Just Pictures

One Week!

We celebrated Hannah's first week today!

She had her first bath, which after the initial surprise she loved.



Day 3

 Our little Hannah Mae, three days old, and changing every minute! 

Hannah's best trick; the one-eyed wink



My Valentine from Joshua:

 Joshua makes these beer cap creations on and off when the mood strikes him.  He takes one of his collected caps, fills it with glue and then puts in bits of treasures from his treasure box.  He says they are really hard to make because they take a long time to dry and you have to prop the trinkets up just so.  I love this one so much because he made the paper heart purposely to put into his creation.

Ella and Joshua tickled my heart this morning whe they decided they needed a museum for their Lego town!  Some of the displays include,

Stuffed owls behind glass

A knight in shining armor, next to a bat (also behind glass)

Trophy with a gun ( I need to get the story behing this one)

Civil war cannon behind a "velvet rope"

Love to All

On this wonderful, warm, windy St. Valentine's Day!

Coloraddo

 Over a year ago, or maybe two, I found this game at a thrift store.  There were no directions in the box and I wasn't sure whether or not all the pieces were there, but I thought that the colored tiles looked like fun regardless.  I bought it and brought it home to a nice resting space in our game cupboard.  I couldn't find the directions online, but did email several contacts I found through a google search.  Weeks later, some kind folk at Front Porch Detroit emailed me back with directions!  I downloaded the file to our desktop where it sat until today...

Then curious hands picked Coloraddo off the shelf, directions were printed, read aloud, and the Yoders had a new game in their repertoire.  Our first game was indeed a fun and clever challenge (and Gabriel was very happy because he won); but the best part?  Discovering we had two missing tiles, and then deducing what color patterns were on those two tiles.  Amongst the seeming jumble of squares we sorted and counted and classified until we determined exactly what colors were missing.  Then the two boys completed our game by reproducing the missing pieces. 
Joshua has been clamoring to play again. 

And because this makes me smile, Gabriel eating his lunch today:

Burst of Brightness

Overheard from my closet (the pioneer cabin):

Ella:  Joshua!  You're supposed to be out toiling in the fields!
Joshua:  But you're just snuggling!
Ella:  Yeah!  I'm a WOMAN!

Ella discovered some bulbs poking up out of the leaves!  Hooray!!

Getting ready for baby

A quick peak at some of our baby handmades that are pililng up around here.

I whipped up this pair of britches out of a felted wool sweater yesterday.  Just cut off the two sleeves and sewed them up with elastic in the top. 

I had done most of the knitting of this cobblestone vest as my little bit of solace while we were moving, but just recently sewed on the buttons.  This is so cute I might try to knit a bigger one soon.

Quite an outfit for a little baby:

These booties might be my favorite so far!  So quick and easy, just two pieces to sew up.  Of course I have no idea if they will fit, or whether they will even go on a baby's foot, but they are so cute!  I see lots of these in our family's future.

Hot off the presses today; a wee pair of leprechaun pants.  I was hoping the ribbing at the top would hold them up, but I think I may need to add a bit of elastic, or else bring the sides of the ribbing in.

A trio of hats!  It seemed everything I cut out left the perfect amount of fabric for a cap, hence this set.  Green and grey cashmere, white lambswool.

Wipes!  Forty of them to be exact.  Surging these off is a little addictive.  The blues are out of an old flannel sheet from my grandmother, the pink floral from some old pajama pants, and the sweet one in the middle is made out of a square of the nightgown Grandmom was wearing when she died.

My first attempt at wool pants.  I made these by using a pair of newborn pants as a pattern, but I think I prefer the two sleeve method. 

And I must mention out new laundry detergent!  I started out making it for baby clothes, but decided I loved it for all of our laundry.  I did go to the trouble of costing it out;  $0.12 a load!  It is so fresh.  Our first batch was lavender and Ella and Joshua just made a peppermint batch tonight.  How many 9 and 7 year olds can say they make their own laundry soap?