Wild Times

It's not that I haven't had anything to blog about since... what has it been, one or two months?! We've just been in the thick of it... taking the kids to school, doctor appointments, dentist appointments, eye appointments, swim lessons - you name it. The craziest and most exciting thing that is going on right now is that we are trying to sell our house, and are already in the process of buying another one! After much thought we decided we needed a place on one level to reduce the chance of Alice falling down stairs, and with the possibility of needing wheelchair access in the years to come. We also had the goal of simplifying (as in having a smaller house, and therefore lower mortgage.) We found the perfect place, but since they wouldn't take a contingent offer we may end up with two mortgages for awhile - yikes! Hopefully we will sell our house soon - if not, our plan B is to rent out one of them until we do.
Nathan received new glasses, and I was happy to hear that his eyes have improved significantly over the past two years. He and Jamie are in the same Montessori class this year and they were both so excited to start school.

I wasn't sure how Jamie would do with the different learning environment since last year he did really well in a traditional classroom. However, Phil and I felt that it would be easier on all of us to have all three of our school-age kids in the same place so we decided to give it a try. Jamie is really enjoying it, and seems to be providing enough structure for himself. I think he likes the responsibility and organization of the materials... I know that's what I would have liked about it.
Nathan's classroom slippers still fit him, but I needed to make a pair for both Jamie and Evelyn so my friend Tandy gave me a hand by knitting up Jamie's pair while I worked on Evelyn's. I then wet-felted them to fit and did a free form needle-felt design on each pair.

I love how these turned out and was so glad to get them done before school started! Evelyn was ecstatic about starting preschool... Having Alice here has made things a bit tougher for E, and the range of choice in the classroom activities really allows her to shine and create without worrying about her little sister getting in the way. They have been getting along better these days, but there are still squabbles over toys or Daddy's lap and that can wear a 4-yr-old down to the meltdown point if there isn't a break now and then. (It can wear Mama down too, and I am so thankful for those quiet mornings!) Here is my big girl all ready for school:

You can see I gave her a hair cut - they all got haircuts, but hers is the most fun because the curls go from stringy to bouncy and cute. School started on Evelyn's birthday this year and she couldn't have been more thrilled... She's so adorable, but my, how she has grown! I was not shocked at all when the doctor said she had gone from the 40th percentile to the 77% percentile in height - she's going to be much taller than her mother eventually, I am sure. (Not difficult at all, as I'm only 5'3".) This year I bought the kids all sandwich wraps from this seller, but I'm hoping to make a bunch more myself so the whole family can use them. Maybe some snack bags too, you know... in all my spare time. ;)
Speaking of spare time... I finally managed to finish Phil's slippers as well. I felt rather guilty about making two new pairs when I hadn't finished these... I had knit them and given them to him for Christmas in 2008, without a design. It was the needle-felting that still needed to be done and I had ripped out the needle felting several times before I was satisfied with which yarn to use... I settled on Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool, and it turned out to be perfect for what I wanted them to look like: circuit boards for my husband, the hardware design engineer.

One of these days I'll record the song I wrote for our anniversary... All about how I love my geek. Really I do, and it's a fun song. :)
This last weekend we spent time with both our families up in B'ham to introduce Alice to some of our extended family and to celebrate her 2nd birthday!

We had such a good time and were so very thankful that Phil's auntie Tresa was willing to host it at her house. Alice just loved all the attention, especially when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her and when she got to open all the presents...

She's doing so well now in social situations, completely trusting that Phil or I will be nearby - it's great. She won't go to just anybody, but she does warm up quickly to newer faces and now will let my parents hold her for a short amount of time. The photo above makes me smile because she is wearing the same dress that Evelyn wore for her first birthday... and I am laughing because she is pointing to a picture of a cat with some yarn!