gorgeous moments: deep fall at the river beach

come for a walk to the river beach with us.

the weather shapes the landscape into a place newly magical every time we go. 

the boy usually finds a stick to carry.

photo by the wife

the stick is often used for pretend fishing.

i walk slow and take pretty pictures.

the wife and the boy usually run ahead.

lately, the girl's been enjoying rides on my back.

i'm thinking she's getting to see a lot more on my back than she ever did in the (stolen) stroller.

we always end up at the beach. 

the kids inevitably get right in there.

the wife thinks we should invest in wet suits.

there's usually a bit of a "costume change" before we head home either way.

then we call for pizza delivery and walk home as quickly as possible - before hungry tempers undo our family zen. 

happy friday!

mothering soundbytes: girl talk

just last week, i found myself at a comic book store near my office where i thought to call the wife to be sure that i would be picking up the latest instalment of the buffy season 9 (priorities, you know). 

the call went like this:

me: hello? hello...? hello?

her: hello!

me: hi my darling daughter! how are you? 

her: good.

me: whatchoo doing? 

her: nothing.

me: can you give the phone to mom  please? 
her: okay.

[silence. shuffles. screams at her mom. phone is passed to the wife.]

wife: daughter, who did you call...?

 

[shuffles]

wife: ... hello?

me: hey. did you know the girl had your phone? 

wife: no.

me: you mean she answered the phone? 

wife: i guess so!

me: huh. 

my baby turns 20 months old tomorrow.

she baffles me everyday with her smarts and her smile, that one.

she can sing her abc's. in fact, she sings all day. we often sing together, and she finishes my verses for me. she may not be able to pronounce all the letters and words but her sing song is usually nearly in tune.

she can count to thirteen.

she tells you when you don't quite understand what she's saying with a  patronizing, "no."

she surprises me daily with the breadth of her vocabulary - especially at this stage of her development. 

she's already so strong, opinionated, assertive, and brave. sassy. funny.

my littlest babe is growing up so fast. and something tells me it's going to be quite the trip learning from her, as well as with her, in the days and years ahead.

knit parade: in fall colour

shawl pattern: piper's journey

yarn: the fibre company acadia in sea lavender (extra yummy, new favourite! the silk slubs that stud this shawl in luminous colour are very difficult to capture with the camera)

shawl pattern: damson

yarn: hand maiden yarn in beach house (fingering weight, not sure which base) i love how the yarn and pattern play well with each other.

happy monday

knit parade: birthday socks

ta-da! the wife's b-day socks - to feed our ongoing sock obsession.

pattern: basically, susan b. anderson's how i make my socks, modified with some basic mock cabling which i learned knitting this and this some time back.

yarn: sweet georgia tough love sock in cold mountain. delicious and beautifully vibrant yarn! so much fun to knit with.

i know that the colours and textures are a bit trippy - but that's just the reason socks are so much fun for me to knit. they're wearable no matter how fun and funky they look.

she loves it. success!

the wife had a birthday yesterday

we celebrated with home-made cinnamon buns (recipe from our dear friend alex. the kids' were my sous chefs), a trip to granville island, a visit to the beach, rolling down a hill, swimming at the aquatic centre, and then an early dinner at our dear friend's place: our favourite things.

simple family adventuring is how we like to do birthdays. 

one of the best parts? the day was so full - even for bustling toddler energy, that the kids were knocked out rather early. so the wife and i got to curl up on the couch with the cat and catch up on tv. 

(i finally started the sweater she's been asking for and knit nothing but on her birthday weekend.) 

i hope the wife had a good day. i know i did. 

knit parade: for halloween

final halloween post of the year, methinks. just thought i would share some of the knitting goodness. 

i knit this sweater for the boy last year, when his love for dinosaurs was at its peak. then, it was a fight to get him to wear it.

sweater pattern: garter ridge hoodie
dinosaur spines: steggie
yarn: spud and chloe sweater

this year, i finally got a good photo! and the boy has proclaimed that he loves it! (heart instantly broke and got bigger)

the wife made our tails!
pattern: dino tails

eager to watch the boy react to his classmates and their costumes, we all took him to school. we wore our dinosaur tails. the wife wore the hat i most recently made her to match. (apparently, we really really like this colour)

hat pattern:
yarn: manos del uruguay

three days before halloween, the boy decided that he wanted to dress up as a bat. that's when the wife set to work on his wings. i simply added some ears to a hat i already knit and voila! instant batty costume!

not the best picture but a pretty cool effect overall, eh? 

hat pattern: rib-a-roni
bat ears: from roar
yarn: berocco blackstone tweed and random leftovers from stash

i have some pretty special halloween knitting plans for next year though. for me and the girl, specifically. that's if i can get her buy-in. we shall see.

happy friday!

halloween night

last night, a witch, a vampire, and a bat appear to have adopted pooh bear as one of their own.

photo courtesy of wendy (neighbour and friend)

i didn't get to take any really good pictures of my kids for halloween. the boy just wouldn't pose.  also, the girl needed a lot of assistance going up and down the stairs. my hands were full.

it stopped raining in time for us to really enjoy being out long past twilight, catching glimpses of friends and their older kids as they zipped from doorway to doorway. of course,  we did our own knocking on our lovely neighbours' doors where my own babes filled their buckets rather quickly with candy.

i loved watching the girl walk in her pooh costume. (the boy wore the very same costume two years ago!)

i loved seeing the boy flap his bat wings (which the wife made with her hands using a broken umbrella, following martha's instructions). his costume rocked.

i also loved traipsing around as a witch (red and white stockings et al), with the vampire love of my life (nod to the all souls trilogy). 

and you? how was your halloween?