the sky is pink

Last week we had autumnal weather. This is unusual for Maryland. Usually we go straight from hot and humid 90-degree summer days right to brisk 40-degree wintry days with very few "true" autumn days. This year has been different. Maybe this is the reward for having over six feet of snow this past winter. Or the very early summer heat-waves and subsequent droughts. Whatever the reason, it's been wonderful. (Even if yesterday, today and tomorrow are in the 90's, it's supposed to break by Saturday.) There have been tons of annoying, pesky stink bugs. I could live without them. Anyway, last week on a cooler day I was springing forward into autumn. I hung leaf garland around my front door, but I didn't put the mice up yet. (It was still summer a few days ago.) Then I had my first attempt at subway art. I bought myself a Cricut on Black Friday last year for half price. I just started to use it . I'm not in love with vinyl itself, so I've been using the vin...

I've been crafty lately. Once again I have been bitten by the crafty bug and I'm really liking it. I wasn't able to do much this summer with all the kids home, and it's a welcome break to do a little here and there. A couple of weeks ago I sewed Spenser a little school frock. It is mostly a sleeveless little dress, but I wanted her to wear it over leggings or jeans. And since it's not quite "jeans" season (unless you ask Carter), she's wearing them with capri-length leggings and a short-sleeved tee underneath. The fabric is something I picked up more than four years ago when I was pregnant with Sawyer. (He will be four on Saturday ! Aaaaaah! I seriously do not know how that happened. ::sigh:: ) The frock is fully lined with red gingham. The perfect combination, in my opinion. I used a red vintage button and a red and white striped piece of ribbon for the loop. There are more planned.

On Saturday one of the hens left me a bumpy egg. The shell seems rock hard. I haven't cracked it open yet. I kind of like admiring it and feeling it. On Friday (?) I made these wonderful pumpkin chocolate-chip muffins . Holy cow they are dangerous! And don't say I didn't warn you! No, Lera did not lose her mind and make those darn crayon shapes again. (I told you I was never, ever going to make them again. And I totally meant it.) I had another basil harvest, so I made more pesto. I froze most of it in small jars, but I was running out of jars (and space in the freezer), so I tried using an ice cube tray. This was the only ice cube tray I could find (we have an automatic ice maker in our freezer). Unfortunately, the smell of garlic has penetrated the silicone ice cube tray and is now rendered useless for future ice making. I froze small hunks, wrapped them in foil, popped them in a freezer bag and then popped them in the freezer. Are you sitting down for this? I scored ...

Before school started, I had a few, short back-to-school sewing projects to take care of. Spenser has a neoprene lunchbox that looks like a purse. There was no easy way to label it with her name and phone number, so I sewed a little cloth tag on it and labeled it with a extra-fine tip marker. A few snack baggies were made following this idea . I sewed a few girly cloth napkins (using scrap fabric) for my favorite girl. AND some place mats (using scraps) for the girl child. I made little covers for the ice pouches. I was hoping to cut back on the condensation that accumulates in their lunchboxes. The kids love picking out which one they want to use. Strawberry Shortcake is off limits to the boys. For lunchboxes and book bags this year, Mason and Jackson have identical ones. They are not twins even. The book bags were free from when they attended an Operation Purple camp this summer . The lunchboxes were cheapy , $3 ones from Wal -Mart. Since we needed to be able to tell them apart ...

The end of summer break flew by. I'm just going to recap (very briefly) for the sake of journaling. Spenser got a new haircut. My neighbor and fellow council member owns the hair salon in town. It was Spenser's first trip to a salon. (My friend, who cuts my hair, gave Spenser her very first haircut, when she was about four, but the other two or three times I've cut it myself.) Joe took the boys camping. All of the boys (plus his father). Our church had its annual Father-Son Camp-Out at the end of summer, leaving the two girls alone for the night. (Incidentally the same day she got her hair cut.) We had a great time together. And she dressed up for the occasion. We did a few three-legged races (she didn't get to play at Mason's birthday party .) We didn't play against anyone, so we won each game. We then took a walk and walked to dinner. We came home and played Toss Up and Bunco . Then we watched a movie and ate popcorn and homemade salsa and chips. She fe...

Mason's party was a huge success. It was hot outside, but I don't think the children minded it a bit. The top two pictures are out of place, but Blogger makes it so difficult in rearranging photos (and I forgot to add these two in order), so we'll just have to look at them first. And explain later. Here is the candy stand in all its glory. This was our old lemonade stand that was yellow. I had the idea to have an old-fashioned birthday party for Mason and had visions of the lemonade stand becoming a candy shoppe. The children eagerly helped me scrub it clean and put the first coat of white paint on it. I filled up a few jars with treats. We had circus peanuts, candy buttons (on paper), Dum - Dum lollipops, Peanut Chews, pink wintergreen mints, Andes mints, Atomic Fireballs, and rock candy. (The rock candy was actually "lump sugar" that I picked up at the Asian grocery store. I bought it for my herb tea, but decided we liked to eat it instead.) The lollipops...