Just a little teaser...
This is a recently finished shrug I knit while waiting for my new needles to come in so I can start my bigger project. yeeeee! I'm excited :)
Anyway, Nathan wasn't around to take a picture of me in it so you'll have to wait to really see it and see how it looks on.
But look forward to more knitting posts in the future cause I'll have a couple more things to share soon....

little man...

Gabriel Talon

A couple days ago Gwen was napping and Gabriel was playing outside so I took some pictures of course. I always love catching them when they're playing because when you're a kid that's what it's all about. Playing, all you want to do is play!
Plus then they're always happy and smiling for my photos :)

Anyhow, this little boy has always been a monkey of a climber, I think he was two when he started scaling the door frame of his bedroom. Now at five it's as though he is unable to play on anything the way it was meant to be played with. He must climb as high as he can, traverse the outer edge of the fences, go down the slide head first or clinging to the side that's supposed to keep you in...he is most certainly a boy.

And I love it!

For his birthday he got these army men, because every little boy should have little green army men right?

Here he is most graciously pointing out the army men set up in the sand.
This is one of his favorite faces to make when I ask him to pose for a picture.
(thus why I take pics while he's in the midst of playing rather than posing lol )

My little man loves being a man, after helping with chores he often tells me,
"mom, I'm a man!"
I love it!

He is learning how to serve ladies first, though at times he complains I'm confident that by the time it really matters he'll not only understand it but respect it and see the beauty of it.
He's curious and notices the little things.
He's sensitive, picks up on the way people are feeling and responds accordingly

He loves Jeeps, bikes, dogs, the color red, and anything "sugary"
He makes friends easily.
He loves to laugh and even more than that he loves making others laugh.
well I could go on forever cause he's my son and I love him but I think this is good for now.

some of what I've been up to...

I've been keeping some old shirts and dresses that I thought might be fun to make over into clothes for Gwen and just never got around to actually doing it, till recently.
I'm constantly inspired by Katie did and the adorable things she makes for her girls, even more so once you learn that she usually makes up her own patterns!
So here are the items I no longer wear...

This one is actually a dress my sister owned and didn't want, I never ended up wearing it but thought the print was too cute not to keep. and there's a nice amount of fabric to be had there as well!

And TADA!

A skirt with pockets for little treasures

Some floral shorts
(more to come from this fabric as I have some left over)

And lastly, for this post, a dress!
The pink came from an old camisole I didn't wear much anymore but didn't take a picture off before cutting it up.
I used Gwen's clothes as a guide to be sure things would fit properly but on the whole made my own patterns. yee, I'm kind of proud of that. :)
The dress was the most challenging as I was designing it from a sketched out idea.
next time I'll make just a couple modifications to it, I think I'll extend the yoke further down the front. And the arm hole turned out to fit just perfectly so next time I'll make it a bit more roomy to allow for growth.
Also the reason my sweet Gwennie bean is not pictured modeling these fine garments is because she's been practically living in her Cinderella princess dress these days, so once she actually dons them I'll be sure to snap some shots and share. :)

a trip to the shore...

Monday as I was doing some sewing prep I got a text from my brother asking if we'd like to join them on a trip to the shore.
Spring weather like we've been having throws me into spontaneous moods and a longing for time spent enjoying God's creation so I said yes and rushed through the house getting things ready.

Nole and his family recently discovered a lovely beach that's secluded and has it's own little tide pool area so we drove North to meet them there. It really is the best and I think will be a frequent meet up place this summer.


The kids had a blast running their little legs off exploring and splashing away while us adults eagerly explored the tide pools for treasures. There were so many sea anemones, and mussels and also quite a large number of star fish.
Being a lover and collector of rocks I also enjoyed the wide selection of flat, thin skipping stones that ranged in size getting large enough you could use many of them for stepping stones in a garden...if only I had a garden, sigh :)


Any how, we did find a little hermit crab so here are the kids eagerly awaiting it's appearance. It's tiny so yes, it kind of looks like they're just staring at the sand. hehe.
North was the first to get wet. He was furiously kicking away in this shallow pool shouting,
"hey guys, I'm swimming really fast!"
lol I love these kids and their imaginations :)
They also enjoyed tossing large rocks into the pool for the splash it created, but who doesn't like doing that?I love this shot of Gwen, it's so her, the hair in her face that I can't ever seem to keep out of it, the pacifier she's nearly inseparable from...

To cap off the delicious afternoon we had when we got back to the car it was discovered that Nole and Heather's car key was missing. They scoured the back pack and pockets and then Nole ran back down to the beach to start searching.
Tide was coming in.
We were all praying, Heather and I began to search the car high and low for it and then took the kids back down the trail to look some more.
God answered our prayers and Nole did find it, in the water no less! likely just in time before it was washed away or covered by sand.
So the day did end well thanks to God's provision and next time they'll bring a key chain! ; )

the one where I post lots of pictures...

We've gotten quite a bit of rain this winter which is lovely as I adore rain. But after a weekend of rain followed by two very windy chilly days we quite enjoyed yesterdays warm sunny spring weather. We spent a nice portion of the morning outside.

We played,

And played,

and climbed

and laughed

made silly faces

took lots of pictures

and played some more.

We've been watching a couple ravens collect things for their nest over the past couple weeks...

They are best buds

This is one of our many hummingbird friends

Gabriel likes to pick Dandelions for his mommy :)

My God makes beautiful things

See, I told you, beautiful things :)

Peek a boo!!!

I know there are a lot of pics but I had a hard time picking cause I loved so many of them. :) they may wear me out and at times drive me crazy but I love my children just the same. God has truly blessed us.

the little things...

On Saturday we had our sitter come for the afternoon as it'd been awhile since we'd had a date. We contemplated seeing Alice in Wonderland but decided to wait since it was opening weekend, and it would cut out at least 2 hours of our time together. So we headed to Ikea instead. I love going without the kids! Also usually we are going with a set purpose to buy something we've been wanting and saving for, therefore all the little cheap things that would be nice to have, fun to have etc... don't' get picked up cause we try to be smart with our money.
Anyway, we got a new cutting board! our old one was starting to split because I never oiled it. So hopefully this new one will last much longer as I plan on actually taking care of it this time around. :) (It's even prettier than in the pictures cause that was pre-oiling)



We also picked up these darling cookie cutters that are all woodland creatures. I'd seen them several months back but they were sold out so I was excited they had more in this time. Gwen immediately sat down to play with them...



and was soon joined by big brother. I'd say it was a successful purchase. I also got some curtains for the living room but still need a curtain rod so that project will have to wait just a bit longer.



And for good measure here is Daddy and Gabriel hanging out together. They were watching mountain bike videos. :D



For those wondering...we followed up Ikea with a late lunch at The California Pizza Kitchen and a quick trip into R.E.I. to ask some questions about a bike trailer for the kiddos. Nathan gets his new bike tomorrow so we're really wanting a trailer in order to take family rides.
It was a lovely Sat. our only down side being that Nathan had duty today. But such is life. It's been raining all day so I cleaned and watched the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice while doing some knitting. The kids played different forms of dress up most of the day; turtles, cats and dogs, princesses (yes that's plural, Gabriel was one too he informed me). Actually it was pretty cute, Gwen got her princess dress for Christmas and only just wanted to wear it. I had to pry her out of it at bed time. :) Here she is seconds after donning it, twirling.



I love that they're little buddies. :) Makes a mother's heart happy to know her children love one another.


Gabriel is a ninja turtle here in case you couldn't tell. :)

summary...

what have I been doing lately?


having tea parties with this sweet girl,


being silly with this darling boy,


talking about yarn and knitting a lot!
(probably too much if you asked my husband)


practicing,



And saying "I love you." to my husband as much as possible because it's true!