deep in the heart of autumn

{our leaf pile}

{calvin's tree: a japanese maple}

{planting tulip blubs, which hopefully will keep their promise and bloom in the spring}

oh how i do love autumn.

maeve's bird mobile

i used this pattern. it was so easy and she loves it! and i love it. we spent quite awhile yesterday just staring at it, twirl round and round.

i also spent quite awhile staring at these striped legs. the tights are hand-me-downs from a friend's chicken costume. i find them hilarious and so, so cute.

handmade halloween

i know halloween was a few weeks ago, but i never posted about these great halloween decorations that calvin made. we shaved some old crayons with scissors, calvin sprinked the shavings on waxed paper and then i placed another sheet of wax paper on top and ironed them. once the wax melted, we cut out pumpkin shapes. calvin drew a face on each one and then we hung them in the window. we also did bats and leaves but i never got pics of those unfortunately. this was a super easy, use what we had on hand project. i love how they turned out!

martinmas!

these are the lanterns we made for matinmas this year. we just used jars, tissue paper and glue. it was very easy and calvin actually did 90% of it. he has carried it around everywhere since we made them. i overheard him singing "this little light of mine" today as he was playing with it. i only wish i had a video camera with me.

happy halloween!

max, king of all the wild things wishes you a wonderful, candy-filled halloween!

halloween cards

it has been pretty rainy here so we have been indoors more often than not. stamping is one of calvin's favorite things to do, and he asked to make halloween cards the other day (he actually asked to make halloween thank you cards because it seems that whenever we write cards they are thank you cards and i am afraid that he thinks all cards are for saying thanks...) so we dusted off our halloween stamps and set to work on cards that were not thank you cards.

i love that his drawings are starting to be recognizable. here he drew several pumpkins (some upside down because sometimes the paper was upside down...) and the tall thing in the middle is a birdhouse. earlier in the day we put up a birdhouse that we bought at the agricultural fair awhile back. we (sam) put it just outside our dining room window and as we were sitting in the dining room making these cards, calvin looked out and drew the birdhouse and the branch it is hanging on. i loved watching him draw as he looked at his drawing, then out the window at the birdhouse, then back to his drawing. he is starting to understand that his writing can have meaning, which for a literacy teacher, be stills my heart.

crown

i made this little pink and yellow birthday crown for miss charlotte who turned 6 months old this month. in my family we celebrate half-birthdays (a small celebration, usually just family, but you get to wear your birthday crown) for the yellow i used 100% wool felt and for the pink i used a blend, because that was what i had on hand in pink and, well, charlotte is a pink girl, i think, so i wanted to use pink. oh how i do love the 100% wool felt better though. it is so soft and thick, but a bit pricey. i used my own pattern that i created for calvin's birthday crown.

as i look at the picture though i realize i need to work on my embroidery stitches. maybe i will do some embroidery for christmas (i know it seems early to be thinking about the holidays, but i want to make most of my gifts and that requires time and forethought and more time, so i must start now). i found these tutorials here and here to get me started. now to find the time...

happy half-birthday charlotte!