It's Somebody's Third Birthday

We celebrated somebody's birthday today.

Bert turned THREE! Already, can you believe it?

(The Gater is walking a few steps at a time, too, but we won't mention that since it's Bert's birthday and we don't want to steal his thunder.)

After we went to Cracker Barrel for brunch -- Bert loves pancakes....

we did a little shopping and then came home to have cake and ice cream and presents with Grandma and Grandpa.

Auntie Hannah and Uncle Steve sent this play food. Both of the little kids love it!



We had to break up a few food fights.

Miss Em and Joman made the cake.
Happy Birthday, Bert!

Halloween

Fall is fading fast, and within a few days, the trees will be naked, and winter will make a visual, if not actual, appearance.

I walked around the house to get a few pictures, of nothing in particular. Just fall-looking things, and stuff laying around.

Michael's had a great sale -- $1.99 for the grapevine wreaths, $.99 for the fall flowers/leaves, and 40% off the ribbon. So for less than 10 bucks and 10 minutes, I was able to throw this wreath together. It doesn't look professional, but it's nicer than a plain door.



Roks' Christmas stocking in progress.

Sewing today. I think the view from the windows will be changing soon. We can already see the cars zooming past -- they are no longer hidden behind a strip of trees and brush.



We hadn't intended to do anything for Halloween this year. It's just not our favorite holiday. But our neighbors-across-the-street were not vacationing this year, and their children wanted to go with ours. So at about 5:53pm they kids threw on whatever they could find for costumes, and off they went.

Daddy and Gater handed out the $6 worth of candy I had bought. I had planned to eat it or give it to our non-trick-or-treaters, but it turned out that we were glad I'd bought it after all. Hope the visitors weren't too disappointed. They each got a chocolate eyeball and two Hershey's kisses (or one Reese's cup.)

Joman carved this pumpkin last night.

And Miss Rose carved the jack-o-lantern face.

Bert was too afraid to look at himself in the mirror.

Sunday Walk

Last Farmers Market Day, 2009

Saturday was the last day of the local Farmers Market.

Some of us had been feeling a little shut-in, so we decided to jump in the car and get out there.

Not much produce at this time of year, but there were lots of lovely pumpkins. Besides the great huge orange jack-o-lantern pumpkins, there were also these fancy styles; and stands selling handcrafts, pottery, local honey and beeswax, homebaked pies and breads, jams, jellies and salsas, and much more.

Since it was the last day of the season, the Market had some special activities for children.

Pony rides, unusual animals, a Fall crafting station, a chalk-art storyteller, and lots of fun games.

The Gater was feeling much better, having been able to get out for a while. Although it was very cold and muddy! We arrived as the market opened, so it was still early and very chilly.

Bert loved this game. I think he always wanted a chance to throw pumpkins.

Sad that the markets have come to an end already. But there are always a lot of fun things to do in Fall, anyway.

Fall means Back To School

Roks started kindergarten this fall.

He especially likes the "garten" part. Most especially the "callerpilter" part of the "garten" part. This 3.5" caterpillar eating the Japanese maple was a Polyphemus moth-to-be. This was the first caterpiller we've ever seen that Roks wouldn't touch. Roks thought the caterpillar might take a pretty good bite out of him if it had a mind to.

Miss Rose saved up her allowance for a long time, and bought herself a brand new sewing machine.

Then she sat and taught Roks to use her little sewing machine.

School is fun. Actually, sewing is "CooL."

The Gater has learned how to grow teeth.

Mamma's making progress on the never-ending-afghan. But she's having to put it away for a while to make time for other projects.... It's holiday season right around the corner!

Permissions not needed...

...sorry for the interruption. Just checking something out, and it was a mix-up, but not a big deal.

Back to regular blog.

Thanks!

Art & Artists

If you have followed our blog for some time, you will know that we encourage the children strongly when it comes to art (and music, and science, and literature, and....)

Today I took the children out to a small art exhibition, with art by Thom Van Benschoten. They were intrigued by the detail in Van Benschoten's pencil and pen-and-ink drawings.

Some of the places portrayed looked oddly familiar, but set in a different time...

Some stories portrayed were fun to talk about...

Some places portrayed, we've seen...

And some of the artwork was original for sale...

Some was particularly impressive to the little boys...

Some was nostalgic.

All of it was lovely, and so very finely detailed.

Mr V.B. had included a few pencil portraits of children as examples, for anyone who would like a pencil portrait of their own families. The prices were reasonable, but my children were amazed that someone would pay so much for something "anyone" could do.

I said, "'Anyone' could do that? Do you think so?"

Joman said, "Well, YOU can, Mom."

I said, "Well, first of all, I'm not 'anyone,' and second, I'd have to work a really long time before I could do so well. But you guys take note: work on your talents, and you can have a job you enjoy doing, and make a living at it."

We have been working at home a little bit, here and there. I got out some watercolors we've had for a few years, and a very good botanical art book, and gave it a try. I wish we had time to sit and paint more often.

Inspiration from the book

Inspiration from the garden

Of course, if a child is inclined to be arty, they will always find a way. :-)

Kater-Gater's Birthday -- Summer Photos part 3

Apologies for the overabundance of baby photos, following. She's so cute. I culled as many as I could. :-)

In August, Katy turned 1. We had a small party for her.

I'm going to let Woby narrate these photos for you.

Wook! Gamma! Arin! Emmy! Joe! Wook! Cookies!

Bebe Teetee! Emmy, book!

Bebe Teetee's open pesents!

Teetee's Bunny! Mmm, bunny!

Wook! Cookies, cookies! Ha ha ha! Beer cake, heart!

Daddy and Bebe Teetee.

Toby, Bebe Teetee, one, cake! Cake beer!

Bebe Teetee in high cheer!

Peetchure Bebe Teetee! Bye bye!

Summertime Photos Part 2

Miss Rose and I joined a group that makes "6-hour Quilts" for charity. There is a specific method to making this kind of quilt, but it's quite simple, and we have enjoyed learning how.

Later in July, we held our first annual family birthday party. With seven (soon to be eight) people celebrating birthdays each year, we thought it might be a lot more fun to celebrate with the small family on the date (most of us with winter birthdays,) and have one big party for everyone in the summer, when it's nice outside.

Activites for everyone: marshmallow shooters (and wars,) painted flower baskets, painted wooden snakes and lizards, and games like cornhole and soccer.

We ate a lot of food, then had a fabulous magic show, then ate a lot more food.

For some reason, Grandpa always, always gets picked as a volunteer. He's had worse assignments than this one, I promise you.

Hee. Cute babies.

Summertime Photos Part 1

It's almost the end of summer. Can you believe it? We actually had quite a busy summer, although I didn't post much on the blog. Just thought I'd share a few pictures with you, of things you probably haven't seen yet.

Roks turned five years old. Around the same time, he changed his name to Flower Rocket Star, but that was too long to put on his requested "colorful soccer ball" cake.

Aunty Hannah and Uncle Steve sent this Butterfly Garden kit, and oh, my...did he ever love it. Roks' favorite thing in the entire universe is "callerpilters." He is a man obsessed. We ordered the painted lady caterpillars, and he raised them all successfully to beautiful butterflies. Now he talks incessantly of chrysalises and butterfly life cycles. Thanks Aunty Hannah and Uncle Steve!

In July, we made another trip up to Amish Country. I had intended to do a post entirely about this trip, but I guess I won't ever get around to it. So here are the photos with some brief descriptions.

Best food in the county. Guggisberg.

Pie, of course. Very important.

While we were eating, a big storm blew up, with clouds barely clearing the ground. There was a tornado warning, and a howling wind. But in just a few minutes, it was over. When we went outside half-an-hour later, the temperature had dropped about 20 degrees and it was just lovely outside.

Cutie. :-)

Guggisberg Cheese Factory.

These folk sit across the street from the cheese factory and sell their wares. The elderly man is Old Order Amish, and the girl selling baskets with her little brother is from one of the strictest sects of Amish, the Swartzentrubers.

I don't know what this is. But it was friendly.

Granny's quilts. Love this place. Got that pattern I was after, too.

$500.00, and this Amish buggy is yours.

We ate with this Amish family, the Masts. They host dinners in their home.

Here are the buggies of their grown children and grandbabies, who came to help serve, eat, and clean up dinner.

We spent some time relaxing by the pond at Guggisberg Swiss Chalet.

This is one of the many one-room Amish schoolhouses. We were able to see many Amish teens playing sports on the weekend too, and very many families gathered together to cook out and picnic in the front yards. I don't think we saw a front porch without someone young or old sitting, a-rocking on it.

These are buzzards, and they were eating raccoon road-kill before we pulled up.

The end.