meadowlark

Such a nice night to wander the lights at the botanical garden. We were in the first round, and we went straight to the s'mores. It seems that J had his first s'more ever at that fire?! We even ran into Aiden's teacher from last year with his family. It's always a fun tradition!

12th bday

Aiden's birthday bonanza at Dave and Busters was a treat! He has great friends who have great senses humor. The Injustice Arcade game was the big highlight with the collector cards that you use in the game. 

tidbits

A round of hot cocoa after dinner is always fun...

This cuddly girl couldn't be more of a floof!

Making bowls for the Empty Bowls fundraiser... they need hundreds of bowls for the donors to eat their soup and take home with them.  I hadn't thrown on a wheel in many years, but I got it centered right away. 

leaf pile

Somebody loves hopping through the leaf piles ;)

good list

The knitting bug bit hard this fall, and it continues with this iconic Dude Sweater for J... I have sleeves! and about 10 inches on the body rounds complete! It is moving along slowly, but surely.

Keaton wore this store bought sweater (the Aiden hand me down size) for World Kindness Mr. Roger's Cardigan Day at school. 

Keaton trying out the dog drawing in our Chat-n-Chew book, the Year of the Dog. The third graders were so great and gave such mature responses during our lunch.

Keaton cruising on his scooter as he continues to be able to play outside with his triplet friends across the street. The sweatshirt weather in December is such a treat!

I added this pom to my Rhinebeck Farmer's Daughter hat which Aiden thinks looks tasty. ;)

cox farms

We had a day off from school on Nov 4, and the Fall Festival at Cox was still open! I was so glad we caught this fun tradition - and didn't miss our chance at an apple cider donut. This year the Imaginature Trail included a bunch of funny hidden sheep, and we found them all for a photo.

goats

Visiting the goats in always a favorite part!

rags

At the beginning of September, Aiden auditioned for a revival and DC Premiere of an old broadway musical called, R ags at G eorge M ason U niversity. The story revolves around a mother and her son who are Russian immigrants arriving into Ellis Island. Aiden worked so hard in his role as David, the son. It was such a talented group of college kids showcasing the new music in this show. They even had a chance to meet the author of the new book, and overall it was such a great learning experience, acting out a US History lesson.

Aiden would head off straight from the school bus for rehearsal nearly every night from 6pm until 9-10pm. This was way past his normal bedtime, and he seemingly grew up overnight when we allowed him to have a cell phone to keep in touch with him during rehearsals.  He had fun a preview performances at the Arts by George and for other groups. Then it was so fun to finally share the final product. I was so glad that seven of his good supportive friends and their families joined us - we had over 45 people purchase through our group. I am grateful to everyone that came to support all the hard work that went into this show!

bday boy

This guy spent his last few days as an eleven year old rehearsing long hours for the Rags show that opened on Oct 30th. He also snuck in a trip to the lego store. Check out that scanner you hold the box up and it shows you the built set alive on the screen. Also, they had a lego set that looked just like Zoe! Also, enjoyed some early cake to celebrate with the Grandparents in town for the show ;)

spirit day

Aiden's "party" included a few snacks and pumpkin carving. The kids were all supposed to dress in a solar system/space theme. Aiden had a sun and a moon cardboard cutout. 

Keaton's class had some spooky experiments and cupcake decorating. Their parade theme was animals with adaptations - which his teacher joked is any animal ;)

run for rocky

The school fundraiser excitement the day after Halloween... where the pumpkins were already carved and waiting for the Spirit Parade later that afternoon. Party, Run, and Parade... a full day after a busy night of trick or treating.

halloween night

In between all the rehearsals and excitement, we were all able to squeeze in some real fun on Halloween. Aiden was out with his friends as some sort of Steampunk guy. I wish I had a better photo of the funny UPS package and delivery man. Aiden would ring the bell and tell the person with the candy that they got a package, and then his friend would pop out of the package. They laughed and laughed as they pulled off this same stunt at every house. Zoe and Keaton were both Stitch and they went around with the neighbors. I dressed as a "yarn stash" and greeted all the cute kids at our door along with our giant  spiders.

carvers

These guys weren't sure about carving the pumpkins. Aiden had access to the real knife, and the produce kid knives sorta worked. ;) Mostly they let the puppy play just out of reach and enjoyed spraying off the pumpkin guts when they were finished.

tricksters

Trick or treating round one with these cuties over at Mosaic... 

(Aiden was working hard at his final tech week for the Rags musical)

pumpkin playground

Check out these cuties that looks extra cute surrounded by pumpkins ;)

cousin buddies

We love visits with the cousin buddies especially in the fall ;)

rhinebeck

Sometimes your expectations are exceeded by something you had really high expectations for... And this trip to the ultimate sheep and wool festival in Rhinebeck, NY fit that description! The Yarn Fan van was created for a road trip up with friends. We were lucky in August to get tickets to the special Indie Untangled Trunk Show also. Where Priyanka and I both won prizes from their knit along contest - the Baller bag that I wanted! I also was given a front of the line pass for knitting up some Farmer's Daughter yarn I'd won earlier in the year. It was so much fun to do some weaving with them and squish all the gorgeous yarn. I was charmed by the leaping llamas as much as I thought I would be. We had a really nice trip where everything fell into place and some moments felt like perfect serendipity. I was happy with my haul which I had space for once I got home ;)

costume preview

Here's a sneak peak of these matchy Stitch guys ;)

tidbit eats

Some puppy popcorn for Zoe made from Yak's milk cheese... along with a good cuddle up movie for Keaton and I while we wait to go pick up Aiden from a 10:30pm practice while J was out of town.

Crustless quiche success - I shared one with my neighbor's family while they struggle to deal with a throat cancer diagnosis... Her kids ate it all and I plan to make them more! (To save this simple recipe: 6 eggs, about 4oz cheddar, 2oz of cream cheese and 6 tbsp melted butter per quiche and you whip the eggs in a food processor - Sprinkle with onion salt...325 degrees for 30 min)

Aiden learned how to make pancakes all on his own!  Watch out Dad and PopPop there's a new pancake flipper in town.

Aiden wanted to go to the lego store and sushi conveyor belt as an early birthday treat (since his show opens the weekend of his birthday and he will be very busy!)

The cinnamon spread at Trader Joe's is really tasty inside a banana bread muffin...

rags preview

Aiden auditioned in September for the Mason School of Theater college performance of a new revival of Rags, a musical about immigrants coming into Ellis Island in 1910. At the Arts by George event, I was able to catch a powerful preview of the Intro and Finale to Rags... It's been practice after school six days a week for nearly four hours each time, and a great experience for Aiden. I absolutely can't wait for the show in a few weeks.

tidbits

We have a big spider that took up residence to look over our front door, along with a snake skeleton in place of a wreath ;)

Keaton and I playing a game of Topple with peanut butter spoons to top off the day...

Aiden and I ventured to many orthodontist appts in the last few months... He finally has what is hopefully a good plan which starts with an expander (same thing I did as a kid).

The All-County chorus was packed house and Mantua had the biggest group of red shirts out of any other elementary school there.

The principal's are hosting a thank you hospitality cart for all the teachers once a month... this time is was a popcorn cart for special deliveries around the school.  We made nearly 150 fresh bags, which took a ridiculously long four hours to pop!

fall knits 2

Started a Dude sweater for J that will likely take me until next winter to complete... I keep thinking it's probably too big for him and it turns out to be just the right size.

The same event with the knit along contest also said that if you knit anything in Farmer's Daughter yarn you get "front of the line" access to the event... I happened to win some Oh Dang, Suri alpaca and silk yarn so I knit up these luxuriously soft mitts and hat in the Moondust cable pattern.

fall knits

On a countdown to a big sheep and wool festival... knitting away on a very popular pattern, the Soldotna. I was also creating my own percolating purple poncholet because I wanted to enter the poncho category of the knit along contest to win a Nerdbird Makery Baller bag - and I ended up winning!

helper pup

This sweet girl mostly helps me get work done by taking a snooze, but sometimes she wants to be right on my lap in the keyboard action ;)

rocks

So much heavy stuff, but I'm always brought back to reality by the generosity and uplifting attitude of my neighbors... My friend's throat cancer diagnosis has shown how much people truly want to rally behind hard times. These rocks were painted and placed around her house to help her through her rough treatments. 

puppy buddies

Zoe is everyone's best friend... but she especially loves to wrestle with Archie (left) and is trying to win over Sushi (right)

Am I ever going to get over the cute head tilt as I talk to her?

cuddles

This cuddler is the best lap and foot warmer I can imagine...

mosaic

A favorite easy weekend afternoon at Mosaic... The bottomless small plate brunch may be the best idea yet!

mosaic arch

We have been visiting Mosaic probably close to weekly since we moved close by and this topiary arch was always a favorite spot. The tiny little toddler guys coming from story time would run through over and over and giggle fit the whole way.  But now just as these daddy long leg boys are growing up, this arch is now enormous! It is so grown in right now and just seems to be trying to keep up with these big guys.

sunny puppy

This sweet sunny girl loves to go out with us... She is peeking out the car window waiting to pick up the boys from AFYP Saturday afternoon acting class... they are getting ready to do Shrek in December - Aiden as Pinocchio in his older cast and Keaton as Shrek in his cast!

mt vernon

We visited Mt. Vernon on a very pretty day and completed their spy quest (on a new app). It happened to be the anniversary of George's mother Mary's death... I asked around about it because I was curious what they docents would know about her and it turned out they don't know much...oh well...I'm hoping the two books coming out on her this year will fix that.

pup

Zoe, the glamour fluff...

waterfront

Zoe likes any adventure... Alexandria is so dog friendly. We even stopped by to get her some treats at the Dog Park - her favorite cheese pup popcorn.

sculpture

A nice afternoon visiting the art installation on the waterfront in Alexandria...

puppy

A silly attempt at Zoe puppy as Mary Ball Washington...

Before her post surgery haircut and after - she is still pretty short where they shaved her for the spay so sometimes it looks like she has a back mohawk.

luck dragon

Zoe after a haircut looks like a cuter Luck Dragon from Neverending Story?