Goodbye Fall, hello Winter

Dear darling Benny boy–Last Saturday looked like this:

and today:

And trust me, I have some fun photos,  a ten foot igloo and even a video.

But before we move on to winter, I need to dwell on fall for just a bit longer.

Last week, baby Hope provided the perfect excuse to host these little sweeties for a sleepover. We begged for Darren too, but Kit assured me he wouldn’t sleep a wink. And since Eden ended up with me most of the night, I’m trusting Kit’s motherly wisdom.

Every family with slightly older children (Gabe and Mary are still little! Don’t try to tell me otherwise!) should take on toddlers once in a while. As you can imagine, Mary was in heaven with three little temporary sisters.

And while I think Kit’s job is incredibly difficult (five kids six and under!), the visit was pretty easy for me because the boys were at the little ones beck and call every minute.

There may have been an argument about who got to hold Eden in this photo.

Mary took advantage of her adoring little friends to host a tea party, play dollies and decorate the playhouse.

Because it was Saturday (and glorious, perfect beautiful weather) all the little girls tagged along to two soccer games, and one more park for good measure. Xander and Gabe both finished the season with perfect records: Gabe’s team lost every game, Xander’s team won every game.

You remember the little stage at Canyon Rim? All the divas took a turn performing and I laughed and laughed as Eden sang and the older girls served as backup dancers.

Oh, I love them.

I finally finished Stefan’s college quilt– isn’t it lovely? Every fabric is scattered with stars, which fits in well with the star quilt pattern. Let’s be honest, I’m not really posting these photos for you, but for Dad’s friends at work. But I think you’d be impressed Ben. The seams aren’t quite as crooked as your and I think all the sides are actually the same length. Lisa– the Queen of Quilting– taught me the  secret to quilting (and knitting and photography and LIFE) is don’t be frightened of difficulties, intimidated by those who are more skilled or afraid of failure. Just dive in and do your best.

See the tiny multi-colored star pattern on Stefan’s right shoulder? The quilt was almost done when we left for England and we needed just one more pattern. We found that scrap in the bargain bin at Liberty of London.  Fate, I tell you, pure fate.