ChiClone

Today we are supposed to have the worst storm in 70 years. It was a windy night all right and there are twigs and branches all over outside. Thankfully it seems that the storm has not hit us with as much vengeance as anticipated. As usual, a lovely name has been given to this storm - ChiClone.

My favorite slimline bible I got at Spirit West Coast 2000 has spontaneously gone ragged at the edges. I have  been using it more, but goodness. I would rather not use a zipper cover for this bible so I popped on Ravelry to see if I could knit a cover. I fell in love with a free pattern, but alas the website is no longer and the wayback machine had no archive. Upon further look I found two more candidates that will require a trip to the library.

• Journal Cover with Ribbon Ties from Ready, Set, Knit Cables
• Vampire Diary Protector (I know, but it's cute) from Vampire Knits

In the meantime I have fashioned a lovely paper cover to hopefully slow the disintegration until I can knit the new long term cover.

I have really been enjoying my bible study and the small group on Tuesdays. I am so thankful I remembered to sign up just in time. The study we are using, Cynthia Heald's Becoming a Woman of Simplicity, is exactly what I needed right now. And the group of women in my small group are such a blessing to me and each other.

Here's a Halloween sneak peek:

Starring: Jessa as Snow White, and Gracie as Rapunzel

Oh My Darling....

This little boy LOVES clementines.

He's mostly an orange "vampire" - sucks the juice out of each wedge and then spits the pulpy remains back out. It's not really quite a spit, but more of an ejection. He just opens his mouth and sticks out his tongue and lets the orange fall from his mouth. For added comedy he will often store a wedge in one or both cheeks chipmunk style and then attempt a smile. The orange above by the way is being licked, not ejected. Oranges make him so happy. His whole face will light up and he will either wave both hands at your or clap if you show him one. Jack ate two clementines at lunch today. The one I peeled for him, and then the one Gracie slipped to him wedge by wedge as I was eating my sandwich.

We had a small lapse in posting this week... you cannot tell from the picture above, but this darling boy is seriously working on more teeth - he only has the bottom two thus far. So he is a lovely roller coaster ride of happiest boy ever to cranky pants, to I just need my momma to hold me. So that is what we have been doing (and not much else is getting done).

The girls put together their Barbie puzzle today

Gracie did it a few times and then Jessa took over.

Gracie has a four day weekend so we are trying to fill it with fun. We started with Princess and the Frog yesterday. Today we watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Tomorrow we are hoping to play with cousins and mommy & daddy are going to see Avatar!!! Sunday we are going to watch the Chargers win ;) And Monday we have a playdate with some good friends.

TGIF! (due to random headaches & the teething boy, you may not see me til Monday)

Love,

Jen & Co

Turkeys

As anyone who spends time around children knows, we have our ups and downs by the day/minute/hour.

This morning at Borders another shopper had to come around and see Jessa because she was just melting this woman's heart with her cuteness as Jessa was conversing with me about what a good job she was doing in moving the beads around on the bead play-thingy (yes, that's the formal name for it).

Yesterday at her well-check she wasnt done playing in the waiting room so we had to really coax her to follow us. Which she eventually grudgingly did with her arms crossed and stomping and a frown so big on her face that the nurse called all the other nurses out as we walked by to see her pouty face. I shared with the nurse that John and I have had many moments in parenting her where we have had a very hard time holding back the laughter until we've made it clear she needs to follow the rules and were able to escape to laugh out of sight.

Jessa is my extreme child, nearly everything she does is done with her whole heart and I love her for that.

A few hours ago, the girls were arguing about one thing after another and I was about to snap. Thankfully as I was counting backwards one more time "Turkeys!" popped into my mind. So I grabbed some paper and a marker and told Gracie to get all the other coloring stuff. And we had a lovely afternoon of coloring :)

Gracie's Turkey

Jessa's Turkey

Jessa is not a huge fan of coloring books or coloring things in she is definitely a free-form artist:

This one is [Auntie] "Angela" (I love the heart that snuck into her doodle - on the right)

And this one is "Mommy and Daddy"

I think she used the grey because that was the one I used to trace their hands plus it was the only dual tipped marker so that makes it extra special. She had one other that was all pink called "Rainbow" and another that was much more grey than the two above and she said it was "the sky" - yes, November skies in IL are grey...

Itty Bitty Toys joined my library today and it has got to be one of the most fun books I've bought. Gracie wants one of everything. My first project is going to be the reversible Egg to Bluebird and a Little Nest, Too (Ravelry link)

The beginning of the egg.

And now my turkeys say:

"zzzzz" coloring is exhausting!

Trick or Treat!

Jack was our little Yoda Baby for Halloween this year

Baby Yoda Sweater & Felted Baby Yoda Hat project details on Ravelry

All the Jedi's were happy Master Yoda made it :)

Jessa was a Fairy Princess

Gracie was a Fairy Princess too (their choice).

Jessa is wondering why we're not getting candy yet...

And this is what happens when big sisters share with their baby brother

He was only upset because I took the chocolate away...

He doesnt stay upset for long!

Hope you had a wonderful Halloween too!!!

Thankful

This little guy joined us late February this year (2009). He's been my best excuse ever for blog silence & if anyone is still following...thanks for keeping me in your feed/checking in again :)
I've been knitting quite a bit lately & am excited to get blogging again - I'm joining the party a few days late but I'm going to attempt a Blog-vember & we'll get all caught up.
We've had a rather cold year here in Chicagoland, so I've been cranking out head & hand coverings lately. I gotta say I am loving fingerless mitts for the girls - they actually keep their hands rather warm & no fiddling with getting fingers in the holes & the girls keep them on because they can still use their hands! Victory!! Of course we'll have to step up the coverage soon, but these will remain a good layer.
A Calorimetry just jumped off my needles in time for Trick-or-Treating with the kiddos. And was even recognized while we were out! That was fun :) I love being able to keep my hair up and my ears are still warm w/out the unsightly pony/bun hump in the back of my hat.

Tune in tomorrow for my Halloween catch up post - all the kiddos wore knit accents to their costumes & we all had fun!

September?!

That was fast...I could swear it was just Grace's birthday (you know, back in June (11))! Well, I guess there is no fighting it, so I'll roll with it. Boy does life exponentially escalate as you add children!

Ok, so time for August wrap up. My awesome MS3 progress was greatly delayed by a commissioned project (sorry, still no pics). I picked up crochet again - and I'm in love. It is really nice to switch back and forth between knit and crochet. Before when a project was getting to me, I wasnt able to shake it off so well because I was still knitting and sometimes I'd feel like the bad mojo would transfer to the other project(s). Since crochet is just different enough, I feel like I'm shaking it off much better. Now I just need to figure out how to read and knit/crochet at the same time - like I'm not already doing too much at once already ;)

I finished 2 toddler size blankets. My own design. And nearly designed a library book bag (I've re-thought the original pattern - yarn matchup).

Jess started also started crawling this month.

Now for September Goals:

1. get pics of gwankies (blankets)

2. finish library bag

3. get patterns written up

4. post patterns and remember to ask for corrections if found (since didnt write up as worked like you planned).

5. finish MS3

6. get some scarves running off the needles/hook to pair with gloves for sale on eBay

7. figure out if should open etsy acct - if do get scarves up there as well.

I think thats enough for one month ;)

3 in one day?

Yes, it's me again...just cant get enough of you today ;)

I just wanted to take a moment to share that I absolutely LOVE being a mom, and I love my girls very much. Sometimes I read back and see my tone may be read as a bit "down" or "unappreciative" of my girls, and that is absolutely not the case. I guess I just use this medium to vent more than applaud lately and I'm going to try to adjust that ~ I'm also a bit tired lately so I'm not watching my tone like I should. I think it is very important to focus on your blessings.

Jess is the most adorable baby and a real lovebug/cuddlebug, and she's hilarious already! She must know that she's going to be the middle child because she's already going out of her way to crack me up. On top of that she's a talker! I cant quite understand what she's telling me, but we've already had many extensive conversations ;)

And Grace of course has always been my sweetheart and she is an incredible helper. She has adjusted to being a "big sister" much better than I could have ever hoped. We've had a few rough spots of course - she is only 2 yrs old... Still she just absolutely amazes me every day with what she comes up with.

I love my family :)

Ok, I feel better now, Good Night!

What I've been up to lately

Knitting (and blogging) has been a bit neglected since the arrival of this:
Jessica Leanna was born Dec 28, 2006 at 6:59pm she was 7lbs even. She's a wonderful, healthy, sweet baby, and her big sis has really enjoyed her so far and we are all adjusting very well.
And yes, I realize I havent blogged since July, and I never really shared my wonderful news and just sort of sprung her on you...but the new condo, chasing a 2 yr old, and being pregnant really took a toll on me. Plus my camera was really bugging me and I finally got a new one for Christmas - silly excuse, but that's all I have to offer. I'm back now for real! My life was just a bit too much for me in 2006 and was just not a good year for blogging.
Obviously, she is a wonderful reason to not have much knitting to show. I'm slowly working more knitting into my days finally, but I have to be careful to not plan on having knitting time as those days seem to be the days she needs me all day long.
I do have a pic to share today of Jessica's log cabin blankie:

Tomorrow I'll share progress on Gracie's log cabin blanket since she wanted one too ;)