Hunter likes cows lately.  Just about everything bigger than a dog that stands on four legs is a cow to him.  As soon as he gets a glimpse of one he moos and moos and says cow with his lips sticking out.  He really is the cutest thing that ever lived.

Since he hasn’t seen a cow close up ever before I decided today was the day he needed to have that experience.  There is a great park in Englewood (which is part of Denver) called Belleview Park that has a little petting farm.  Brenna and Logan took turns manning the camera because I was on baby patrol.

Hunter was pretty hesitant about being close to the animals.  He said cow over and over and mooed when the little calves they had were on the other side of the farm area from us or closed in a pen, but they were just too big for him up close.  He was wild about the chickens, though, and didn’t mind the goats and sheep.  He thought the pig was hilarious and laughed and laughed and tried to imitate the pig’s grunts and snorts.

The one who really had a good time was Ian.  He fell in love with this sheep and petted it there for about 10 minutes.  He didn’t mind when the white rooster tried to eat Buzz off of his shoe,

and he found a good friend in the bristly pig.

My animal loving Brenna had a good time too, and as we left she said, “I think maybe this is what I want to do when I grow up, I mean, those girls get are getting paid to take care of the animals.”  I guess being farm girls is just in our blood.  Animals just make life feel so– real, I guess.  I’ve never actually lived on a farm, but my mom grew up on one and when I was a little girl we visited my grandparents in the home where she grew up almost weekly.  I was always too self conscious to really say what I wanted or ask to help with the horses and be really involved in the workings of the place, but I would sit out in the yard and daydream about growing up and somehow inheriting that beautiful, perfect little place with its enormous sycamore trees and clothes line and peonies and berry patch and green pastures.  I really thought it was the most beautiful place on earth.  I had my wedding reception there.  Then the housing developments encroached on it and my grandparents had to sell it.  They moved farther away from town on lots of open land.  They made it beautiful, built stables and planted berries.  2 years ago now my grandpa passed away.  I remember a conversation I had with my grandma about selling that big place and moving into town closer to my mom so she wasn’t just out there all alone.  She said she’d like to, that she needed to, but that everything made her feel claustrophobic with their fences and little yards.  She said she was born a country girl and maybe she just needed the open spaces.

After that conversation I’ve wondered if maybe I was born a country girl too– if I have that yearning to live with space and trees and animals because my grandma passed it down to me– if it’s just in my blood…

We’ve been going to swimming lessons every morning for the past 2 weeks.  I couldn’t wait to get Ian into them, but we had to wait until he was 3.  Since he was little tiny he’s been a little fish with absolutely no fear of the water.  He was just 1 when we started our move from Ohio to here and for part of that time we lived in an apartment in Montgomery, Alabama.  It was hot and humid, so after hunkering down for a day inside an air conditioned apartment we would head to the pool.  The second he could he would run to the water and tumble in head first.  Very cute.  Very scary, but very cute.

These days I think his daily morning swim is wearing him out.

What do you think?

I’m just popping in with some of  my favorite photos from the past week.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, dear readers!

The first thing I ever really researched and obsessed over using the internet was cloth diapers.  I figured it all out with help from many, many online cloth diaper users and sellers and makers, many of which aren’t around anymore, some who are under different names and locations.  My main source of information was the FAQs at the One Stop Diaper Shop (now Very Baby) and the Diaper Pin.  Anyway, back then I tried my hand at sewing some diapers, but it was a long process to get just one done without a serger or a snap press.

Just a few weeks ago Jessica came out with a one size version of her fitted diaper pattern with a snapless option, and since I do have a serger now I thought I’d give it a go.

I learned that serging around curves is hard.  It is definitely something that needs more practice and time than I had to give it.  I made 3 with stretch terry on the outside and velour on the inside.  (I don’t know what I was thinking with my color choices, though.)  My chubby baby likes to pull them out of the laundry basket and bring them to me so I’ll put one on him.

I’m a big fan of one-size diapers.  I absolutely loved my Mother Ease One-sizers when they were in their prime.  They lasted through 3 babies, but by the time they got to this guy they were scratchy and stinky. 

I’m not sure about the snappi fastener on these, though.  My climbing, running, climbing, dancing, climbing baby seems to get his diaper all wadded up.  If I could somehow find 2 days to sew I would get myself a snap press and push through making a dozen of these the real way.

I’ve also got another bum that needs covered.  We’re working on the potty learning here with Ian, but it’s a process.  I hate putting him in diapers, though, so I’m making him some Tinkle Time Trainers.  They offer more protection than the training pants you can find at Target, can snap off for messy accidents, but still feel like underwear.

I’ve got one done.  Let’s see how long it lasts today.

And let’s see how many more I can get done.

I am playing catch up here…

We got a lot of snow on March 25th.  Over a foot.

Which gave the kids the opportunity to try out Jonah’s invention– the Rocket Chair.  It’s made from a broken dining chair and a pair of old cross country skis.  Oh, and a rope to pull it back up the hill with, of course.

Now for photos.  I think I’m done with the words for this post.

So, did anyone out there follow the Celebrate the Boy month of February over at MADE?  Well, I, being the mother of many boys, certainly did.  I really wanted to get some 90 minute shirts made, but alas, they just ended up on that list.  You know, the list of projects I would really, really, really like to get to.  I need a laundry lady.  And a school assistant.  Then I could get to that list.

Then Meg contributed her Sweet Pea Pilot Cap pattern (gloriously, generously FREE here, just scroll down and look to the right).  No pattern drafting needed to get the project started, just easy pieces to cut and quickly sew together.  In a Saturday afternoon I had super cute, soft hats for my littlest boys.

Ian calls his his space-man hat and is rarely seen without it.  (He’s 3 and wearing a size large.  This hat fits my almost 6 and 8 year olds too.)

I love how it frames Hunters perfect chubby face. (His is a medium.)

The pattern suggests you use a walking foot and stabilizer to keep your knit fabric from getting all puckery, but I just couldn’t wait until after I  made a trip to the store, so I did these without either.  I did use a ball point needle and my machine has a special setting for knit fabric and can somehow sense what pressure the presser foot needs, so my hats turned out pretty pucker free.

I made a couple for gifts at a sewing date with RaeLyn borrowing her walking foot.  I’m not sure if it made a difference or not.

I guess I’ll have to whip up some more to decide for sure.

Do you see that up there?  It’s a THREE year old who just finished saying, “Take a picture of me, mama!”

This is what was happening behind me:

Birthday banner making by Logan, fancy letters and all.

Ian’s birthday was furry of kid-made goodness.  Now that I’m writing this I wish I had taken photos of the cards Brenna and Jonah drew, but I did get a picture of the Mon-mon they designed and made for him.  (With a little help from me.)

And it’s not just any Mon-mon– it’s a SUPER Mon-mon.  Brenna also made him the Birthday King all decked out with a paper crown and jeweled rings.

We had a couple of families over to share a dinner of pigs-in-blankets, macaroni and cheese, and carrots and dip.

Oh, and cake, of course.  Chocolate cake with pink frosting as requested.

We are so lucky to have this sweet, delightful little guy in our family.  I tell him every night I’m so happy to be his mama, and he replies right back, “I’m so happy to be your Ian,” and kisses my cheeks and chin and forehead.

(To see more pictures of the present opening click here.)

When Brenna was  tiny I was very idealistic about Halloween.  I saw it as a little microcosm of life– that she could be anything she wanted, and I would help her get there.  Silly, I know, but the dressing up and making was so much fun.  As each new child has entered our family that whole idealism has, well, gone out the window.  Now it is a last minute scramble to get the costumes decided on and all the stuff gathered up.  Halloween ranks right up there with Christmas on my kids’ list of favorite holidays.  At least once a day, ALL YEAR LONG, Logan tells me what he’s going to be for the next Halloween.  I guess there is some magic in the thought that he really can transform himself into anything he wants.  This year he settled on being a pirate:

Jonah was an alien:

Brenna was leopard:

Then there was Buzz– which has been Ian’s everyday uniform on most days lately:

And for the third time we had a little dinosaur.  I made this hood and tail when Jonah was a baby.  Logan was only 3 months old his first Halloween, so he was too little to wear it, but Ian did, and now Hunter:

(Barry took these pictures in the church parking lot during our Trunk-or-Treat.)

The only sewing I did this year was make Brenna a tail and ears to pin on to her sweats– the rest was just paint and hairspray and a good dig through the dress-up and recycling bins.

We lit our Jack-0-Lanterns and did a little Trick-or Treating around the neighborhood too.

I’ve really needed updated photos of my kids for my mantle since, well, I think the last time I had pictures taken was 2 years ago.  I’ve got lots of snapshots of course, but I needed portraits.  The thought of making an appointment, getting everyone clean and dressed and somewhere on time has been giving me hives.

 I have big windows and lots of natural light in our family room, so yesterday I hung a big brown sheet at one end of the room and snapped away.   Most of the pictures I took turned out like this:

Out of focus, fake smiles, silly faces, or Ian in the Buzz Lightyear costume he found in the dress-up bin about a month ago and hasn’t taken off since (I had to bribe him with chocolate chips). Click here to see the out takes bigger, if you’d really like.

But the beauty of digital photography is that I could take LOTS of pictures.  I decided to go with black and white pictures so it didn’t matter what color the background or clothes were.  A few clicks in iPhoto, the Costco photo printing center, and $8 later, I’ve got these lined up on my mantle:

Not bad for a day’s work.

Barry’s aunt is a sock monkey making aunt.  Every new baby gets one, and they are well loved.  Even though they’re made from the same brown, white, and red socks, each one is unique– and they’ve got the kid’s names embroidered on them just in case.  The thing that amazes me is that Ian can look at the letters and figure out whose is whose!

 We’ve definitely got the 5 cutest monkeys ever.

The sock monkeys are pretty cute too.