The newest artist in the family

When Rollin is awake, he is quite active, and it's hard to get much done, which is okay, and as it should be, but sometimes I just need a few minutes to cook or make a phone call or whatever without all the pots and pans coming out of the drawers. So one night I discovered he could be entertained for about 30 minutes sitting in his high chair coloring with markers. I don't abuse this (at least I try not to!), but it does come in handy in a pinch and he is always very proud of his work.

Big decision, which color.


Double time
All done!

A beautiful morning....

This morning we awoke to a bright orange sky off in the distance. Sela woke us all to show us and we went outside to admire it and try and photograph it (my picture does the scene no justice). After we took Sela to school, I took Rollin and Nina on a walk on the pipeline trail. This trail is breathtaking no matter which direction you look. It is peaceful and beautiful. We met this really neat woman on our walk. She is an adventure coach. We had a nice talk about parenting and she expressed to me how she thoroughly enjoyed every moment and stage of her children's young lives and how quickly the time flies. Her children are young adults now. She was so excited to see children on the trail, which is what got her talking about her own kids. She said this is how they grew up...outside, and she never knew a child who was a bad child when they were outside. She told me about hot yoga and how she thinks is the ultimate cleanse for body and mind. She also talked to me some new trails and places to take the kids that I had not heard of before. Nina and Rollin LOVED her dogs...mini australian shephards. They were really great dogs, so well behaved and very cute. I asked her all about them and it turns out one is having puppies around christmas. We exchanged information. Hopefully we'll meet her on the trail again. I could talk to her for hours.

Naked Jaybirds

There is nothing in this world Rollin loves more than to run around the house naked. He skips and gallops, dances and twirls. Sometimes I don't let him play naked after his bath because he has been known to spring a leak or two, but today he climbed out on his own while I ran to get a towel, and I heard his heavy little footsteps racing down the hall. Then came Nina!

How we love a long weekend....

Some images from the nice long weekend. Lots of cooking, working and playing in the yard, and resting.

An attempt at whole wheat cinnamon rolls
Rollin watching daddy work
We had a huge tree cut down on our property because it was dying.
Now that's a leaf!
Sela and Nina helping move the small logs....we're hoping to make a teepee with them in the spring.

Rollin taking a moment to reflect on his life to this point

Ahhh, come Sunday, it was time for a good nap.

Airplane!

Gift Making

Sela drew a dinosaur for her little friend Noah, and we experimented with making an iron-on. I think it turned out great!! The dinosaur would probably look better facing the opposite direction, but hey, that's part of the charm. Sela is very excited to present it to Noah for his birthday. It's so much fun to make gifts!

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving for us is a holiday often subject to a last minute change of plans. We had planned on family coming this year but with the condition of our floors (still not finished) and the weather (or what we thought the weather would be) I think Zig advised them to wait a bit for a visit. I always like a crowd on Thanksgiving so at the last minute we agreed to go to the the Low's for dinner. Our Thanksgiving this year was completely low stress and I think we all enjoyed it. I made three dishes to take to dinner, so at least I was able to cook something, although it was very simple. The weather turned out to be clear and sunny the past few days, although quite chilly.

Nina made an Indian costume at school and Sela had the same one from when she was in preschool so we tried to make one for Rollin. It turned out cute but Mr. OCD would not wear it for one second. It made a wierd sound. So, we put a headband on him and stuck leaves in it. Nope, he didn't like that either.
























Thanksgiving morning, the girls and I were very excited to be invited over to the Barr's for a tea party!! We love, love, love the Barr girls and their mother Carmen. Living near them is one of the few things we miss from our old neighborhood. Grace, Bianca, and Tina have been babysitting the girls for the last two years and I've had fun with them in Young Women's. They are all great cooks, and Bianca has her own cooking show on her website. So, of course we jumped at the chance to see them and have a tea party. They made Lemon Ginger tea, croissant bread pudding, and blueberry citrus scones. Everything was divine. My Thanksgiving could have been complete right there.

Grace, Bianca, Sela and Nina
Tina and Sela

















The only bummer about the day is that we broke our very important tradition of seeing a movie after the big dinner. Our dinner ran long and we were sad to miss the movie we had planned to see with the Davis'. The girls were not pleased, but it's not easy to duck out early from a Thanksgiving dinner at someone else's house :)

We have so much to be thankful for this year. We feel so blessed to have family we love so dearly and whose love we constantly feel in our lives. We have our health which is so precious. We have the the Gospel which teaches us to live more purpose driven lives and to be better, more humble people by following Jesus Christ. With family, health and faith in Christ, how could we ever want for anything more. We feel so very fortunate and appreciative of all the good and joy in our lives. We love you, our family and friends, so dearly, and miss you all this year. Happy Thanksgiving.