Traegar - sneak peek

It's a rare thing to find a senior guy who is cooperative and actually doesn't mind getting his portraits taken. Thanks for letting me work with you, Traegar!

with a nod to easter island. . .

So, while I could really enjoy a road trip (and airplane ride) these days, we didn't really travel all the way to see these in their natural habitat. Western Wyo Comm College, in an effort to try and add culture and world view to our little corner of the world, has built a few of these tikis on their campus in RS. Kev had to take finals this week so the kids and I went with him to get out of the house. He went inside to take the test and we stayed out in the beautiful sunshine and rolled in the grass at the feet of this guy. Gennie was too scared to venture close, but had no problem shoving her brother in for a closer look:
He wasn't impressed. She decided it was more fun to do as many summersaults as she could in a row and to run around screaming at the top of her lungs . . . the latter much appreciated by the students in their classes, I'm sure. By the time we left, Josiah had gotten up the nerve to get this close:
and talk to the big stone guy. They had quite the conversation.

Maybe next time we'll go in and see the dinosaur exhibit.

i'd like you to meet two new members of our family . . .

Had you going for a minute didn't I? These fine friends are Alex (Alexandria? ) and Oliver and they have been adopted by Gennie and Josiah. We've been looking for quite a while for a baby that Josiah (yes, boys need doll friends, too) could drag around as a cuddly-something since he likes to terrorize his sister by stealing her babies, stripping their clothes and poking them in the eyes. Gennie could only take so much before she started closing her door to keep him out, then one night she decided to lock the door handle and leave the room, closing the door behind her. . . she was sure a locked door would be better to keep him out permanently.

Yeah, well, it kept us all out permanently until we found something small enough and long enough to fit in the release hole of her 1950's door knob. Good times.

Anyway, I saw these delightful little friends on a blog I lurk and LOVED them right away (Allie, if you're reading this, thanks a ton! They're perfect!) She had found the pattern and made them for her 3 yr old daughter and posted photos of them and I just had to try them out. I didn't want to pay for the pattern because let's face it . . . when it comes to this kind of stuff, I'm cheap and usually want to see if I can do it myself before I shell out the cash for the real thing. Then if I can't get it to work I happily run to the store and buy it to relieve the frustration.

For Alex and Oliver I found some photos of other dolls made with that pattern and kind of combined them to make my own pattern. Alex's face isn't quite right but I didn't notice until I had her sewn and stuffed . . . and Gennie loves her to pieces so who cares? I did better on Oliver but they aren't as big as I'd like them so I revamped the pattern to make it more what I wanted. I'll be working on some more in the near future so if any of you out there in blogland love homemade stuff as much as I do and want/need a new friend, holler at me and I'll give you the info.
(Gennie was home with a cold this week so Alex arrived just in time for some cuddling.)


ETA: Relating back to the stealing of his sister's babies, the first thing Josiah did with Oliver was to tug at his sleeves and poke him in the eye. Some things just don't change, I guess. :)

Karilynn - sneak peek!

So, I finally got them done! Isn't she beautiful? When we moved to GR, she was in 9th grade . . . she says she can't believe it's actually time for her senior portraits already. Thanks for letting me play, Karilynn! Hope you like them as much as I do. And don't worry, there's lots that are up close - these were just some of my favs:

This next one - my grandma used to sew clothes for people and had stacks of Butterick and McCall's pattern books sitting around. I remember as a kid looking thru them at all the drawings of sophisticated models in fashionable dresses. Then when I was editing these photos and got to this one -- she totally could have been one of the models on the pattern envelopes:
And now, my favorite:

sniff .... sniff .... and she's off.

So, this has been the scene at our front door for the last week . . . ready for preschool. She's had that backpack packed and ready for days and all that's in it is a spare set of clothes in case she spills on herself.

And of course, the carefully-chosen first-day outfit. She just got the shirt and went thru her whole dresser for something to go with it. Quite the stylista, isn't she?!

Parents have to walk the kids down the stairs and check them into the school for safety so I was expecting the possibility of a little breakdown from being nervous but she walked right in, put her coat and backpack in her cubby, threw a "Hello, Ms. Suzy" to the teacher and the playing commensed. Her "best school friend" Hailie was there already and they ran off to play in the house. A "Bye Mom" later and the school year began. Sniff . . . .

We had a few tears . . . from Josiah, actually, not mom or Gennie . . . he didn't understand why she didn't come back to the car with us. But a McDonald's run for hashbrowns fixed that right up.
And thus beginneth the 2008 school year in our house. I'm trying not to think about it.

Karilynn, I promise I'm working on them . . .

conclusions you can draw from these photos.....

1. We have incredible friends. Avah got one of these kitchen things for her birthday last month and then she got another from her neighbors so they shared this one with us! My sister Krista and I ALWAYS wanted one when we were kids but never got one so when Kendra asked if we wanted this for Gennie I jumped at it. No one will know if I sneak in and play with it while the fam sleeps . . . Kev doesn't understand the whole "play food/kitchen" thing. He feels that if you're going to spend half the day in the kitchen you should have something edible to show for it.
2. Yes, we're in long sleeves and pants/sweats, etc. It's been in the 30's in the mornings and Kev had to scrape the windows to go to work these last few mornings. We finally broke down and turned on the furnace . . . love me some heater-rot smell . . . and we're having a chimney sweep come to check out the pellet stove. The kids have been sleeping under 2 blankets each. I love fall but this one seems to be coming upon us too quickly. Good-bye summer!
3. We're teaching them about chores early. Josiah hasn't left the sink in this thing since it arrived last night.
4. Our daughter is 4 years old going on 14, with the phone and the attitude. Apparently I'm not very nice to the telemarketers who still squeak thru even though we're on the Do Not Call list. Some of her conversations are quite spirited and, ahem, colorful (without obsenities, of course). . . wonder where she's learned it?
5. Josiah had quite a time at the park yesterday. He fell down twice and both times scrubbed his face on the cement. He's still wobbly when it comes to sloping sidewalk and he lost his balance and face-planted, butt in the air and everything. I thought it was just on the top of his nose but today the scrapes showed up on his eyelids, forehead, upper lip and chin. It didn't look this bad at the time but he's a mess today. Thankfully he didn't lose any teeth.