& the party!!

and now for the actual party...

it was awesome!!  held @ our new home, the marshall community center. 

 minnie mouse (aka miss amanda wilder)

oooh, the pinata!

ev & i, she was a princess & i was a goddess. :)

kati beautified us all *for free*, how cool is that?!?  she is absolutely fantastic!!

group photo of *some* of the kids...

acouple of the lanterns all lit up...

kati's son made some super cool signs, this one more than appropriate given tracy's costume. ;)

also from kati, 'finger food", get it??  i LOVE her!

after my visit to kati...

super cute emmelyn, a monkey (her mama was dressed up as jane goodall;)

aydin giving pumpkin golf a go...

up close w/the pinata; paper mache c/o miss michelle...

the hatchlings lookin' good... oh & the mama is nearby i see.

some of the jack-o-lanterns from the lantern contest...

our chicken, lookin quite nice...

horray, a sack race! 

the adults got a turn after the kids.  man, i really need to practice!

there were so many more games & cool costumes, but the camera got put away pretty early in the night.  it was too much to stay on the outskirts photographing & much more fun living it! 

i can definitely say that a good time was had by all...xo

*crafty* halloween decor & ev's new pilot hat! ;)

our homeschool co-op just had it's first halloween party.  it was super fun & we definitely plan on making it an annual event, perhaps even adding a haunted house next year (as a fall fundraiser ;)

@ any rate, michelle & i were in charge or decorations.  i thought i'd pass along some of the super cool & creepy crafts that we chose for our bit.

first up, paper bag halloween lanterns, courtesy of our friend (& former MCHC member!) christina @ moment to moment

 i made the cat & ehren traced a cardboard template for his ginormous bat...

 i added a simple ghost, @ ev's request, & aydin made the spider...

 lastly, we added an owl...well, because we LOVE owls!!

 i have been wanting to make these spider hatchlings ever since i saw them in a "family fun" magazine years ago, but we have never had a halloween party...until now!

they suggest cheesecloth & a glue/water mix, but i had some plaster paris strips leftover from making belly casts that has been dying to be used for something...anything & so hatchlings it was. ;)

 ehren's pumpkin, freshly carved. 

wow...this was a test, for sure.  ehren, our 4 year old, wanted to carve his own pumpkin this year & the kicker is that i let him!  the 'old' me never would have, nope...never, not in a million years, as carving a pumpkin requires using a knife.  a real knife & not a butter knife, which is all he has ever used up until this point.

BUT i was right there the entire time & i made sure that no one (aka our 3 other children) else was on the scene, so that neither he, nor i, would get distracted. ;)

it went well, as you can see.  i LOVE the mustache! :)

here is my jack-o-lantern... a chicken. :)  i LOVE our chickens!!  

michelle made a pinata, and we each made some handmade goodies to fill it with.  my favorite, by far, were these knit eyeballs.  'modeled' here by our son aydin.

i also made some knit pumpkins, & some woolen gnomes (not pictured).

lastly, here is ev's new pilot hat...

i *think* she likes it, yes??

happy halloween!!

skytop apple orchard...

first off, i would like to thank my friend jenny for taking all of the upcoming photos, as i left our camera @ home. THANK YOU!!

last thursday, our homeschool co-op suited up & headed off to a local u-pick farm, skytop apple orchard to be exact. 

the weather @ 8am, was not promising.  the skies were dark & ominous, the wind was blowing & there was more that a bit of nip in the air,  BUT we said that if it wasn't raining, we would give it a go & boy, were we glad we did!!

halfway there, the clouds parted & it was nothing but gorgeous blue skies!

 here's a photos of our crew, 35 folks in all make the hour trek to skytop (~ 2/3 of the total co-op)

 me & ev...& her rainbow pants!  (she got sooooo many compliments on these ;)

 we apparently came @ the end of the pickin' season & so had to walk a bit further to fill our bags...

 a giant pumpkin slide on their playground...

ehren lukas feeding the bunnies...;)

 the bridge leading into the bamboo forest, which was AWESOME & definitely a hit w/the older boys!

 aydin, monkeying around...

we had signed up for the fall harvest tour, which included an education rundown on the orchard & how it operates, a hay ride, a 1/4 peck of apples & a pie-sized pumpkin.  not bad for $8, right??

and on friday...??

well, we made apple pie, of course!!

this was my first EVER apple pie, if you can believe it.  i was always a bit weary of the crust part,  which i now know was just silly!

autumn blessings! xo

handmade christmas 2011 & other recent creative endeavors...

october is here!!  this means that the weather is cooling off & i am no longer thought insane for my constant knitting...

 (if you don't knit, it is seriously addictive, trust me!! ;)

@ any rate, i noticed that tanya is right there with me on the 'get crackin' on the christmas list!  i LOVE it!!

there is something seriously satisfying about making your own christmas gifts.  whether it be homemade jams/pickles to share, or wooden tree blocks, or hand knit/sewn lovelies.  in my experience, children really seem to treasure the handmade gifts from loved ones (& more so overlook their imperfections.)

it is a beautiful thing... & the love that goes into each.  with each stitch, do you not think of the person you are making it for, how it will look on them, why you chose these particular colors, how you can't wait to give it to them & all the while remembering good (& bad) times that you have shared together. 

THIS is why handmade will always & forever outshine any store bought gift in my book. 

ok, so enough with the rambling.  onto the goodies, right??

my first sweater (& my first christmas gift) done!

a 'ragman' for our sweet bean bean...

other than that, it is pilot hat central here. ;)

i got an order this week for one hat that is in the shop & she wants 3 more custom doll pilot hats to go with it.  so, 'dusting off' a pattern that i haven't used in a while to make them.

the first 2 are done & for 16" waldorf dolls...

this one is a super cute pastel rainbow stripes...

the second is a brighter orange/magenta/yellow merino that sk & i dubbed "farm fresh peaches"...

i am currently working on the third & final hat, it is for a 15" doll.  will be posting photos of that later this week. 

aside from that, ev wants a rainbow stripes hat for her doll "olivia" & i need to make her a new one for this winter as well.  so, by this weekend we'll have made *5* pilot hats.

they are classics though, you know??  ehren wore them constantly, but they were of the hannah anderson variety (before i had gotten the knack of the knitting thing ;).  so many times i have wished that i learned to knit when orin (our 11 year old) was a papoose, but alas....  still thought, enough little in the house to keep this mama busy.  and besides...there are always baby showers & nieces & nephews to hold out for...;) 

& what lovelies are you working on this evening?? 

handmade goodness & no, not all of the knit variety...;)

as i mentioned in my last post, we are currently knee deep in homeschooling & lovin' it!
for one thing, it gives me an outlet to do all the projects & try all the cool recipes that i clip out of magazines... ;)

last week, for baking day we wanted to make come candied lemon & orange peels.  well, you eat the oranges of course, but then how to get to the lemon peels w/out wasting the 'meat'.  orin's bright idea was to make lemonade!

so, homemade lemonade it was...

while the boys were mixing up the lemonade, i started on the candied orange & lemon peels...

first you boil them for a good 20 min or so...

we didn't really go for the lemon peels, but the orange peels were delish! ;)

*side note: i rolled them in sugar, as directed, but then brushed them off a bit.  perfect!*

for our handwork project, we made a super cool bug house/critter cage.

i had a few pages from magazines & books, but none seemed right for us.  we wanted one that we could keep out caterpillars & crickets in, but that would also house the toads & other smallish critters that frequent our yard.

so, we winged it...

using some scrap wood, a bit of metal screening that we had leftover from another project & a few hooks...  the boys LOVE it, but now they each want their own! 

our first 'resident' the eastern tent caterpillar...

looks like we'll be making 3 more this week, along with a couple extras for a few friends whose birthdays are coming up. ;)

now for the craftiness...

this lot i call 'a taste of honey', as that is what this colorway reminds me of... 

also working on a 'pebble' in this colorway...

here are the 'everyday gray' mini mitts i mentioned in my last post...

all of those are for the 'heritage festival' coming up october 1st.

next i had a custom order from *my mom*! ;) she requested another waldorf ball & doll gift set for a friend's baby shower...

and lastly, i had another custom order this week from a local mama.  she requested a custom set of eco-friendly, kid sized napkins for each of her daughters. 

they attend public school & bring *waste free* lunches each day.  she thought that a set of reusable cloth napkins would be the cherry on top!

each napkin is made from upcycled fabrics which makes for a ooak (on of a kind) set, as well as an even greater "ode to mother earth"...

each napkin measures ~7sq" & is made from either 100% cotton (or) a cotton/linen blend.

and what lovelies have you been working on this week??

xo