Friday, October 29, 2010

lake louise...

to close out our week-long celebration of both michaelmas & autumn itself, we like to head spend time with mother nature.

in the past we have gone to the arboretum, hiking on the blue ridge parkway, & to our local bird sanctuary...this go round, the boys chose to go to the park...lake louise to be specific.


this park has a lovely pond where we can watch the ducks & sometimes the geese, there are some really amazing weeping willow trees, a great play area, & a 'primitive' exercise corner that the boys LOVE! (it has loads of bars & beams, as well as gymnastic rings...need i say more?? ;)









now for a trek around the pond...


the boys LOVE playing on these rings!

as we were leaving, we caught site of this trio of ducks leaving as well. they were walking up the hill to the front door of this house, as if were there home...and perhaps it is. :)


we took a different route out of the park, on a whim...and discovered a whole area that we have never been to before, despite having frequented this park for YEARS!

it had this really old waterwheel, waterfalls, an entire rock face that just called to the boys 'climb me!'






absolutely gorgeous!


poor ev...she stayed by my side, on the outskirts, as she was a bit too young to go on this exploration...

but in the end we found a little hill for her to climb on as well...;)

perhaps you, too, have a secret cove waiting to be explored...??

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

a few weeks back, our co-op took a trip over to hickory nut gap farm in fletcher, nc...
it turned out to be a gorgeous fall day & much fun was had by all exploring the corn maze, picking pumpkins from their pumpkin patch, & visiting with sweet baby animals!
i loved their hand-painted mural of farm life...
and they're off...over the bridge & into the corn maze!
we started off our journey with friends...
but then each little one began to choose his/her own path...
(my new favorite picture!)
evyn was determined to find her older brothers...
she chased them up...
down...
and all around!
after running around in the corn maze, we headed over to the pumpkin patch...
then we headed over to a shady little spot to enjoy our picnic lunch...
i love this picture!
there was this gorgeous sycamore that the children had a ball climbing, playing & even lounging in...
after lunch the older children ran off to play on an old fashioned rope swing in the barn, while evyn & i visited the baby chicks~
it seems like so very long ago that our chicks were that little!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

crafted goodness...:)

a peek @ what we've been working on lately...;)

since moving in with us, my sister samantha, has become a partner in the blue skies dragonflies etsy shop!

our first project was to sewing up the sweet autumn gnomes...




she also hand-sewed these super stylish legwarmers from upcycled sweaters...
perfect for a night on the town...
or dance class!

gorgeous rainbow mitts for our 7 year old...
knit from a plant-dyed, superwash merino yarn i bought from mamajude (etsy)

i used the same pattern as always, though i knit them on size 5 needles.

saint nicholas (peg people) for the bits of goodness advent calendar/stocking swap...

aren't they cute?!? for our second slot in this swap, i knit up a lot of treasure pouches.
aydin hand wove this pouch for our friend jacob's 10th birthday...i love it!

knit acorns, following a tutorial posted by our friend linda @ natural suburbia.

our friend jenny (jacob's mom) requested these as a gift for his 10th birthday...very fun to make!
ahhh...here he is now! (& wearing a birthday crown that i made a few years back. :)


more mitts...there are a second pair for orin, our 10 year old. i made him a pair last christmas & he requested another pair for this christmas...he LOVES them!

part of this yarn was dyed, using natural dyes, at our 4-H club a few months back.
happy handwork! <3