ruby june

ruby june, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Someone is talking in full sentences and is so excited that she has "shoulders". She has one serious southern accent, climbs like a goat, and loves roasted asparagus.

ella on her first birthday

ella on her first birthday, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Here is my little pre-digital baby walking on the Park Blocks in downtown Portland, Oregon.

ruby's easter nest

ruby's easter nest, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

It has been all flowers and fevers around here. The children and I have had a cold, then Ruby had a double ear infection. Today John has a fever and took a nap on a doormat. Somehow we haven't missed a day of school or slowed down. Today we went to the opening of our farmer's market. I've been dreaming of baby arugula for many cold months. We heard some music and saw a tiny baby goat. Over at the school, we worked on our herb garden in the warm sun. I'm betting John will need a trip to the doctor's office tomorrow. Before bed he absolutely hallucinated the location of the toilet and peed on the living room wall. Oh, the beauty of it all.

My friend made this little fairy and two others for John and Ella. She sells them in her etsy shop, Dancing Sky. Run, run over there. They are tiny and perfect with their hand embroidery and wool hair.

spring

spring, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

hippity hoppity

hippity hoppity, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

rolling

rolling, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Moving the children's kitchen up from the playroom to the living room has been a lot of fun. Our house looks even more like a preschool, but I get to see this little person don her chef's hat and apron many times a day. Here she is "rolling" herself out. It is the kind of play that suits all of our ages. Ella writes the menus and orders, John generally cooks, and Ruby is both a cook and a waiter.

ruby at the stove

ruby at the stove, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

kneading

kneading, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

tree on stump

tree on stump, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

We spent the weekend in Richmond, and I did the Monument Ave 10K with our friend Esther. My toenails are still aching, and I have a blood blister on my heel, but our team raised nearly four thousand dollars for the Massey Cancer Center. Thanks to all of you who donated to the efforts of TeamSter. I want to do it again next year, faster and with better socks.

happy birthday Hallie

happy birthday Hallie, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

This little Waldorf style doll has a crocheted wig with an entire skein of incredible red hair tied on one strand at a time. I know how a little girl likes to make braids, then ponies, and then let the dolls hair down. When I saw this haircolor I knew that I had to make this little one for a feisty little redhead in our lives.

Hallie the Second

16' waldorf doll, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Here is my latest Waldorf doll.

sally, five

sally, five, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

kindergarten

kindergarten
Originally uploaded by ellajohn

He is going for his half day visit next week, and he can't seem to stop singing about it. Today he was out riding his bike with John and had his first big fall. He skinned his knee and had a bloody nose, and when he got home he didn't want to talk about it. Tonight in the bathtub he said that he really hadn't crashed. He just had some birthmarks that I had never noticed.

crochetting

crochetting, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

These are super quick to make me feel a little bit dressed up. I even started a hat for myself but ran out of the yarn. I love the Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride wool, and there is a little ruffle at the wrist.

celtic woman

celtic woman, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

We are enthralled to be able to do anything outside.

college

sbp, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

high school

1984, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

middle school

sixth grade, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Spring

Just in case anyone needs to know what I want for mother's day..... I'm sure I'd be just as happy with one made out of macaroni, but isn't this just so pretty?

birth of the cool

John says that when he puts on my glasses he can see everything in 3D. Actually, he says, it looks like he is about to fall in a big hole.

Today he shouted that he needed to talk about some letters that might go with double circles that make the ooooooo sound. He knew that an L on the end sounded like "OOL" and he wanted to add a SSSSS sound to write "cool" and a "Tu' sound to write "tool".

He is going to learn to read and write before he masters the alphabet.

past blast

leaf looking, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

she blinded me with science

she blinded me with science, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Every child at our school does a science fair project. There are no ribbons and no winners, but each child in kindergarten through eighth grade gathers on an early spring evening to stand by their work and present it to friends and family.

I picked up some "crystal" pipe cleaners to make models of the crystals she grew in solution, and by the end of the night they had become a hat. I'm always amazed by how poised she can be speaking to adults.

needle

Because my husband is so very groovy, he sent me on a virtual scavenger hunt for Valentine's Day. A google map led me to this incredible patch of forest to meet with an acupuncturist. I was met by a friendly dog and walked up the drive in the snow. I would swear that there were faeries there and certainly a few ghosts. I crossed a small arched bridge and entered her round healing house. In a cloud of bergamot and spearmint, she put four needles in my ears, one in my right wrist, and many in my left foot. I was left alone in a humming room with a view of the woods. My brain continued it's usual chatter, but I felt warm and floaty.

Solitude is what I crave right now, so I had a perfect day. Afterwards, I went out to lunch by myself and drank cup after cup of spiced tea in an indian restaurant. Then I fingered the yarn at a local yarnshop. I bought some Malabrigo Aquarella in a lavender, blue, rose colorway to finish an over the top Waldorf doll for Ella. She has long grey hair with the lavender woven through it and a circlet of felt oak leaves and needle felted acorns. I've been wanting to experiment with making dolls that are not young girls, and I am inspired by the mother earth character in The Root Children.

Everyone is asleep, and I can sit with my tea and Ravelry. A friend showed me how to knit Continental style as opposed to English, and I can't wait to try it. Isn't life all about learning and unlearning? Picking or throwing? What shall it be?

crayons

crayons, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

All three children love to sit at the table together and draw in the afternoons. I'm surprised by the amount of time Ruby spends sitting up there writing and drawing.

We are trying to pull ourselves up out of the February doldrums. Noses are still running, and Ruby has many more days of medicine, but the daylilies are coming up, and I saw four Eastern Bluebirds at the children's school last week.

john:: aerial map of columbus, nebraska

john:: topographical map of columbus, nebraska, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

John's drawing and letters are coming along. He has a completely difference process than Ella did, and I'm enjoying letting him approach them at his own pace.

ella

ella, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

She is so tired of sharing her room with her little brother. I thought it would take longer, and there is really nothing we can do about it.

signs of spring

Underneath the ten or so inches of melting snow there are four inch tall daffodils.

babushka, baby!

babushka, baby!, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Ruby calls the littlest doll inside the set of nesting dolls, "babushka baby".

This afternoon she played the harmonica to the jack in the box in an attempt to get him to pop out.

We are wallowing in some sickness around here. All I do is walk around behind John picking up tissues. Ella turned green after her bath tonight and sat in the bathroom with a glass of ice water.

We'll just have to work through it.

kiss kiss

kiss kiss, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

vintage snow

vintage snow, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

I went on a Valentine's day hike with this guy, the big one on the right. We climbed up two miles through deep albeit packed snow to see the frozen Cascade Falls. We left the children with friends and headed out into the blissfully quiet woods.

us

us, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Cascade Falls Hike

Cascade Falls Hike, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

watching the birds

watching the birds, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

We've been feeding the birds outside the kitchen window, and Ruby set up the heart shaped stool so she'd have a place to sit when she comes to watch the birds. This afternoon we put lots of birdseed on the back deck as well and had many visits from the cardinals, nuthatches, titmice, and chickadees. This photo is my Valentine to all of you.

knit purl

knit purl, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

I love learning to make something new. I have to do it after the children go to bed, and I'm so afraid that I'm going to lose my place and not know how to get back.

painting

painting, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

dinosaur john

dinosaur john, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Here's daddy in the early seventies. I love the way he really hasn't changed much.

ella and I made knitting needles

ella and I made knitting needles, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Now I'm ready to just sit on the couch and knit for a while.

snowella

snowella, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

yarngirl

yarngirl, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Ella and I did a friendship bracelet booth for a school fundraiser this weekend. Here's Ella wearing the yarn. She made the signs for the booth and very patiently taught a lot of kids how to make them. She has been knitting quite well lately with this very same cotton. A presentation on the Peace Corps on the school's service day really caught her attention, and now she counts her Peace Corps work as part of her school calendar. The second graders are folding origami cranes to make mobiles to sell to make money for their service project.

my small yogaman

my small yogaman, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Kokeshi Japanese dollmaking

Kokeshi Japanese dollmaking, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

snow::man

snow::man, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

snowbound

So, we live in the land of snow on Friday. Once again we could have a foot on top of last weeks remnants. The university is closed, so daddy is knocking around the house, i.e. trying to work from the kitchen table. I'm procratinating at bit, drinking yet another cup of coffee before I start cleaning. I spent the last few nights making some dolls for a school fundraiser, and Ella and I still have some crafting to do. We are going to make more knitting needles and put together kits for making friendship bracelets. I want to clean our playroom and am thinking about bringing the children's kitchen up to the living room.

I'm roasting a chicken with lemon and garlic, making veggie chili, baking some bread, and making a pie

sweet tiny one

sweet tiny ruby, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

snowfamily

snowfamily, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

ella made

ella made, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Here are Ella's new knitting needles. About once a month I let her stay up late and make something with me. It is nice to be able to work on something with her without the little toddler hands trying to reach for every sharp object we have.

We are hoping to make a few more sets of these to sell at the Chocolate Party to benefit our school next Saturday.

The Rowan Kidsilk Haze is waiting for me to get a knitwit and make an ethereal flower scarf or decorate some little mittens.

miss ruby

miss ruby, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

ella's gloves

ella's gloves, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

good morning

I heard the snow plow go by the house last night and knew that it would be here when I woke up. I kids were fairly unrestrainable when they woke up. Eventually they just came to me room and sang "Good morning, good morning, it's great to stay up late". Singing in the Rain again. Then they tried to do some sun salutations in my bed. I think we have about ten inches of snow at this point, and I think I'm going to go press another pot of Russell's delicious coffee.

props

John didn't wear a beard yesterday, but he spent the whole day with a paperback book tucked under his arm with a conspicuous bookmark. He has been "doing a lot of reading". He just came downstairs today with the book under his arm again.

fourness dressed as his daddy

fourness dressed as his daddy, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Imagine this small person having a tantrum in the middle of Kroger. Theater in the round. He had a tough afternoon. Even at bedtime he was crying that his pajamas just didn't look right.

moses supposes

moses supposes
Originally uploaded by ellajohn

jaunt

Ruby and I just went away for the weekend. A very quick short weekend. It was fun to just have one child for thirty six hours, and I think the big kids enjoyed being with their daddy. I was about to say that I went to two birthday parties, and then I realized that only one was a party. I went to the seventy ninth birthday celebration of a family friend. Today was my brother's birthday, and we stood around in his kitchen talking and eating hard boiled eggs. It was a low key party, and Ruby and I were the only guests, just the way he likes it.

beatbox

beatbox
Originally uploaded by ellajohn

ruby's new poncho

ruby's new poncho, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

she speaks

I'm blathering on about getting ready to go, getting our coats on, getting our shoes on, getting our lunchboxes, getting our hats on, and Ruby calmly looks at me and says, "The door is locked."

She knows all the words.

listening

listening, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

If I put this on in the car Ella will say, "Hush, John, It is the cello"

playing spy

playing spy, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Lyra face paints have been a huge hit around here.

breakin' up christmas

breakin' up christmas, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Hooray Jake, hooray John
breakin' up christmas all night long
Santa Claus, done and gone
breakin' up christmas right straight along.

Don't you remember a long time ago
The old folks danced the doesey-doe.

Breakin' up christmas is a tradional appalachian tune I always think of when we are carrying out the tree and packing up all the decorations. I was sad to see the tree go this year. I think it may be the prettiest one we've had even if Ruby did keep the bottom half fairly undecorated.

These are the nutcrackers I got for the children, and the nut bowl is starting to get low. John has a hard time so Ella cracks the nuts for both of them. I like to see them sitting at the table together eating nuts and talking, just the two of them.

happy new year

happy new year, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

holiday

holiday, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

rubymama

rubymama, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

So, it may be the sixth of January and I have yet to lay down some new year's resolutions. I'm cooking them up in a a pot. Maybe I'm waiting for this tree to come down or my toes to warm up. It is going to be out with the old and in with the new.

I'm thinking about thai cooking, christmas stockings , knit wits, the alphabet, curtains, ways to hide televisions, floor coverings, moving, tiny mittens, cursive, and exercise. I'm thinking about the people around me who are truly genuine. I'm thinking about positive energy, about religion, about Walt Whitman. Bach and beat boxing. I'm thinking about my littles, my partner, myself.