lost and found

Puppy went out yesterday morning with the other dogs at 3 am and had disappeared without a trace an hour later... no sign all day, except that Daphne dog suddenly went missing yesterday evening, as well. Daphne came back an hour ago, but no puppy. Then about fifteen minutes ago, Mark let another dog in from the yard and heard yipping up at the top of the road. He went out with a flashlight and came back with a furry, cold and hungry bundle. We are so glad this was a happy update and I was not wanting to post a sad one.

 Minerva is home, hopefully she has learned following big dogs out past the yard is not a good idea...

Introducing Minerva

Esme and Minerva, the puppy we have kept from Nova's litter of Catahoula/Blue tick cross.  Mark named her this because she was 'the thinker out of the group'... and she looks so much like her grandmother Misha.

Esme helping put together the K'nex roller coaster set I gave to her and Mark for Christmas.

Mostly simple brown dress

 Brown dress (this is a color that looks good on Esme, so I grabbed it up when I saw it at two dollars a yard), with little leftovers of blue dot fabric for facings and a butterfly/bug applique for decoration.

I started this Christmas night and finished it tonight.  I haven't done one in a while and it was nice to finish one again.  Esme has been wearing handmade dresses during her school break and they still look so good on her in this style.

Christmas morning

 Twilight sparkle princess pony, which she had asked for

Grandma's blanket I had been working on for several months.

The one I have this size doubles as a shawl while I am reading or making coffee in the morning

Blowing up the pink inflatable chair

 Thank you, Daddy!

 Reading books in style with a new chair and Christmas socks.

Esme was thoroughly spoiled by us, by Grandma Irene and also by Nana Josie from Minnesota.  She received a lot of things she wanted and things she needed, as well.  We hung her ringbar (trapeze and ring combination) up temporarily on a beam but it will go outside when it is warm enough.  She already has impressive strength and can pull herself up on it upside-down (no pictures of that).  Grandma spoiled us, too. and gave Esme  a dress-up magnetic paper doll book and kitchen sets, several stuffed things that also have uses, books, a video, lots of needed clothing and a pretty jacket.  My big gift for Esme was a Playmobil Indian village set (1980s vintage with horses and teepee and a full family of grandparents, parents, baby and child.  Then Mark had found the Twilight Sparkle pony, a stuffed Pinkie Pie and the chair seen above.  I got her more clothes and pipe cleaners in pink/purple colors and she immediately began to attach them to things as is her habit.  Nana Josie and Papa Kenney had sent her several Barbie dolls and a set of linking rings, as well as a stuffed teddy bear.  The teddy bear immediately got an arm sling built out of pipe cleaners.  She is really uncertain of what to do next with anything, just like usual for a Christmas morning hehe ;)  Currently, she is running around outside in her new jacket blasting off energy before lunch.

I'd like to get some time to sit down and cut out a dress out of brown or blue fabric and work on one a bit.  Mark has lots of plans for us tomorrow and I don't think I'll get to sew then.  He bought me more yarn, and I have to figure out what to knit next as now everyone has a blanket finally and I have to see what is needed, next. 

We played with the Indian village quite a bit - they picked 'raspberries', had a fight and then a reconciliation with a brown bear (the teddy bear), gave it honey and corn soup, went fishing in the canoe and fed all the horses.  

bit and playing outside

Playing outside 

Playing with the crank on the trailer, it is an 'invention' that smashes leaves. 

 

A leaf! 

Looking off across the yard 

Standing by the rose tree

Thoughtful

playing outside before sunset

I had one of those 'I'll think back on this in the future' moments the other day with Esme.  I was listening to 'Great Big Sea' on the headphones and she dances across the room shimmering in the early morning sunlight.  I hold out the headphones to her and she puts one ear in and 'jams' to the last riff of 'I'm a Rover' with me, saying this is good music.  The moment made me smile several times later that day.. Sometimes I feel that 'this moment' is resonating in time forward and backward.. something tied to the past and that will be remembered and 'touched' back in the future.  And I love those moments... they let me know I'm in a sweet spot.

We're getting ready for Christmas.. things are wrapped, the Christmas stocking is ready and I'm finishing up knitting one last Christmas present.  Esme has been on break for several days and won't go back to school until a week after the new year.  She has been showing off her reading skills again and generally telling me a lot about how she thinks the world works.  The lights went out last night in a storm and I went upstairs to find her standing in the middle of the room scared stiff - the lights had come back on - but she was still scared.  She felt better with someone to accompany her downstairs, just in case the lights went out again.  Daddy told her that the world was raining outside and the house would need to become an ark, which was a big boat.  She took an attempt at drawing a picture of the house as a big boat - said it needed metal to protect it from being lightning...   Currently she is sitting on the floor near me putting barettes in ponies' hair and fending off kittens.

I've got some fabric from the store to make her a plain dress, in a warm russet brown color... not sure if I'll get to it today.  I finished the Christmas project, washed it and wrapped it up.  I then finished a little blue deer on my desk and put it in another package with the printed pictures to send off to my Mom in Minnesota.  The brown fabric is washed and put in my zippered bag to work on another day.

Christmas movie at school

 Early morning sendoff, so the pictures aren't quite the best as there was no light.  She was home sick yesterday, but really didn't want to miss her movie, and seems to be noticeably better today.  These are her Christmas pajamas Grandma gave her with the iron-on name.  We did it last night after I got home from work.  I've added a tshirt underneath and her 'coonhound, not poodle' skirt to keep her from freezing to death today.

Polar Express, here we come!