Fall Favorites!

Hello world!  

We've been keeping busy looking ridiculously cute...

and enjoying fall activities. 

 These are our Jackson Pollock pumpkins.  Eli chose the colors... I truly expected another year of black and brown, but he saw that tube of hot pink first, and who can say no to that?  It was a nice change.

Are you ready to lose your mind?  You should be.  OF COURSE Ben and I didn't just "carve pumpkins".  We used wood carving tools and Vaseline to annihilate them.

"The Joker", by Ben Jordi

"Ron Swanson", by Julie Jordi

Honesty is always best, so let me inform you that 20 seconds before this photo, Number 2 was screaming like we hadn't fed or changed him in days.

LOOK HOW GORGEOUS HE IS.  He had his 4 month-er today- 17.5 lbs and 26.5 inches.  

Daddy-despite a day of childcare, work, and general household duties-took Boo to a Halloween Parade in South Cumberland tonight.  Apparently the motorcycles completely changed his life:)

I whipped up a cute little owl hat for munch out of a wool sweater I picked up at Goodwill, some felt and fleece scraps, and old buttons.

He looks hilarious when he wears it.  He'll surely hate me for it one day.

 

The plan is to make Eli a matching one and do a two-for-one future hatred deal.  Cute, cute, cute!

Silas.

When Siley came along life was a little more nuts than when Eli made his appearance.  

As a result, Number 2 did not get quite the preparation Number 1 did.  

No fancy nursery.

No elaborate wall mural.

No (finished) baby blankets.

Not because we were any less excited.  Just because of life.

I know that all he knows and cares about is food and burps and cuddling, but as his mommy I want him to have some special handmade things that are for him and only him.  A few things that aren't hand-me-downs.  Here are a few recent projects for you, #2.

I love working with fabric so I pieced together a portrait of Si on some muslin.  It's a mixture of cotton, lamb's wool, felt, yarn, and embroidery thread.

This is from one of my favorite blogs, Made by Joel.  Beautiful, hand-made toy tutorials from things like cereal boxes and scrap wood.  Toys for infants and toddlers that encourage creative play and don't spell everything out.  This is called Baby Sun Toy.

I made it from scrap canvas, red felt, and an old maternity t-shirt.  The colors were chosen with Si's blurry baby vision in mind.  The center is stuffed with an old potato chip bag for a baby-pleasing crinkle sound.

Neither of my kids did the teething ring thing.  They prefer the corner of a blanket, sleeve of a coat, or just good old fingers.  I very loosely stuffed the t-shirt rays with scraps from the same material to give it a little shape, and tied knots in the end of each for chewing.

Success!!

"Hey Gorgeous!" Photo Dump

We spent the weekend with my parents.  Eli tore out every toy they possess.

Siley and I took pictures.

Si napped and Monkey Man and mom went walking.

We stopped by the creek to throw rocks and a small McDonald's toy which I bravely fished out.

Then we went to PUMPKINLAND, which consists of toddler sized corn mazes, slides, wonky mirrors, and plywood pilgrim cutouts for photo ops.  I'm telling you, it doesn't take much for a kid.

                 

Hey Siley-pants!

This is where we tried to get that family photo I mentioned in a previous post.

This is how it went.

Maybe HE'S the firecracker?

Another free, fun kid  activity (that shockingly, my husband had never heard of) is full body rolling down steep hills.  

He's not crying 'cuz he's hurt, he's crying b/c I won't let him roll OVER me down the hill.

Then we threw pine needles at each other for 45 minutes.

Being re-awakened to the beauty of simplicity-thanks to my little wackos.

It was a good weekend:)