Mattias is getting there!

Mattias is getting ever more mobile and stronger since turning 10 months old. He wants to be involved in whatever Timo is doing, or wants to get into all the non-toys (garbage can, electrical cords, kitchen cupboards) and often goes to the door and starts "talking" and banging on the door to be let outside to play. His favorite spot in the front yard is right at the corner of the flower bed, where he sits in the mulch and plays with the rocks around the border. In that backyard, he goes all over (and it's a big yard!), finding sticks and pushing his cart. He is good at going up stairs, but hasn't figured out going down, and thus has bonked his head a few times. At the park, he loves to climb stairs and go into tunnels, or sit at the top of the slide, getting increasingly excited. I need to get a photo of that. We are glad that the weather is still warm and sunny this month so we can be outside every day.

On this occasion, he pushed his cart all the way to the back of the yard and over onto the grass. He was SO excited to stand at the fence by himself and investigate the weeds and fencing.

And a quick photo of Timo, engaged in one of his favorite kitchen activities - emptying out the drawer with cooking utensils and tools. "Oh, Mommy! What's this one do?" he asks. By now he knows the answer to most of those questions, so then I turn the question around to him and he answers. Then we talk about cutting biscuits and grating carrots and cutting bread and squeezing lemons and opening cans - paying particular attention and care to which items are sharp. And then he dumps it all back in. (I've given up on organizing this drawer! As long as it closes, I'm happy.)

Soccer! It must be the fall season!

Hurray, it's soccer season!!!! (How many exclamation points can I add so that you sense our excitement?! See, there's another one! And another!) We attended a Colorado College women's game at the beginning of their season, on a Friday afternoon. We love that we live less than a mile from campus. It's not Wheaton or Duke or UNC or Indiana, but we'll take it! The women's team joined Division 1 last year in the Mountain West conference, which is pretty unusual for a college of 2,000 students. This was early in the season so it was a non-conference game (which, sadly, they lost 3-0). So wonderful to be outside, at a grass (!!!) field, sitting in the "stands" with students and families. 

Timo was really, really excited and insisted on bringing his little soccer ball and wearing his new (hand me-down) Adidas soccer shoes and kicking the ball throughout most of the game. Fortunately the seating is benches built into the side of a grassy hill, so there was plenty of room for that! And plenty of room for us to eat our picnic supper at halftime. Sorry, Mom, no cold chicken and roast potatoes, it was just sandwiches and fruit. Hopefully we can fit in another game this season (they don't have lights, so most of the games are early afternoon or Sunday mornings.)

This photo was at the start of the game when Timo was still sitting quietly. Once it got going, he didn't sit down again.

Anytime there was a goalie punt or high kick, Timo would raise his hands and shout out, "Whoa! Big high one!" After some initial 'looks', the students nearby got used to him and didn't seem to notice.

Jim turns thirty-something!

Happy Birthday, Jim! Yep, he's 37 years old now. He got back from his trip to Uganda late on the evening of Sep 1st, so a few days later - when the weekend arrived - we finally had his birthday meal and dessert, and opened his presents and all his cards from family. (Now for the hard work of deciding which book on his Amazon wish list he is going to get with his gift card. Thanks to Katie and Noah!)

The dinner - a surprise meal of new recipes, as always - turned out to be both amazing and disappointing. We had a main course salad with fresh kale, roasted leeks and beets, sun-dried tomatoes, lentils, pumpkin seeds and a lemon-maple-tahini dressing. Amazing. Oh, and maple-glazed carrots. I also made naan dough and was ready to broil it in the oven (okay, so I've made it once before, but it had been so long, I considered it a 'new' recipe again) - but after an HOUR, our oven still had not gotten hotter than 400 degrees. Time to call the Landlord. So... we had baked bread circles, or whatever you want to call them. They tasted fine, but just worlds away from real naan. Disappointing. During dinner we dreamed up a plan for our future backyard patio and outdoor kitchen, complete with a brick outdoor oven. Oh, and then we had chai, too (Timo had it for dinner. A complete meal. Tea and bread.).

Isn't he the cutest! Look at those little curls coming in the back!

And Timo with his crazy hair, too.

This year we decided to split up the dinner and the dessert into two days, which was fun (and kept us from stuffing ourselves silly in one meal). Sunday afternoon teatime was chocolate cake! It was a new vegan chocolate cake recipe, using coffee as the liquid and baked in a Bundt pan. Very rich and moist and delicious, if I do say so myself. Paired with soy vanilla ice cream, which we just discovered at Trader Joe's.

 

We froze a quarter of the cake for another time, and then I sliced up the rest, and Timo & I ran around to some neighbors to deliver it. Very fun time, and we ended up having a nice visit and conversation with some new neighbors at the end of the street who have a 1 year old son.

Follow up: a walk for Gemma's birthday

On the morning of Gemma's birthday, the boys and I met Fiona and Megan & Emmalyn at the main section of Garden of the Gods for a walk and picnic lunch. How wonderful to have such a friend to spend the morning with!! It was a really sunny, warm day but that didn't stop Megan and Timo from running and hopping all the way. They both were also very curious about all the signs along the trail ("rattlesnakes may be present", "protect our natural resources", "Stop, climbing gear and permit required"), and the rock climbers we saw at several points. It reminded me so much of our first trip there, and Gemma's joyful inquisitiveness about all the same things.

Fiona brought pink sugar cookies for us all - which of course we had first thing at lunchtime!

 

View of the rocks at a pull-off point on our way back home

And - remembering back to August 2013... We had just arrived in Colorado Springs (with Jaja, who drove out to help with the move) and spend the first Sunday morning on a walk and picnic lunch at the same location.

5th Birth-Day for Gemma

Our minds have been full of Gemma these past weeks, as we have been anticipating this Day, her Birthday. Though she is no longer on earth and in our home, September 1 will always be her birthday, and she will always be a part of our family.

I recently heard a recitation of this poem, and it struck me - struck me fully - as beautiful, true words that I can hear Gemma saying for her own life. She was taken from us in the night - but her Creator was there, guiding her path, and there was LIGHT. I don't mean that in a metaphorical sense - I mean that literally and with forceful reality. These words are more true for her now than ever before!! 

Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
    If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings
    to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute—
    you’re already there waiting!  
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
    At night I’m immersed in the light!” It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
    night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;

you formed me in my mother's womb.

I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking!

Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration - what a creation!

You know me inside and out,

you know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;

all the stages of my life were spread before you,

The days of my life all prepared

before I'd even lived one day.

Psalm 139, verses 7-16, The Message version

Hallelujah! Amen and Amen! We say that only with many, many tears and trembling.

...And now, for some fun pics of our beautiful, goofy, sweetie-head.

9 days old!

6 months old and starting to eat solids

10 months old and walking!

First Birthday - a chocolate ice cream cone at local shop in Bloomington, Indiana, with some colleagues of Jim's from the university. Gemma took one lick of the ice cream, and then went to go play.

One Year Old pic at the rail-trail bridge

20 months old (and finally getting more hair)

Second Birthday, at Granddad and Nonna's house in Wheaton, IL. We had a few friends and family gathered to celebrate with balloons and cake and M&M's, thanks to Nonna's initiative. Gemma hadn't figured out how to blow out the candles, but she had no trouble eating up the cake and asking for a second piece!

2 1/2 years, after nap snuggles with 6 month old Timo

2 1/2 years old, in Durham

almost 3, in Colorado Springs (helping get Daddy's birthday supper ready)

3rd Birthday - in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We had friends Miriam and Karen join us for presents, birthday hats, and a "chocolate cake with pink frosting", Gemma's requests in the months leading up to her birthday! This time she definitely knew how to blow out the candles!