Christmas Break

Hooray! I'm finally getting around to writing on the blog again. We had a great Christmas with my family, then headed out to Seattle, WA to meet up with Ted's family. After all that traveling we got to come home for 3 days before leaving again to meet up with our friends in Illinois; Kim, Brent, and their newest addition, Ella live in Streator, IL. We rode a train there and it was a lot of fun, and my new favorite way to travel!

The day after getting back from that, Ted had to leave yet again for Nevada to do some work for a grad student in the geology department. It was a lonesome and long week for me and Brigs. But we got to spend MLK day all together biking in the warm weather and getting a lot of outdoor work done.

Ted started school Jan. 17th, and his schedule this semester seems to be a breeze compared with last semester's Calc. 2 course. He's very excited to be taking Volconology, a topic he's been interested in his whole life. Me and B have been finding all sorts of activities around town to do since the weather is too chilly to be outside. The past week we have gone to the Nature Center, Natural History Museum, and several trips to Doodlebugs (a new used kid's clothing store here in town).

I'm getting very eager for spring to get here, and last week I put up a bird feeder right outside our bedroom window. I have been attracting all the birds from the neighbors' yards, and it's fun to watch them eat and fly away when they see Milo getting ready to attack from inside the window. My goal was to get cardinals to come and I have seen many at the feeder, so yay for me! I'm now in the process of fighting off the nasty squirrels that keep knocking the lid off and dumping the seeds all over the ground.

Here's a little video from a park we visited while in Seattle:

Drilling

Song for Brigham

Grammy Carolyn surprised us with a little song for Christmas this year that was wrote by her cousin. Here it is:
http://jasonmolin.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Briggsie-Briggsie2.mp3

Also if you click on this link http://jasonmolin.net/2012/01/briggsie-briggsie/ it will take you to his blog where there is a sketch of Brigs and the words to the song.
So, we've been playing it and Brigs gets a big smile when he hears his name:)

Gnome on the Throne

We've decided to start a strange new tradition here for our Morehouse Christmas season. So you may have heard of "Elf on a Shelf", where a small puppet elf thing is placed in various spots around the house doing mischievous things and keeping his eyes on children to report back to Santa.
Well, I thought that was kind of a cute idea, but since we are Morehouse's, of course we have to incorporate a gnome somehow! So we have come up with "Gnome on a Throne". Our knitted gnome has traveled all the way here from England. He remains nameless until Brigham can name him (next year maybe?), and has been hiding in different places around our house. Ted and I take turns hiding and finding him. So far that's about all he does...but when our kiddos are older I'm thinking we can make up a story to go along with him:)

All Done

Yesterday, I asked Brigs if he was "all done?" with his breakfast. And he said, "Adun". Not even kidding!! He's been doing this waving thing saying "dadadadada" lately when he's finished eating but yesterday was the first time it really sounded like words being put together. Can't believe how much he has changed these past months. He's now running more than walking. And he is quick! We took a picture of him in a mullet wig that I will have to post on here, it's hilarious!
And if you haven't heard the news...Brigs is going to be a big brother come June! We're pretty thrilled! However, it's not been the easiest last few weeks for me. The doctor put me on Zofran to help with the nausea, which has been a huge help. But, sonogram looked great last week. "Mim" (as we will refer to the unborn baby) is 3/4 of an inch long and already has arms and flipper legs:)

Enjoy your Thanksgiving this week!

Dyeing wool

This summer we watched poke-berry take over a corner of our backyard. Most of the berries were eaten by birds, but I did manage to snip off a few that ripened before the birdies could get at them. Here is how I used a poisonous but pretty wild herb to dye a clump of wool:

Materials
Wool or whatever you're dyeing (could be a silk scarf, paper, other piece of cloth)
Vinegar
Course salt (used for rinsing later)
Gloves
Zip-lock bag
Poke-berries (could also use red onion peels, red cabbage, elderberries, etc)
Keep in mind this process takes a month to complete

1. Cover area and use gloves 'cause this stuff gets everywhere. Spread the wool out and place the poke-berries and whatever else you want to use as a dyeing agent.
2. Roll up and squish the berries inside of the wool.

3. Add a cup of vinegar to the bag and put your wool inside. Let it sit like this for 2 weeks.
4. Once the 2 weeks are over, rinse out the wool using some type of course salt (sea salt, or kosher salt works fine).

5. Now let it dry for 2 more weeks. I know...the waiting kills me!


6. Alright, it's ready to go!

Down the slide

Here we were at the East Lawrence Neighborhood Association block party. Lots of food, a canoe filled with pop, cheap Free State brews, live music, a cake walk, and some weird hat contest! I love our town:)


Brigs had more fun eating the chalk than he did the food..and learned how to do the slipper-slide.