A few more photos from this Fall

These are some photos that didn't make it in posts this Fall because I fell behind, so I'm putting them in now. This first one may be a repeat, but I just love this Mary Lu and Dana series so much I had to put them in all together.




















































Juan's letter to Santa this year. We took photos before we sent it. He wants a toy kitchen, a worm farm, and a toy farm.












He also drew Santa pictures.
















































I don't think I've gotten a photo of her doing it yet, but Mary Lu is one of those people who puts her face really close to her paper when she's very engaged in what she's writing or drawing, or she'll put her head down next to what she's writing. It's so cute.




























This Fall, Mary Lu learned to jump. Here she's doing it holding onto our hands (but jumping on her own). It's hysterical when she first was doing it on her own. She looks exhilarated every time, like she absolutely AMAZED herself. It's hysterical.

















Juan often carries his "babies" around in a basket as a portable crib. Here, his penguin is covered with a tissue blanket and watching something cook with them.











Juan and ML like to watch things cook. Often they'll sit like this with their cups of tea.













I love this photo. It's a typical afternoon outside at our house. Juan is constructing some ingenious new design, and Mary Lu is moving the Earth (I swear I didn't put this photo up here just to say that). In the background are the remains of their picnic snack with John. That old, second-hand wagon is easily the most utilized toy we have.

Grandma Ruthy Visits

Grandma is famous with the kids for her tasty oatmeal. Notably, it is not the kind from the package, but apparently that is what they were making this morning.














At the pumpkin patch in Oliver, BC with Strong Start













Mary Lu relating the legend of The Great Pumpkin. . .


































Juan finds a good one, while Mary Lu takes off with her good buddy, Riley.













She really dug the wheelbarrows, as Juan always has loved such things.



























Checking out a pumpkin. Mary Lu did not want to be down at the pumpkin patch because of the "pokey things." Pokey things haunt Mary Lu. They are often suddenly in her clothing, sheets, shoes, on my clothing when I'm holding her, etc. We spend a lot of time looking for pokey things.





































































The Strong Start group on this Thursday.































I think Juan has Hop on his arm here.




















































































Loading the car, Juan is there with his flatbed.

Starry Night

One day as we were driving home from preschool, Juan asked me about the song, "Starry, Starry Night" that plays on rotation in our car. He had asked about it a couple times before, but he was still curious. So, we talked about Van Gogh and some of his paintings and I told him about the song and about "The Starry Night." He wanted me to tell him what it looked like. So I described it to him as I remembered it. We talked a lot about the colors and the swirly stars. He was very curious about the buildings and how much space they took up on the page. Finally I told him that we could look it up online when we got home. He said, "No, I think you described it well enough that I can paint it." That's when I realized that he wanted to paint his own version. When we got home we got out a real canvas and oil paints and he painted this version. He was very particular about every piece. It has become very poignant for me. Somehow, that we created this together, a perspective that only he and I shared, that he created something that I described. It is beautiful to me. Maybe the most awesome part--those vibrant red impasto details are fire-extinguishers. That is all Juan and 4 year old vision.

Juan and Mary Lu's Room

These first two photos are of Juan and Mary
Lu's room right after we moved in last
October

























These next four photos are of their room now
after some serious work. These start in the
NE corner and go clockwise around the room.






















































I couldn't find any "before" photos of the stairs. These are the stairs after refinishing. They had carpet on them when we
moved in. Under the carpet there were rubber treads stuck
on with adhesive. John did some serious sanding.















This is the landing, looking from the kids' room
into the downstairs hall. The hall is next on the
renovating list.

Ode to Hop

Hop the grasshopper passed away last week. He was a pretty significant part of our household for the month or so he was with us. He went twice to Juan's preschool for show and tell. He sat, during the day, on our kitchen counter and kept us company while we cooked. He was here through the stair refinishing which meant chilly trips outside in the early morning and at bedtime to get upstairs and down. We would wrap his container in a blanket or towel and Juan would tote him up and down. At night, Juan wanted him in the room with us. The first night he made a circle of his toy trees around Hop's container so that Hop would feel at home. Every night he carried Hop downstairs and put him amongst his trees for bedtime. Juan held him nearly every day and he and Mary Lu would talk to him and watch him crawl around on Juan's sleeve. All in all it was not a bad final month for a two-legged, one-winged grasshopper. We'll miss you Hop, we were glad to have you.