cozyblue

picture perfect

last weekend we had the pleasure of attending a wedding for two good friends (two members of stig's band, actually), at an awesome local venue called 'the farm'.



two very sweet folks, their families and friends, good music, good food, a gorgeous setting, some animal friends --- it was a picture perfect wedding.  



so much fun!





the kids had a blast too.  adella quickly fell in love with the two horses that lived there, and she spent most of her time feeding and petting them.





(note to self:  riding lessons for her as soon as possible)  now she's entering her little-girl-loves-ponies phase.  it's so cute.



it was nice to get dressed up and get out to do something different and something so fun.  (i just love weddings!)  i intended to have someone take a family picture for us, but once we left i realized i hadn't asked anyone.  oh well.





 more beautiful wedding pictures can be seen over on flickr...

baby playdate!

c'mon birthday girl - let's take a spin. 

are the mommies watching?  just try to look natural...

who, us?  no, we're simply playing and looking cute, definitely not trying to go for an illegal joyride.

hey - check out my daredevil moves. 

 

uh-oh.  did you hear that?  i think they're onto us... 

okay, bail.  make a run for it.  go, go, go!

wait - on second though - did you bring any snacks? 

  

you did?  yay!   

*thanks for the date, tallulah - and happy birthday, sweet girl!

knitting for friends

when emily told me that she was moving to alaska for a few years, it didn't take me long to decide that she would need something wooly, soft, handmade, and cozy to keep her warm.

after some ravelry browsing, i settled on the 'odessa' hat.  add some lovely green alpaca/wool yarn from purls yarn emporium (downtown), and a few evenings of knitting, and here it is:

 

isn't she a beauty? 

then i decided that i couldn't leave jason (em's cute boyfriend) out, so i cast on with some merino wool from my stash, and came up with this:

now, i just need a few more goodies to add to the package, and off to alaska they go!  emily and jason - i hope these knitteds keep you warm and cozy, and remind you of good friends who love and miss you!

*****

eta:  i was waiting to post this until i was sure i wouldn't spoil the surprise...  i got a wonderful email this weekend from emily, and it looks like the hats are going to be well-loved:

 

and here's another shot of the picture adella put in the package - adella and emily, birdwatching together - notice the happy smiles, the giant cardinal, and the binoculars:

 

yay!  glad you like them, emily!

friends

it's not too often that griffin gets a chance to play with a friend just his size.  but this week we got to catch up a little bit with our friends jan, finn, and tallulah.  jan's kids are just about the same age as adella and griffin.  (tallulah is just a few weeks older than griff.)

what cuties!  they make a pretty sweet pair, don't they?  there was plenty of adorable hair-pulling and toy giving-and-grabbing, and it was so cute to see them together, and hear them both talking the same language!

nc arboretum

tuesday we took emily to one of our favorite spots - the nc arboretum.  it was beautiful, as always.  we enjoyed showing her our most-loved corners of the arboretum, and discovering some new ones along the way.

we stopped for a picnic lunch and got a mini lesson in identifying bird songs.  emily is a self-proclaimed 'bird-nerd', and though she also claims she's just a beginner, she had plenty to teach us.  now i want to know more!

 

catching up, finding balance

well, it seems almost impossible for me to keep up with blogging lately.  things are going great, but busy too.  we are still (and probably will be for a while) adjusting to our new pace of life.  it's all coming back to me now:  doing things in short 20-minute bursts, one-handed - balancing little griffin in one arm while trying to manage the rest of the world with the other arm.  except this time it's all different because i've got one wonderfully energetic three-year-old thrown into the mix. 

so, we're working on a new balance here in our cozy blue house.  i'm not sure exactly what that means for the blog.  i guess it's a pretty safe bet that things will be quieter here for a while.  right now i'm lacking the brain power to come up with any catchy fun posts (or even complete sentences sometimes!) but you can be sure that i will be doing my best to keep up and to keep everyone updated with pictures of the kiddos.  (that's why you're here anyway, right?)  so while i can't promise any real substantial posts, i am going to try to at least post a picture each day every few days.  okay?

okay.  here we go.

friday:

saturday (on the way to the playground):

later (hot cocoa & coffee break) :

sunday (finn's birthday party):

whew!  i'm tired.  gee whiz - it is november already?

p.s.  that drawing at the top - that's stig.  and down near the bottom - C is for cookie!

monday

how about a week of pictures and quick hellos?

here are our good friends joy and greg, who left this morning.  we got to have a short-but-sweet visit with them as they were passing through on their way to hike part of the Appalachian Trail.  the really exciting part is that joy and greg just got married on saturday!  newlyweds!

unfortunately we weren't able to travel to the wedding, but i know it was amazing and beautiful, and we are so sorry to have missed it.  but the flip-side was that since they were taking a hiking honeymoon in our neck of the woods, we got a chance to visit with them on their journey.

adella had a ball while they were here, and probably wore them out  - showing them her room over and over, doing her little tricks, and just totally oozing with cuteness.

by the time they got to the end of the street, adella said, "oh, i really miss them so so much..."

*****

later, adella wanted her picture taken next to "our own pumpkin"

and she took this picture - this picture of her cat picture.  (she also took the first picture up there, of greg taking her picture...)

getting dizzy...

keeping cool

it's still very hot here, folks.  i'm trying not to be so grumpy about it, but i can't help it.  it's hot.  and carrying an extra 20 pounds around all day + hormones + extreme heat and no central air = me being a grouchy grouch.

but enough of that.  today we had a nice picnic at the botanical gardens (which adella insists on calling 'the terrible gardens' since she can't quite wrap her tongue around 'botanical') with our friends.  and summertime potlucks are so yummy - lots of homegrown tomatoes and basil (two of my favorite things ever - one day i will have a yard wth enough sun to grow them!!) and fresh fruit.  yu-um.

one of the most lovely things about the botanical gardens is the stream running through, and the big nice rocks to sit on. 

so naturally, on a hot day like today, no one needed much persuasion to get in the water to cool off.  we held the kids off as long as we could so we could sit and eat, but before long, everyone was in the water.

aahhhhh...

just a few more

these just in - a few more pics from our visit with christine, holly, and maya.  we had such a fun time seeing them.  two days just wasn't enough... i hope they come back soon!