#6

5... until now, that was the number of babies we've had. we're so very blessed to have three of them here with us. sure, there are days when one or two of them drive me batty, but not a day goes by that i'm fully aware of how very lucky we are to be able to hold them tight. today we were given another reminder of just how precious life is- today we said goodbye to another precious little one. three here with us on earth, three in eternity. i'm still processing it. even though we didn't plan on another, even though in our minds there couldn't have been a less convenient time to add to our family even if we had intended it, it was still our baby. and even though i'm feeling a bit disconnected and removed from the whole situation right now, i still love our little peanut with all my heart.

travels... and then some!

here's my long over-due post... finally. you'd think i was busy or something, eh?

so as y'all already know, a few weeks ago we packed up and headed to tulsa. the kids were wonderful travelers, especially remington. the van was loaded to the max so there wasn't much room to stretch out. good thing all our kids still have short lil legs!!

see? jam-packed. we had to take something out every time we stopped, or else cole and madi couldn't get out. that's why cole's face is so funny... he was worried be was going to be stuck.

madi wasn't too happy about the whole thing right away, but she eventually got over it. :)


and remington?? well, he was just his usually sun-shiney self, of course!

(excuse the logo... which i will be working on changing in the coming week, by the way) we ran into some pretty lovely skies shortly after crossing into oklahoma.

huge thanks to my mom for getting the kids this floor puzzle- it's been a real help in occupying them! it even gives remington a safe, clean place to stretch out.
we weren't able to get out TOO much to explore the first week or two, so by thanksgiving, the kids were feeling the effects of being a strange place with different limitations. we spent thanksgiving day together as a family, something we didn't get to do last year. we dreamed of dinners like we've had in the past while eating pizza and finding joy in the fact that when we're back home between christmas and new year's, we'll have a late thanksgiving dinner with everyone to make up for it. we sure missed being home- nothing makes you appreciate family more than when you're far away from them; you tend to remember just what makes them so special!

kelvin's job got rained out on saturday (which meant they had to work sunday to make up for it), and he decieded we should do something fun with the kids. obviously, nothing that required being outside because of the weather, so we took a 15-minute drive over to jenks to see...

...the aquarium!!

"there are SHARKS in here?"

none of us have ever been to an aquarium, so it was a new experience for all of us. i think it's safe to say that we were just as excited as the kids!

anemones! advance warning: lots of photos. if you think that's a lot, you should see the ones i left out. yikes!!

your daily recommended dose of irony: leaks in an aquarium.

we saw some horseshoe crabs...

... and rem made a "fishy face". kind of.

then there were theses little guys... they're pretty photogenic, i think. no wonder you see these
creatures in "national geographic" more than once.

remington meets the big turtle!

there was an open area with a large habitat for these little turtles. the tiny one reminds me of rem- he used to stick his legs straight out like that. he's better about it now, especially since he's starting to experiment with creeping.

these kiddos spent the next 45 minutes obsessed with turtles... even when we were over by the sharks, i still heard a small voice mention turtles.

the walk-through tunnels weren't as big or expansive as i thought they'd be, but it was still really cool.

remi thought it was pretty neat too.

i may make this the new background on my laptop...

somebody's wide awake. or has had a little too much caffeine. or something.

i'm thinking we should get a big tank for the house- seems to have a calming effect on this kid.

total awe.

meet dory (from "finding nemo")!

totally not a fish or other variety of underwater creature, but they had a room with this guy, a raccoon and some otter in it. we didn't see the otter, but we saw the beaver (who apparently loves grapes)...

... and the raccoon.

after an hour, our tired little peanut was starting to zone out. it was past his nap-time...

we saw a family of seahorses... i wish it had turned out better, but the way the tank was curved, it just distorted it no matter what. oh well. that baby seahorse on the right was pretty little though- cute!

octopus, anyone? it wasn't alive, fyi. (ew.)

cole's interpretation of an octopus, hahaha!

then we saw the jellyfish! it's obvious we've been staying in a hotel with access to cartoons, because cole and madi got all excited, wondering if they could have jelly now. (that would be a result of watching "spongebob squarepants", where jelly comes from the jellyfish that live in jellyfish fields. sigh.)

black light, anyone?

and then there was THIS one. pretty and icky all at the same time, huh?

hahahaha!

each of the kids got a small plush from the gift shop... we thought remington might like a turtle...

...madison picked out a pretty seahorse...

... and cole left with a stingray. we did get to see some real ones- if you've never seen one swim, it's pretty cool. i could watch those all day!

keeping our water-themed day going till bedtime, we stuck remington in the bath. rather, in the sink. he wasn't too happy about it.

yeah, definitely peeved. but he's so cute when he's in the water, all nekked and screaming.

that'll have to be all for now- we get free high-speed internet here at the hotel... but it's more "internet" than "high-speed". this post has literally taken me a collective three and a half hours to do. that's how slow it is. but it's better than nothing, right? ;)

especially for great-grandma...

while talking to my grandma a few days ago, i promised her i'd share photos of remington in his sock monkey clothing from old navy, and the hat i made him to match. these are from my phone, so the quality isn't the greatest...

little sweetie with his thumb in his mouth- a fixture :)
little playsuit and monkey shoes. i couldn't pass up the shoes, they made me giggle. :)

and i had to share a shot of his onesie too... the socks even coordinate. i could've gone bananas and gotten more, but i settled for this. and elissa bought a few things for little kase from the same collection- it would be awesome if we could get the little ones together for a monkey-themed mini-session.

*

meanwhile, in other happenings... we made it to tulsa safely, and are finally settling in to a new temporary routine. i'll post on that later. i promise. :)

another post... *gasp*!

oi, i've really done it. two posts in the same week!! well, i DID say i'd share what's kept me so busy, so i'll do just that. but first, a "remington fix":

his "squooshy face"!! the onesie he's wearing says "ado (red)": i found it at a second-hand shop in waupaca. the poor wee boy is a bit petite for his pj's (as was cole, briefly, and madi too); as soon as he wiggles in his sleep, he's twisted up and stuck. he just doesn't fill out his sleepers enough to be able to use them, so i went on a hunt for onesies and separate pants. i found a few that were cute, so i got them.
big brother's toy was NOT what he wanted, supposedly. the little man just curled into a ball and sobbed. he's been a tad bit clingy lately- might be teething, might be adjusting to having daddy back home, who knows. he's perfectly happy as long as he's being held, but the instant we put him down, we hear about it. of course, his sweet siblings rush to give him whatever it is they think he might need or want. :)
alrighty... project #1. this was a custom order from a friend of mine. she's got two adorable little kidlets, and she was looking for something for them for this winter. she wanted a fleece lining too, so i added one.

little miss k's hat- adorable for a girl without any pink whatsoever! her mommy wanted a tiffany-type blue with winter-white flowers. the blue, when it's not in a photo, is a bit deeper than what's seen here, but you get the idea.


and because little k is only 4 1/2 months, i asked if she'd rather have a chin strap instead of ties. the idea was approved and i indulged my poetic license (so to speak) with a strap and button.

i like the strap idea... this is the first one i've done and i'm quite happy with it.

now little l, on the other hand, is all boy and nothing but. his mommy said that his jacket this year is black, so as long as it went with that, whatever else i decided on was fine with her. she requested the "winter wonderland" style for him, and i thought it would be kind of fun to coordinate his hat with his baby sister's. so i did. she also asked for a scarf, but since i'm knitting that instead of crocheting, it's taking a little longer. that hats were the main thing, though, so those were done first.

next up was an order from our lovely neighbors. their two little ones are close in age to cole and madi, so sizing was a no-brainer. :)

h's hat was to be a fall-ish orange and gray...

and it was light green and blue for miss m. after poring through the yarn aisles at hobby lobby and not finding colors that were close enough to her jacket for satisfaction, i saw, slightly unnoticed amongst the scads of yarn, some skeins that were almost the exact colors i was looking for. they had sparkles in them though, so i shot off a quick text to her mama for approval. the reply was "sparkles rock- lol she will love it", and so ended my quest for materials. it turned out great- the sparklies are elusive on camera, but they're in there. as i left their house last night after delivering the completed hats, h (who is a five-year old boy, mind you) hollered through the screen door, "you rock!". i'm glad he's happy with his hat... :)

(* and for those who don't know me or my work that well: i don't read patterns, much less write them. i don't know the names of stitches and jot down notes that probably don't make sense to anyone but me. but if you see something you just have to have or have a photo or link of something you want, let me know! i do custom orders all the time, and now is the time to get your requests in, before the winter/holiday rush starts. email me, leave a comment, if you have me on facebook you can message me there... hats, cowls, wraps, whatever. i'm open to just about anything!)

october- the long condensed version

apologies to anyone who's checked in here once or more in the last month... i've been a little busy!! (ok, some of that is actually procrasination, but only a little bit.)

we started out the month with some beautiful weather! well, it was a bit on the warm side for october in wisconsin, but that was ok with us, since our furnace died the first chilly nights in september. so even though the 80*+ thing wasn't on my list of favorites, at least we didn't freeze.

first october sunday- perfect for snuggles with grandma!!

after lunch (or was it before? i don't remember...) cole and madi found a slightly more efficient way of sharing the "motorcycle".


it wasn't a quiet method, but at least we were hearing giggles instead of screaming and fighting.




the littles talked grandma into pretending to roast marshmallows over a campfire. she happily obliged and i do believe that in cole's little noggin, the imaginary goings-on were just like the inspiration for the whole deal: "curious george goes camping".

after the imaginary campfire burned out, we all took a walk in the woods. it was such a beautiful day and the trees were turning and the kids were up for an organized trek together, so off we went!

cole and his daddy... just because he walks like he's on a mission doesn't mean there's no time for a quick cuddle :)

the wild grass always looks so pretty this time of year. not sure why- it's just grass. in any case, it's true beauty can never be captured quite right...

miss squish and her "gwammah"

cole was anxious to show us the bridge that he "helped" uncle ted and daddy build. he's been talking about it off and on for a month, so we HAD to see it! they did a great job too- no falling through this bridge!

of course, we all tested it out.

ripples!

madison started collecting things: grass, leaves, a stick... and a feather!

colors! the woods is about the greatest place in the fall: there's no doubting the miracle of the creation.

the little collector... to her, those flowers are a trophy!

just like the wild grasses, the milkweed catching the sun was awesome. and just like with the grass, it's splendor just can't be caught on film (or cf card!) quite like it appears in real life.

random shots from around the yard... the rungs on the old silo. as a small child, they fascinated and scared me at the same time. we were told not to climb them because it was too dangerous, but i remember ted and i going up a few anyway. i'm not sure about ted, but i was never able to work up the courage to climb more than four or five, even though the desire to climb all the way to the top just burned in my young little mind.

madi picked out a squash for us to take home and cook up... she lugged that thing all the way from the garden to the silo. she's got determination, that's for sure.

barbed wire behind the garage... another memory from a long ago childhood.

kelvin and i got to take a short walk all by ourselves! well, ourselves plus a wee little guy.

oh, deer!!

uncle tedly graced us with a fly-by!

tiny toes tried grass for the first time...

... and so did a tiny little tongue!

we don't like grass just yet, i guess.
kelvin left for two weeks to work on a job in oklahoma. the first night he was gone, the kids were mad and i was tired, so we did the easiest supper i could think of (besides take-out): pancakes.

these kidlets eat pancakes faster than i can make them, so to save time, i made them pancake sticks instead. a clean applesauce cup with a little syrup in it for dipping, and they were excited for pancakes like never before.

yumm!

the weekend of dad's birthday, the kids and i spent the weekend at the farm. between sick kids, a few fussy nights from remington and the resulting "whups, too many nights wide awake so no sleep for you!", i was running on empty. mom invited us for a few days, which was great because it was starting to get fairly chilly at night and our furnace still hadn't been replaced.

madison busied herself with crayons and a coloring book while cole helped grandma in the kitchen.

then she moved to the couch where she got silly... who knows what goes through their little heads. i mean, they get the giggles and laugh like miniature lunatics for no reason; whatever the reason is, it's adorable!

musicians in the house! madi even does this cute bit where she unknowingly channels stevie wonder... if she doesn't think anyone's watching her, she closes her eyes, leans into the keyboard and sways to the music. it's pretty cute...

just as madi has her "stevie wonder" thing, cole does chef emeril. or whoever it is that happens to be hot on the gourmet scene. he loves helping in the kitchen, and since ours is too small even for one person, he takes advantage of being able to help grandma in hers!

grandpa's birthday cake... a delicious pumpkin, caramel and pecan creation that's just SOOO good.

it passes the "smell" test...

he almost got away with the taste test too!

add some whipped cream (the REAL stuff) and it's like eating a sweet piece of fall. seriously, this cake is awesome. :)

the kiddos on sunday morning... six shots and this is the best we could come up with! good thing it was just for my own entertainment, hahaha! they looked so cute i couldn't resist.
so... sunday evening found us back home in our own beds. well, more accurately, freezing in our own beds. so in the morning, i did some laundry and we packed up again to go back to mom and dad's. we only stayed till wednesday morning- that's when the furnace guys came to take out the old and bring in the new.

being back at grandma's meant fun in the boxes again! cole and madi were having such a ball that i just *had* to bring out the camera. ;)

cole and the "ah-noc-luhrs". not sure what it is about this photo, but it gives me the giggles every time i look at it.

the other thing that has us in fits of laughter lately is remington's new trick... this goofy face he does while sniffin his nose really fast. it never gets old, and he knows it. usually he's too quick for me to catch a good shot of it, so this is the best i've gotten so far. it's adorable- he usually wakes up smiling, but the lst week or so, he's woken up with a quick grin and then the "squooshy face". if that doesn't start the morning on a good note, i don't know what will.

and then there's the other side of him- the tiny, snuggly little peanut side.

of course, being back at grandma and grandpa's means being back in the kitchen...

... this time with squash! both kids had a half of a squash and were scooping seeds, but since i've already posted a few too many photos, you'll have to use your imagination.

no caption necessary :)

and lastly (for now, hahaha!), a poem that's meant a lot to me over the years. i first read it on a dedication/memorial site for miscarriage and infant loss remembrance. one of the wild grass photos i took on our walk at the beginning of the month reminded me of it, so i combined the two. october is national pregnancy and infant loss awareness month, so it's only fitting that i post it while it's still october. it goes without saying, of course, that we remember our babies every single day. anyway, i'm sharing it in honor of all the babies that we carry in our hearts.

now that i'm caught up, i'll try to post more often. again. i've been busy with more than just sick kids (that was only for a week or so)... i had a project, a custom order for a friend, and i'll share that in my next post. and i promise it'll be shorter too- that is, assuming i don't wait till the end of november to catch up. ;)