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...