This moment: Our week via Instagram

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo (or several)  – 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.

This moment: Sleepy baby after beach time.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo(or a few)– 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.

Weekend Love: more beach!

Another great weekend!  This weekend was almost an exact replica of last weekend.

Saturday morning, we hit the beach but this time with my sisters, cousin and their families.  My cousin, her husband, and my niece all brought their paddle boards and I got to try it out for the first time!  I don't have a picture of me or them on them as all I had was my iPhone and that wasn't going anywhere near the water.  So, you'll just have to imagine that we all had a great time paddle boarding and swimming!  Carmen even got on the paddle board a couple times.  We didn't take her out very because I didn't have a life vest for her and it was my first time trying it out.  We just held the board and let her play on it. Maybe some day I'll feel more comfortable paddle boarding with her.  I know she LOVES it!  She would get on the board and point out to the ocean like Let's go!

I also got some pictures of me this time!  My sister Aunt G took some great pictures of Carmen and me while we were waiting for the rest of the family to get there.  I'm usually the photographer so there aren't always a lot of pictures of me and her together.  My absolute favorite picture of Carmen and me right now is this one!  

After a fun morning at the beach and a nice long nap, we went over to Carmen's Papa's house for some afternoon swimming with her daddy and Papa.  Her daddy and Papa had spent the morning fishing and were just getting back around the time we got there.  She had fun swimming with them again, while momma got some knitting done.  A picture of their catch...we fried and cooked up some of the fresh catch on Sunday for dinner and it was DELISH!

Sunday again was a repeat of last week.  Started with some shopping, a quick trip to the park for some golf practice...it was JUST too hot though!  And then we napped, colored, watched Lilo and Stitch, had a quick dip in the baby pool while her cousin Flower girl visited us, and then ate dinner with Grandma Shari thanks to Google+ hangouts!  I didn't get many pictures Sunday but Special K and I both agreed Sunday night that it was another great weekend!  Here we are at the park trying to stay cool in the shade.

And my first try at french braiding Carmen's hair.  I feel it was a success as that little girl never stays still!  The trick was Lilo and Stitch!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Happy Weekending!

Weekend Love: Beach, pool, boating, and some golf!

This weekend was one of those great weekends where we packed it full of fun things, but also got time to rest and clean the house a bit.  Saturday was FULL of water play and awesome!  We started the day with a meet up with our friends K and T at the beach!  The four of us gals had a blast playing in the sand and water!  The weather was perfect and company even better!

Carmen then passed out on the way home and took a nice 2 hour nap and then was ready to head to her Papa's house for more water fun!  She swam with her daddy and had too much fun being silly!  We then went on a fun boat ride, but no pictures because I am too nervous to bring my iPhone with us.  She had a blast on the boat and said hi and bye to other boaters and liked to make noises as we sped through the water.  After all the fun water play, she had dinner and cuddled with her Papa and her dollies.

Sunday morning, Special K, Carmen and I headed to Walmart to pick up her first set of golf clubs.  Special K had seen them there for around $5!  It was worth every penny!  Watching the two of them play with these clubs, was priceless!  It was another warm day but we chose a park by the water so there was a nice breeze!

I took the following video and all I can say is could this be any cuter?

And how cute is this!  I could just follow her all day. :)

After the lesson, we sat on the sidewalk and ate snack with the squirrels and birds.  We kept the animals away from Carmen, but Special K couldn't help but try to feed the squirrels out of his hands.  He did get a little snip from the squirrel!  

 On our way home after her golf lesson, she fell asleep and took a 3 hour nap!  The rest of the afternoon was spent coloring, running around the house, and watching Despicable Me or ilo and itch.

We ended the weekend with a Google+ hangout with CGR's Grandma Shari while we ate dinner.    As I said, the weekend was full of awesome but relaxing.  I felt refreshed going into my work week, which is always a great thing!

Happy Weekending!

Keeping it Real: beach, fireworks, and knitting

Keeping it Real - is a weekly meme from ink + chair where bloggers share the ups-downs, lows-highs, hits-misses, dark-light, peaks-valleys, plusses-minuses...of their week - acknowledging wholeness.

frogging -  lows
- still working on being patient and trying to focus on God's timing and not my own. 
- needing more time to organize my home, which always helps me organize my thoughts.
- struggling with getting out of my head and put thoughts into actions.
- CGR being too sleepy and not a fan of loud noises to actually enjoy fireworks this year...maybe next year.

 tail-wagging -  highs
- finishing another blanket square for CGR's barn raising quilt!   18 of 48(or 56) complete
- finishing some more hexipuffs, which are highly addictive and so fun! The first 14 completed pictured below.  2 more already done!  16 done and a million to go!

- spending time at the beach with sand in my toes and sun on my skin.
- having a midweek day off to enjoy the nice weather
- getting to spend time with my family 
- the "real" weekend is almost here!!!!!!!


Happy Friday!

What are your ups and downs of your week?
 

Happy 4th of July!

Hope you all had a fantastic mid-week day off and a safe and happy 4th of July!  Here is our day in pictures!

Happy 4th of July from the Barknknit Family!

Weekend Love: Tea Time and the Beach!

I love weekends!  I know I'm probably with everyone when I say this but I just love them!  I love having full days with my family, friends, and especially with my girl!  I love being able to spend the day watching her discover new things and experience life.  This weekend thankfully we were mostly healthy...I am still battling the head congestion but I feel better and Miss CGR is completely better. YAY!! 

My eldest niece Flower girl planned a gals tea time at a local place called A Corner of England.  None of us had ever been before and you had to make reservations.  We showed up all "dressed" up...at least some of us did...for an afternoon of high tea.  The place inside looked like an antique shop.  Each place setting was set with mismatched antique tea cups and plates, and hat racks around the room full of fun hats!  They also had dolls, more tea settings, and cards around the room for sale.  We ordered 2 high teas and 2 different teas to try and enjoyed ourselves!  There wasn't much CGR could eat with her allergies but I always come prepared and she had some of the fruit that she was able to eat.  She loved the blackberries! I'm going to have to find some to buy for her. 

While sitting and having high tea, we also planned to do this again but to create our own tea time!  I'm pretty sure my sister CZbrats already went to Goodwill in search of antique tea cups.  We have plans to make finger foods and drink tea together, while having some girl talk and time together!  Also a lady, who was sitting by us with her daughter, brought over a teapot full of apple juice for CGR since her daughter wasn't going to drink it all.  What a cute idea to put juice in teapots and tea cups for the little ones!   All in all it was a fun afternoon spent with the lovely ladies! 

After tea time with the gals, CGR and I spent the rest of the day hanging around the house and fighting nap time.  She was sleepy but just wasn't having napping so we played, watched cartoons, I knit, and generally enjoyed each other. 

Sunday was another great day!  Started with a hangout with Grandma Shari and then off to the beach!  CGR had such a blast at the beach with her aunties, cousins, and brother-in-law.  She didn't want to get out of the water or stop playing with sand.  We stayed only until about 11:30 and then on the way home she passed out for her nap!  YAY nap!  The rest of the day, we spent with daddy aka Special K around the house and then off to a graduation party. 

After the busy weekend, when 9 pm came around on Sunday night...I couldn't stay up and watch the first episode of the new season of Trueblood.  I just had to fall asleep.  Hoping to watch it tonight!

Happy Weekending!!  Hope you all have a great week!


How was your weekend?  Do you enjoy any fun summer activities? Do you like this new collage format for pictures?

Monday...Catch up.

Hi, how is everyone! I've been doing well. Sorry I just left you with the sad post and then nothing. I've had a busy weekend. I've been obsessed with gift knitting and spinning for these gifts. I made a list last week and now I just want to knit it all. In the past four days, I've spun up 2 different 4 oz rovings and plyed them!

Here they are:

The red, white, and specks of black is my own hand dyed merino. The purple/brown is BFL from yummyyarn.etsy.com. I love her rovings.

So, this Saturday, I spent it mainly running around like a mad woman. I went to my spinning meet-up and had tons of fun. Then helped them move the library and found some great books to check out! Then hung out with SK for a little bit and headed out to dinner with some college friends for my friend Darci's birthday! It was a fun night!

Sunday, I cleaned the floors and the dogs. SK had cleaned the rest on Saturday. Then we headed to the beach. Isn't he cute driving, while I of course knit?

When we got there, SK headed out to wade fish and I set myself up on the beach and got settled to catch some sun on my back, since last time I burnt my front from not flipping because I was knitting. :) Well, then this pack of people, like four families and their kids showed up and I got a crab dropped on me and my blanket stepped on. I wasn't happy. After they left I was able to relax and get back to my knitting for a bit. Here's what I was able to get done. :) I also got a lot of podcasts listened to. :)

Well, today was a good Monday. One of the better ones I've had. I'm now waiting for SK to cook dinner and am heading to spin up some black merino to make my sister a hat. I decided that the Felicia colorway was a bit much even though I LOVE it. So, I'm going to spin up some black and use it to knit a hat with the funky color. :) I think she'll like it better.

Well..hope everyone is having a good week!

Gnat

MIL socks and Missing Bobbins

Hi, how are you? I forced myself to go to the doctor today even though it scared my cough away my doctor gave me cough meds and I'm hoping to take them soon. They have codine in them so I don't want to take it until I'm ready to pass out. I did manage to make it through an hour long recording of a podcast with no coughing but ended up with a big coughing fit when done. Go figure.

I will be uploading the episode either tonight or in the morning. Depending how late I want to stay up until it renders out. :)

So...if you read a comment from a certain Mother-in-law of mine, whom I love and miss dearly, you would have noticed that Sharimom requested that her cold feet up in Ohio need some socks! You know I couldn't possible not start a sock as soon as I could for her! She appreciates my hand knits and reads my blog and is known to listen to my podcast! :) So, you know I love her very much. So, when Special K and I headed to the beach yesterday, so he could wad fish and I could get some sun, I brought along some sock yarn to cast on a sock for her. I also decided that since I am going to knit her socks out of Dream in Color Smooshy, one of my favorite yarns, that I would knit her the same pattern I knit for myself out of this yarn. The Monkey pattern! It's an easy fun knit and they are one of my favorite socks! Check them out at the beach. Like the scenery?
Here is Special K showing me his last catch!
Ok..why the Missing Bobbin? Well, as I've been saying I've been spinning singles for my 3 ply yarn. I only have 3 bobbins and if all of them have a single on them, what am I going to ply them onto? So I came up with a plan! I put a paper towel roll onto a bobbin winder.
Then I set up my make shift lazy kate with the bobbin in it and balled up one of the singles on there. :) This freed up a bobbin and with the roll in the middle prevented a big messy tangle. What do you think?
I tried using it as I would a bobbin in my makeshift lazy kate but it didn't work so I just left it in the box and it rolled around. This seemed to work and so far no tangles!

I'll share finished Yarn pictures later. Must head to drink some cough meds and get a good nights sleep!