Brand New Year means Brand New Adventures!

It's New Year's Eve and I have been thinking about all the new and exciting things we have experienced in the last year. There is never a dull moment when you are out-numbered by the children in your house! The kids have grown and changed so much this last year. Even though it is happening right before our eyes, it it often overlooked. Just when I think I have them all figured out they go and pull the rug out from under my feet. How many times have we foolishly thought we knew who our children would grow up to be only to be wrong in every way!

Here are some of the things that happened in our home in 2006:

~Riley grew taller than his Grandma Deana
~Niko discovered her love and talent for basketball
~Esme' started giving me driving tips from the backseat!
~Riley entered Junior High
~Esme' no longer needs fashion tips from her Mom
~Our Baby-on-the-way was conceived
~Niko officially became an 11 year old pre-teen (yikes!)
~Esme' has become an extreme artist, drawing all the time! But we have only had one wall mural by Esme' this year (in pen *sigh*)!
~We got some home improvement projects marked off our to-do-list- The exterior of house is still, however, the ugliest yellow I have ever seen! Maybe 2007 will be my year to change this...

Here are some things we look forward to in the New Year:

~Our new Baby this Spring!!!
~Esme' will make the transition from the baby of the family to BIG SISTER, while I will make the transition to MINI-VAN DRIVER (scary!)!!
~Tony and I will spend out 9th year together
~Niko will enter 6th grade, her last year in grade school
~Riley will turn 13! Officially a teenager!
~And, hopefully, some new exterior paint is in our near future!

Happy New Year, and I hope it is just that... HAPPY!

Calorimetry from Knitty~

I knitted this headwarmer so I can have my hair up and and wear a hat at the same time. It is so warm and soft~ I used Paton's SWS in Natural Earth.

Here is the back where it buttons~

And the front!

Niko's first hat!

Niko knitted this hat on the Knifty Knitter looms for her Girl Scout gift exchange. It is dark pink and off white and beige yarn, but from a distance it looked like a candy cane. She was so proud. I almost expected her to come home with it after the party! She really didn't want to give it up, but I assured her she can make another just like it for herself! I think there is a future fiber lover in her! YAY!

Esme's felted hat~

I knitted this felted princess hat for Esme' a few months ago but saved it for a Christmas gift. It was perfect timing because she has recently become obsessed with anything princess or ballerina related! She wants to be a princess next Halloween so this will be a great addition to her costume. That is if she is still interested in princesses by October...

18 week Belly Bump!!

This picture was taken at 18 weeks. I am now almost 23 weeks along, so I will have to post a new belly pic next week! Baby is growing great and very active!

Catching up!!

After an extremely busy month I thought I should catch up and add some of our recent pictures! The kids had a great Halloween, and we all shared a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. Niko turned 11 November 12th~ I can't believe that it's possible!

I am 18 weeks pregnant today and feeling good. I had a prenatal appointment today and Baby sounded great. Esme' is still hoping I will have 2 babies! Uh, I don't think so!

I am a Guru!

I took a knitting quiz and here are my results!


You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting and do it all the time. While finishing a piece is the plan, you still love the process, and can't imagine a day going by without giving some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation involves leaving ample space for the stash and supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn ends and you begin.http://marniemaclean.comTake this quiz!

10 weeks pregnant!

Let's see...only 30 more weeks to go! I have a prenatal appointment Thursday. We will listen to Baby's heartbeat for the first time. I can't wait!

Outside Fun...

before Autumn sets in. Niko and Esme' spent the whole day outside playing in Esme's Dora tent. I think they are trying to get the most out of these last sunny, warm days. Personally I am super anxious for Fall! It is my favorite time of the year. I love the weather, and fall leaves, and pumpkins, apples, pears~ yum! We are also big fans of Halloween around here! Check back for costume pictures! And our spooky lack-o-lanterns~

The pets are not toys!!

Esme' has suddenly become obsessed with our dog, Marley, and our 2 cats, Freesia and Jaya. She carries the cats around the house, locks Marley in her room, won't let them go outside when they want too (most likely to get away from her!). Her arms are covered with cat scatches. It has become a full days work to rescue the pets from her. She is not really trying to mistreat them, but they don't look overjoyed to be bossed around by a three year old from morning til night. So I guess we'll take it day to day, and I will continue to be an advocate for these poor pets, and hope that eventually she will leave them be. She really does love them all...

Harvest Hats!

Here are the Harvest Hats I knitted for my etsy shop.

I think the apple is my favorite! They are 100% wool and so soft~ Now, if only I could get Esme' to keep one on...

Knitted using the LTK pumpkin hat pattern: http://www.littleturtleknits.com

Sewing Mama Autumn Swap

I finished my items for the sewing mamas swap and dropped them off at the post office yesterday. Now it will be a couple of weeks of stalking the mailman until my box of goodies arrives. I made 4 knitted wool wraps, 5 nursing necklaces, some Lavender and Clary Sage Bath Salts, Sweet Orange Milk Bath, Tiny Heiny Diaper Balm, and I sent one jar of Milky Mama Nipple Balm for a breastfeeding mama. After all my hard work I was too exhausted to take photos of each individual thing I made, although I wish I would have. Here are some pictures of all my items tucked neatly in the mailing box.

http://www.sewingmamas.com

Pregnant-Mama Brain Syndrome (PMBS)

Here are the results of my PMBS- this is my new aqua-phone! It was about 9 pm and Tony had to go to work for a couple hours. On his way out he grabbed a small pile of his dirty laundry and asked me to wash them so he would have something to wear to work. I added a few of my items and threw them in the washer. When I went to transfer the clothes to the dryer this is what I found. I was just sick about it for several days. Tony found it wildly funny, which helped ease my stress about the whole thing. So Esme' and I went to the cell phone store the following morning to replace the phone and purchase insurance, because, I still have 34 weeks to go you know!

The First Day of School!

Yesterday was the first day of school! YAY! Riley went off to Junior High all by himself- well, he was with friends, but opted to not be dropped off by Mom! Everything seemed to go great for him. His locker opened, he found his classes, he wasn't bullied by ninth grades, etc. The first picture is the one I made him pose for while his friends waited, the next one is his gigantic backpack, which you can't tell from the picture but it weighed about 85 pounds! Needless to say he was complaining of shoulder pain last night.


I was still allowed to take Niko to her first day of school! She is starting 5th grade and loves her teacher, Mr. Gagnepain. She, too, had a pretty uneventful day and she said Mr. Gaganepain "is so funny"!
Scroll down and take a look at the Junior Magic Yarn Ball post- see a similarity? That's right- Niko has a new favorite shirt! She wears this little brown shrug all the time. There's a new one each year- sigh!

Here is a picture of Esme' outside the school after we got Niko all settled in. See how downright giddy she is to have Mommy and the house all to herself again?!

And, last but certainly not least, here are Riley's brand spanking new pants. He got them caught in the chain on his bike. Am I surprised? Yes, actually I am- I'm surprised that this is the only thing that we had ripped, broken, lost, etc.!

Esme's Corner

Esme' has recently taken over this corner of our dining room. It's usually a little more cluttered than this. She plays and draws there- and, of course she immediately tapes all her artwork to the wall. When I sit and knit on the loveseat I am facing her corner. I used to stare at it and think I need to clean that up! But now it's become one of my favorite areas of the house. It's always changing as she replaces old art with new. Yesterday she had a pretend school set up, the day before it was her Baby's nursery. Who knows what it will be today...

Baby news!

We are pregnant!! Just barely, 4 weeks 2 days- approximately! We are so excited- I tested yesterday morning while Tony was at work. I called him right away but he was in the office with a couple other people so we kept the conversation short. I did a massage yesterday afternoon and when I came home he had bought me these pretty roses and had dinner cooking (take and bake vegetarian pizza from Nick and Willy's! YUM!)

We haven't told the kids yet. They have been busy with friends- enjoying the last weekend of vacation before school starts. It will be no surprise to Esme'- she has been talking about Mommy having a Baby for quite some time now. She will tell strangers in stores that I am having a Baby! They all look at me and say congratulations! Is it easier to explain that you are not expecting or just say Thank You? Well, now I guess I can just say Thank You!

I am so excited to knit all the cute little baby patterns I have been drooling over! And soakers!

Junior Magic Yarn Ball Swap

The Valley Bum girls had a Magic Yarn Ball Swap this afternoon. Niko dyed her yarn a couple weeks ago (a hank of Cascade 220), and last night she sat down and made stitch markers and wrapped all her goodies into a nice, neat little ball.
She dyed her yarn a pretty lavender color- she named her colorway Spring Violet! Niko got a pink, purple and red ball of yarn dyed by Jordan- Valentine Hearts!
She is going to start her Sophie Bag tomorrow. http://www.magknits.com/warm04/patterns/sophie.htm- I'll post pictures when it's finished and felted~

Mama's Night Out!

My Dear Mom and I went to The Big Easy Concert House last night to see Jackie Greene. He was, as always incredible! I was slightly disappointed with the turn-out, but the small crowd left plenty of room for each person on the dance floor, where I was for his entire set! There was a "super fan" front and center who was an embarassing represenative for Boise. His enthusiasm was entertaining at first, but quickly became annoying and disruptive. Luckily one of his buddies hauled him away after a few songs. Hopefully Jackie won't hold it against us Idahoans~

"Sometimes it's raining, sometimes it aint."~ Jackie Greene

Saturday Bums

My cloth diapering pals and I visited the Saturday Market downtown this morning. Since it is my dear hubby's day off I went SANS KIDS!! Ah, to browse without worrying about little hands breaking expensive one-of-a-kind wares, or wandering dangerously far, or whining for a (fill in the blank)~ priceless!

My CDing friends also happen to be my knitting friends. One stop shopping, Baby! It was indeed a lovely morning. I bought a hand-made bar of Rosemary-Mint soap, a decaf fireball from Thomas Hammer (my favorite), and a spinich- feta crepe and tomato basil soup for lunch. I am still a little baffled that I didn't buy up everything in sight. But I am looking forward to my morning shower with my new soap!

Mason-Dixon Knitiing, anyone??

I finally broke down and added this to my knitting library. It has lots of cute patterns, including the prettiest little dish rags I have ever seen. I just might have to add them to my Christmas knitting assortment. I am considering attempting a knitted rug too... so, those of you on my Christmas list, start dropping me some color scheme hints already!!

On a side note, we purchased school supplies today. It is pretty spendy to go to Jr. High!! I've been laying awake at night thinking of my little guy going off to 7th grade. Will he make it?~ will he lose all his things, forget his locker combo, and get hopelessly lost between each class?? Will I be filled with the same emotion I was watching him, my first born walk through the doors of a huge school without me on his way to the first day of kindergarten 7 years ago? Where, oh where does the time go?........

Blog! Who has time to keep a Blog??!

We have been so busy lately. Playing, creating, enjoying the last couple weeks of vacation before the kids go back to school. Riley will be in 7th grade (how the heck did that happen??) Niko in 5th grade, and of course Esme' will be home with Mama for a couple more years.

I have been dyeing yarn and knitting like crazy! Here are some pics of my lastest dyed projects~ Now, what to knit with all this pretty yarn... suggestions anyone?

Some fellow knittas and I had a Magic Yarn Ball Swap a last week. We hand dyed wool yarn and wrapped little goodies inside. The ball of pink, blue, and purple yarn above is the yarn ball I made for the swap. I filled it with wood buttons, 2 point protectors for circs., 2 handmade by tags, a set of 4 stitch markers that I made, and one of my peach bath fizzies. The green and yellow ball is the yarn ball I picked out of the bunch and the other pic is my loot!! Hmmm, it looks an awful lot like my Summer Dawn colorway, doesn't it?

Now our girls are going to do a swap. They are swapping hand-dyed wool yarn so they can make Sophie bags (felted purses) Niko dyed her yarn today~ very pretty! Our future crop of knittas...