Almost Wordless Wednesday...

Recipe from here and they are SOOOO yummy!  Wish I had read what she said about the icing before I tried piping it on...as you can see it didn't work! Lots more to say tomorrow! :)

crafting, decorations, and knitting....oh my!

I'm busy getting ready for Carmen's first birthday Party on Saturday!! Her birthday is Thursday and I just can't believe it's almost been a year...I'll talk more about that later.  I've got lots to do between now and then but wanted to share some pics of things I've done for the party.  Here is a sneak peak of the decorations for the party!  

and what I did with the crayons from yesterday!  They are all ready to head to the daycare tomorrow for the kiddos!

can't get this to go in here right! Will fix later!

Happy Week!

PS...a sneak peak of a new pattern that will be going up free!  Carmen's First Birthday Socks aka Toddlers socks!

Some crafting diy!

As you all know, I LOVE pinterest!  And if you spend any amount of time on pinterest, you know there are tons of do it yourself stuff you can do!  The gift I plan to make CGR for her first birthday, which didn't get done this weekend, is from there and I have been finding a lot of great ideas for the future.    

One of the things I wanted to get done this weekend was to make CGR's daycare buddies a little party favor for her birthday.  We didn't invite any of her friends to her birthday party because our family is just too big for that!  The idea I came up with was to make them some big crayons!  It was quite the process to get the wrappers off the old crayons but it was fun to figure out what colors to put together and to watch them melt!  Some are going to other kids in our family and I have more crayons to make more now that I know how!  I might need to recruit more people to un-wrap them though! 

Happy Crafting and DIY!

My OWL is complete!!!

My Transfiguration OWL is complete!  I spun 1516 yards of DK weight and dyed it all up in 3 months! YAY! I'm so proud of myself!  This is the most yarn I have spun in one go and most I've dyed up.  The spinning isn't perfect and neither is the dyeing but I did it and I can't be more happy with how it came out!  I can't WAIT to cast on the cardigan and wear my handspun, hand dyed, hand knit cardi!

started out as fiber in a box

Turned into lots of yarn

Lots of yarn!

cooling after heat setting the dye

And here it all is!  All pretty and dyed up!

LOVE IT!

I'm so happy with it and I now don't feel so intimidated by spinning for big projects that I might just have to start another project like this because I have other cardigans that need handspun yarn! :)

It has been turned in to the House Cup group and just waiting for it to dry so I can cast on!  However, probably won't cast on until after I finish these socks I'm working on for Carmen and maybe one more gift but it's going to be very hard to resist!!!

Happy Spinning and House Cup!!

More Park Fun!

Today was another great weekend day!  I love days where I don't have to work and I get to spend lots of time with my girl Carmen!  She is so fun and now that she's almost 1 she is just getting so funny and watching her explore the world is amazing!

Tonight we had another Thanksgiving dinner, so in preparation I wanted to make sure that CGR got a great nap...which I have realized that going to the park between her naps helps get her tired enough to go down for the 2nd one.  So, off to the park we went again!  I will have to say another great time!

We also had a great time at our 2nd Turkey dinner.  My FIL deep fried the turkey and it was delish!  CGR had fun feeding herself with her fork and it was a very pleasant evening.

Happy Saturday!!

Rockin and Rollin...

After getting to sleep in this morning, we had a great day off!  It started with a trip to see our friend Jackie at the store she owns with her hubby Todd called Furnish Me Vintage.  It's a Mid Century Modern and Danish Furniture store.  CGR found her favorite thing in the store!  It's a rocking chair, which she loves rocking chairs which is surprising because she does not like swings.

Here is a video of her rocking at the Saturday Morning Market a couple weeks ago.  When we took this video, I had never seen her do that before.

After our visit, we stopped by the park with our cousins and aunties for some fun play time!  This was the first of many trips to the park this weekend!

After the park, we stopped back at my sister's house for some leftovers...here we are having fun with a box.

Happy Non shopping day for us!

Turkey Trottin...

CGR and I woke up just in time to get picked up by my sisters, cousins, and family to head to the Turkey Trot!  We had a great time.  It's a family tradition for the ladies and kids to go before the eating begins.  This year, my brother-in-law Toad went and let's just say...he was entertaining.   We got to see some of my fellow mommy and me friends and lots and lots of people!  CGR by the end just wanted to walk so when we got close enough, we let her cross the finish line on her own.  She loved that!

The rest of the day was spent napping and then family fun times!  Lots of yummy food and fellowship made it a fantastic Thanksgiving day!

CGR's first thanksgiving dinner and her silly daddy!

Hope you had a fantastic time too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

PS...and yes CGR's cardigan was knit by me! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Visit to mommy's work.

CGR spent the day with her Auntie today and since my department was having a potluck I asked my sister to bring her by so she could see them and I could see her.  She had so much fun and it was so great to spend a little time with CGR during my work day!  I miss seeing her everyday at lunch.

She seemed to have a blast and enjoyed walking around them many wide open halls in my office...

play with the stress balls...

but she was a little skeptical of the big white guy!

Happy Tuesday!

And more of the little one.

I know yesterday's was a pretty heavy CGR post but I just can't help it!  And I think you'll probably get a lot more of her coming since it's almost her 1st birthday!!!

I usually play with CGR in the living room and sort of block her in....well, with her new found walking freedom she just thinks she can go anywhere she wants.  Before I started filming this, she had actually moved the basket and went on her merry way.  The blue toy was a yard sale find by her Aunties!  She hasn't quite figured it out yet but she seems to be interested in it.

Happy Monday!!

Laundry and football...Sunday! :)

Today started out with some laundry...I had a great helper.  What do you think?

"mom, can I help you?"

"this is a shirt right?"

"yay! I'm in the basket!!!"

"Wow, that was a lot of work.  I need a break."

 Then after some shopping with my sister and niece, we had nap time and then off to my other sisters house for some play time with those cousins before Giso night at my cousins house!  Sunday was FULL of family and it was great!

Even though the Steelers didn't play today, her daddy said she still needed to wear her Steelers' cheerleading outfit!  She was so cute in it, I agreed!

"Yay, Steelers!!"

"Ok mom...this cheering thing is too much work."

"I think playing with my toys is more fun."

Hope you all  had a great Weekend!!!!

Where did the day go?

My saturday was spent sleeping, getting an allergy attack, sleeping it off, and then finally get up!  Once I was up, my daughter headed over to her Auntie's to play with her cousin and auntie for the afternoon so that her daddy and I could do some deep cleaning to the house.  It was in much need of a deep once over and even though I was still a bit out of it from the allergy meds, we got a TON done!  It's nice to have a clean house but I hate the actually cleaning of it.   It would make things a lot easier if our pups didn't lose all their hair once a day!  At least that is how it feels. 

Well, after we were done cleaning, we hung out with our little girl and went to sleep early.  Exciting Saturday huh?

Happy Saturday!

This Moment - midnight showing of Breaking Dawn!

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see.

Doggie Love for DOT

Not sure I have mentioned how much my daughter loves dogs.  When she was younger than she is now...which wasn't that long ago, when a doggie barked she would laugh and laugh!  She thought doggie barks were so funny!  She still giggles at them sometimes but I'm so happy they don't startle her or scare her.  When our dogs are walking in her direction, she just smiles big!  I have heard her say both the dogs names, however, she doesn't say them all the time.  I'm sure she will get there soon.   She also loves all the family dogs and strangers dogs, although we don't allow her to pet strange dogs....she still smiles and points at them.

With her furcousin Maui

I am happy that my daughter is already showing signs of being an animal lover!  I look forward to the day that she will learn how to train dogs and take care of them as well.

Happy Dogs on Thursday

Wordless Wednesday

Spinning in Public.

I love to spin at any time I can whether that's at home or in public.  I enjoy the relaxation that spinning yarn brings me, however, I do get a lot less weird looks at home than I do in public.  People often stop to ask how it works or just comment on the wheel itself.  I don't mind this at all as long as I can keep spinning while they talk. hehe!

At last night's weekly knitting meet-up, I brought my wheel because there was no sign of rain and I spun spun spun!  I'm almost done with what I hope is the LAST single for my OWL!  If I can finish it up and get it plied by the end of the weekend then hopefully I can get it all dyed up Thanksgiving weekend.  It needs to be turned in by Nov 30th so I don't have too much time left.

Hope you all had a great Tuesday!

Matching FOs...and happy baby

As I mentioned in a previous post, I finished my BROOM which was the Spectra scarf by Stephen West.  I can't turn it in until tomorrow but I figured I'd post pictures today.  I knit it using the only skein of Wollmeise I had and some Miss Babs in Falling Leaves that I purchased at SAFF.   When I first started knitting it, I was just following the pattern and I didn't like how the wrap and turns were working up.  I fretted over re-starting as it had taken me over a week or so to get 10 repeats done.  Yes, I had been working on other things as well but I never know how much time I'll get to craft so I cherish the time I do get.  In the end, I knew if I didn't like it now then I wouldn't like it later.  So, my shawl went from this...

to this....

I went to youtube and I found this video from Cat Bordhi about concealing the wrap & turns and cast on again.  This time it went faster as I had already memorized the pattern.  It still took me a great deal of time to get the 87 repeats of the pattern complete but I'm very happy with how it turned out!

After finishing it, I realized I still needed to cast on something for the last Yule Ball dance and the prompt says "Mini costume items are allowed as long as they use at least 25 yards."   I couldn't resist using some of the left over yarn from my Spectra to knit a mini Spectra!  I did some math in my head and cast on...since it was mini it went super fast!  I turned it in last night!  What do you think?  Cute huh?

Well, Little Miss CGR spent the day with her cousin and she had a great day!  We think the sickness is teething.  She went from snotitng all over the place to drooling all over the place.  She's still a bit snotty but not as bad as yesterday.  She is fast asleep but after a day full of this...

you would be tired too!

Happy Knitting!

Baby in arms...best way to spend an afternoon.

It's been a long day with a little girl who's nose hasn't stopped running since she woke up and who avoided naps most the day.  After taking a short drive to get her to sleep, she only slept for an hour in her crib and then spent the rest of her 3 hour nap like this.

I spent the majority of my maternity leave with her sleeping in my arms but since she's gotten older she rarely sleeps in my arms.  She's also not much of a cuddler...mostly because she is always on the move...so I knew she wasn't feeling good when she let me cuddle her a lot this weekend.  I savored every moment and cuddle.

It worked out great because it happened to be Harry Potter weekend on Family Channel.  What is so funny is that the weekend we brought her home last year it was also HP weekend and what I can remember of that weekend and the week to follow was nursing my newborn while watching lots and lots of Harry Potter.  It was something that I had already seen plenty so I knew I could miss things and still be able to just enjoy the movie.  I also would record them and watch them throughout the weeks to follow.   Harry Potter will always remind me of those first weeks with my baby girl.

I hope she feels better soon because I can't stand to see her feeling this way.  She's managed to sleep tonight but not soundly.  Hoping she stays asleep long enough for me to get some too.  Speaking of which...off to bed I go!

Happy Sunday

Friday night with the gals and a fast Saturday...

Friday night, 2 of my local sisters and my cousin drove up to Seminole for a couponing workshop.  I had heard of the workshop from a friend and thought since it's F R E E why not!  I'm glad that the other gals came with me though because it was a lot to take in.  We learned a bunch and I'm not sure about them but I'm very excited to get started.  They did warn us that it's going to take a while but I just hope that we can shave some money off our monthly expenses.  I'll keep you posted.  If you are local and want to find a couponing workshop to attend, check out their site at Truecouponing.com.  Like I said it's free and what do you have to lose but a couple hours of your night.

After the workshop, we stopped for dinner and it was really nice to spend some time with the gals!   I think we need to plan a gals night with my sisters and cousins again.  What do you gals think?

Today flew by!  My little one wasn't a fan of napping and this mama had her first allergy attack in a long time.  Thankfully, daddy was home and hung out with his girl while I got to sleep it off.  After I managed to get rid of my drippy nose, we played some more and then headed over to my sister's house to watch her high school age daughter get ready for Homecoming tonight.  Surfer girl looked amazing and I think she wishes her family wouldn't descend on the house for her big moments but that's what family does.   It's just our way of showing her we love her.  We got lots of great pictures including this great one of little miss CGR!  She's such a happy walker even though she was so tired and spent most the afternoon in a foggy haze.

Once we got home, got dinner in her, her nose started running like a faucet.  I feel horrible for her but no fever so I'm hoping it goes away.  She didn't protest going to sleep once she got her bath and her daddy rocked her. She's been sleeping soundly ever since.  Hoping that she sleeps all night because not only does she need it but I need some sleep too!

I finished my BROOM aka my Spectra Scarf tonight!  I plan to take some pictures tomorrow and get it turned in!  I can't figure out what to knit next but I'm going to sleep on it and then I'll figure it out.

Happy Weekending!

This moment - Pure Happiness.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see.