Awesome dance face

Doodle took the camera and told me to pose.

No, Mom. Wiggle.

No, wiggle more!

Dance, Mom!

-click-

Apparently that's my "I'm dancing awesome for my daughter" face. So. very. cool.

I'll show this to her in ten years, and will never be asked to chaperone anything.

Especially not a dance.

Rally signs

Last weekend we went to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, D.C. We weren't able to get close enough to see the screens or hear what was going on onstage, but was a great people-watching experience. Unfortunately, J and I got split up in the crowd, and spent TWO HOURS trying to find each other before meeting back up at the car. As such, I didn't have the presence of mind to take photos of a lot of the interesting signs and sights at the Rally.

Thanks to the internet I can still share with you my favorite Rally signs, as photographed by other people and posted on Flickr:









Signs that I wish I'd seen in person:

Insect song

We went to Shaver's Creek Nature Center today for a kid's activity. Doodle learned all about insects, and was excited about learning this song.



I fear a family band is not in our future. Oh well. At least we like bugs together!

3,058 pages

In August I finally got a library card, and while getting settled I wanted something to read in my stolen moments of down-time. I wanted to read something fictional. Something fluffy but not too fluffy, something different. J recommended the Earth's Children series by Jean Auel, the first four of which he had read in college. I figured I'd give it a shot.

I enjoyed the books, so I read all that are currently out (one more will be published March 2011). These tomes are a bit beefy, so I tallied up the number of pages I've read since early August.

The Clan of the Cave Bear - 373 pages
Valley of the Horses - 512 pages
The Mammoth Hunters - 656 pages
Plains of Passage - 768 pages
The Shelters of Stone - 749 pages

That's 3,058 pages. Oof.

Next up: Hope is the Thing with Feathers by my friend Christopher Cokinos (359 pages), which I am halfway through. Then... Wicked, maybe? J keeps trying to sell me on the Anne Rice Vampire novels. Should I take his word again (at the risk of reading another 3,000 pages in 3+ months)?

dejá vu

I took this photo while we were out climbing and playing last weekend, then had the strange feeling I'd taken a very similar photo before.

I was right.

Doodle's four or five months older in her photo than Roo is now. But look, I even got my pants right!

Crafting has resumed

Now that we're settling in and getting more comfortable in our daily routines, the crafting has resumed. I should say MY crafting has resumed, since it's been mostly me sewing things that I just must do right now. Example A: the curtain for the front door. Practical, nice to have, and pretty too. Doodle picked the button above from my meager button collection, and I think it's perfect.

Example B: patchwork skirt for Doodle. Something I hadn't tried yet, and I was itching to play with. After her initial disdain and refusal to wear it wore off, she now loves it. Thank goodness, otherwise I may very well have turned it into another curtain or some crazy patchwork pants for Roo.


Example C: Ah yes, the infamous polyester. I used a little bit of it to re-cover my sewing box forever ago, but still have an awful lot left. Doodle finally agreed to let me sew her a skirt out of this and she's been wearing it regularly. Hooray! Now I just need to finish the half-done matching funky skirt for me. Then we shall take the town by Bright Polyester Storm! Hmm, think I can get J to wear a shirt made out of this?


Example D: patchwork pillow cover. My own design, thankyouverymuch. It's nothing spectacular, but I finally got to use that pretty middle fabric, and gave new life to a kind of ugly, no longer exciting pillow that was laying around.

Flaps on the back so it can be easily removed for washing. Vital feature with small children around.


Example E: Doodle's leaf book. It's a different kind of science-crafting blend which we are loving right now. As this is her first fall in deciduous-tree-land, I decided we should collect different kinds of leaves and look at them. It has since become a fun goal to try and find new leaves, plus I'm enjoying trying to identify the trees they came from. (The oaks though... ugh. There are a lot here, and they hybridize. I still don't know what species of oaks are in our own yard and I've been fussing over it for weeks now.)
Also pictured: our felt leaf garland. I made it last year with felt scraps from the thrift store. I like it.

It's nice to be creating things again.

Climbing at Mocanaqua

We went climbing a few weeks ago at Mocanaqua, a place about 2 hours away. Our friend E was trying out his new camera lens, so we got some good photos from the outing.

Dirty Doodle pretending to be angry. The bath was sooooo gross that night.

Dirty cute Roo.

That's the look J gives me when I'm nearing my wit's end with a frustrating crabby Doodle. This look says "Patience, love. She's only three." I get this look a lot.

Roo fading.

And whaddaya know? With enough climbers around to belay and play with children, even Mama can get on the rock. I just did one route, a 5.7, but it was good to climb nonetheless. Hopefully next season I'll get up even more, and maybe even start improving at this whole rock climbing thing.