Little Bird

A cozy little nest

A precious little egg

A sweet little bird

with a trick up his sleeve

The reversible toys in Itty Bitty Toys are what made this book irresistable to me. This was really fun to make but entering "get knitted gifts done now" season. So I see many of these popping up next year ;)

Project details on Ravelry.

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!

Our kitchen makeover (Late Aug 2009)

Our Condo was built in 1978 and our kitchen was in need of a makeover.

So we called in Sears and decided to replace the doors and resurface the cabinet bases with a Cherry finish.

The sink cabinet was pretty bad, so they built us a new one.

In the background you can see a shorter cabinet that was built so we could raise the microwave a few inches.

 In the foreground we have the 1970's spindles that serve no function other than to make our kitchen feel more closed in.

Goodbye spindles!!!

Hello countertops (Corian in Pepper Ivory) and breakfast bar!

My clowns having their first meal at our new breakfast bar - they eat nearly every meal here now.

And now we have paint. We used a Wagner Paint Mate Plus for the big spaces and a combination of mini-roller and paint brush for detail and smaller spaces. While the Paint Mate was nice in that I didnt have to repeatedly get more paint on the roller - it was heavy (duh - it had a few gallons of paint in it). I made many more oopsies on the ceiling than I did later when I painted the soffit with the mini roller.

The wall color is Victorian Falls and the soffit is Stonehenge Griege, both by Dutch Boy.

We got a free upgrade to an awesome sink and I'm in love with this screw in drain catcher - you screw it in just a bit to keep it in place and it'll catch all the big stuff (we dont have a garbage disposal, this is a scrape your plate first house) and if you screw it in all the way when you want a sink full of water. This is where Jack gets most of his baths, but I cant share photographic evidence since my hands are rather full then...

and my final favorite thing in my new kitchen is this tilt drawer so I can hide (and always find) my sponge!

Hope you enjoyed our kitchen makeover adventure!

If you want to see more the full album is here.

More knitting and kiddo adventures tomorrow :)

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!

Vote!

We are just about to head out to vote - waiting for the "on the way to work" crowd to clear through. PLEASE VOTE TODAY!

more later...

Happy Easter!

My peeps are knitting for me today - I popped in to share that our family had an excellent Easter family gathering today and even though there was snow(!!!) on the ground this was definitely one of my favorite family days...ever.

the girls were a lot of fun today - it was Jess' first egg hunt, Gracie and their cousin were very good about not snatching the eggs we were pointing out for Jess, and we all just had a very pleasant day overall.

Since I became a mother, I've been having a hard time enjoying family gatherings. My sweet adorable firstborn is rather attached to me and wouldnt (until recently) play without me playing with her. So I always ended up with all the kids and wouldnt get any adult time and well, I was really getting drained. But today it finally wasnt an ordeal for me. I did actually get a bit of a break thanks to my awesome FIL. But even when I did end up downstairs with the kids, just me and the kids, we had so much fun this time! We raced matchbox cars and played with the play kitchen and there was lots of laughing and giggling and smiles and happiness. True happiness I sometimes think you can only see in children.

When we were driving home I was reflecting on my holiday memories growing up and it clicked that today I got to be the "cool aunt" you know, that random family member who got down on the floor with you to color, or pulled out a game, or just stepped away from the "adults" and really concentrated on having fun with the kids...

I am just so completely happy with today - very tired too, but a good tired. As this year has been developing I've been finally looking up and around at all the goodness that is in my life. It's funny how as this goodness is becoming more into my awareness, the more goodness I'm finding. And I feel I'm becoming a better wife and mommy as I work toward adjusting my focus.

Hope you had a very Happy Easter too!

Peek a boo!

I should be cleaning the house right now...but you know how that goes.



Just popping up to share that I've got monkeys and wings on my mind these days, and I keep getting distracted by Jessica's birth record/announcement in cross stitch...and books...and oh my goodness The Other Boleyn Girl opens tomorrow and I will see it by the end of this weekend, with or without hubby (I'm actually kinda hoping to sneak out alone - as much as I love him, it'd be nice to get some "me" time).

I'll have more for you tomorrow ;)

Crossing the Finish Line

Phew, all the ponchos are done! Well, I've got to weave in a few ends and attempt to block them. I say attempt because of course these were made of Homespun, but from what I've been seeing as I continue to work with acrylic I feel that anything that was knit needs a good soak to show it's true beauty and work out some of the wonks.

I'm halfway through the wing on MS3. I'm a bit bummed I didnt get it finished before Mystic Waters KAL launched. I've been a busy girl. At least I'm not in a funk :)

I have a favor to ask of anyone stopping by, please take a minute to pray/send good thoughts toward my hometown - San Diego. My sister, an uncle & his fam, an aunt & her dh, and too many friends have been evacuated. So far their homes are all still standing - but they were good and are following orders. The aunt and uncle plus their respective families are all at my dad's so I'm sure things are interesting over there. And my sister is staying with friends and thankfully she's in an area that doesnt have much of the smoke/debris fallout (her asthma was acting up). I'm also very thankful that my mom's place is next to an evacuation center so I can easily check on her safety without calling her all day ;) And a super big thank you to the local ABC station out there for streaming live news on http://www.10news.com/ The Santa Ana winds will hopefully break Wednesday and finally give everyone some relief!

I love you guys!

Poncho Come Back?

Reviving poncho fever? I dont know if it will - or should - return to poncho fever. But I do like the poncho. Maybe because I'm a mom of small kids and dont have time to keep up with a shawl behaving. Or maybe because I'm in the midwest and appreciate the often more substantial fabric more often seen in a hearty poncho versus a whispy shawl - and yes, I have made a few wraps that are out of worsted so yes they are more substantial. For some reason, when I think of shawl I think of the floaty beauties I'm dying to work on but I've got to get this poncho project finished first.

Along with joining the 3 mystery shawls running right now - and omg, are they all so pretty! - my MIL has paid me to knit up her son's family ponchos for Christmas presents. I was feeling pretty nervous about ponchos now that the fever has died down. But wouldnt you know, I was at the book store Friday and saw a poncho in the Holiday Vogue Knitting Magazine! I feel much better now somehow.

So I'm making a mommy - daughter - doggie version and have started teaching my MIL to knit so she can knit her son a scarf for Christmas! Isnt that so cute!!! It has been so much fun getting together with her and her friend (who is also learning from me) for coffee and teaching them.

And now the Bears need more attention from me as they keep trying to give up their lead - come on Bears!!! you can do it!