Found it!

Ahem...er sorry about the blog silence. My camera went missing so it was hard to get motivated to post picture less posts (the kids being so cute and all). I was trying to keep up by taking pics with my phone...but then couldn't find the data transfer cable specific to my phone. Someone has seriously got to universalize this stuff! Anyway, I found the camera today, so I'm back :)

So LOTS has happened since January -
We got a 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan! My sweet husband who is madly in love with me finally gave in and got his wife a minivan. I am in heaven! I love it so much it is as wonderful as I hoped and so nice to have all the room we need. Also, I'm finally back to an automatic transmission - I truly appreciate my 5 years of experience driving a manual transmission vehicle, and am glad that I will never have to worry about being in a situation where I cannot drive a vehicle. But I've put my time in and am relieved to be back to letting the car do the work.
Jack is a big one year old now - can you say FASTEST YEAR EVER! He now shares bedtime with his sisters instead of having to wait until they are already asleep before he can go down. This has exponentially improved our evenings. He has five teeth, is still a contender for fastest crawler, now walks along furniture, and occasionally you can catch him standing without support. You can make his day by holding his fingers so he can walk. Oh! and with the recent warm up, the LOVES the park and likes sliding on his belly (feet first) down the slide.

On the knitting front:
I knit Ang a shawlette and fingerless mitts and she loves them :) Now I'm working on a bright green Ishbel for myself and I'm so excited it may be ready by St Patrick's day!

...and I renewed our Costco membership.

Exciting stuff!

I also have a new cookbook and so far it's awesome! The taste of home simple & delicious cookbook is my new friend. It has 12 weeks of dinner main dishes, plus many of add-on options for sides, salads, soups & desserts. The first recipe we tried is very similar to this one. And then I made the chicken dish from week 1 and this book is a keeper. If you stick to the week's menu it even gives you a shopping list!

Glad to be back!

<3 Jen

PS: Tonight I cooked with wine after a long break of cooking from bags and boxes and I forgot how nice it is to sip a glass of wine while cooking. Definitely going to enjoy that more often.

A sunshine day!

The baby is teething/not sleeping/needing constant contact with me and that greatly reduces the number of things I can do in a day. Plus, it's really hard to type with an 11 month old on your lap - oooh! buttons!!!Yep, I took a vacation on you and I'm blaming the baby.

The sun decided to shine for us today and I'm loving the crystal blue sky.

I finished the dog sweater and did not take a picture before I sent it off. Hopefully mom will share one of Delila modeling and that will be more fun than a lumpy piece of knitting laid out anyway.

But I did upgrade Jessa to a booster seat - it's Pink and totally Jessa.

.

AND I cleaned out the car (too cold to vacuum, but got all the junk out)!
Now of course Gracie is jealous of the beautiful pink booster seat so I need to

• ignore her til she gets over it  --or--
  

• make/buy her a replacement cover  --or--
  

• buy her the cute one with flowers and save the boring black one in the attic for Jack

On the knitting front I am now working on a Twirly Skirt [found under Free Patterns] for Gracie. She and I are hoping it is ready for her Valentines Party at school, if not, it will still be a fun skirt. I was making the Lil Sister Dress [see side bar], but I had to take it back a few rows and disaster struck and I ended up at the very beginning. The yarn was not a great match for this pattern anyway - it looks much better already as the skirt.

I'm also about to start Jack's birthday hat - I cant believe he's nearly one! This year has FLOWN by!

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

So close!

Miss Delila's sweater is nearly ready to fly home. Just a few ends to weave in and some hook and loop tape to sew on and we are finished! I hope she likes it (it's a bit brighter than I anticipated).

Somehow it's ended up looking like a fluorescent pink bumblebee...Mom said to not spend too much and please make it girly. Hee hee, I think girly is definitely covered here.

Love,

Jen

Icicles

one of the wonders of Midwest living

Progress...

Miss Delila's sweater is at that lovely point where I knit and knit and measure to discover I have only gained an inch.

It is very pink, no?

There will be no question that Delila is a lassie at doggy playgroup.

Happy Weekend, Hope you are having a good one!

Kid's Pix Fridays

The girls each got VTech Kidizoom Cameras for Christmas. Their ability to take their own pictures of what they want, when they want has been a great addition to our family - and with the addition of rechargeable batteries, it's affordable fun :)
Gracie was giving Grandma her "tour of Christmas" on the phone (listing everything everyone got and did for Christmas in great detail); and Grandma asked her to put them online so everyone could see their pictures.

Jessa pix:


Gracie pix:


Hope you enjoy!
Love,
Jen & Co

I used a power tool today!

And what is that under the cart?

Why yes, it is our new floor!

John and I finished up the floor last night. I'm very pleased with this floor. It is laminate & we purchased it at HOBO* for .99/sq ft!

John had really wanted to try laminate in the kitchen and I was not thrilled with the ceramic tile laminate he kept showing me at the store where he did the laminate install class, so I was still pushing for a vinyl floating floor. Then we happened to come across this uneven tile laminate at HOBO for an incredible price and now we have a new floor!

The laminate install was very simple. I'm very impressed and would not hesitate to do it again.

Because I seem to be joining everything this year. I'm also participating in K-Love's Love Dare. Day 1 was yesterday and it was a call for patience. The Dare was to not say anything negative to your spouse. Last night's install was one of the most peaceful projects we've ever done and I was the only one holding my tongue...

*Home Owners Bargain Outlet - I think this store is only in our Chicagoland area (I just checked and there are two stores in Wisconsin as well)

Knock my socks off.

This is my on-the-go project. I figure it's about time I have a few more pairs of socks - for me or possibly for gifts throughout the year. My hope is to knock out a pair a month, my realistic goal is 10 pairs for 2010.

I'm rather impressed with this Heart & Sole by Red Heart - it is made of 70% superwash wool (30% Nylon), and the added Aloe makes it very nice to handle. I cannot wait to see how these feel on my feet.

And the Toasted Almond colorway is working up very nicely. My diaper bag is hiding at the moment or I'd show my progress. Since this is a work a few stitches as I can sock,  I'm following A Good, Plain Sock Recipe from Knitting Rules!

Powerful Pink

Delila's Sweater looks a bit different today. The prior model was double stranded and, well, stiff. So this is the new and improved version and it's really growing on me.

• Early mods: double stranding on US 10 1/2 needles in [k1, p1] rib. I could have gone up in needle size for more drape but this method was gobbling up yarn and I would have had to buy more to finish 

• New mods: alternating bright and light pink every 2 rows in garter stitch on US 8 needles. Because pattern was written for k1, p1 the garter stitch spreads out and is giving more coverage without needing to alter number of stitches given for size Large.
• I'm at approx 13" now, about 10" more to go before dividing for neck and working straps.
  

 

We had a busy day around here, we had two friends over today so there was lots of games and giggles. They were being particularly cute at one point so I grabbed my camera, turned it on and it promptly turned itself back off! So no photos of girls having fun...I was almost scrambling to get a picture up for today until I rubbed my last two awake brain cells together and borrowed from another device while I figure out where my camera's rechargeable batteries have found a new home. [I've been using a set of lithium batteries since Jack's delivery day - they almost made it a year!]

It was fitting that I had a pink project to share today as my uncle just shared a YouTube video that deserves further sharing:

Please spread this video as you feel moved, it's for a good cause - and entertaining :)

Love,

Jen & fam