October 31st, 2009
Pictured here is a rare and welcome sight. Miah stopped her daily naps many months ago, but we have continued the routine, and she still has relax time every day. As I write this, she is upstairs “relaxing.” On most days, this consists of laying or sitting on her bed, surrounded by an audience of stuffed animals, and singing with gusto. Often she “reads,” sometimes with books, sometimes without, but the recitations are nearly a word for word match with the actual text. Or she recites from her Chinese DVDs, or just chatters, or possibly rests quietly, and every so often, about once a week, she actually falls asleep and naps for about an hour and a half! On those days we can expect bedtime to be about 9:30 pm instead of 7:30 pm. Although I miss having an uninterrupted productive time in the middle of the day, I have learned to appreciate this time in the evening now. As long as Miah gets her eleven hours or so of sleep, she’s a happy girl! And that makes for happy parents.
October 27th, 2009
Miah is Daddy’s helper, too. So what project have they been working on the past month and a half? Miah started calling it her “little house”, but she now realizes it’s a shed for the teardrop and storage.
She was fascinated watching the big truck dump the load of materials, and immediately laid claim on the project. When she can’t help, she supervises.
It’s been a challenge to complete, working on it only Sundays and evenings after work before dark.
Below are some snapshots of the progress. Some of it will remain unfinished until spring (paint, etc.), but the garage door is now on, and the space inside is filled! (She’s covering her ears in #8 because the compressor is too loud.)
October 23rd, 2009
Miah sporting her new Chinese umbrella received from friends.
I guess it’s been too long between posts. We’ve been busy, busy. It is harvest time, after all. We’ve made a few loads of applesauce (after gleaning the apples from Nancy and Alex’s orchard). In addition to that, some friends were out of state when we had the hard early frost, and they came home to a ton of winter squash needing to be used right away or thrown away. (They grow a bountiful garden, so the use of “ton” may not actually be an exaggeration.) They let us have what we thought we could use, so this past week Miah and I have cleaned, cooked, frozen, or eaten acorn, spaghetti, butternut, hubbard, and banana squash. Our freezer is getting quite full. It’s a good thing we have a second one for the cider we’ll be making next week! 
I’ve also finished quilting the beautiful quilt that Mom made for Warren and I. I’ll let her finish the binding before I post pictures. She made the quilt and owns the long-arm quilter, but prefers to let me do the quilting. It’s far from perfect, but I’m improving, and it’s a lot of fun. Miah enjoys her “Grandma time” while I sew. I have a feeling she’ll be a little seamstress someday. Here ↓ she’s having fun with pins and ribbons while I work on another project. Notice her choice of colors!
October 14th, 2009
Saturday we had a fun (albeit bumpy) time in the mountains. Good friends, beautiful fall colors, and freezing temperatures!
We drove north of Roslyn, on one of the many mountain roads, to a little lake. That’s Mt. Stuart in the background.
At one of our destinations.
And another.
October 9th, 2009
Warren and Miah hosted a banquet the other night. Complete with hand-made tables and chairs, two- and four-legged guests, and and a hearty meal. I never know what I’ll find when I come home from my weekly night out (playing volley ball), but Miah always enjoys her evening playing with Daddy.
Miah plays with lots of different toys, but her big leggos probably occupy the most of her time. She likes to build, and tear down, and build again. If you play with her, plan on getting the green leggos to play with. And don’t be offended if your creation doesn’t last very long.
