tatonka

Liam is studying Native Americans in class. So at home I thought we'd try to make a little teepee. Liam picked out the fabric from my stash. I personally think he has great taste! I used the teepee tutorial from Sew Mama Sew except I had to change a lot of it since I wanted to use what I had on hand.
Well, the teepee collapsed moments after this picture. Liam hasn't even had a chance to sit in it since he's at school. Oh well, the little ones still had fun with it! And I can rebuild it. Word of advice, don't try making one without bamboo. I used zebra sticks and they weren't strong enough. And no I didn't plan the shirt/teepee match. Just a coincidence. Can you tell we like Anna Maria here?!
And look out world! Little Matthew has finally figured out this whole roll over thing! I think he was very excited about it all. He kept doing it and squealing.

janie's blanket

For a sweet baby Jane in Ohio to keep her warm on those chilly nights. I started knitting this around 5 months ago. It's seen me through a lot. Truly a comfort knit.
This was knit from a pattern in Comfort Knitting & Crochet Afghans. I changed it up a bit though. (What knitter doesn't?)

ahh then end of summer...

and the Pullman Strike. However you spent your Labor Day weekend, I hope it was full of

rhino dimples,
















knights in plastic armor,

















skateboarding lessons,






















baby pow wows,

















tricycle excitement,

















ducklings on bikes,
















and super hero conferences on picnic blankets. Happy Labor Day!

little tidbits

It was Liam's first day of Kindergarten today. He loved it!
Matthew caught up on some reading. He's reading a book that just arrived by a fellow blogger. He has drooled over the parts he's already read.
Jack asked me to take a picture of him pretending to wash his hair. So I did because what Jack wants, Jack gets! I think it looks a little more like he's practicing to be a calvin klein model.
Matilda asked me to take a picture of her feet. They weren't smelly at the moment, so I said yes. Here is the result.

Theater in the shadows...

We've been on a little golden book kick lately. I'm not talking about the new little golden books. The ones we've been reading are from my childhood. I find that they're longer and more "meatier" than a lot of today's picture books. Of all the little goldens that we've been reading, my kids really love The Three Bears. So one too hot and sticky to go outside afternoon, I decided to make a shadow puppet show of the little golden version of the three bears.
All the puppets took about 15 minutes to make. They don't look that great in the picture, but when put up to the flashlight, they looked a lot better. The kids loved the show and I had to do it multiple times. We also had lots of fun manipulating the size of Goldilocks' shadow and dancing with her. It was a fun, new way to get the kids interested in and old story.

A banana conversation

Matilda: Mommy, I want a banana.
Me: What does a banana look like?
Matilda: A banana.
Me: What color is a banana?
Matilda: Blue
Me: What does a banana taste like?
Matilda: (rolling her eyes at me for asking such an easy question) A banana.
Me: What is a banana shaped like?
Matilda: A circle.
Me: I think it's shaped like a cresent.
Matilda: OK. It's shaped like a present.

Two year olds...enlightening the world one banana at a time.

Drinking with Roy G Biv

I'm not a big drinker, but I would definitely give this by Camper English a try! I'm all about aesthetics!