Halloween, Part Two-Little Pink Riding Hood.

"Once upon a time...

there lived in a certain village, a little country girl,

the prettiest creature who was ever seen.

Her mother was excessively fond of her.

This good woman made a little pink riding hood for her.

It suited the girl so extremely well that everybody called her…

Little Pink Riding Hood."

This was so fun to make! Minna was supposed to have her little pink riding hood last year, but I didn't have my sewing machine, (or a house) in time to make her one. We remedied that this year. I am so pleased with how it all turned out and I know my girl will get lots of use out of each piece. The dress is a prairie type chemise. I am hoping she will sleep and play it long after Halloween. The cape is a good standard cape and the apron was just made on the fly. The dress and cape were inspired by two fun McCall's patterns.

Trick-or-treating tonight! Wonder if we will be snowed on?

Not gonna stop me, my zombies or my girl in pink.

Have safe and fun night!

Halloween, Part One-Zombie Rock.

So, my boys wanted to be something scary.

Specifically, they wanted to be The Grim Reaper. I wasn't down with the Reaper and for some reason Zombies seemed more acceptable. Don't ask me to explain my reasoning. I couldn't. I ended up with two Zombie Rock Stars for Halloween.

All I can say is... who knew Zombies could rock so hard?!

They got the rock star look.

The sound.

The moves.

And every rock star, alive or re-animated, needs a groupie.

They got one of those too.

Happy Halloween!

(Part two coming soon...)

sunday

saturday

this moment.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

-Amanda Soule (SouleMama)

Happy Weekend!

Got your costumes ready?

Fall Decor-Newpaper Style.

I think everyone knows how much I love to paint on newspaper. I am not alone in this. Luckily Minna loves it as much as I do because we made a bunch of newspaper leaves to hang!

We drew a variety of basic leaf shapes and pulled out the paint. Why were maple leaves so hard for me to draw? They just didn't look right. I was even looking at leaf pictures for reference. Oh well, nature does it best anyhow.

Then we picked out a Fall-ish pallet, and painted away. Just layering colors. Or dabbing colors and swirling colors. Very relaxing actually. I needed to relax after the maple leaf frustration.

Minna did a lot of the cutting after they dried. She is getting good!

We have had some debate on whether or not we actually made leaves, or hearts or "weird things", as one of the boys insists. I can see the "heart" argument. There really are heart shaped leaves in the world, so I will take it. "Weird things"? Sure, why not? I will take those too.

We used floss and small label stickers to tape 'em up all over and I like it. That was Minna's idea. I am so proud of my easy-going crafter.

A windy storm blew off the last of our real leaves outside last night. Now I am really thankful for our "weird things". :)

Hello and goodbye Fall.

We are holding onto you just a little bit longer in doors.

Have a great day!

saturday and sunday

This Moment.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

-Amanda Soule (SouleMama)

At the beginning of the week we had clear skies and outdoor fun.

Here at the end,

we have some darker skies and those heavy winter-ish rain drops.

So... we are having some indoor fun instead.

With banana bread too.

Happy Friday!

The new Flat, Part 2.

Happy Wednesday!

I feel like I have so much to share.

I am talking chickens today.

Again.

Here is the coop with the completed covered run.

The T-Birds were living in the coop with their

heat lamp and they were loving the extra space so much!

Then,

early one morning,

we opened the coop door which turns into a ramp.

(Genius design.)

We expected them to fly right out. But no...

They weren't so sure about this wide open, fresh air thing at first.

With a little coaxing and reassuring.

One brave Buff just went for it!

Didn't take long for the rest to follow.

They love life outside!

Now it is hard to get them back in at night.

Awe, my feathered babes, out in the world and lovin' it.

Hope the week is treating you well so far.

Getting chilly yet?

this moment.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

-Amanda Soule (SouleMama)

Fair Friday to you!

One Of Those Days.

Today...

...we made great use of all those leaves!

Goodness me. The leaves!

Two brave gals begged us to cover them "all the way up!"

So we did.

(Can you see any sign of them?)

The first pair of mitts made their appearance for the season.

We got a kick out of the three amigos perched up there.

And we welcomed a new family member.

Meet Hazel.

(Surprise, Daaaaad!)

These kinds of days are good.... even, for Dad. :)

Hope you had one of those days too.

Short Day.

Wednesday is short day at school.

Today it's also "Friday" for us because we get a long weekend.

Lots of busy fun ahead.

Right now though...

we are just paper airplane-ing it.

Happy short day to you!

Our First Year In About Four Minutes.

Last year on this day exactly, we landed in Kodiak.

Whoa.

Here is a little movie with a year's worth of fun and adventure. Mostly my photos. A couple of Jeff's and a bit of video taken by Jeff too. If you only knew how obsessed I got about finding a good song to help tell our story, you would probably worry about my mental health. (It's "When U Love Somebody" by the Fruit Bats.) Even now that all is rendered and compressed, I still have reservations about the song because it says the word "blood" in it so many times. It also says "love" a lot so I figured it all worked out in the end. I am sure you wouldn't have really noticed if I didn't say anything about the blood part. All part of being kind of obsessed.

So! Without further crazy-lady talk...

here is year one.

Now onto living year two.

Have a great Monday!

sunday afternoon

(fly photo by sully)

saturday evening