random Thursday things

Elizabeth had her first bike accident the other evening. I was afraid her teeth might be damaged, but fortunately, her upper front teeth aren't in yet so I think all the teeth were unscathed. Her lip was not as lucky and has been quite swollen. She's been quite the trooper though.

The bike accident didn't dampen Elizabeth's excitement over the fiber arts camp she has been attending this week. She busily worked all afternoon on the crochet project she brought home with her. The shop where the camp is being held let her pick out any yarn she wanted to start a project with this morning. In a shop full of wonderful wool, she picked out the only fleece yarn in the whole place. Bright colors and soft squishiness wins out when you're 8, I guess.

The garden has been bursting lately. I just picked a couple of days ago, and there was nothing else even close to picking size. After 2 days of sun and 2 nights of rain, the harvest was plentiful again this afternoon.

In support of Shelley's rainbow week, Finn watercolor painted. I drew some white stars on his paper, and he went on a rainbow hunt in search of them.

Paul's home & WIP Wednesday

Paul returned home to much fanfare yesterday. (His mom is doing a little bit better although she's still very weak and the doctors have exhausted their resources for treating her. Thanks to everyone who kept us in their thoughts and prayers during this time.) Elizabeth wanted to make his return home special so she decided to make him a cake "all by herself". She even insisted that she handle the oven part by herself, which always makes me nervous, but she did a wonderful job.

She even let Finn lick one of the whipped cream beaters...his first!

Paul was so thrilled that she put so much thought into welcoming him home. :)

And I was thrilled that he thought of me when he was passing by Tamarack on his way home yesterday. He knows me well.

On to WIP Wednesday...the buttons for Finn's vest came, and he couldn't have been more excited with his car buttons. The vest he could take or leave, but the buttons, now those are exciting!

I've also been adding to my stash in the last week. The Malabrigo silky merino and Lorna's Laces organic merino, on the left, came from The Backwards Loop which was featured on Soulemama's blog last week. I have plans for those so you'll see them again soon. The brown and green on the far right came from Portugal and was intended for a gnome hat for Finn

More than halfway through Finn's gnome hat, using the pattern from The Children's Year, I realized the yarn was likely to run out before the end.

So I started over using Mirasol hand-dyed yarn. I just love this colorway...very gnomish.

Home Theater

Since Elizabeth and Finn really enjoyed the Shaggy Dog movie the other week, I told them we could have another movie night with the Shaggy D.A. Elizabeth was very excited and decided to set up a theater-like atmosphere for the event.

The "rules" were my favorite. She even scolded me for taking pictures since the first rule clearly stated that all electronics should be turned off.

This theater apparently serves blue corn chips since the kitchen was out of popcorn.

Shelley over at Waldorf Mama has a rainbow series going this week. I'm joining in with a few things Elizabeth made that are hanging around our house.

oil pastel drawing from art class

crocheted rainbow necklaces

Saturday Lunch and the weekend

Saturday lunch this week was centered around this wonderful fresh mozzerella/tomato/basil salad. Such a delicious melding of flavors, it was truly a summertime feast for the palate.

With a side of homemade bread with jam and some sliced cucumbers marinated in red wine vinegar and olive oil, a simple, but favorite, summer meal appeared.

Finn wanted me to show you his plate too. Of course, he dove in right away so all you get to see is the second half of his lunch. :)

The weekend was a mix of craziness (with frequent phone calls from Paul about his mother and her health situation) and calm (with a friend from out of town to chat with for hours on end) so Elizabeth took charge of the camera. Here is her interpretation of our Sunday:

the end of stay-cation

Yesterday for the end of our stay-cation, Paulie, Elizabeth and I picked up a friend and headed to Bethabara Park, the oldest Moravian settlement in NC, founded in 1753. Philip, unfortunately, came down with strep throat so he wasn't able to join us.

We started out exploring some of the ruins of the town buildings, including this cellar of the single men's residence.

Then we headed out into the nature trails for a bit. We've had so much rain this summer that the foliage was so lush and green.

Then we visited the oldest documented community vegetable and medicinal garden in the US.

And we rested for a few minutes in the shady arbor of these grapevines.

When we took a snack break, the kids found several of these sticks that someone had carved in candycane fashion.

They thought these sticks were so fascinating.

We explored the settlement's church building and parsonage. The chamber pot under the parson's bed was particularly interesting. :)

Then we found a squirrel's hideout which was stocked with nuts for the fall.

And Elizabeth spied these tiny mushrooms that weren't much bigger than a nail head.

And a rousing game of monkey-in-the-middle was enjoyed before we had to hit the road home.

I think the kids had a great stay-cation, and I really enjoyed doing some of the things in our town that we often get too busy to enjoy. Happy weekend to all!

stay-cation continued...

Stay-cation came to a screeching halt on Wednesday when I had to unexpectedly go out of town for work. I know that I rarely talk about work on here but working in the IT department for a rather large bank that is going through a merger can be a bit tumultuous. Such is life, I suppose. So Paul had to work from home in order to take the big kids to VBS, and then he had to shoo them out of the house (where they mostly hung out at the neighbors, I think) for the afternoon. Today we were back on track, and I took the kids to a local science center for the afternoon.

While there we had the opportunity to sniff out herbs in the herb garden,

check out the local wildlife,

observe interesting foliage,

and spend much time at the favorite otter habitat.

We love watching the otters zip through the water right in front of us, and Philip thinks they like an audience since they show off so much.

We moved a very heavy stone ball (with the help of water, of course),

rode in a vaccuum chair,

and manuevered a robotic arm.

We thought it was fun to make our own family reunion by duplicating ourselves to infinity.

And we laughed at Philip's silly contorted face.

We liked the instruments the best in the African exhibit.

And discovered a fascinating health room with a skeleton puzzle. (Elizabeth was more interested in the fetuses behind Philip.)

We also saw a show in the planetarium and explored a shadow exhibit that were difficult to photograph. All-in-all, a lovely stay-cation activity.

Please keep Paul's mom in your thoughts and prayers. She's currently in the hospital suffering from cancer and Paul is traveling to see her. Thanks.