Scenes from Sunday

Yesterday we went on a nature walk/bike ride. The kids went about 2 miles on their bikes.
It was nice to be outside even though the ground was soggy from all the rain. After our walk, we went out for ice cream again.

Guess who had chocolate?

Toward the end of our cones, the rain started up again.

And I came home and got back to work!

Scenes from around the house

Bobby's spelling classwork. And yes, I do like a regular egg!

Caitlin "picked" these last night after supper.

Birthday parties have started back up. Sigh.

Slow progress on the zig zag quilt.

And faster progress on the sweater.

This weekend promises nice weather, soccer games and maybe a little apple picking. What are you doing this first weekend of fall?

Some pictures and a few words

One of the "advantages" of having a geriatric dog is that I find myself up at all hours to let him out. Because of our midnight trips outside, I've been able to track the Big Dipper's progress across the sky over the summer. Seeing a sky full of stars really is breathtaking, and it eases (ever so slightly) the pain of being out of bed. A couple of days ago, I let the dog out just as the sun was coming up.
I know it's just a sliver of sunrise caught between two houses, but it was quite spectacular! And that was an awful lot of words--let me be more concise for the remaining pictures...

Mama's new sweater.

Mama's weekly trip to the library.

Our new buddy.

I reminded him that it is autumn now, and that he'd better go join the ants in preparing for winter!

Soaking it in

Today, the last Sunday of this summer season, was a beautiful day here. We went to a local park this afternoon. The kids played hard, and I found a few more acorn treasures.

Of course, I brought some knitting to work on.

Pumpkins are starting to pop up at the local markets. I want so badly to buy some mums, but I feel like it's still a little too early. For some reason, I always seem to take the best pictures during the fall. Is it the light? Is it the colorful subjects?And since it's still officially summer, we capped off our afternoon outing with a stop for ice cream. Ice cream among the pumpkins--it really doesn't get any better than this!

Up Next

We are still getting into our routines for the new season. Dance classes started yesterday. Brownies/Girl Scouts hasn't started yet, but once those meetings start up, the pace is going to pick up considerably. I imagine I will be dusting off the crock pot soon!
In between planning our days, I have been doing a little bit of crafting. Earlier in the year, I made one of Soulemama's Gratitude Wraps for my former college roommate. She and I have been writing to each other for much of the year, and it has been so nice to revive our correspondence. Back when we had first graduated, we used to write each other fairly often--we didn't have home computers yet, and long-distance calls were too expensive. Wow--have I just made myself sound old, or what? I'm 38! I guess the world really has changed in the last 15 years or so!

Anyway, I hadn't made a gratitude wrap for myself yet. I love this khaki linen that I used in a couple of bags back in the spring, but I didn't have a piece big enough to make the full-sized wrap. So, I made a mini-wrap for myself. And because I was itching to do some embroidery, I used this bird design (which came from Alicia Paulson's book) to put on the front. All I need now is a stamp and a few spare minutes to jot down the latest news.

In knitting, I've been working on some small projects for a big birthday!

This is Toasty. Leslie designed these, and they're super easy and fun to knit up. I have more to this gift, and I'll show it once all the parts are done.

And finally, I started another quilt. I am so amazed by all the women (and men) out there who can crank out these beautiful quilts in a matter of a couple weeks (or even less)! It takes me at least a month. I don't know--I just can't sit at the machine for hours on end. It always seems like there's something else I want to be doing (like knitting!) so I end up stepping away from the machine after an hour or two.

Fortunately for me, this is a Christmassy quilt, so I have time! Amy led a zig-zag quilt along over the summer, and I'm jumping on the zig-zag bandwagon a little late. I'll have more to share on this in the weeks ahead.

What are you working on?

Sew Connected: September

September is Amanda Jean's month in Sew Connected. She directed us to a picture of her inspiration quilt on flickr.
Once I saw that quilt, I couldn't wait to get started. Except that I did have to wait--my mom came to visit and we had a party! Once I was cleared to begin sewing, I got to work.

This house is my second attempt. The first one was too big (we were asked to make the houses no bigger than 4.5" by 5.5") and the proportions were off. I wish I could say that this simple little house was easy, but I'd be lying. My seam ripper and I spent a lot of time together on this block!

I love that this house was made of scraps. Projects like this make it easy to get excited about creating something out of just scraps.

As usual, I can't wait to see what the finished quilt is going to look like!

Well, hello there!

It's Tuesday morning, and I've already made a batch of muffins, a bowl of oatmeal, a pot of coffee, and two school lunches. The washing machine is beeping at me, and the little boy is asking me repeatedly if he can watch TV.Blogger uploaded this picture sideways, and I can't figure out how to rotate it once it's in blogger. It is right side up in the "my pictures" file. Anyway, I found this book at the library a couple of visits ago, and I am loving it.

My kids (well, one of them anyway) would eat pancakes everyday if I would make them. I do not want to make pancakes every day. They're only good when they're right off the griddle, and they don't reheat well. But muffins are good warm or room temperature, and they keep for a couple of days. I am enjoying making muffins in the morning.

As much as I dislike the idea of giving the kids chocolate in the morning, they absolutely love these Chocolate Speckled Muffins. And they haven't figured out that the muffins also contain oatmeal, so we'll just keep that to ourselves, shall we? We all enjoy the peanut butter muffins, too. This morning I made Maple Pecan muffins. I thought they were delicious. The kids...not so much. For some reason, they balked at the pecans. And these are kids who love to snack on almonds and cashews!

Today is a big day around here: Rob started his new job! I wanted to pack him a lunch box and take his picture...

Now that I am regaining the computer, I expect to be back here on a more regular basis. I'm looking forward to it.

Today's outing

After I dropped Bobby off at school, I went to the library by myself.

This time, I was looking for books just for me. I even picked out a couple of CDs to listen to in the car.

After I finished in the library, I walked around the grounds. There's an art museum adjacent, and all sorts of large old trees. I made a few friends.

I found some treasures.

And I have the perfect place to show them off!

Now I'm ready to snuggle up with a few books.

What are you reading this week?

Tuesday

Yesterday was the first time I attended one of Caroline's soccer practices. Rob is one of the assistant coaches, so he usually takes her.

He was unable to make it yesterday, so I went. That's her in the pink shorts. I brought a new knitting project to work on.

The word of the day is "frenetic"

It means, of course, "frenzied or frantic." Not exactly how I wish to kick off this new season. Yes, there are a couple more weeks of summer left, but really, the kids are back in school and Rob officially starts back to work next Tuesday. So it's a new season around here. I'm not feeling frenzied or frantic. I'm feeling grateful. But the crafting really slowed down over the summer, and I am feeling like I'd like to get back at it. So, without being frenzied over it, I've been planning the next few projects.I'm already thinking of Christmas ideas to start on in between the back-to-school nights and the soccer practices and the dance lessons. I love this time of year. It's busy, but not crazily so. Weekends are punctuated by football games and harvest festivals, apple picking and putting mums out on the front steps.

As we say goodbye to the "summer that really wasn't," I look forward to the shorter days and cooler temperatures of fall, don't you? What do you have planned for this fall?

Happy Labor Day to you

My mom arrived on Friday, and we're all so excited to have her here.
This trip up was courtesy of my dad, who purchased a plane ticket for mom for her birthday. She came up to celebrate Bobby's birthday with us.

On Saturday, we had our annual Bobby-cue. Not only do we get to celebrate the little man's birthday, but this way, all the New Jersey relatives come out to visit us. It's always nice to have family over for a fun visit. We ate and ate. The cousins ran around and played for hours. And the little boy turned six! I can hardly believe it.Yesterday we stopped by a local bookstore. It seems everyone found something to browse through.

What are you doing this weekend?

Yesterday

They're all at the same school now!
In second grade:

In fourth grade:

And in the afternoons, kindergarten!