Along comes snow

It has been such a beautiful wintry scene here the past several days. A fairly heavy snow came in on Wednesday and the views that came along with it have just been delightful. I only wish my photos could do it justice.

Our trees have been moaning loudly under the weight of such a thick layer of ice as they sway back and forth even in the lightest breeze.

From the barn things are looking good.

Ava has been trying to get her nostrils on that new little boy. She is forever slinking her way into the barn just hoping she can slip by us so she can explore all of his new baby goat smells.

And our little boy is doing just fine. Not quite a week old, and Andy reported today that he was trying to jump up and stand on his mommas back this evening. We are getting pretty close to deciding on a name for him. I'll have to report back to you on that.

After they finished up some chores in the barn, Andy and Owen headed out for a little hike on Wednesday with Ava leading the way.

It will be sad to see such a beautiful white cover just melt away, but it will happen so very soon. Better enjoy it while it lasts. So here's to a weekend of wet snow pants, runny noses, rosy cheeks, cold little fingers, cold little toes and many mugs of hot chocolate. Enjoy.

Three o'clock snack

It has been a busy morning. Remnants of play are strewn liberally through the entire house. The dishes are still in the sink from breakfast. Not done yet. Ideas of what the afternoon will bring are filling my head as I put lunch on the table and get my sweet little ones used to the idea of a quickly approaching nap time. Owen, with just a few quick nibbles of food has already lost interest. My dear early riser, he's now dizzy with exhaustion and clearly ready to take his place under some warm and well-loved blankets that occupy his bed. Read a bit. Sing a bit. Read a bit more. Owen drifts off to sleep with his favorite book laying over his chest. Kiss on the head. Sneak out. Now take Carmel in my arms. Snuggle. Snuggle. Nurse her. Snuggle some more. I gently lay her down in her bed and slowly back away. Quietly now, I make my way down the stairs to do some morning chores. Looking around, dishes, toys, laundry, more toys, more dishes, always more laundry. I manage to finish up a few things, put together a snack and watch the clock creep along towards my favorite time of day.





Right after nap time is such a wonderful part of my day. Some things I wanted to do are done, but most are not. That doesn't really matter. Not when I see Owen bouncing down the stairs all rosy cheeked and rested. It's like a whole new morning. We sit down to have a snack, talk about the morning, and simply enjoy being with each other.

Sometimes he tells me stories about when he and his "cousin were big and [they] used to live in Sudan and ride all those big funny looking horses around". I have no idea what on earth he could be talking about but I nod encouragingly just to hear the sweet sound of his scruffy-just-awake voice as he goes through each detail. He pauses for a drink.

His big brown eyes peek out at me from behind his super sized milk glass making sure that I have not lost interest between gulps. I haven't.

I hang on to each word. Each expression. I am soaking up this time knowing that right now is the perfect time to be right where I am. He is changing so fast right in front of us. Every day is something new for him. And for us. A new story. A new word. I know this time isn't going to last very long. So while these wonderful moments are in front of me, I am going to breathe them in, absorb them, hang on to them for as long as I can. And I will listen to those funny little stories he tells me while he is having his three o'clock snack...

right to the very last bite.

Super sweet apron

I love this sweet little apron. I have it only on loan, but I must admit that I wish it were mine, mine, MINE!



It's hard to make out the details of it in the pictures I have, but it has the most darling pockets up by the waistline. It looks like it is sized to fit a 2 year old so unfortunately it doesn't fit me but I just love it. It would look so sweet on that little Carmie girl of ours.

(Is it just me or does it look like the apron is about to sing "I'm a little teapot...)

I'm thinking maybe I can fashion one out of an old tablecloth or a fancy shower curtain thingy or something. I don't know, whatdaya think?

I'm Awake! I'm Awake!

Now I've been thinking...SOUND THE ALARM! WHOOOP. WHOOOP. DANGER. DANGER.

Seriously. There are days when I can't believe how tired I am and I often question "hey, if it looked like I was awake would it be possible to sleep." Now I don't mean a full-on deep sleep, but maybe just a tiny sleep, an itty bitty sleep, a closing-of-the-eyes-for-a-restful-moment kind of sleep. That's all.

First of all, there must be something to block out the light. A mask would be good. Then I was thinking, I really don't want anything scratchy against my skin so maybe some silk. Silk is so very nice and smooth. Yes, silk would be good.

I imagine it would look a lot like this:

Then there is the whole looking awake when you want to be asleep problem to be solved. Ahhaa I know! What if I put my eyeballs on the other side of that silky little mask? Then what? Hmmm?

Perfect.

Are you at work right now? Just think of the possibilities.

Sad farewell

Well folks, it is a sad sad day here in our little part of the valley. We lost our sweet baby girly goat this morning. She is the one you can see in nearly every photo from my previous post.

I feel so sad that she is gone and I feel terrible that I introduced her to you all and here I am now, taking her away. I am so sorry about that. I should have waited until they were big and healthy to post them. I will know better next time.

I'm certain her brother and her momma are even more lonely for her than we are. I suppose we'll have to give them lots of love and attention out there in that cold ol' barn until they are feeling better. That will be no problem for "farm boy" (Owen) though, I'm sure.

Hat for the momma

Dear Knitting Gods,

Please send me approximately two and one half hours of quality knitting time so that I may finish this hat while it is still cold outside.

Yours respectfully,

Jaime (from waydownthevalley.blogspot.com)

A picture story

Meet our family.





This is SkunkNut. He stinks. We try to love him.This is Snowbell (specifically, this is Snowbell yesterday afternoon at 12:02). She is super fat with babies. She does NOT stink. We REALLY love her.

This is Snowbell yesterday afternoon at 4:00PM. BABIES! BABIES! BABIES!

This is one very happy and excited boy.

This is Andy about to teach our new sweet little girl where the heat lamp is just before the temperature took its big plunge last night.

Our new baby enjoying the warmth.

This is Owen being "farm boy who takes care of his baby goats"

Proud momma!

Ideas for names? Anyone? Anyone?

A wintry walk

It was so beautiful today that it was impossible to resist the temptation to pack up the kids and head out for a walk in one of our local state parks.

Owen "read" every sign to me. "All da trees in da forest stand up and have (l)eaves (l)ike dis," (He doesn't really use those L's yet. It will be a sad day for me when he starts to.). It was pretty amusing to see what he was coming up with for each sign we passed.

He was mesmerized by all the ice and snow resting on top of the water. Each footprint he saw making its way through the snow he wanted to know, "now, whose dis (l)ittle guy?" One afternoon in the woods with him and I left feeling like I needed to rush home and go through my collection of field guides so I could be an expert tracker by our next outing. "Well now son, that appears to be the print from the weasel family quite possibly the Long Tail Weasel judging from the elongated portion of the such and such.", something like that I imagined for the next time. He may have to save those questions for his pops since Andy is much more likely to actually KNOW. And really, Owen doesn't care that I don't know the answers. He's just happy we're there together. Me too.

The pink floral

*Note the slippers. Awesome.

Apron days

Quite sometime ago I was at a thrift store and saw the cutest little pink floral dress. "This thing is begging to be my apron and I am just the creative genius to pull it off," I said to myself. "Ahh yes, what an incredibly new and fantastic idea. I am a genius!" I took the little dress home, cut it up, stitched it and wore it with great pride for many months. Later, while doing a search online for apron patterns, I found that everyone and their brother has already had that idea. Now, that was a downer.

But I still love my apron, and on the days I reach for it I feel like I'm reaching for...well, my wonder twin. Wonder twin powers activate...in shape of...a domestic diva. Really now, I need that apron, otherwise I'm just walking around the house in my pajamas and the holey slippers that I have had since I was a sophomore in high school. Oh but with that cute little pink apron on, I become a woman that can run a house. I feel happier too, and I'm not the only one who notices.

Yesterday Owen was in the kitchen with me and he said "hey, you a nice momma with that thing on. You a good momma with it off, but you a nice momma with it on." Cute kid. Well said.

So, I figured if an apron was good for me then an apron must be good for him. Hey, and while I'm at it, they might as well match. Right? Right.

You didn't think I was going to make my sweet boy wear a pink floral apron did you? Nah. I'm not going to retire my pink floral because it makes me feel pretty, but I can get into this blue one too. I made these from another dress that I had thrifted last year sometime. I loved the fabric and just couldn't pass it up. It's 100% linen and it feels so good. Why does linen feel so good? I love sewing with it and I love wearing it. You know what I really really love though?

That belly.

Little hands at work

This morning I asked Owen what he would like to make on our baking day and he said, "I luff pay-doe!" What momma could possibly resist that degree of cute? Not me. So to the kitchen I went to dig out our play dough ingredients with one small boy galloping with great excitement behind me. I love that kid. Why can't everyone be so easy to please?

Water, salt, oil. Heat. Add flour. And mix.

He is so proud about how involved he can be in this process and it is nothing but a pleasure to watch him wield his great mixing spoon with such precision. And by that I mean, look how much appears to be staying in the bowl. Incredible.

He has now nearly taken over my favorite part of the play dough making experience. The kneading. I love sinking my hands into that warm dough and imagining all the fun to come when you plop that finished mass down in front of your shortest playmate.

Owen did quite a bit of imagining too as he kneaded his play dough. He rolled it out for a little while and then decided we needed to have a birthday party.

We sat around the table for a bit and imagined what kind of birthday party it would be, who would be coming and what we would be eating. We would be eating cake, of course (which is what I had originally had in mind to be eating right then except that we made play dough instead). So Owen decided on a party for his dog friend whose name is NoodleEatingPoodle (from Dr. Seuss, naturally) and his friend, Cow, who brought him a birthday crown to wear on his very special day.

Oh how I love those little hands (and mind) at work.

The great glove offense

With what I believed to be a completely new and brilliant idea, I raced up the steps to my sewing room with Owen's mittens in hand. I had it. The perfect solution to the old snow-in-the-cuff problem. You remember it right? It's the point where your coat and your mittens just don't q u i t e make it together. So there you are with snow jam packed around your wrist until it feels like that part of your body just might drop off and then, oh yes, of course you must *take off the gloves, shake, shake, shake...ohh very cold naked hand...hurry... put the mitten back on...and repeat from [*] every 5 minutes until it's time to go back inside. I remember not being a fan of this when I was little. Well, I have been watching Owen do it all season long and I can't believe it never occurred to me to just fix the problem. He doesn't like it. I can fix it. Seems clear enough. Right?

So off to the machine I went. "Oh he is going to love this," I kept telling myself as I watched the sewing needle pound away on his tiny mittens. Stitch. Stitch. Stitch. "That kid is just going to think this is great. Just a few more stitches to go and these gloves will be equipped with a new wrist protector that would dazzle any 3 year old." Suddenly with my eyes starting to slant and my head cocked to one side I thought, "wait a minute....he's 3...not even 3...he's 2 point 75. This will be bad. This will be ugly. What was I thinking?" I put the last few stitches in, trimmed off a few pieces of thread, picked up the mittens and headed back downstairs.

I made a great effort to prepare him for what I had just done. "Hey there my super sweet boy...geez you sure are a nice boy...uh, listen...do you remember how you kept getting snow in your gloves outside and that you DID NOT like it?" It was with the best intentions that I committed, what I now knew, would be such a great offense. CHANGE! Up to this point he had been completely agreeable and then he saw what I had done. "What on earth has she done to them", I could see him ponder with his eyes red and bulging as he looked on them with disgust. Some horrible, grotesque appendages were now hanging from his perfectly sweet and formerly functional mittens. I braced myself for his thoughtful response. "RRRRhhhhaaaaa!". All of the glassware in our house nearly shattered as he explained his feelings about the offense. His uvula, perfectly visible during this commentary, was undulating with great fury at the back of his throat as he hurled these toddler obscenities at me, the offender.

After calming down a bit, he explained how he DID like getting snow around the cuff of his mittens. He enjoyed taking them off, shaking them, and trying to put them back on "all by self"(toddler-speak for "without your interference"). He informed me that he would not be wearing these mittens because they were now dysfunctional as they do not allow the snow to gather around the cuff. Now I knew that he did not like getting snow in his mittens. He just didn't want his mittens to have changed in any way because change is dreadful especially when you are 2 point 75 years old, but I went with the whole liking-snow-around-the-cuff thing anyway.

"Well Owen, I thought you might feel that way," I explained "so if you'll examine this portion of your mitten closely you will find I have left just enough room for you to jam some snow in right here. The new 'snow pocket', let's call it, is outlined in neon green on both mittens so it will be easy to find even in dim light." Blank stare. "Well, I guess we should put them on and let you run outside so you can get right to shoveling that snow into your mittens my dear boy." More staring. This time however, the staring was accompanied with squinted eyes that said, "I really don't like it when you take that tone with me momma." But much to my amazement, he put them on and he hasn't said anything about them since. In case your wondering, he did not try to put any snow in his new "snow pockets".

So, I guess it isn't nice to take someone's whatever, cut it up, abuse it with a sewing machine while changing it around just the way you want it without asking first. Even if it is a REALLY excellent idea. Next time, I'll ask. I'm learning.

Wall Art

A little drawing time with some friends. Nothing like teaching them to write on the walls.




Looks fun though, doesn't it?

A little sunshine

Temperature 5°
Feels like -12°

A little chilly, yes, but there was sunshine. And so, Owen, Carmel, and I did our best to chase that sunshine all around the yard this afternoon on our way to see some of our favorite 4-legged neighbors. They even braved the wind to come out of the barn for a visit.

It was a short visit for us though before we were ready to come inside and warm up by the fire. I think it is by the fire where we may be found for the next couple of very chilly days.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. Stay warm.

Carmel's pullover

I found the sweetest little sweater to knit up for Carmel in Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. There are also some incredibly cute finished versions here and here.



I had hoped to have it finished before the holiday season, but somehow it just kept getting pushed aside. After picking it up again today, I have a renewed hope that it will be finished before winter is over. I love love love the yarn. It is so smooth and silky. The yarn collection is out of Peru called The Mirasol Project. You can read about it here if you like. It is such a great story.

Resolving to bake

Behold. The 2009 resolution box.




I got the crazy idea to put this box together after reading this book. There is no end of things to do in there and lucky for me I have a fantastic helper.

And so, on our baking day, Owen and I tried out a recipe from Wondertime (For the magazines that have ended up in my home, thank you Rachel and Kristen). There is almost always something in those pages for us to try, and these turned out to be a pretty tasty treat.

Much too fast

Our little girly is 7 months old today. I can't believe it. This time just goes by much too fast. Before she was born I used to rub my big round belly and wonder, "oh sweet baby what will it sound like when you laugh. I can't wait to hear it." After she was born I was certain I could wait for that laugh, knowing it would only mean she was getting older.



I used to sit and watch that sweet brand new face thinking there was no way I was going to let that time slip by me, but even while I was thinking it she was growing. These tiny people are so incredibly precious and this time is so short. They are so worth slowing down for.

Just look at her, already off making new friends. I bet she is wondering when her mom is going to put some hair on her new friend. I'm always a little slow to do that part. Even without the hair, she loves that dolly and just laughs every time she gets her hands on it. And the laugh she has grown in to?

Completely delightful.

"Way Down Da Balley"

Maybe it was a little more like "uhWhy down da Bal-ehhhh." That is what Owen used to say when we asked him where the cows ate. It is way down in that valley where he believes all the really good stuff happens in his sweet little toddler world. He has logged many hours watching that valley from every angle of our home, inside and out. We have seen deer, fox, coyote, mink, and so many beautiful song birds, humming birds and hawks. Since the view from the window above the kitchen sink is the same, it can even make washing the dishes a pleasure. Seriously.


He's right, there is some really great stuff going on "way down da balley."

It happens, however, that we keep just as many interesting critters running around inside too. You wouldn't believe how many times in a week I have to use this to figure out what is crawling around. I am certainly not going to tell you how often, for we may never have another visitor to our home again if I do. I don't think Owen appreciates the bug guide as much as I do. He just wants to know, "can I pick it up?"