ship watching morning

ship watching morning, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

captain

captain, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

ahoy matey!

ahoy matey!, originally uploaded by ellajohn. This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of them. Ella's piratey jig makes me laugh.

savannah tastes good

I took the tour. Ninety minutes of historic Savannah with baby sleeping and Ella in a trance. Her head fell over on my bag for a while, but she was looking and listening intently for quite a while. The city is gorgeous and green. Ella got in the pool and dunked her head under, but it was even too cold for her. The trees are all still green there. Forty eight hours in Savannah, and we had lots of great seafood. And grits. On the last night we were going to get a pizza and go back to our room, but E said, "Seafood, please!" For lunch she had mussels at Tapas and was on a roll. We walked over to an Italian place called Cosentino's and had a great dinner, shrimp, calamari, and pasta. We took most of it back to our room when baby grew weary of the candlelight, but it was delicious.

savannah

We are deep into the sweet tea nation. Baby ate soft string beans and almost a full cup of homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner last night. We sat outside by the river and watched boats.
This morning the kids played in a giant sandbox down at the river, and we went for a walk. Further proving that I am middle aged, I'm thinking about taking one of those historic trolley tours during John's meeting this afternoon.

The children fell asleep nicely in our hotel, but it was not lasting. Ella fell out of bed in the middle of the night, and the baby woke up every three minutes. My eyes are made of burning coals.

ella's pumpkin moonshine

ella's pumpkin moonshine, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

baby owls go out at night

baby owls go out at night, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

apple pie

apple pie, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

At some point we are actually going to Savannah, but first we are going to Newport to Gwynn and Bert's burrito hullabaloo. With pie.

name your bird

owl, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

I think I have to make more of these. Doesn't every kid need one of these just to wear?

little owl man

little owl man, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Here is John's halloween hat. I'm going to make an owl "necklace" to go over his brown coat with felt and real feathers.

after the laundry

http://www.snowbooks.com/thecrafterscompanion/contributor.html

baa baa brown sheep

baa baa brown sheep, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Someone else got new shoes too. We are feeling the first of the winter chillies around here. I got him the sheepskin liner that goes in these as well. I must be turning into a grandma. I've been worried about everyone's feet staying warm. Next thing you know it I'll be pushing cookies and noodle soup.

internet confession

Dear John,

I bought these Earth boots. They claim to straighten your spine into the yoga pose called mountain pose. That is great, but mostly I like the way that they look. Cowboy boots that I can't fall off of.

I swear I'll thrift all my clothes for a year.

draw and write

draw and write, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

wizard hole

wizard hole, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

It looks like this tree has an arm growing out of it's eyeball.

roasted kabocha, sweet potatoes and beets with garlic and toasted nori

roasted kabocha, sweet potatoes and beets with garlic and toasted nori, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

This was great with brown rice cooked with some japanese bonito broth and a bit of soy sauce.

motion

motion, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

ella

ella, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

"..if you get dizzy, get out into the sun and bang on the door of the house where your house comes from..." billy jonas

spotty orange was a grandaddy longlegs

Big C stepped on spotty orange and he subsequently died, albeit not immediately. Big C was in big playground trouble. Five kids whispered one to another, " C is a poo-poo head." Ella said it out loud and got in trouble. No longer the line leader, she had to go to the back of the line. Sharry made her tell me about it in the car. I do admire her passion for spotty orange and her desire to avenge his death, but we just don't say poo poo head in our family. I took away her TV priviledge until monday, i.e. the hotel in Savannah.

Red got her almost five year old ears pierced today and Ella is flaming jealous. We told her a while back that she could get her ears pierced when she was of a certain age, maybe nine or twelve. I can't even remember right now. I'm sticking. Why do girls want to be friends with a mean girl?

I need a walk in some fresh air. I think we are going to Pandapas.

focaccia, otherwise known as picasso

focaccia, otherwise known as picasso, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

"Focaccia was an artist who took things apart and put them back together in interesting ways," said Ella.

"Who?", I said.

"Focaccia," she said with a slightly impatient tone.

"Who is Focaccia?", I said.

"Am I going to have to go all the way downstairs to get you the book and show you?" she said.

"Do you mean Picasso?" I said.

"Yes, "she giggled, "How do you spell that?"