3 weeks away

It's almost been a year since Paul was born.  3 weeks away!  We are planning a birthday party at our house.

We pulled the weeds out of the sandbox and added some new sand to it yesterday.

My 93 year old grandfather and his wife (Josie, who have been married since before I was born) sent a package with gifts for the kids.  It was a nice surprise.  No reason...just because. ♥  It made my day.

Today we celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos, literally the falling asleep in the Lord.  When I was in college, a group of about 20 of us went to Russia to have a month of intensive language learning and we were each placed with host families.  I thought it was pretty neat that we flew from New York City to Helsinki, Finland, first.  St. Petersburg is just over the water (the Sea of Finland, which is connected to the Baltic Sea) from Helsinki.

I grew to love the little city of Novgorod (which translated into English means new-city).  For one, their icons are simple, natural colors, very linear, often with cream or yellow backgrounds:  http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/novgorod-school-icon-painting.htm
Also the kremlin area of Novgorod, which is a walled in city (we lived outside this area), protected by brick walls about 30 feet high, containing the large church of St. Sofia, where we often went on Sundays for the liturgy.

Isn't this a beautiful icon?  The hosts of angels above is just lovely! 

11 months old

Paul is 11 months old today...he has 7 teeth, likes to pull the wool from this sheepskin rug, favorite food is apples, loves nursing, stands alone, crawls fast, likes being chased, wants to do what his big sisters do (like play piano or look to see what they're doing if reading a book), says "Da da" and "Ma ma" and claps his hands!  

He's been a little fussier than usual lately, his cousin has "hand, foot and mouth" and we think he has it, too, but nothing on his hands, only a little red spot below his lip and a bunch of his feet (knees and bottom, too). 
Time flies...when you're little.  Growing up so fast!  In a month he'll be a year old. He's counting backwards:

Not sure where the photo on the sheepskin is for the next 3 months! I'm sure we did it every month.

 8 months - teething, a little sad looking ♥

 7 months - eating cantaloupe!

6 months - all smiles!

 And the 1st month!  So tiny. 

And 0 months - newborn ♥

Holtman's donuts

This is what's for brekkie this Saturday morning...

Local to Cincinnati and recently featured in the Edible Ohio magazine...we decided to make a trip to visit this shop, Holtman's donuts!  It was well worth the trip.  We got a dozen for $12.

 We also went to Off the Vine, just down the street for some fresh juice to celebrate Hannah's namesday!  It was a nice outing with Grammie. ♥  Walking around the city, seeing so much pretty stuff, like mosaics, old architecture, bicycles for rent, friendly people, etc.

This colorful rug is 100% wool, but $799 at IKEA.

We love this mustard yellow chair only $139, we ended up buying a colorful rug for $49 that we put in the girls bedroom. 

My 10 year old niece (who will be 11 in a few days) and 10 month old boy.  We went paddle boating! 

 And a little wool yarn macrame sample I started...