yesterday: a bit cold

It is still a bit cold, even in the sun...

...but the boys always have fun. Jonas came up with the following by accident, and then decided it was too much fun not to go at it again, at least ten more times.

happy and sad

nine years old today

When I was little, I never imagined being both happy and sad at the coming of a birthday. It is now this way, whenever my boys reach yet another year. So happy for the blessings of having them healthy, happy, and in our lives; yet so sad at the thought of time passing so very quickly.

it's that time again

Pictures of my big boy 3 years ago, in his birth month of March.

It's that time again when the piles of snow are slowly trickling away; but we know that if it does happen to snow again (which is very likely), it is sure not to stay around for long.

sketches

nature sketches and writing practice

the sun is in the house

The song is a tradition for us. Around mid November the sun does not come up over the mountains behind our home, and so we get no sun in our home. Oh, we can see it from our windows, but we don't get to soak it in. We know however, that at the end of February it will be peeking in, and when it does we all sing (at the top of our lungs)...

The sun is in the house,

The sun is in the house,

La, la, la, la, la, la,

The sun is in the house!

What the hens say...

cara...cara...cara

Two hens for my boys on Easter. I expect Jonas will be surprised when he lifts up his hen to reveal that she has laid an egg just for him. I hope Eoghan will like his.

The Easter egg cosy, was our first project for the spring season at: http://wwwthechildrensyearcraftalong.blogspot.com/

Who is hiding in there?

I used the book: Learning About the World Through Modeling by Arthur Auer, for inspiration and some very fun exercises. These wee models by Eoghan and I came from the exercise, "Who is hiding in there?" We put a small ball of clay into our palm to warm, and then press in gently; we look at the clay, and then decide what it wants to be. Very fun and very relaxing.

blizzards in March

Oh how I love blizzards in March, especially when I see photos of people starting to garden, or sweet green shoots peeking out from beautiful dirt. This is the knee deep snow that met me on my way to work on Friday; not to mention the snow that was blasted onto my face by hurricane force winds and onto the front of the building where I work. And no, I am not exaggerating when I say hurricane force winds (we had gusts from 80-100 miles per hour). However bad the weather might be, nothing ever shuts down here (oh okay...well last year part of a roof went blowing down our main street and it was decided then that people could go home). And today...well it was almost the same, but luckily I can be at home with my boys.

the Tomten

I have been working on this for what seems like forever. Well, not constantly though (that would make me an incredibly slow knitter). The pattern is Elizabeth Zimmermann's Modular Tomten Jacket. Why could I not finish it? Well...other projects were started, I wasn't sure if I wanted to felt it, I could not decide if I wanted a zipper or buttons (but then this wonderful family: "red dirt mother" gave me some marvelous hand made wooden buttons, thank you so much Liz and family!). It really could have gone on and on and on, but I finally said, "enough". Was it that I didn't like the pattern? Oh...heck...no! Any pattern by Elizabeth makes me oooohhhh. So here it is, I hope you like it as my Jonas does. Isn't he just the cutest little boy you have ever seen? Even if he is armed with a vacuum cleaner hose (I mean gun)... oh my, oh my oh.

the Tomten (felted, with one pocket, and wooden buttons)