Happy Birthday, Kevin!!

Congratulations Megs and Alan!!!

My friend Megs (who I had the baby shower for a couple weeks ago), had her baby yesterday. Welcome Kirra Ann! She is so tiny and sweet, and Elinore kept wanting to touch her and hug her. She had a labor/birth that I am jealous of! Everyone is doing great and you can read more and see more pics on their blog.

If it's not one thing, it's another...

In preparation for landscaping, we've been doing some work on our foundation. Kevin's dad has been so generous in helping us patch in cracks and holes with cement, and he's recently repainted the whole thing. We even had one of the basement windows replaced (the frame was all rotted out). All this seems to have helped prevent our annual cricket infestation (at least so far). Usually we have them chirping away in the basement, but not this year.

This year our insect problem seems to have been replaced by rodents. We're working on catching our second mouse in three days! In our old apartment we caught nine mice in one winter. We've lived in this house for three years, and we've never had mice! We're not quite sure why they've suddenly moved in. The crickets totally gross me out, but at least the mice are cute. At least I think so. We try to catch them with a live trap for relocation, but they have a knack for stealing the bait and not getting trapped. Then we have to resort to the death traps which I really have trouble with. Poor little mice. I think I've cried over this before.

Life has been rather busy lately, and I've fallen quite behind on posting. So forgive me for suddenly loading up a whole bunch of posts, but I had some time today to catch up.

Yesterday was beautiful, cold in the morning but warming up to ridiculously pleasant by midday. We spent the morning on a hike at Van Raalte farm. It seems to be Elinore's favorite place to hike. It is sort of a meadowland, so there are lots of things to see: berry bushes, lots of different wildflowers, millions of grasshoppers, birds and bugs, a pond with cattails,... I've been teaching her the names of the flowers, and she actually remembers what they're called. That's one of her little personality traits. She loves to know what things are called...and people, too. Names.

Ever since we got our digital camera (about 2 years ago), Kevin has become more of the photographer than I have been. Everywhere we go, he is hunched over a flower or a bug, getting a close-up. I guess he just had this hidden talent. I wish I could claim these flower shots as mine, but they are Kevin's. And there are even more that I didn't post! Aren't they beautiful?

I love encouraging the naturalist in Elinore. I love taking her for hikes and walks because I want her to believe that she doesn't have to be on a playground to enjoy being outside. I love that she points out Queen Anne's Lace to me by name. I love that she just sits herself down in the grass and she doesn't care that it is wet with dew or filled with bugs. I love that last time she spotted wild blackberries and wanted to eat them right off the bush. And we did.

Baby Shower

On Saturday morning I threw a baby shower for my dear friend Megan. She is due in only about 3 weeks. She is having a baby girl named Kirra Ann. I am so excited for her!! I love throwing parties, planning food and games, making invitations,...I always seem to forget how much work it is. Luckily a couple friends offered to help out a bit, and I was very grateful. However much you worry about not having enough food or not having enough time to prepare or people not coming, it always works out perfectly in the end. Plus doing something like that for someone you really enjoy is just so much fun!
We played a couple fun games, I saw some people I haven't seen since college, Jen F brought vases of little pink roses from her garden, and Megs (despite being sick) looked wonderful!

It really was a lot of fun, and I finally got to give her the knitted items I finshed ages ago (see the next post for photos). I cannot wait to meet baby Kirra!!

Elephante and Candy Cane

Yeah, I finally get to share a few more completed knits! These have been done for a while, but I had to wait until I gifted them to be able to post them up here. The first little elephant was given way back in July to little Lauren Root, and the second one I was finally able to give to Kirra Freudigmann (she's due Oct. 5) at the shower for Megs this past weekend. Hmmm...elephants...I'm beginning to see a pattern... Both elephants were knit with Tatamy Tweed, but I changed the stripe pattern the second time. I didn't want them to be exactly the same!

This little candy cane hat I also gave to Megs this weekend. It is a newborn size in Rowan Handknit Cotton. Hopefully it will still fit around Christmas!

And now...on to my next project.

Anniversary

On the 12th, Kevin and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. We've decided to make it a tradition to have a picnic at the park where we were married on our anniversary. It was a cool evening. We were glad we weren't getting married outdoors this year or all of our guests would have been freezing! We haven't been to Spring Grove Park in a while, so it was nice to walk around and think about everything that has happened in the last 4 years. Elinore stuck her fingers in the creek and we stopped to play on the playground before we headed home. It is such a beautiful park. On the weekend Mom and Dad W. watched Elinore so that we could go out to dinner and a movie.

Elinore Loves the Phone

Blogger has this new upload video feature, so I've been wanting to try it out. I got a funny video of Elinore today that I decided would be a good test. Elinore loves to talk on the phone. She has this little one-person conversation that she does, and she always says the same thing. It's sweet. She also didn't want to put any clothes on this morning, which is why she's just in a diaper.

Enjoy

Sunday Sanctuary

I think I've mentioned before how much we love Sundays, and especially that we don't have to get up in the morning for church (since we meet in the evening). Today was another one of those days. We have this canoe that has been hanging in our garage since we bought our house. Kevin and his brother bought it together I don't know how long ago. We've been so preoccupied the last few years with buying and fixing up our house, then we had Elinore,... Well, suddenly Kevin decided he wanted to take it out, so today we did. Elinore has a life jacket now, and she's old enough to obey me if I tell her to "sit down". It was a little difficult getting it in and out of the garage. It is fairly heavy and I am not very tall. We decided not to go too far, so we just went to Windmill Island (about 5 min from our house). It was crazy. We were right in the middle of Holland, but we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. It was so still and quiet, warm sun but a cool breeze. We saw so much wildlife! Herons, egrets, a turtle, fish, ducks, sandpipers, a muskrat, and even some cormorants (birds that dive and actually swim underwater). We saw wildflowers, wild raspberries, cattails, and even tiny wild grapes! It was so much fun, and Elinore was SO good. She just sat in the middle of the canoe, ate her snack, and talked about what she saw.

We're hoping we can get out again next weekend before the weather cools off too much. We'll definitely have to do this more often. There are so many watery places to explore!!