One day of winter....

Here are pictures from the only day that the girls got to go out and play in the snow. I should have posted them that day, but I got sidetracked as usual and so I'm posting them now, on one of the springiest days we've had so far.

Getting up at 4 am to play...

... may cause you to fall asleep on your plate.

WIP - Hand Huggers

WIP - Hand Huggers
Originally uploaded by gracetherese

Well here's my first project, Super Hero Hand Huggers from the Getting Started Knitting book that my sister got me for Christmas. And, yes Mom, I'm using the yarn leftover from your scarf. It's sooo pretty and soft, I just had to have something for myself made with it.

I'm done knitting them, now I just have to sew them up. I really don't like that part, but they're just hunks of pretty but useless fabric until I do, so I'm hoping to get it done today. And maybe then I'll finish crocheting Amelia's blanket... or maybe I'll start another knit project... oh, the possibilities!

The reason why I haven't been posting much...

I've found a new hobby........KNITTING! :)

Ever since I got the books at Christmas, I've been reading knitting blogs, searching for patterns, trying to find good prices on needles and yarn, going to the LYS (local yarn store) to fawn over the smooshy softness, and actually finding time to do a little knitting.

I'm prepping to attempt a pair of socks. First, some hand huggers, in a easy rib, then maybe a garter stitch wrap. Of course somewhere in there I have to finish Amelia's blanket, which I started crocheting in October. It's nearly complete... just a few more rows of crochet, piecing it together and then doing the border. But as I'm completely taken up with knitting now, it's hard to even think about picking up a hook to do finish it. And I'm not fond of piecework.

Alert readers have probably noticed that I've updated my sidebar to include an assortment of links to knitty places. (Don't be afraid of the names... they're really pretty tame) The One Planet Yarn and Fiber link will help me get yarn credits if you click through and purchase something. They've got some great stuff, all kinds of yarn and patterns and kits. Very cool site.

I've also joined Ravelry, an online community of knitters and crocheters. They have forums, groups, chat, as well as a notebook feature that allows you to post pictures of WIPs and your yarn stash, and keep track of patterns that you'd like to try and needles/hooks that you have. It's fairly new so you have to be put on a wait list and get invited to join (so it doesn't crash or something like that). It a fun site, but I can spend way too much time on there.

As a result of Ravelry, I now have a flickr account, so I may have a link in my sidebar for that too. I think that I'll only use it for pics of the yarn and my projects, so if you like yarn then it'll be worth a look.

I'll leave you with picture of the scarf I made for my mom for Christmas. Love that yarn... it was my first time doing a "fancy" stitch (popcorn) and I think that it turned out pretty well, even though you can't see the detail in this picture. I got the yarn from a shop on Esty, Yarn Lust, which sells hand-dyed yarn...I never knew that people still did that kind of thing.

And now for a quiz...

What type of Mother Hen Are You?
by Montessorimom.com: Educational Resource

Amelia really gets into...

...her oatmeal.

Finally Picture of Maria's B-Day Dinner.

This year's theme? Princesses of course. (Mostly 'cuz I felt like trying my hand at a Castle Cake.) We also had Disney Princess plates since the store that I went to didn't have any "generic" princess themed plates.

Here's the cake. It turned out pretty well I think. And it was definitely tasty.

Dinner: Spaghetti and Meatballs.

Amelia enjoyed helping with the presents... and of course everything must be put on her head.

Maria was very excited about her special birthday dinner and the presents that followed. She's already asking when her next birthday will be.

She especially like the cake and having everyone sing to her. I love her smile in this picture. And if you look closely you can see the princess plate in front of her, and Jim's elbow to the right of the cake. Jim's always trying to get in the picture somehow... :)

Look! New Pictures... finally!

Ok. So I've been busy... or lazy or something. I really did mean to post some Christmas pictures earlier than this... like still in the Christmas season. But I didn't. We've all been sick with varying degrees of intensity since before Thanksgiving. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I still have a nasty cough... but (looking around for some wood to knock on) I'm feeling better than last week. I hurt my back though, so I'm still not 100%, but I'll get there. The kids still have snotty noses, but that's not stopping them from playing so it can't be all bad.

Anywho... here's some Christmas pics. I'll post some of Maria's B-day later if my husband fixes the stupid computer which is pretending that it doesn't have a card reader and isn't reading the memory card. Again. Argh.

These didn't make the cut for the Christmas card.

Here's a few of the cookie baking / decorating at Grammy and Pappy's house.

Yum!

After a long day of travel, and more presents to open, even Maria loses her enthusiasm.

Wreath making...sort of...

Okay, so I cheated this year and instead of using the leftover greens from our tree to make a wreath, I bought one. Becky still made hers using our greens though. I just didn't know if I'd have time to do my own. I did decorate it myself though, all except for the gold bow at the top.

I think that it turned out pretty well.

Here's the pictures from our wreath making/decorating extravaganza.

A bear-y scary Santa.

A conversation that I had with Maria, before bed one night.

Maria: Mommy I want to talk to you about Ho-Ho.

Me: Yes Maria, what do you want to say about Santa Claus?

Maria: Mommy, Santa Claus doesn't claws people... Mommies and Daddies don't let Santa Claus claws childs. Mommies and Daddies protect childs from Santa Clauses clawses.


This is what I get for reading Every Autumn Comes the Bear to Maria... in it the bear claws a tree. Now how do I explain homophones to her?

Stuff I should have posted weeks ago....

Mostly just pics of the girls doing kid things.... I'll try to get a real post up sometime today, but we've got laundry and preschool to do. And a few super-secret Christmas presents we're working on, so the blog is low on my list of things to do.

Little Helpers

Foreshadowing?

Dancing Girl.

A mouse? No, just Amelia.

Everyday Chaos.

Amelia the narcissistic mountaineer. (She's looking at a pic of herself.)

I wish it were this easy. Amelia loves imitating her big sister. Now if we could just get Maria back on track with potty training maybe Amelia will be trained early.... if only. Sigh.

Maria's wedding. Some of you have heard the story so here's the pic. That's Sam the Lamb. This was their first wedding. They will be married for two years. :) How's that for a pre-nup?

So there you have it all the things I should have posted over the last 2 months. Each picture has a funny story to go with it and I'm afraid the captions aren't adequate to tell it. But it'll have to do for now. There's a mound of laundry with my name on it, and a little girl on my lap who's a week behind in her 'schooling.'

Foreshadowing....

...what may come if America adopts Nationalized Healthcare.

Story here.

A little scary, but maybe it would help with our immigration problems too? Of course, most refugees aren't overweight... until they get here and eat our food for a long enough time.

Unhelpful.

So I've been doing this preschool program with Maria. The program centers around reading good picture books that relate to the weekly theme. So we've been using the library a lot recently.

At the suggestion of some good friends, I finally figured out how to make book requests online so I won't have to spent time trying to find everything by myself. It usually took me an hour or so and wasn't very fun for Amelia, who tended to get grumpy and eat any books within range. (She's an avid book-eater... but that's another post.)

Anyhow, I spent time to today making requests for books and CDs for the next three weeks worth of "school." Then I decided to check my account to make sure that everything had gone through. The account summary said that I was past my overdue limit. So I looked at the more detailed pages. I had renewed some books at the beginning of the month and one of them hadn't renewed for some reason. I tried to renew it, as it still had a renewal left but it told me that someone had a request out for it. Ah-ha!

Worried that this would effect my requests, I called the library and explained the situation. I told her that when I had renewed the books, online, it hadn't told me that the book had any requests out, and I had thought that it was renewed. After a few other suggestions, she said, "Maybe it did say it, and you just ignored it."

Um...yeah. I don't think I'll be calling to ask for anymore help with the online system. Next time I'll ask in person, so maybe she'll be less inclined towards such rude comments. Or at least I'll be able to get her name and report her.

Halloween.

When given the choice between a princess dress and a doctor costume, this is what Maria chose. We have high hopes for her.

These first pictures are from the local Halloween Parade.

Since it was raining, as in torrential downpours, the parade was held in the school gym.

When the entertainment failed to show up they had the kids do a "freeze-dance," which Maria throughly enjoyed.



This next batch of pics is from Halloween night.

This doesn't really do the costume justice, but when she was in a crawling position, Amelia really looked like an overgrown skunk. It was very funny.

Since the costume was size 6-9 months, Amelia could barely move. But she was very determined to try and spent a few minutes waddling around the house.

Our first stop.

Back in the car, after a successful hunt.

Last stop, Aunt Becky's house

Here's our, uh, I mean the girls' take for the evening. Not bad for going to only 5 houses.

Pumpkins...

...as big as your kid.

A little overdue here are some pics from our pumpkin pickin' trip to Merrymead Farm. Next year maybe we'll plan better and do the hayride or the cornstalk maze. But for this year the pumpkin coral will have to do.




Oh, and we got some gourds too.