Daily thanks, 11.12

Thankful for those leisurely Saturday mornings when you could just kick back and relax while the two year old nephew and four year old daughter make you pancakes.

Daily thanks, 11.10

For autumn. (okay, so it's frequently shorts weather around here in autumn -- you can't have everything. But while the rest of my family dresses for the weather, as soon as the calendar hits October it's all jeans, sweaters, boots and pumpkin lattes for me, weather be damned!)

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. - George Eliot

daily thanks 11.6

Thankful for my sister and her beautiful family.





Baby is totally smiling here:



Alex:



Emma:










OMGosh. I could eat her up!

daily thanks 11.5

Thankful for the gift of new life, and enjoying every minute with our precious new niece and cousin, Emma.

Daily Thanks

I've heard of a bunch of people doing some variation of the Daily Thanks, which involves posting one thing they are thankful for each day in November. I tend to start strong but then have a little difficulty in the follow-through department (see, e.g., Project 365, Project Life, Tuesdays with Dorie, my sewing career, the numerous projects that are in various states of completion in my storage room, the summer-to-winter-clothes-switcheroo, etc.) but I am going to try to post something I'm thankful for at least MOST days in November, how's that? Because I have a lot to be thankful for, starting with my three pumpkins:

silhouettes

I am supposed to take some silhouettes for a photography class that I'm taking with Heather. I've always thought that silhouettes were pretty cool and have always wanted to know how to do them. I tried and failed at home a couple of times, and then by dumb luck happened to notice that the sun and topography would be just about perfect for silhouettes at the church where Elizabeth and Caroline take dance. So I hauled the kids out there right before sunset one night to practice.















{yikes, just realized that that last one is way too dark . . . and crooked. May have to try the monkey bars again sometime!}



{wish I knew how to get rid of the chain link fence in these swing pictures . . .}





The kids had a ton of fun doing this. Basically we went to a playground at the top of a hill and I asked them to swing, jump and throw balls high into the air for 45 minutes. As Jacob put it, "Mom, this was actually kind of fun. A LOT more fun than sitting in a collared shirt next to a tree . . . no offense." None taken, buddy. I doubt I'll have many occasions to take silhouettes (just at the beach or those random times I happen to be standing on a ridge at sunset with an open view to the west) but I'm really glad that I've (kinda sorta) figured out how to do them!

wii are excited!

We have a new baby niece and cousin, and we are over the moon excited about it! Upon hearing the news, Elizabeth rushed to the wii and created a new mii for Baby Emma (this is how the kids today welcome new members of the family, apparently):



We've seen actual pictures of the real Emma, and it would be a major understatement to say that she is absolutely gorgeous and perfect! We can't wait to meet her. Congratulations, Diane, Sal & Alex!!