miniman feeds the thankful tree

sunday road trip

Since moving in this past summer we have been trying to explore this new state we call home. This past Sunday we ventured out once again for some birding, visiting ancient civilizations, and of course to see how many Lincoln statues or Lincoln references we could spot along the way. perhaps it was still the hazy feeling in my head and body from being sick -or perhaps it was miss K's insistence that we listen to "Lincoln and Liberty" over and over and over as well as (re)read the Lincoln biography from the library ("Abraham Lincoln" by Amy L. Cohn. it is a wonderful book for young and old. check it out!)- but I felt absolutely haunted by the giant man today. on our way home we passed by New Salem and glimpsed a large statue of Lincoln on horseback bent over reading a book. my favorite one so far!

"hurrah for the choice of a nation!
Our chieftan so brave and so true;
we'll go for the great reformation,
for Lincoln and Liberty too"
-from the Carl Sanburg's "the American Songbag"

exploring over 12,000 years of civilization on the Illinois River

a peek back in time layer by layer

the kiddos set up their own village along the river. this discovery room at the museum was incredible!


catching snow outside the museum

birds spotted on our outing:
-red tailed hawks
-american kestrels
-a barn owl
-great blue herons
-two snow geese (yes the white dots in the photo below)

the trip back home: miniman fell asleep holding big sister's hand. her take on it: "he's so cute when he's asleep! oh how my heart just grows for him!". the girl has got a way with words!

Belated Thanksgiving

A happy (albeit belated) Thanksgiving to you.
a couple of posts today since i have been a bit absent. we have been hunkered down trying to shake off strep throat but are on the road to recovery!

on Thanksgiving proper we wandered around in a patch of woods not too far from home and played with leaf boats and built dams in one of the small streams.

the morning after:
we decided to thaw some of our berry pickings from the summer to eat on pancakes and use as facepaint.

the art of tritrophic ineractions

some b&w prints of Maria Sybilla Merian's work + salvaged window = a happy wall

still can't believe this is Indiana

we crossed the border for a hike two weekends ago and were pleasantly surprised.
In the middle of flatville lies a gorgeous landscape carved out by ancient glacial melt rivers.

warmth

some mittens for K ready to go out and play



a scarf for miniman. since i can only knit small projects due to the pains and numbness in my left hand I am trying to so up as many of the warming winter items this year. The inside layer is made up of scraps from felted sweaters similar to Josh's and then used a piece of fabric from the scrap box that I got for christmas from Reprodepot last year. Then I just quilted the two together with a zig zag pattern.

Laterne Laterne Sonne Mond und Sterne

St. Martin's Tag

my bus spotter

klara's pic

perhaps i should just always hand the camera over to her

a little expedition

after a few days recooperating from strep throat we decided to make a small excursion to a lake not too far away from home to do a bit of birding. the original plan was to head north east to see the sandhill cranes but nobody quite had the enrgy for that long journey (but hopefully next weekend).

may i present

the little prince (with big sister and grandma in the background) and....

viking girl


i hope you all had a wonderful holiday