weekending

buried and found

october leaves

big and little

burying herself

Just popping in to say happy weekend.  It’s been a relaxing one for us so far.  The weather is perfect fall, there are leaves to rake and jump into, and cute kids to soak up.

What are you up to?

art Friday

Brenna sketchingsketching

Logan sketchingsketching

still life drawing

My drawingmy still life

a working 5 year old

Logan’s finishedLogan's finished drawing

Ian working
Ian working

Ian finished

The other night we visited neighbors.  The mom is a music teacher and the 2 kids, ages 12 and 14, are very talented musicians.  Before we left I insisted they play their violin and cello for us.  Let me tell you, “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” sounds coolest played on the cello by a 12 year old boy.

We came home and I wistfully said to Barry, “I wanted to be a music family.”  “But we’re an art family,” he replied.

Oh yeah.  We ARE an art family.  Why do I forget those awesome parts of my life and wish I had others?  My kids draw constantly.  For the most part their lives revolve around drawing, reading, and building legos.  Oh, add wearing pajamas all day and playing dress up into that mix for the little boys.

It is truly food for my soul to sit around and create along side my children– and it’s something I don’t allow myself to do very often.

That’s why I’ve instituted Art Friday.  On Fridays we will make art without worrying about getting anything else done.

Including getting Ian dressed.

cousin catch up and mt. bike national championships

I am woefully behind on blogging.  I’ve been busy muddling through school days and blogging usually falls by the way side.  I have been super consistent with my morning scripture reading and evening yoga, so I’m feeling good– just haven’t been very good at documenting anything here.

I’ve got a few things off my knitting needles over the past few weeks that I want to post but I realized I hadn’t blogged about this adorable hat I made for my sweet nephew while we were on our trip way back in September.

nephew in a pilot cap

It’s the same pattern I used for Eva’s hat, just with a little fatter yarn and bigger needles.  (If you’re interested in the details they’re here on ravelry.)  I cannot think of anything cuter than chubby baby cheeks framed in a pilot cap.  This little guy’s ears will be warm all winter and he will be completely irresistible.

The day I gave little V his fresh new hat was pretty memorable.  As my  kids and I went around the block to visit my sister in-law Hunter was pretty tired an whiny.  I had actually woken him up from a nap on my parents nice living room couch to go.  Then I was sitting at the bar in my sister in-law’s kitchen chatting when Hunter came in saying he thought he was hungry, his throat felt weird, and then out it came.  He threw up all over her kitchen floor.  Then he did it a few more times.  It was disgusting, but so much better there than on my parents couch and carpet!

I was determined to have some kind of photographic record that the kids were all together, so after the mess was all cleaned up and Hunter was bathed and in borrowed clothes we hurried the kids out back to snap a few pictures.

cousins

sillies

Quite a crew, huh?  Poor Hunter did not want to have anything to do with this.

About an hour after this photo was taken we were back at my parents house where Ian threw up at the dinner table.  Shortly after that Logan joined in the puking.  Around 11 pm I picked Barry up from the airport and once we got back to my parents house Jonah and Brenna were huddling over bowls too.  I don’t think either Barry or I got more than 20 minutes of sleep at a time amid all the trauma and bowl emptying and Pull-Up changing.  By 7:00 the next morning I was miserably nauseous too.

Finally at 12:00 I threw up and hopped in the van with Barry to travel to Bend, Oregon to watch him race in Mountain Bike National Championships.  We left my poor parents with 6 children, 5 of whom had been throwing up the entire night before.  (Thank you, Mom.  I don’t even know what would be the adequate words to say to thank you for that.)

mt bike national championships 2012

Barry did the marathon race– which was 54 miles.

mt bike national championships 2012

I parked my chair, knitting in hand at the feed stations and waited to see him.  He had a lot of fun for the first 48 miles or so.

mt bike national championships 2012

Then he got to the last climb.  It was longer than he thought, so even though he passed some guys as the trail started up hill his body revolted.  He finished the race looking like this:

mt bike national championships 2012

mt bike national championships 2012

Still, 7th place is pretty amazing if you ask me.  (If you’re dying to know every single detail of his race check out his race report.)

I felt a lot better this day, but the sickness stilled lingered for days after we got back to Colorado.  Thankfully Barry didn’t get it until a few days after his big race was over.

can you hear the cuteness?

Eva has a new talent.

can you hear the cuteness?

She can frequently be found wandering the house with a harmonica or two in hand.  She plays and plays and plays.

the traveling musician

constant cuteness

a break from playing to sing a bit

Oh this baby!  I’m constantly saying that she is the cutest thing that I’ve ever seen.

And then she gets cuter.