What!!

What has happened?! How did we get THREE BOYS in our family?!

Cosmic Kids

Yoga on Youtube for kids! Really cool! And in fact the boys (particularly Timo) are very attentive and follow the teacher's instructions well. She tells a story and does poses throughout her narrative for the kids to follow along. I'm very glad that we've 'discovered' this diversion now that the colder weather is arriving.

Grandparent photos

And may it be said that the Japanese maple is beautiful in the fall!

And - Granddad, too. And leaves!

Granddad joined us for the 2nd half of Nonna's visit, and Jim took Friday off work so we could all have the long weekend together. The weather was chilly and clear, and we decided to stay close to home instead of running around trying to 'see' things (Biltmore House will have to wait for another visit, as will the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Nature Center and the National Park...). But who isn't happy with cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a morning of raking and yard work, and ordering out supper from Mad Batter cafe?!

Nonna and Granddad had 1 more present for Mattias's birthday - a new Tonka dump truck!!

Stuff the trash can full or leaves and dump it over the fence down the hill... ah, a big property

the cutest little squirt!

Non-n-n-n-A!

"Nonn-AAA!" Guess who came for a visit, much to everyone's great excitement? I can still hear Gemma yelling that when she was 2, calling for Nonna to come to her. We heard lots more calls for "Nonna" last week - the boys were really excited to see Nonna! We had some low-key days with her, doing our daily routines (including several appointments) and enjoying play time with Legos and trucks, short walks around Sylva, a trip to the library, Eye-Spy quilt, making cookies, paint-with-water and lots of books.

Campfire will burn tonight, campfire will burn

There's a Deerfoot song for that...

Saturday night - what else is perfect but a campfire with friends, sausages (and tofu dogs), lentil stew, homemade bread, and boys! Over at  the Whiteheads with Dustin & Sadie, Amos and Guthrie -

Dustin and Sadie and baby-on-the-way

 

A song before bedtime and good-byes

Boys!

Big grins! Brothers!

First foods

Hawk has been slowly trying - and mostly liking - some new foods! So far he has tried banana, applesauce, sweet potato, roasted broccoli, pasta, melon, steamed carrots, and rusks. He's (obviously) still trying to get the hang of swallowing food, so it's very cute to see him using a finger or the end of a spoon in his mouth as he learns to suck, chew and swallow. (There's still a lot of yawning and gagging as he learns!) I've been spoon-feeding him thinned out baby food and also finger foods. He's so proud of himself sitting up in the booster seat at the table. Last week he really enjoyed having pasta with us at dinner. Who doesn't love a baby with pasta hanging out of his mouth?!

Dr Mattias is keeping his stethoscope handy just in case.

Driveway series 2-A, ed 11/5

Just kidding. But so pretty around here even during the first week of November! On this particular late afternoon it was still quite mild, but we are hoping for a colder winter this year - the trees and animals and insects need it.

A boy and his spear-stick

And another boy and his stethoscope

Hawk's first time in the backpack carrier and he actually fit and liked it! I've been sad that he can't ride in the Ergo front carrier like how I carried our other three so much (because he can't spread his hips wide enough to sit at the proper angle), so it was exciting to discover he is strong enough to be in this carrier now! Six months old and just over 13 lbs, and gaining better neck flexibility and strength!

Fall colors (along the driveway)

We had our first freeze last week, and temps during the day this past Sunday barely got much warmer - so our family afternoon walk only lasted down the driveway and back! But it sure is pretty around here this time of year. Beautiful views wherever you look. No wonder people drive out to western North Carolina in autumn.

Jim and I are reminding each other to enjoy the season because we have to move out of this rental house in January, so our days at this much loved spot (quiet house but only blocks from town) are coming to an end. Wherever we live next will certainly require an adjustment in our daily routines and patterns, notably: more driving and less walking to places. Ugh. I think it will be location #14 in our 16 years of marriage [if I count the 2 summers when we worked at camps (since we fully moved out of our home to go there) but not counting the 3 times we lived with family or friends for 3-6 weeks]. Phew!! We starting to do some sorting and early packing already.

Micro-sneak peek at family pics... we attempted the self-timer in the same spot as last year. You'll have to wait and see if the full family photo makes it to a Christmas card.

Of course the boys didn't mind the cold much and were very happy finding black walnuts to gather and throw and smash.