yarn along

this is what's been keeping me up late at night these past few days.  i get so tired in the night and don't enjoy the process as much that i'm trying to knit more during the day interspersed with bits of play.  as i write this on the bed ezra has built a lego playground around me.  he can play a lot by himself and certainly does, but lately he really enjoys playing together - the dialogue we share and fun new ideas...

the lion's mane is complete and the rest of him too.  now it's on to knitting the elephant that will be sewed along his edges so that he will reverse into an elephant.  ezra has watched me make this all the while so i think he is just going to receive it straight away when i'm finished instead of it being a christmas gift or from st. nikolaus.

i really like how his i-cord mane resembles a spunky head of dread locks.  they're very fun to manipulate.

the other item i'm knitting is from a free pattern for a hot water bottle cover that i got from www.cocoknits.com . what a wonderful resource this site is!  check it out if you haven't already.  this will be a gift for my dad (who i hope is not reading this because i disabled the automatic email for this post) who is coming for the holidays.  now i have to continue playing with ezra - who has patiently been asking me to stop and play with him...  this holiday making business can be challenging.  check out what other knitters have been making by going to small things.

a little celebration

today was another day to celebrate.  michael took his third block exams of the semester.  as i write this he is making up his own little ditty that ezra is dancing and playing air guitar to.  we love these days because for one afternoon and evening we are all together without (too much) interruption from michael's studies.  we went to our nearby rendez-vous cafe and spent a ridiculous $18.00 on these little treats and two caffe lattes. 

 it is such a sweet little setting and they are one of the few places that offer soy milk for us vegans.  

i even snuck in a little knitting because the holiday elf is in round the clock operation.  the weather has been wonderfully stormy and rainy making it feel a little more normal this year compared to last year's rather dry wet season. 

we completed the week's grocery shopping together

 and came home to this beautiful sunset outside our window.  

five weeks left of michael's penultimate semester.  with thanksgiving, birthdays, christmas, family and friends coming to visit over christmas and in the new year, i have a feeling these last months are going to fly by.  enjoying the beauty that surrounds me here and now.  

ezra and bianca

when we got to 'ezra's castle' they climbed up the side of the mountain.

they did this over and over again with the sweetest little three year old dialogue:

"come on bianca!"  "i'm coming!"

"let's do it again"  "okay!"

"wait for me!"  "alright!"

a true friendship is being born

 descending the stairs was just as much fun for these two 

who danced and shimmied and hopped their way down

(there was music playing at the stadium below with a great samba beat).

then it was bike riding time along the jetty.

it was bianca's first time riding a tricycle and ezra helped push her along when she slowed to a stop.

it became a fun little game for the two to play.  

bianca would stop and say, "i need help."

and ezra would ride back in a big circle to give her a little push.

at the end of our day we stopped at the boulangerie for some treats.

ezra had a pink cookie aka un macaron rose

and bianca had a strawberry tartelette

it is so much fun hanging out with these two!

this moment

inspired by soulemama

carousels are for kids

ezra's favorite thing to ride on the carousel is the circle saucer with the steering wheel in the middle that you turn to make it spin. ezra is very good at this!

we were the only ones there - one of the real perks of living on an island.

that's why they let me ride on the carousel for free today with ezra.

so while we are already going around in a circle with the whole carousel we are also making a faster twirling circle within the big circle. i can close my eyes right now and still feel this (to me) sickening sensation. but, for the duration of the ride, good mommy that i am, i kept my eyes open and said, 'weeee!' all the while trying to find the right spot to focus on so that i didn't ruin the ride and throw up.

yarn along

i am yarning along with ginny at small things and will be sharing what i am reading and knitting each week along with others out there in blogland. i have been working on using up my stash making these adorable knit toys for ezra. this one is a lion in the process - his mane has 14 more i-cords to be sewn on his head. and the coolest thing about this little guy is he will be reversible and will turn into an elephant, which i have also yet to make. i have been reading 'raising a son' by don and jeanne elium along with several novels since the beginning of summer. it is a slow read and i keep reading in hopes of finding out something i didn't already know. i think this would be a good book for parents who are struggling with their son's behavior and need help with learning how to set limits. fortunately, we are not as of yet struggling with our son, but it may be something to open again when he's a teenager.

halloween

we started our day making vegan chocolate graham cracker cookies for the sandwich spider cookies we would be making later that evening at the party.

here's my little elfin helper who is a mighty fine baker.

all dressed up and ready for pumpkin carving with daddy. this will become a tradition i believe. michael is an artist and very skilled with a knife

(and a scalpel) and loves to carve a good jack-o-lantern.

ezra chose a happy face again this year - sweet boy that he is.

making spider sandwich cookies with andrew and evan at the auc spouse's organization party

they enjoyed eating them right away.

running on the tables was the most preferred activity of the party.

after all, he did have superhero powers.

our friend laura set up a face painting table and ezra got a spider on each hand

that he talked about for days afterward.

ezra's girlfriend bianca came to the party and they took this silly picture together.

after trunk or treating in the parking lot we headed home to our hotel. ezra kindly passed out the rest of our candy to the hotel staff and a few strangers who gratefully accepted. he is greeted daily by our hotel staff and is often too shy to have a conversation with them. but, when we left for the party and ezra was all dressed up in his costume he was fearless! this carried on the whole evening. dressing up in costume is magical.

the loot (which i have hidden in the laundry room since in hopes that he will forget about it).

it's not working.