house for days except to wade through the drifts to bring in more wood to heat our drafty little house. We stayed warm though and had some fun. I knit a lot. A real lot. This little vest is nearly done and so are a pair of slippers and a set of wrist warmers. When it is this cold all I really want to do is stoke the fire and make warm things for my family. So there was knitting.
and there was swinging.

and there was visiting with friends who also conveniently happen to be neighbours, so only have to walk a few steps across the driveway through the howling winds to come for a visit. Ari took this picture along with several close ups of my friend's face which I'm sure she would appreciate me not posting!

We ate good warming foods like stew and quiche and alphabet soup.

And there was some sewing. I made this little wool shirt from a not-so-cute adult-sized angora sweater. I was reading Melanie's blog (blog reading also being on the list of things that will help a mama survive a cold snap,) and saw the sweet little shirt she made her baby from a pair of old long johns, and I immediately headed to the sewing machine.

I used a pj pattern I had in my stash and tried to adjust the neck as the pattern was for a v-neck top, but it is still a little wide-necked for my taste, but it is soft and warm and looks so cute on him and I am pleased with it. This is the first success I've had sewing a stretchy fabric without it bunching and buckling (I lowered the feed dogs on my machine, if anyone is needing a tip in sewing stretch fabric- it really helped!) which makes me excited to try more clothing sewing. I was pleased to be able to cut the pieces to keep most of the light green trim from the original sweater. I only had to sew in the neck piece separately. Dori loves his little green wool shirt, so we are calling this one a success.

We also kept warm with lots and lots of building and playing. This is a kapla train with a sleeping car, a dining car and a dome car. We made more snow flakes, and paper dragons (no photos, they fly too fast,) lots of paintings and drawings and the boys took care of their dolls and their bunnies and their gnomes,
and built elaborate scenes that took up much of the living room. Which brings me to this beautiful barn, which Perry built for the boys for solstice. Isn't is lovely?
It is getting a lot of play these days. The poor animals need somewhere to get out of the cold.

The weather is warming up and we are getting back outside again. Lots of playing outside in our future. There are some very large snow piles left by the snow plow (which had to come 2 times in the last week- sometimes we only need to call the plow a couple times all winter!) that should make some mighty fine sled runs. I hope you are all weathering your weather where you are. Good night!

mountain ice

We went skating on a local lake the other day. We arrived just after the sun had set and the light was a perfect crystal blue. There is something peaceful and magical about skating on winter lakes. Some dear soul has been keeping a track clear around the entire lake, and Perry and I decided the next time we have childcare we are going to pass on a supper out and instead bring our skates down to do the whole circuit. A good date I think ( though it will be slow going, I am a pretty wobbly skater!)

Ari is really loving skating, though he loves most of all to be swept along in speedy Papa's arms! They took a bit of a tumble at which point we realized that we'd forgotten to put Ari's helmet on him- luckily it wasn't anything serious- just a good reminder about how important it is to protect those little noggins!

We have hardly been outside since these pictures were taken, the temperature has dropped and it is just too cold out there to have much fun, especially when the wind blows. We've been having some lovely cozy days inside though, keeping the wood stove roaring, knitting and cooking while the boys get lost in some lovely play. They are really enjoying each other these days- I even managed an extended phone call with my sister while they read books and played with their dolls, dressing them, slinging them, tucking them into bed. Moments like that I just want to bottle!

I do sense though, that the boys are getting a little tired of being indoors, I think I'll need some tricks up my sleeve to get through the day tomorrow... I have a book of cut-out flying dragons somewhere I am going to have to dig out... and maybe some cookie baking is in order.

I hope you are all keeping warm and dry and cozy friends.

holiday wrap up

Oh, hello there! Gee. I never intended to be away for so long, the holidays just sort of swept me up, and when I landed, I found I'd developed a bit of a computer and photo-taking aversion. But I'm back, and a few photo heavy holiday posts should catch us up nicely (I did take some photos, but I didn't have the camera permanently stuck to my face, as sometimes seems to be the case!) I will do a separate post for solstice, since that includes all our handmade gifts (some of which I've not yet photographed.)Next year I vow to just put up a "be back soon" sort of post and accept that I need to take a big break this time of year. So, here goes, quickie catch up! ::Christmas morning shots::
::lots of baking and making::

::Christmas Eve at a little heritage schoolhouse we rented with some friends for a lovely supper and carol singing night. Ari was excited to accompany the carolers::


::the most beloved holiday gifts - Dorian would have been happy with the bunny and the cookie at the top of the stocking- Christmas could have ended there for him!::

:: a crazy kid friendly New Years party- some good wild fun!::

There was also a very lovely boxing day hike that went unphotographed and lots of good mellow stay-at-home-together sorts of days.

Oh! And I almost forgot to share my favorite holiday story. I got a call from Wren's mama a couple days before Christmas and she told me that there was a gift from me under their tree, which was a little confusing, since I hadn't given them anything yet. But it was the castle play set, wrapped up and gifted to the girls from the family that won it at the auction. Isn't that lovely? I sat down and had a good cry after that phone call. And apparently it has made a good bedside toy during Wren's last round of treatments. I thought so much of the girls as I was making it, I was thrilled to know it made it into their hands. Here's to generous-hearted folks and dear friends and to our precious little ones who bless our lives every day. Cheers, friends.

fun and good cheer

Such a busy season. Just posting a few pictures from the last few days before we head out to another holiday party.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday bustle!

a tree

Woah. The days just whizz on by this time of year, don't they? These pictures are from last weekend, going out to get our tree. Somehow I just downloaded them now, along with about a hundred others, of all the busy fun we've been having.

We found our tree in a little clump in a back field. We try to choose a tree that needs to be cut anyway- on a fence line or path, and this one we could feel good about cutting as it was growing too close to other trees for any of them to do well. It has a lovely front side and a scraggly thin back where it was up against the other trees, but that's okay, that side is against the wall and no one can see it anyway!

It has become tradition to bring a little picnic and sit with our chosen tree before we cut it, thanking it for growing so beautifully and for giving itself to us. We drank hot apple cider, but Dori was getting sleepy, so we didn't break out the whole picnic.
He didn't make it all the way home before he crashed. He has the rest of his nap in his snowsuit in the bed.

We had a party to get to in the afternoon, and so the tree decorating happened in several stages. Ari was so excited to get out the decorations and look over each one. Dorian was pretty thrilled to see the tree up when he woke up, proclaiming it "boo-ti-ful." The boys finished decorating the tree when we got home, still dressed in their party finest. I love this picture- they look so little and cute and I love how they are hanging all the tin tinsel in one place.
The next morning Ari set to work on a holiday scene. I moved their table close to the tree when I was shuffling things around to make room for the tree, and the table is now home the of an elaborate scene with gnome homes and farmyards and train stations and bear caves.
I'll try to keep posting amid the holiday bustle, I am sewing like mad today, trying to finish the Solstice gifts while I have a few quiet minutes. Must get back to it!

Happy Thursday!