holiday inspiration

I received this book for Christmas, and got to start reading it during our annual Christmas Day Nap. (Sophie even took part this year - I tricked her by saying she only needed to lay down and rest, and she ended up falling asleep!). 

I haven't finished reading it yet, but I got through the first few sections and got inspired to start implementing some of her ideas for creating spaces and providing supplies that encourage kids to create. I made some blank books for Sophie to fill in, using plain white paper inside (I used 4 folded sheets per book), construction paper for the cover, and pink duct tape to cover the spine (hey, it's what I had!).  

I showed them to Sophie when she woke up from her nap and she wasn't super impressed; she's always grumpy when she wakes up so it probably wasn't the best time to introduce them, but I was excited about my creations!

I cleaned out her big art drawer and re-stocked it with blank drawing paper, construction paper, origami paper, notebooks, the new books I made her, and cards and envelopes. So far she's only gotten into the blank drawing paper, but I'm sure she will "discover" it all on her own in good time. My stubborn girl only does things when she decides to do them!

Here's a picture (bad lighting, sorry!) of Sophie's newly-organized drawing tools... She got lots of new art supplies for Christmas - from Santa, me, grandparents, and friends! It's so neat to see her growing and expanding as an artist. I decided I need to find a way to keep and remember her artwork as she grows and goes through different stages with her art. For now I started keeping a file folder of her current artwork to save and go through later (once a year maybe?), and I want to get her a portfolio to keep her favorites/my favorites from each year. Also on my shopping list is cloth tape (to make nicer bindings for her books!), plastic envelopes and some more organizational-type supplies like small baskets to keep her supplies easily accesible and easy for her to put back when she's finished.

Now that I'm done with school (finally!!) I am excited to have more time to spend just being with Sophie and being more present with her all of the time since I no longer have a running list of deadlines and to-do lists weighing on me in the back of my mind. Of course I still have a to-do list - but I'm very thankful that for now at least it consists of things like "clean house" and "write thank-you notes." Hopefully you'll be seeing more of me here, as well - I've even been knitting! Finished object post coming up soon :)

a new model

I'm going to put all my knits on Daisy for pictures from now on. Doesn't this color look fabulous on her?





This is the Upstairs Shawl - one Christmas present down! This is a very easy to follow and forgiving pattern, and I'm thinking of shortening the width to make scarves. I still have two more scarves to make before Christmas! Along with two hats, a pair of socks, a sweater (toddler-sized, at least), and who knows what else I'll think of along the way. Can I do it? Perhaps I was overly ambitious this year... I need a schedule like the Yarn Harlot.

Summer is over, and "cold and flu season" has begun. We've already been sick all summer! Swine flu - check. Croup - check. Ear infections, allergic reactions, more infections... maybe it'll slow down as everyone else starts to get sick. We had frost the other night and termination dust on the mountains :)

Sophie is starting to skip naps once in a while, will only eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch (uh oh... we're out of bread today!), and had her first night away from Mama last month. I can't believe that her friends are starting to turn 3 already! I still haven't found out about my nursing program, it starts in January and they still haven't decided which 10 people will get in. I've heard from some people who went through the same program that they didn't find out that they got in until November. Oh well. I'll just knit more while I wait.

let the christmas knitting begin

I'm getting a late start! Haha. Non-knitters just don't understand, do they?



I have a bunch of lace yarn to be knit into scarves and shawls for Christmas gifts, and yesterday I cast on for the first one. It's the Upstairs Shawl (Ravelry link), and I'm hoping to put two whole skeins in it. We'll see how long it takes.

This yarn is amazing, though. It's KnitPicks Shimmer, it's 30% silk, and I love it!

a rainbow party

Sophie's birthday party was a blast. The forecast said mostly cloudy with a chance of rain, which around here usually means it will be raining, but we got lucky - by the time her party rolled around, it was sunny and hot.



Nana made her birthday dress (with matching bloomers!) and since it buttoned down the back, she actually kept it on for most of the party.



There were rainbow sugar cookies, rainbow playdough party favors, and rainbow ric rac around the punch glasses (otherwise known as jelly jars). My mom made beautiful (and delicious) rhubarb-raspberry punch.



There was lots of running, jumping, screaming (in joy), playing...



Bubble blowing....



Nana and Papa made her a teepee out of bamboo poles and covered with all her new silkies.

And here is her fruit pizza!




Play Dough:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir constantly until a ball forms; remove from heat and knead for a few minutes. Add food coloring and knead until the color is even.


Bubbles:

5 cups water
14 oz. Dawn dish soap (eco-friendly soap doesn't work)
1/2 cup corn syrup

Mix. Dip. Blow.
We used egg dippers (for dyeing Easter eggs) for wands - just use pliers to complete the circle.

the end in sight

The end of winter...
The end of diapers...
The end of classes...

All are beginning to come into sight.

Happy Spring!

starting out the new year with happy feet

Happy New Year!




I knitted the last bit of my second sock while I counted down till midnight last night. I finished with about 15 minutes to spare!



I've been wearing them all day today and my feet are very happy!

The pattern is Hellen's Favorite Socks from Fiber Trends, and the yarn is Austermann Step. I have quite a bit left over, I might have to make Sophie a pair!

babies, and hats, and socks, oh my

Here is little miss Sophie wearing her Neapolitan Ice Cream Hat:



It's just a tad too big. Better too big than too small, though (another hat I made her for christmas turned out too small :(... oh well, I know a little baby who would look good in it).

And here's where I was at on my first sock yesterday afternoon:




I finished it last night and cast on for the second one a few hours ago. These two HAVE to match up! My favorite part of knitting the first one was turning the heel, it was almost like magic... I just followed along the row-by-row instructions, and it just turned itself!

winter wonderland

We had a very busy christmas around here... Santa brought Sophie a tunnel to crawl through, cardboard bricks, and wooden building blocks. She loves to stack things up and build things, as you can see here -



Instead of coloring with the crayons, she stacks them up.

She got lots of new clothes and some fun books, which she might enjoy someday... hopefully someday soon.

Mama got lots of neat things as well, including yarn and new needles (pictures to come soon!). I'm almost done with my first sock ever... I think I like knitting socks!

happy solstice!

The days are getting longer now... thank goodness! It seems like it's already been winter for a very, very long time.

I've been knitting with my new double pointed needles, my first project was a doll hat -



See?


And then I had to make another one for Sophie's friend Sierra. Because I'm sure her baby doll needs a hat too.

This is my second Robin's Egg Blue Hat - I still haven't taken any pictures of the first one, but this one turned out better anyways. I just put the button on this morning:




Not the greatest picture of me, but you get the idea. The only thing I don't like is how pointy the top is... if I make another one, I'll buy the right size double pointeds first so that there isn't a seam right in the front of the hat also. Another christmas present wrapped and ready to go...


And Sophie turns 19 months old today.

(I think I have more fun with these blocks than she does)

all wrapped up

Finally finished up a project that's been "done" for a while but needed the finishing touches... these mittens (same pattern as my last post but knitted up the same size, thank you very much!) needed to be lined with polar fleece for gifting.



Ta-da - lining 2-year-old size mittens is really much harder than it looks. I only stabbed myself with the sewing needle once (sewing needles are a lot sharper than darning needles!) on the way to getting it done...



...and now they're all wrapped up and ready to go.

It's supposed to be -20 degrees F tomorrow, and Sophie and I are planning a shopping expedition... we'll see how that goes!

winter's here

Yep. Solstice is still... 19 days away, but I guess mother nature doesn't really take that into account anyways. This morning it was 23 degrees out, and it didn't seem to get any warmer during the day either, Sophie and I had to run some errands and it took me about 5 minutes to pry my frozen car door open.

After we managed to get the windshield scraped and the doors open, we headed over to the library where we found this book -

<--- (that's it)

which I think is super cool and which Sophie shows minimal interest in. She did like the page with the fish (FISH! FISH!) though. All of the illustrations are made with food - very cool.

We spent almost a whole hour at the library - it's just about the perfect place to spend a winter day, I guess. Sophie took all the puzzles off the shelves and took all the pieces out of all the puzzles. She took all the stuffed animals off of their chairs and rearranged them. She unstacked all of the shopping baskets (why does the library have shopping baskets?). Then she started pulling all of the bookends off of the shelves and making the books all fall over, but that's where I draw the line. Then we had to start the whole process over; as soon as I had all the puzzles put back together and put away, and started on the stuffed animals, out came the puzzles again. Finally I distracted her with the HUGE stuffed dog in the corner, which she loved. She took off her coat and snuggled right up to it... I think she was happy that it didn't get up and walk away like Daisy always does.

In other news, everyone's been sick around here - it seems like a never-ending thing lately. I haven't taken either dog for a walk in weeks, poor babies. First, a few weeks ago now, I got the flu; and then I developed reactive arthritis in my hand; and then Sophie got hand foot and mouth disease; and then both my parents got this horrible chest cold; now I have it; and now Sophie's acting like she's getting it too! Ah, well. This too shall pass, right?

This semester is almost over and I'm so, so looking forward to having a break. I've already registered for next semester's classes and even though I'm taking less credits next semester than I did this semester, it seems like it'll be a heavier class load, especially since all three of my classes will be on campus. I'm definitely going to need to find some child care, but I'm excited because after this next semester is over, I'm all set to enter the nursing program in 2010 - that is, if I get in. They only accept the top ten students. Fingers crossed!



In spite of it being finals next week and having term papers to write and finals to study for... I've still been making time for knitting (staying up way too late, mostly). It just feels so good to curl up with a mug of hot chocolate, yarn, and needles. And a dog or two.

I just made Rachel Iufer's Robin's Egg Blue Hat today, it knit up super fast. I'll have to take a picture soon and put it up. I will definitely knit at least one more, but probably a lot more than that! It went by super fast, and it's really cute. For this first one I used cream-colored yarn of unknown origin and fiber, but I've got some of her recommended Paton's Shetland Chunky in the stash to knit it up for gifts.

Can you believe that it's almost Christmas already?!

halloween, finally

Sorry for the lack of posts on my part.... here's a catch-up from Halloween:

This is the toddler group at the Juneau Family Health and Birth Center, notice how all the other babies are holding still.... haha.


And here is my little vampire all dressed up.


I think Halloween was the best day of her life... she had SO much candy, WAY too much candy thanks to both sets of grandparents and some very generous friends.

what i've been up to:

Knitting.



Lots of knitting. On Christmas presents. I know, I know, but we're moving back to Colorado on December 15 so I need to have everyone's Christmas presents done before then so, here I am knitting away before it's even Halloween.

Up there are some washclothes (free patterns that I started with here and here), a baby hat, and a little pair of mittens for a little Sophie girl that are soaking in a sink with lanolin right now so they're waterproof.

I'm looking for a baby hat pattern knitted in the round (I'm tired of seaming). Any suggestions??

what's that thing called 'fear' again?

This girl sure doesn't know:





And I'm pretty sure she doesn't care, either. She's just going to GO.

Over. And over. And over again.

Oh yeah, and is it normal for a one-year-old to beg for things in the grocery store? Seriously??

I've been a slacker about taking pictures lately, but someday soon I'll get them taken and uploaded and I'll show you what I've been up to lately--
And I'm sure there will be some Halloween photos coming soon too, Daddy gets here on Thursday!

what's that blue stuff in the sky?

Yes, that's right folks, that is blue sky in Juneau!!

Sadly, it only lasted half a day and since then it's been pouring down rain, windy, cold, and generally normal.

Halloween is just around the corner! We've put our decorations up and are working on our costumes... we ditched the cat idea for Sophie and now Sophie, Dwayne and I are going to be a vampire family.

I do love Halloween, but now I'm finding out that not everything about Halloween is good - such as the handfuls of candy corn that Sophie was eating at her grandparents house the other night... The girl has a huge sweet tooth!

This is Sophie's second Halloween, last year she was a gypsy - the cutest little gypsy ever, see?



What are your favorite costumes for little ones?

getting ready for halloween

Grandma and I went to JoAnne's yesterday to scout out options for Sophie's Halloween costume, and after searching the entire store to find the Halloween-themed fabric in the very back (with the Christmas stuff in front - what?), Sophie has a very cute Halloween costume in the works.

She's going to be a cat.

With black tights and a stuffed black tail attached... and a Halloween-print jumper with a black turtleneck. We found a pair of clip-on cat ears, but of course little miss contrary won't keep them on, so I guess we'll just have to pretend that she has ears.

And of course we'll have to paint whiskers on her face and everything.

I can't wait!

I love Halloween. It's most definitely the best holiday.

happy fourth of july

we had a busy weekend! festivities started on july 3rd, we went to a carnival-type thing on post at around four, the fireworks started at 9:30. sophie actually liked the fireworks and had a good time. the sky was crazy and there was lightning mixed in with the fireworks:









then, the next morning, we went camping:










then the next day, we washed the car, went thrifting (yes, dwayne went too!), went out to dinner, and saw a movie (hancock).

then this morning we went for an 8 mile walk and then went out to lunch with rosi and esparza.....

i think the rest of today and tomorrow we will take it easy!