Almost spring

Even though we had a pretty weak winter, the temperatures rarely went above 55F. Having a 60F day was a real treat and we did our best to take full advantage of it. Wheeler Farm seemed like the perfect place to go to, and it didn't disappoint. I am getting pretty excited to have some real warm weather soon, hopefully with more outings and adventures for all of us!

p.s. almost forgot! I finally got to milk a cow, just for a minute. I vaguely remember visiting my aunts and uncles and trying to milk their cows (I was 7-8 maybe?). I remember it being awfully hard for my inexperienced hands. I was a bit nervous this time, but it turned to be pretty simple, pinch and squeeze :) Mark tried it too, kids wouldn't even get near the cow. Yeah, we'll have to work on that one!

20/02/12

I often end up with photos that don't really need a story or even captions, so here are a few. Not having to think about writing, and just being able to make a quick post sure feels good :)

Winter?

We didn't have much of a winter this year. Just a bit of snow here and there (not counting the mountains), barely enough to break out some snow gear a couple of times and build a scrawny snowman once. This little walk happened on a whim, as the sun was going down. We had to go closer to the mountains to find some snow, but in the end everyone was happy to bundle up a bit for this walk and pretend like we were having a real wintery weather that night :)

Creating

Little ones have been busy lately. Maya really got into origami and has been creating all kinds of creatures every day. We've been swimming in origami, it's literally everywhere. Most of our Christmas tree was covered with origami creations. I don't mind of course, it's fun to see how quickly those guys can figure out different patterns and even advance onto making up their own, like this gondola made by Maya:



Elijah loves using all kinds of his own ideas to create somethings new. I do wish I could still have imagination of a child, being able to experiment freely, unafraid of failing or being criticized...


his tree with interlockable tree branches. I'll go ahead and call him a smart kid.



We have mountains of papers on our desk, kids' drawings, stories and creations that we keep collecting, hoping that one day they will all be asleep before 10 p.m. so we could sort and scan their artwork. We've done one so far... One is a start, right?


Anya's first drawing was a sunflower, and she still draws them every day.

un-drafted: Halloween 2011

(yet another post that's been sitting in drafted stages for nearly 2 weeks. There just aren't enough hours left in the day when you have sick kids (croup included), regular headaches (one coming in as I type, ugh), and a baby (still refuse to call her a toddler) who all of the sudden decided that going to bed at night is no fun, so it takes us nearly an hour to get her to sleep...)

I can hardly believe we are almost half-way through November. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and Christmas might be coming even sooner than that, judging by how badly stores and businesses are wanting us to shop (was I the only one confused by that shiny gigantic snowman lawn figure at Costco in August?). I am still recovering from Halloween preparations, and now I'm supposed to decorate for Thanksgiving? Just so I can replace all the orange, yellow and brown stuff with red and green the day after that? I think we'll just stick to more versatile decor - shreds of paper from cutting out shapes or folding origami creatures. We never run out of that stuff, it's cheap, comes in variety of colors, takes no time to create and virtually impossible to get rid of. Might as well pretend like it's part of our interior design, right?

Speaking of Halloween, as much as we don't look forward to it, we always get a chuckle out of our ability to put together cute costumes for kids without hardly spending any time or money on them. This year was no exception. I know I'm probably the only person posting Halloween photos 2 weeks later, but why not? Just doing my best to record stories and events that I would want my children to be able to read about 15 years from now. (Children! Remember that unforgettable vacation in August 2011? Yes, I'm still planning to write about it some day, but the memory of it is still painfully fresh.)

Ok, on to the costumes... The only *thing* we bought just for the costumes was wire to hold hold Maya's braids. Everything else was 100% reused, borrowed (between siblings) or recycled.


is there such thing as Halloween miracle? Because I don't know how else I'd call the fact that I got a decent picture of all 4 kids looking cute and standing together for a few seconds. Elijah even tried to smile.

Pippi Longstocking:

old corduroy pants from 3 years ago with old knee patches
Mismatched knee high socks
old 4t dress over t-shirt
small-ish jacket with patches sewn on by Maya
Anya's rainbow gnome skirt (from 2 years ago) used as neckwarmer
vintage pillowcase for candy


Cowboy (I know, very original):

his every-day jeans and shirt
Maya's hat (bought before last year's Halloween for Maya)
Maya's boots
my head-kerchief
vintage pillowcase for candy


Rainbow fairy/princess/ladybug without a mask, anything really:

dress up dress - from consignment store (bought months ago)
flower crown - my mom sent them for the girls and they've been wearing them all summer)
rainbow cape - from her old rainbow gnome costume
re-used Christmas gift bag (so much easier that wrapping oddly shaped gifts in paper)


Lamb (which is so not her personality)

Hat - from Elijah's old clothes
Jacket - same

We tried to minimize the damage to their immune system from all the sugar, as they were still recovering from the first round of sickness. A couple of them managed to get sick again (and then pass it on to Mark and I). So I have to say, I'm glad Halloween is only once a year, and that we survived it, again.

Hiking

I love autumn. Everything about it just seems right. And I love that it's a season of chance, just like spring, and unlike summer or winter, when the same weather can last for weeks and weeks, and you feel like it will never end. But autumn... you know it won't last forever and it will end, and the very last warm day might be right around the corner. So you savor it, and try to enjoy every day, breathing in that air that smells of wet leaves clinging one to another on the ground.

We love hiking at this time of year. September was still quite warm, much like summer. But after a week of really cold weather, the autumn is undeniably here, keeping us on our toes and calling us to spend more time enjoying these last warm days and beautiful rich colors outside. So we've been hiking, and still plan to squeeze in a few hikes before trails get completely covered with snow for a good 6 months...

White Pine Trail has always been one of our favorite hikes around here. We don't make it as far as we'd like to, having 4 little hikers with us (one of which refuses to stay on her papa's back and walks quite slowly on a rocky trail, or even better - in an opposite direction) means stopping and exploring rocks and leaves every few minutes. Still, just getting to the river is exhilarating and addicting enough to make us plan another hike before we even finish the one we are doing at the moment. Thanks to certain little(st) person, we got to our turning point at dusk, and our hike back to the car was pretty much in the dark. So worth it.