Thursday, November 17, 2011

Pharaoh Jellyfilleddoughnut

So Chardy was telling me a story she and her friends came up with about Pharoahs in ancient Egypt and their doughnut minions... My favorite line:
"it's day Five. The doughnuts are getting stale and the coffee is running low." There was also something about a chainsaw, but I'm not really sure how that fit into the whole mix!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

What Kind of a Mother am I??

So, Ginny asked me to help her eat her Pixie stix from Halloween. As I'm doing so, I wondered aloud, "What kind of mother am I pouring sugar into my daughter's mouth?" Ginny quickly replied matter-of-factly, "A good one!"

I guess it's pretty simple from the perspective of a 4-yr old.

Belay Monkeys

Alli and I belayed Ginny and Aaron for 3 hours at the Portland Rock Gym. They were so awesome -- must be all that practice they get in the apple tree!




Saturday, October 1, 2011

High Praise

My daughter just told me I am "as awesome as all the cookies in the world combined." Now that is high praise coming from a 4 yr. old!

Monday, September 19, 2011

For the Love of Chocolate

Even though Mom doesn't like chocolate, (and I for one have to disagree with her,) obviously Ginny was enjoying some.




It's also apparent that she's quite the sloppy drinker.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Is There Anything to Say Other Than "Sorry"?

My daughter's idea for the title...since I have been so lax at updating this site. It's really not that turning 40 got me into a slump, funk, or anything like that. It's just the usual busy-ness of summer, including but not limited to, a whopping 7000 mile cross-country road trip in the van with 4 kids! (Yes, we had an awesome time, and we are all actually still on speaking terms after over 100 hours in the car.)

Anyways, onto the real motivation for posting: Sock Summit 2011!!! I feel so spoiled that SS was once again held in Portland...to the point of actually feeling a teensy bit guilty that we got to have such easy access to this fabulous event! Anyway, I spent far less this time around (seeing as I still have bags of yarn from SS 2009 that I haven't yet knit...that actually makes me feel even guiltier!). So, instead of shopping, I took two very cool classes.

The first was on Morphing Cables...this one I will admit was far beyond me. After explaining the "basics", the instructor told us to take it away and improvise. It was at that point that I realized all those people who flew across the country to attend SS were WAY better knitters than me, because I really didn't have a clue. But, it was still fun and the instructor was very entertaining.

The second class was on Textured Colorwork in the Bohus style and taught by Chrissy Gardiner. For those of you who aren't familiar with Bohus Stickning, you should just Google it and be prepared to drool over all of the amazing sweaters, hats, and other patterns from this cooperative. So, the class was really informative and at the end, I had my very own textured colorwork coffee cup wraps to show for it.



Next up, I'm thinking of something a bit more challenging, but not too crazy... At this point, I can't decide if I should follow a pattern or just make one up myself...

Monday, May 9, 2011

Turning The Big 4-0 Today...

Here's how I basically feel about that!

Friday, May 6, 2011

A 4 Year Old's Product Endorsement

How's this for a product endorsement?

Ginny sidled up to me this morning and whispered in my ear..."Can I have some Sugar Babies? They tasted good; they changed my life...It was magic."

Now even I kinda feel like I should try some of those caramel candies at 8am!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Zombie Capture the Flag

Now, I know the title seems strange, but let me explain...

The zombie part comes from the fact that Aaron recently has been obsessed with an iPod touch app called Plants VS Zombies, where zombies are attacking your house and trying to eat your brain, and you have to defend it by planting zombie-attacking plants.

The capture the flag part comes from the fact that we signed Aaron up for flag footbll and he confused it with capture the flag.
The following conversation was like this:

Me: So in capture the flag, there's two teams, and they each have flags. They hide the flags, and then the other team tries to find it without getting tagged, because if you get tagged you have to go the their jail. If you get their flag then get onto your side, you win.

Aaron, confused then understanding: Oh! So it's like if a zombie breaks into your house, steals your brain, takes it to the other side of the road then eats your brain.

Well, I guess that's one way of putting it...

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

An Unexpected Day "Off"

Other moms may appreciate this throw-up story that is "too good" not to share. (The rest of you may just be grossed out, so feel free to stop reading here.) Let me preface the story by noting I made the kids a nice healthy breakfast of scrambled eggs and wheat toast. (These enter the story again later in a most spectacular fashion...)

So, we get to school in the "stop-n-drop" lane with the usual 3 minutes to spare before the bell. It's our turn for the kids to get out. The doors fly open; the kids start their daily scramble out of the van, when Ginny starts to throw up everywhere.

Since she's standing between her car seat and Chardy's seat, it gets on (here's where it is amazing, folks):
  • the floor,
  • Chardy's seat,
  • Ginny's car seat (and yes, of course, by that I mean both her car seat and the van seat),
  • Ginny's backpack (I threw that one away),
  • Ginny's coat,
  • Ginny's pants,
  • down Ginny's leg into her Ugg boots (the name really fits now)
  • and probably a few other places I am forgetting...

Consider this: We're in the stop-n-drop lane; the other kids are all shrieking trying to get away from Ginny and the puke, cars are lined up behind us...the scene was...rather funny. Anyway, 30 minutes later, after I cleaned all the throw up out of the car and Ginny, we are now back home for an unexpected day "off"...

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Our Artist

Alli has such amazing artistic talent... Here's a sampling of her recent drawings and sketches:





She also just started working with pastels:





The artist:

Sudden Snow

Well, we woke up to an unexpected snow storm today and witnessed probably the largest snowflakes *ever*!



This, of course, called for snow cones, snowmen, and an impromptu snowday...


Good thing too, because I might have been able to get down the hill to take the kids to school, but would probably not have been able to make it back up!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Free Pattern: Wiggle Hat

When we were skiing last week, I saw a super cute hat in one of the ski shops. Wiggle Hat is my attempt to reconstruct it!



Materials Used:
Yarn: 135 yards (85 gm) Lion Brand Jiffy (or other Bulky 5 yarn)
Needles: Size US 10 / 4.25 mm 16” circulars and set of 5 US 10 DPNs
Tapestry Needle
Scissors

Size: 2T (17” circumference)
Note: Larger sizes can be made by increasing the number of cast on sts by multiples of 4.

Gauge: 14 sts = 4”
Abbreviations:
K: Knit
P: Purl
C4B: Cable 4 Back (Slip 2 sts to cable needle. Hold to back. K2, then K2 from cable needle.)
C4F: Cable 4 Front (Slip 2 sts to cable needle. Hold to front. K2, then K2 from cable needle.)
K2tog: Knit 2 together

Pattern:
Brim:
Using long-tail method (or other loose cast-on) CO 60. Join to work in round.
Work K1,P1 rib for 4 rounds.

Body:
Round 1: [C4B] around.
Round 2-4: K all sts.
Round 5: [C4F] around.
Round 6-8: K all sts.

Repeat Rounds 1-8 once more.
Then, work Round 1 one more time.

Crown:
Begin Decreases as follows (switching to DPNs when needed):
Place marker at beginning of round.
Round 1: [K4, K2tog] around. (50 sts)
Round 2: K around
Round 3: [K3, K2tog] around. (40 sts)
Round 4: K around.
Round 5: [K2, K2tog] around. (30 sts)
Round 6: K around.
Round 7: [K1, K2tog] around. (20 sts)
Round 8: K around
Round 9: [K2tog] around (10 sts]

Cut yarn (leaving 4-6”) pulling end tightly through remaining 10 sts. Weave in loose ends.

If desired, make large pom pom and tie to top.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Crystal 2010

The whole gang:


Little Ginny hamming it up for the camera!


Chardy motoring down Snorting Elk - what an awesome skier!


Aaron lost his first tooth, too!

Powder!!!

Check out my radical skier daughter!!


...and husband!


And, of course, I gotta keep up with them!