24-7-365

Dumping Ground

2012-01-16T01:21:00.001-05:00

Doing a quick PFMP update (that's Pictures from my Phone) for those not in the know.

I am sick and tired of not being able to find exactly what I want in the way of Sunday clothes for me... so I've resorted to sewing my own. This fabulous skirt cost me less than $12 and that includes the price of the reusable pattern. Love. Abbie is so jealous that she has requested I make her some church clothes too.

Lucas is crazy! One moment he's got you laughing your heart out and the next moment you're tearing your hair out. Yes, it feels a bit bipolar. He's 3.5 and I'm ready to ship him off to college most days.

Abbie decided to get brave on Black Friday and broke her arm. Awesome. In all actuality it wasn't that bad as far as injuries go. Nothing to do to set the bone, cast for four weeks. She had it removed on December 22nd right before we left for our Christmas vacation to Pennsylvania.

Speaking of Christmas... every year I make each of my kids a handmade gift from me. This year, Anna was the big winner. She received this sweater. The Pattern is Gondry. She loves it. Me too.

I took the time, even though I am not a big fan, to make sugar cookies with my children. I ended up enjoying it so much that I made a second batch a couple days later. Yum. I've been converted.

Libby, sporting her handmade by mom Christmas present. She loves her little hat. Wears it all the time.

For any of you out there who are on Operation HowLongIsAlissaGrowingHerHair. The answer is still longer.

Abbie and I won a game on New Years Eve. Toothpicks and Marshmallows. It was a blast.

And then while I was at a totally sweet Goodwill in Roanoke VA, I scored this vintage American Tourister bag for $2.99! I love thrifting.

My Christmas present from me to me. Love these mittens and I would absolutely knit this pattern again. Can't recommend it highly enough. The pattern is Wintergreen.

And Lucas wears his Christmas hat which was knit entirely on the trip. I started it in Florida and finished it in Pennsylvania. Space Invaders themed too. Fun stuff.

Miles took some time this week to design a bunch of inventions. This was my favorite. Apparently, he felt it would be helpful to me.

And finally, this week I put on my big girl pants and learned how to make curry. It was yummy.

I hope you enjoyed this random smattering of goings on in our world.

Halloween Costumes 2011

2011-10-31T21:57:00.001-04:00

Because I feel the need to brag, I have decided to post something.

I know. I'm filled with humility.

I have probably talked before about how when I grew up my mom didn't usually help with Halloween costumes. You were on your own. Not because she didn't want to, but because she had nine kids...
Basically, it has lead me to believe that the very best costumes are the ones that come from the bowels of your imagination. Pieced together with duct tape and elastic. Yes, the homemade ones.

This year, I did have one child elect to use a costume we already had on hand (that we were given about 4 years ago and which FINALLY fit).

I present Anna as Mulan.

Might I add that she doesn't actually like the movie Mulan; she thinks it's too scary.
And yes, she's wearing makeup. In keeping with the tradition that my mother allowed, my girls are permitted to wear makeup one day per year: Halloween.

Lucas's costume was an easy recycle from a couple of years ago. Totoro.

He's such a little squirt that the hat totally swamped him and no one knew what he was... which didn't bother me in the least. I like the obscure.

The only instruction I gave Abbie on choosing a Halloween costume this year was to encourage her to choose a literary character. Having just read both Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie, she immediately selected Laura Ingalls.

And while I realize that her costume isn't exactly period correct, we sure tried. And also, yikes. I'm in trouble. Check this girl out:

9 going on 19, eh?

Miles wore an entire 14 piece ensemble that I spent a really long time agonizing over and working on. I sewed him a vest and gun holster (of my Dad's design). We borrowed chaps, boots and a gun. He also had a hat (not pictured because it was in the back of Matt's car who wasn't home from work when these pictures were taken).

He would like you to know that he is NOT Woody. And yes, it is time for a haircut.

And finally, my crowning glory. Libby as Octopus. Wait, you're on Pinterest, right? If so, follow me!
At any rate, I found this costume idea from a link on Pinterest.
I must admit, I think my execution is better. Also, their octopus has 10 legs.

I filled the polka dotted socks I had lying around (supposed to have been turned into Babylegs for Lucas) with grocery sacks (I'm so green) and used safety pins to attach them to a harness I fashioned out of elastic. Safety pins, so I can use the socks again. The hat was whipped up out of some rib knit and felt.

It was pretty much the most hysterical thing anyone had ever seen. It helps that Libby's so tiny that it blows people away when she runs up to their door, holds out her bucket and says, "Trick Treat" just like a big kid. Then a "Thank You!" and a "Bye!" with a wave! I love this girl so much.

Her joie de vivre is infectious. Absolutely.

Better School Pictures - Episode 4

2011-09-07T10:02:00.000-04:00

Can you believe we've been doing this for four years?

Here's this year's information:

The Better School Picture Day

Saturday, September 24, 2011 from 8am - 11am at a location TBA in the Longwood/Lake Mary Area
$25 per child.
How it works:
I spend 5-10 minutes with each of your children. Just time enough to get 3-5 great shots of them. Your pictures will be fully edited and presented in an online gallery. The $25 pays for the sitting and ONE fully edited full-resolution file on a Data DVD with rights to print. If you decide you would like all 3-5 files, the cost is only $50 total (or an additional $25, make sense?)

Why?
Have you seen your children's school pictures? Last year, I used my own daughter's picture to demonstrate. Here, I'll show you again (much to her embarassment.)

Here is the picture that was sent home from the ACTUAL SCHOOL PICTURES.

Oh Mah Gosh.

Seriously.

I think you've all seen my daughter.

You have, correct?

She's not usually so demonically possessed.

I promise.

No really.

Here is a picture I took of Abbie around the same time.

So yeah. Not really even the same child.

Here are some more samples.

Please Email Me or send me a Facebook message if you're interested!

Because honestly, you do not want Regular School Pictures to happen to you, and neither do I.

I knit stuff.

2011-08-26T09:40:00.001-04:00

So, I mentioned at the beginning of the year, that I was hoping to knit through 5 miles of yarn in 2011. By mid August, I had met that goal.

Obviously, I haven't posted many of the finished objects I've knit. That would be because I haven't photographed them. Two of those items are sweaters which, frankly, it's just too dang hot to be wearing long enough to get pictures of.

But I do have two items to share with you.

The first of which is this adorable sweater vest which I knit for a colleague of my husband They just had their first little baby boy. And if we're being honest with each other, we can admit that there isn't anything cuter than a baby boy in a sweater vest. Right?

And the back. It ALMOST makes me wish I had a teeny boy to wear it.

As it is, Libby looked adorable in it. This was just so I could make sure of sizing. It's about 12 months.

The other project is probably the most favorite thing I've ever knit.

This is the Clara Dress. Unfortunately, you can only get the pattern by purchasing it as a kit. But I was desperate. I had to knit this tiny dress.

I think you can see why.

I only wish I'd have made it a couple inches longer. I was worried about running out of yarn, but I totally shouldn't have been. I could easily have knit another 2 inches and still had plenty left over.

But I actually adore the length. I just put a pair of frilly bloomers on her and we're good to go. And I think she can continue to wear it as a tunic type top for quite a while.

I'll be back with more knit items soon.

And Good Riddance.

2011-08-18T14:51:00.000-04:00

Due to the nature of our incredibly long summer spent cooped up here at home, I was really about to lose it.

School couldn't have come soon enough. I'm not kidding. Not even a little.
Monday was the day.

We all, the entire family, trekked on out to the bus stop.

There was a great fanfare as Miles headed out to his first day of Kindergarten. You know, where he will probably be extremely bored. I was informed they are working on the letter C this week. Have I mentioned Miles reads on a 2nd grade + level?

And ohmyword, I have a 4th grader. FOURTH. As in, old. As in, the originator of all that sass. Save me.

And I also possess a 2nd grader. Everytime I look at her, I have the sneaking suspicion that in about 6 years, I'm going to be in a LOT of trouble. BOYS BE DAMNED!

And there they go! Buh and Bye. See you at 3:30. But I can't celebrate too much. I've still got these two waiting at home for me.

Herein he informs me that it is time for us to go buy HIM a Star Wars Tshirt.

And my Libby Mae, who I'm fairly certain thinks Abbie is her mom. At least a little.

What I did last summer. A report.

2011-08-15T14:16:00.001-04:00

As you probably know, on the Saturday before Memorial Day Matt decided to take Anna to a wall to wall trampoline facility. Fun times. Except the part where he shredded his patellar tendon. He had NON arthroscopic knee surgery on Memorial Day.

It would be 10 weeks before he could drive again. 10 weeks = our entire summer.

So, our summer. Yeah. Blown, mostly.

We did end up flying to a family reunion in Branson, MO. Our original plan had been to drive the 20 hours. Not really all that broken-hearted over that one.

But the truth is, having to load all five of your kids into the car and drive your husband the 20 minutes to work and then home and then turn around at 6pm and do the same thing, really wears one right out. So, we had an incredibly low key summer. With an enforced quiet time between 1-4pm. Yes, my children read a lot of books.

The last thing I wanted to do was any more driving. So we spent a long summer here at our house. Several times a week, it looked almost exactly like this:

Bikes.

The sprinkler.

Playing in the gutter.

The kiddie pool.

Races.

And sass. So much sass.

Today is the first day of school. That's why I can post this.
Matt can drive. His knee bends again.
Here's to hoping I'm on the other side of this Bummer Summer.

Leave of Absence

2011-06-26T20:48:00.001-04:00

I think it's obvious that my heart's just not in this right now.

So, for the time being I'm not going to worry about blogging.

Thanks.

Children.

2011-06-08T23:20:00.000-04:00

I've got some.
An update for the Grandmas.

My little mini-mom helper and the Bibs.

Starts 4th grade in August. Kicked butt on the FCAT. Finished the year with straight As. Has been invited to join the gymnastics team. Amazing girl.

Says "Thank you, Please, No, Yeah, Uh-oh, Wow, Dad, Mom" and a couple other words I can't remember.

Is the light of our home.

Finally becoming mildly manageable. And sweeter than pie. Sometimes.

The husband likes to make fun of his Chiclet teeth.

Just finished 1st grade. Pretends like she hates reading but has already buzzed through 8 books since school let out. Has also been invited to join the gymnastics team. Doesn't want to. It's just not in her personality. And that's fine by me.

The peacemaker of our home. Usually. Sometimes.

What? Don't pretend like I'm not missing pictures of Miles. He was with his dad when these pictures were taken.

Weekend Update

2011-05-30T22:19:00.000-04:00

1. It's fitting that I use that title since I'm currently buzzing my way through Bossypants by Tina Fey. Hilariously good read. My husband even read it.

2. My husband had time to read it because he exploded his knee (ruptured his patellar tendon) on Saturday while on a Daddy/Daughter date to one of those wall-to-wall trampoline places. He had surgery earlier today and should be home tomorrow.

3. This throws a major wrench in our Summer plans. The first of which was to drive to a family reunion in Missouri. That now has a very real possibility of NOT happening since I'm not known for my long distance driving abilities, and the disploded knee was his driving leg.

4. It also ruins my plans of knitting all the way. This is more painful for me than having to drive... NOT getting to knit. Just cruel. I had several projects all planned out and I now stare disdainfully at the yarn I had selected. I'm blaming the yarn. It's easier that way.

5. My husband will be fine. He's currently enjoying a lovely cocktail of post-operative drugs. I wish I had some.

6. School is out on Wednesday. I will henceforth have a 4th and 2nd grader and a Kindergartener (why does this word always look wrong?... is that even the correct spelling?...blogspot says no, but they didn't like "disploded" either and that's OBVIOUSLY a real word.) My children really ought to either 1. Stop getting older. or 2. Get older much faster. It's painful like ripping off a band-aid super slowly. Either leave it alone or rip that bad boy off in one quick move.

7. I knit some stuff.

8. I finally picked up my camera last week for the first time since April. No lie. I'm contemplating challenging myself to take a picture a day during the summer. Which may also force me to actually do fun stuff with my kids during the summer so that I will have something to photograph. I even made a big old Pinterest board full of stuff my kids will enjoy doing. Find it here. (Are you on Pinterest? Let me know!)

9. Here's the stuff I knit.

A sweet little, slightly too big for Libby right now intentionally baby cardigan. Should fit her perfectly come the two weeks of so-called Winter we enjoy in January.

This is a neckerchief-ish shawl called Lacy Baktus. It started out really fun, then turned really boring, then turned positively excruciating as I just wanted it done already. Which is why I don't knit scarves, typically.

10. How bout that hair o mine? Crazy right? This is AFTER I had it severely thinned out.

11. Hope your weekend was much more injury free than ours.

Try To Contain Yourself.

2011-05-03T22:18:00.000-04:00

Yes. I'm blogging.
No, I'm not going to try to tell you everything that happened on the rest of our Spring Break since that was over a month ago now. I AM LAME.

What I've been up to?
5 kids.
Why?
They insist on eating and being dressed, and of all things, making messes.
Why haven't I found time to blog?
Several reasons really.
1. Facebook
2. Knitting
3. Laziness
What am I talking about on Facebook?
1. Knitting
2. Laziness
An example of my most recent status updates?
1. A very large pot of oatmeal with apples, apricot, and craisins. Dinner.
2. Is starting a petition to move mornings to 11am.
3. My children keep talking about transmogrifying. A sure sign they've been into the Calvin and Hobbes.
4. Wonders if I can get away with blaming my dirty house on the fact that my baby is terrified of the vacuum.
Yeah, you're not missing much.

I do, however, have a crap-ton of completed knitting projects to share. As soon as I photograph them since holding them up to the screen for you to feel doesn't seem to be working.

Do I have any pictures to share with you?
Sure.

Where is Abbie?
I don't know! Probably too busy being embarrassed by me. Yeah, we're at that stage.

What I Did During My Spring Break...Part One

2011-04-10T00:43:00.000-04:00

AKA, How I made my children love me for very little money.
Wait. What? You can't buy love? Tell that to my 9 and 7 year old daughters.

AKA, The post that helps you to understand the kind of cheap we are.

We had Spring Break a couple of weeks ago. It started on Friday, which I think just adds insult to the injury of having your kids home for a week. I knew if I didn't keep the kids busy, I'd be in for a terribly long week, so we planned out a couple of things in advance.

Friday:

I helped the kids (and our neighbor friends) set up cones for scooter obstacle races (please understand that I am aware that my child isn't wearing a helmet or any other protective gear in this picture, thank you) and taught them to play broom hockey. We also broke out the sidewalk chalk. We spent the majority of our day outside. Lovely.

Saturday:

We spent the entire day cleaning out the garage. It did, in fact, take the entire day. We own four bikes, one double wide bike trailer, 5 scooters, 1 tricycle, 2 skateboards, and 2 baby "cars." I'm sure I'm missing something. It takes up a substantial amount of room in the garage.

Sunday is church. Church is almost always great. It was!
Monday:
I had previously begged and pleaded with my husband to take off work a couple of days during Spring Break. I think my exact words were, "Please don't leave me alone with them for that long!!! I won't survive!" He did not fail me. So on Monday... Monday is the day I like to call, "FREE DISNEY."
Well, if you're like us, and can't stand the constant questioning and too much chatter, you don't tell your kids what's happening or where they're going until they figure it out on their own. It makes things much easier on our end and the surprise is great for the kids.
For the record, we packed a lunch and dinner. Lunch was sandwiches, apples, and cheese. Dinner was... well, you'll hear about it later.

We started off the day at Downtown Disney. If you don't know, Downtown Disney is simply a bunch of shops and restaurants that are affiliated with Disney, but it doesn't cost anything to go down and hang around see stuff. That is, unless you want to see a show, or actually eat there. Ha!
So first, check out my crew.

Yes, they're all mine. Stop counting. Yes, they all have the same father, and no, I'm not the nanny. Thanks.
There is a really cool dinosaur restaurant there. We didn't eat there, we just looked at the SUPER HUGE dinosaur sculptures they've got going on which make Lucas freak right the heck out. It was hilarious. To us. He, on the other hand is severely traumatized.

We walked through DD, where there are a bunch of fun things for kids to see and do like fountains for the kids to splash in, and the next best thing to waiting in line for 1.5 hours to meet your favorite princess (gag me!).

We headed over to the LEGO store (which is currently being renovated) where the kids got to play with Legos! We opted to purchase one self-designed LEGO person for each kid (3 for $9.99) and then headed out to my favorite stop.

Goofy's Candy Company

Honestly, they have THE best caramel apples ever (yes, I'm looking at you Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, better than YOU!). The best part is that you have the ability to pick and choose what you want on it and they make it right in front of you! The kids LOVED watching it and the nice people who work there are so generous!

While we waited for the apple to be done, the kids played in the fun mirrors they have in the store.
Instead of taking the apple with us, we had them cut it up for us right then, and we went to town. We split one apple between all seven of us, but it worked perfectly because much more than one or two pieces of that candy loaded apple would have sent me into a sugar coma! Price: $8ish? WORTH IT.

From there we got to go see the Macaws outside the Rainforest Cafe which my kids maintained were fake. Totally real. If you go, be sure to go inside the Rainforest Cafe and take a look around at the amazing fish tanks they have. They're some of the best I've ever seen (I've never been to an Aquarium... judge my parents, not me).

Still Monday. From DD, we left and drove over to Disney's Campgrounds. Fort Wilderness. We've had friends telling us about this place for well over a year. We just assumed they were kidding. It is honestly Disney's Best Kept Secret (that a lot of people know about).

We pulled up to Fort Wilderness and they have a gated entry. The guard asks us our business and we simply said, "We're just here for the day!" To which he replied, "Have fun!"

Here lies our one splurge. We rented a golf cart. It runs about $60 for 24 hours, but since you can't drive through the campgrounds, transporting our whole family would be infinitely easier via motorized cart. We were right. But! You can take bikes in and everything in the Fort is easily within biking distance. You can also rent bikes there and I think their prices are reasonable (though I don't recall what they are offhand).

We rode over to the Horse Barns. Fort Wilderness is the home to all of the horses and ponies that they use at the Magic Kingdom. You can ride the ponies for $5/person (we didn't). We did however go over and take a look at many of the horses, and got to watch two receive a shower/bath (whatever they call washing a horse).

This is Ivan. He was HUGE.
We started to head over to the beach. Yes, they have a beach. I think one of my favorite things was that they had stuff lying around to occupy your time. Like a checkers board on tables, horseshoes, shuffleboard, and even monster sized dominoes for the kids. We played on the playground and finally walked over to the beach.
I let the kids kick off their shoes and wade in as far as they dared. Lucas ended up soaked. Of course.

Matt hates sand, so he took Libby and wandered over to the pier. You can rent boats. I believe that they have motorboats (little ones) that kids as young as 12 can drive by themselves. Crazy cool. There are ferries that are coming and leaving that pier all the time. Guess what, they're FREE.

So, we hopped on the ferry. Did it matter where it took us? Nope. Not even a little. As it turns out, it will take you over to the Wilderness Lodge which is this insanely cool hotel that Disney owns and I would love to stay in OR you can ride the ferry to the Magic Kingdom.

Or in our case, you can ride the ferry to the Wilderness Lodge, have a minor panic attack when Matt can't find his brand new cell phone, hop on the next ferry back to Fort Wilderness and retrace your steps until you realize that you left it in the car (actually it was my fault, sorry Matt!).

The kids loved the ferry. You have to realize how sheltered my kids are. None of them had ever been on a boat before. I quite enjoyed it myself.

Now, I didn't realize it before we left, or I would have made sure to come prepared, but Fort Wilderness has a really nice pool. And kiddie pool. And splash pad. We didn't get to use it because we didn't bring out suits. We are definitely going back. We don't have access to a pool locally (by choice), so it's nice to know that we can take the kids here once or twice a summer for some chlorine. I mean swimming.

Other things Fort Wilderness had that we didn't take advantage of: Charcoal grills (byo charcoal), fishing (bring or rent a rod), volleyball courts, lighted tennis courts, Organized Crafts and Activities. All of these things were available to us even though we weren't staying there.

The rest of the story is that about an hour before dinner, they sent out Chip and Dale in costume (this is Chip). They played with the kids. It wasn't just "stand in line and get your picture with them". They played soccer with a gargantuan sized soccer ball. They drew sidewalk chalk pictures with the kids (all the kids, mine weren't the only ones there). It was truly a blast. After that, someone lights two huge fires (safely) and everyone is invited to come roast marshmallows/hot dogs (our dinner!) on the fire. OR you can buy hot dogs already cooked at the concession stand.

After awhile, a "cowboy" came out and we had a huge campfire singalong. And FINALLY, after the singing, they play a full-length feature film on a big screen, outdoors. It was some honestly decent family fun. FOR FREE.

I estimate that the day cost us $100. That includes food, Legos, the golf cart and even the gas to get there. Now, that may seem steep, but when you consider the cost of taking my family to Disney's Magic Kingdom for one day... (hold... doing the math.) $414. Four hundred and fourteen dollars to stand in line for 2 hours to ride the Dumbo ride. Never. Gonna. Happen. That doesn't include food. Or gas. Or parking. Or souvenirs (my kids picked up pinecones and seashells at Fort Wilderness).

I know there are a lot of Disney Fanatics out there, and having gone to Universal Studios today (also for free) and seeing how dirty and sorta run down it is in comparison, I can understand why people like Disney. It's squeaky clean. Nothing is EVER out of place. It really is a magical thing. But not $414 magical. Sorry.

We definitely have plans to go back to Fort Wilderness and even camp there!

Uh... so, Tuesday. Is this thing still on? We'll talk about the rest of the week tomorrow!

Massive PFMP Dump

2011-03-30T00:25:00.000-04:00

I haven't done one of these in FOREVER. Enjoy the randomness. Also, these pictures are from as far back as September. Yikes!

I am married to one extremely attractive man. He's also really funny. And an amazing father. And a wonderful provider. Blessed, blessed, blessed.

Anna got beaned in the face with a hula hoop during PE at school. Months later and she still has a slight scar from it.

The face that only every person who has ever met her could love.

Egads, I miss these sweet moments already. She will only nap in bed now.

Ever wonder what my spinning wheel looks like?

Boys sure do make things interesting.

A teeny tiny pair of mittens for the Christmas Tree.

A close up of the weapons/accoutrements we made for the kids' Halloween costumes.

Ha! Good Story that demonstrates the kind of person I really am. Miles has to be picked up between 3:15 and 3:30, but often there is a long car line that prohibits getting through said line anytime before 3:35. On one particular day, I lost track of time and was late. I admit it. I showed up at the school at 3:38. They had already removed him from the pickup line (even though there were still other parents in line to pick up their kids) and taken him into a classroom to wait for me. I received a note from the teacher that stated I would have to pay $8 ($1/minute) the very next day before he would be allowed back at class. So, I did. I paid it in pennies, nickels and dimes. Reminiscent of the scene in Confessions of a Shopaholic where she pays the collections guy with pennies "giving him exactly what he asked for, but in the most inconvenient way possible."
He he.... I'm a jerk!

We went to dinner at the Macaroni Grill. We tip well. I figure we're paying extra for cleaning up the many spilled cups and food on the floor. Go us.

This is how we spent our Thanksgiving Day. Fishing at a local pond/lake. We caught a turtle. Thus ended our fishing.

These are mittens that I made for my mother for Christmas. And then sent them off to her before I remembered to take a proper picture. They were fabulous and I'm JUST now seeing an error... CURSES.

When I was growing up, we made these Candy Trains every year. This year I hosted a candy train making party for a bunch of girlfriends. It was all around good times.

I grew these turnips in my garden. I feel like a superhero. Recently, I planted our summer garden... Zucchini, Green Beans, Tomatoes, Cilantro, and Basil. My mouth is already watering.

Lucas loves trains. ALOT. We set up a huge track at least a couple of times/week. It will keep him fairly well occupied for an hour or so.

Lucas sleeping = Mom wins.

Anna just prior to her endoscopy. She loved the loopy drugs they gave her so much that she asked for them several more times in the next couple of days. I was getting worried.

Again, behold. I make carrots.

Anna made this fancy robot for school. She demanded I post a picture of it to Facebook. I did as she commanded. Never disobey. Never.

My parents sent this Dr. Seussian Parrot for Libby for Christmas, along with the coordinating book Oh Say Can You Say. Libby has staked her claim. It is her very favorite thing ever. She likes to suck on it while she falls asleep. This makes it stink. Badly. "The Green Guy" as he's known around these parts, has to be washed at least every week.

So, I knit Matt his sweater vest. I couldn't love it more. It turned out exactly as I had envisioned, which almost never happens. Maybe I'll post some better pictures of it... that is, if I can convince Matt to put it back on in the 80+ degree weather we've got.

So, really, Spring Break wrap up tomorrow.

Pardon Me

2011-03-29T09:26:00.000-04:00

Last week was Spring Break. You don't really appreciate the public school system until you suddenly regain the children you are missing during the day.

We ran them ragged. My husband even took several days off work to play with us. I'll be back tomorrow to tell you all about it.

As it is, I'm still recovering.

Everyday

2011-03-18T20:40:00.000-04:00

I have been dragging out the camera less and less often. It's really quite sad.
I'm not even sure what prompted me to bring it along on this very normal trip to the park. But I did.... and I'm so glad.

After all, who doesn't need pictures of their baby looking exceedingly devilish?

Or their 9 year old looking nearly teenaged?

Or to capture your 7 year old in a flight of fancy?

Or your 5 year old trying to melt you with his mind powers?

Or your nearly 3 year old acting somewhat behaved?
Well, who wouldn't want that?

Footage.

2011-03-16T20:29:00.000-04:00

Just a quick catchup post... Libby had a birthday nearly a month ago now. We gave her a cupcake.

She did not fail to entertain.

We even took a video of the whole thing. It's pretty long, but the first minute and the last minute are fun to watch... we are video editing dunces.

The best part is that this is what she looks like after almost every meal.

Too Kind.

2011-03-13T23:04:00.000-04:00

Recently I received a mysterious package in the mail when I was not expecting a package at all... aren't those the best kind?

Inside it, was a gorgeous quilt.

(Please excuse my hair... it's bigger than I can manage typically).
The quilt came from my dear Aunt Jacques. She is my mother's sister. Apparently, she reads this little blog and has a fondness for listening to me ramble on about whatever it is I feel like that day. Ridiculous!

I feel like the luckiest girl alive. And I'm not quite sure how to say thank you for such a generous gift.

I just love it so much!

Some FOs.

2011-03-05T20:14:00.000-05:00

As in finished objects.
You see, I knit and knit and knit... and then never photograph anything. I'm super awesome that way. So, then I pull out all the items I've completed in the last uh... 2 months and photograph them all at the same time and then you receive this veritable dumping of knitted objects.

So where were we?

I knit four pair of kids' mittens this "winter". Did I knit myself a pair? Uh.... no? I have a pair picked out, but it can wait till the temperature drops below 70 degrees again... in December.

Remember that I own a spinning wheel? I do. I spun the yarn I used for this hat back in September. I knit the hat in December. It was one of Abbie's Christmas presents. But we don't often have occasion for hats. I used the Purl Beret pattern from PurlSoho and it turned out so, so cute.

Abbie quite likes it, and so do I. It was my first foray into knitting with my handspun and it was quite the adventure.

Speaking of handspun...

94 yards of bulky 100% Peruvian Highland Wool. I actually dyed this myself. Yes, I'm attempting all aspects of this fiber craze.

The above yarn was spun in September/October. I have no idea why I haven't yet posted it here because I think it's just beautiful. I didn't dye this one. It came from the WoolPig Crafts Etsy shop. It is now 235 yards of Superwash Blue Faced Leicester in a DK weightish...?

And the final installment in the spinning category is this lovely Merino Silk blend from Ashland Bay. It's 372 yards of a 2ply laceweight. It took me absolutely forever to spin. Just ask my mother... I was spinning this before Christmas. I finally finished it last week and you'll be seeing it knit up into something soon... I think.

Then I knit this lovely, WARM, chunky cowl. It was my first chance getting to use Berroco Vintage Chunky and I was skeptical because it has a rather high acrylic content, but it was just lovely.

I also got to knit this lovely piece. I absolutely love it and it's sooo soft. Pattern is here and yarn is Misti Alpaca Lace.

Here's another pattern I started and finished FOREVER ago... it's called Opus Spicatum. It is knit out of Swish Worsted which I must say I really love. I just wanted to add that it was about 82 degrees the day I took all these pictures and I was sweating mighty fiercely. Gross.

And lastly, not a finished object. A WIP (work in progress.) Matt's Memory Vest. Knit out of Cascade 220 Superwash. The back is finished, the front is about 1/3 done. And now I'm off to go work on it whilst I watch me some Netflix.

Thanks for reading!

Wordless Wednesday - Verve

2011-03-02T20:25:00.000-05:00

Perpetual Valentine

2011-02-27T19:58:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time, I received an amazing Valentine gift.

Today, she looks like this:

Is it bad if I keep hoping she'll start to get "unfortunate" looking soon? Everyone needs those years of awkward smiles and weird skin to humble them.

I've got my fingers crossed, but so far... no luck.

Happy 9th Birthday, Abbie!

Results.

2011-02-26T20:05:00.000-05:00

Again, thank you to everyone for your advice and concern regarding Anna and her food issues.
Two Tuesdays ago we had an Endoscopy done.
Last Tuesday we got the results of the 7 biopsies that they performed.

Everything normal. The test did confirm she IS lactose intolerant.
I don't know about you, but I am overwhelmingly relieved. In the interim we have noticed a definite difference in Anna's appearance for the better. And the fact that she's in no pain whatsoever calms my momma nerves.

So glad to have my happy healthy Anna back.

One Year.

2011-02-24T22:30:00.000-05:00

It's not fair. Consider this my tantrum.
I used to have a baby.
She looked like this:

Once upon a time. Or exactly one year ago today. Oh, I miss this little girl. Sorta. I miss the sweet sleepy smiles and snuggly soft cheeks.

I miss the juicy lips. Why on earth do babies have to grow up? I'm fairly certain that the reason is so that we'll have more babies, but that plan has worked on me five times and I'll be damned if I let it work again. Maybe.

I miss the squishy cheeks. This is probably the fattest Libby ever got. 2 months old. I imagine she might weigh 15 pounds now. MIGHT.

Ah yes. Three months. She looks almost exactly the same today. I miss the tiny clothes.

For example, this dress which I knit her with my bare hands (and needles) no longer fits. What do you do with a handknit item that your child has grown out of?? Seriously. Four months old and already slimming down.

She's a skeptical one, that Libby. Not really. But it's really a wonder that I accomplish anything during her waking hours, simply based on the amount of time I spend snuggling with/on her. (5 months).

At six months old, it was as if someone flipped her personality button. All my other children vie for her constant attention. Special points awarded to those who can make her laugh.

By seven months old, Libby has fallen in line with the other kids. She's just one of the crowd.

And at 8 months old, she turned on the major cutes button. Unfair advantage, Libby.

Nine months old and breaking hearts everywhere. Especially Daddy.

Ten months marked the "I refuse to be seen and not heard." Girl got loud.

Month 11 blew by in a heartbeat. She started walking all over the place and didn't look back. I miss that old baby. The one that crawled. The one that avoided the stairs. The one that only had eyes for me. I miss the squishy soft baby they handed me that day one year ago in the hospital. I miss her bad.

Because now I'm left with a big, grown up baby. A walking, jabbering, mess-maker.

A baby with no regard to her momma's feelings. A little love that doesn't care if mom needs her baby girl back. Desperately.

That's right. I'm having an extremely hard time coming to terms. Someone stole my baby. And I'm ticked.

Of course, they left me with this totally fantastic, hilarious, adorably precious toddler who makes my heart explode daily.

But I'm still pissed. Only not really.

Sad, yes. Happy, yes.

Sorry I'm Late!

2011-02-17T11:41:00.000-05:00

Random.Org generated the number 23! Which means that Jen wins! The lucky girl!

Many of you asked for the pattern... Find it here!
Thanks for playing, folks! We'll do this again soon!

Priveledged Man

2011-02-11T23:25:00.000-05:00

Now, I love being a knitter and I love my husband, but sometimes he can get a bit pesty about his knitted "needs." (INSERT EYEROLL HERE).

He has already received mittens, and a hat. But apparently that left his neck out in the cold, literally. I don't knit scarves. I find them boring. Sorry if you're a scarf knitter but generally it's just the same pattern over and over for 6 feet long... mercy!

So, considering my husband is a fashion forward metrosexual Asian... he opted for a Cowl. Yes, I know... but I promise it's manly.

Everytime he wears it, it makes me love him just a little bit more. Which is nice since he wears it almost daily right now. The pattern... funny thing... called the Simon Cowl. And I used Noro Silk Garden Sock that's been burning a hole in my yarn stash since our summer vacation.

And guess what? Now the husband is pestering for a sweater vest. I've already purchased the yarn and the pattern... lucky man!

Now, you might have noticed that I added a www.knitmeter.com widget over to the right... My goal for 2011, is to knit 5 miles. Nerdy. Heck yes! And I'm on my way... already done with 3/4 of a mile! Go me!

(Sorry if you can't see some of the links... join Ravelry! It's free!)

Giveaway ALERT!

2011-02-11T00:30:00.001-05:00

Really, this is just another ploy to get more of you to knit. Because honestly, I don't think enough of you guys are taking me seriously when I tell you about how awesome it is.

Leave a comment on this post and I'll draw for a winner of your very own Totally AWESOME braided Necklace on Wednesday. I might even let you pick the color! (Make sure you have your email address on there!)

ETA: Here's a link to the pattern! Glad to hear so many of you who are knitting!

Thank You

2011-02-08T00:19:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who commented on my Longish Story about Anna.

We're still waiting on some results, but we DID run the full gamut of blood and stool studies. They did test for both Gluten Intolerance and Celiac. We also did a hydrogen breath test for lactose intolerance.

Here's what we now know.
1. 90-100% of Asian Americans are lactose intolerant.
2. Anna IS lactose intolerant.
3. All other tests came back negative and non-reactive.

We're still working through some other things and we'll keep you updated as we hear anything else.

Thanks!

Fancy Walker!

2011-02-07T16:02:00.000-05:00

My Sweet Libby has long surpassed the eleven month mark. I cannot begin to admit that she's growing up. She is and always will be my sweet little teeny, tiny baby girl. Don't think you can argue otherwise. I just won't have it.

Yes, she's coloring on my tile with a crayon. What of it?

And I am most definitely not prepared for this:

She actually managed her first steps when we were visiting with the husband's sister over the holiday break. But now there's no stopping her. I'd say she's an 80% walker now. It's a true crime against her babyhood.

Go ahead, haul her away in cuffs! I dare you not to smooch on her cheeks in the meantime.

A long Story... Short. ish.

2011-01-24T20:14:00.000-05:00

You remember my Anna?

Well, a couple of months ago, around the time school started, she began complaining about stomach aches.
Now, I think I need to tell you that Anna can be a bit dramatic. And so, I assumed that she was mostly just tugging on my sympathy chains. Which wasn't working. I largely ignored her complaints. I did mention them to the pediatrician when we saw her in November. The pediatrician agreed that she was probably just being a girl. So when she complained I told her to go use the bathroom, or lie down...

Right before Christmas her stomach aches began increasing in intensity and frequency. We also noticed that her belly began to look big... as in bloated. After a brief conversation with my husband we decided to have her avoid dairy and we'd see where that led us. (You can see her big belly in the picture below).

So, we did have her avoid dairy... sorta. When it was too difficult to worry about, we told her just to eat it anyway. Terrible parents, I know, but we didn't see any improvement when she wasn't eating dairy anyway.
When we got home from our trip over the holidays, we made an appointment for Anna. But since it was a consult appointment instead of a sick visit, they didn't have any available spots for almost two weeks. We finally got in to see the pediatrician who took one look at her big belly and referred us to a pediatric gastroenterologist, and encouraged us to LAY OFF THE DAIRY.

So, we did. We removed all the major sources of dairy (cheese, milk, yogurt, butter, etc) and again we didn't really notice a difference. Last Monday (the 17th), we went to IKEA as a family. We always eat there, and especially because they were running a deal where whatever you spent on food would be deducted from your furniture purchase (score!). Matt went through the line and ordered four identical kids meals and food for the grown ups. We ate and went on our merry way. About two hours later, Anna started complaining that her belly was REALLY hurting her. I took a look and it was the biggest I had ever seen her belly bloat to. Bad.

I racked my brain but couldn't come up with what she might have eaten to cause that! She'd had a bagel with peanut butter and oranges for breakfast. She'd had meatballs and fries for lunch. There could have been traces of milk in the meatballs, but I didn't think they could have caused this much of a problem for her.

On the way home, I called a friend. I was talking about Anna's problem and suddenly it came to me: HOLY FREAKING CRAP. Matt had purchased four identical kid's meals. With a CHOCOLATE MILK. Which Anna didn't even blink about. Suddenly, I ran my brain through the last week... she hadn't once complained about a stomach ache.

We saw the gastroenterologist last Thursday and Anna's scheduled for a Lactose Intolerance test this Thursday, as well as blood testing for other food intolerances/allergies.

Here's to some answers. If you have a moment, and could say a quick prayer in her behalf and in the behalf of the doctors that we'll be able to figure out what's ailing her quickly, that would be great. Thank you!

Getting this done, all at once.

2011-01-09T20:48:00.000-05:00

I could drag out posts about Christmas for the next two months, but instead, I'll just do this one time. Enjoy.

Just before Christmas, the love of my life celebrated his 33rd birthday. To honor him I knit this gloves. He has a mild obsession with Totoro so it was fitting. He also received a shovel. No, not just any shovel. This bad boy. If your husband likes to be manly, you should buy him one. I wish I could say that I get some kickback from having you buy it, but alas, all I get is the satisfaction of knowing your man got a man-toy.

This child shall certainly be the death of me. Matt took work off from the 17th of December until January 4th. He now fully understands why Lucas is so infuriating. He'll be three soon and we're REALLY hoping it does something nice for him.

Anna has been taking gymnastics for the last month or two. She loves it. And is adorable. But most of all...

She's pretty good!

And so, not to be outdone, Abbie proved that she could do it too! (And also, me too! But no picture of that.)

Isn't my precious baby girl so cute? Can you believe she's 10 months now? Can you believe that we neglected her in her high chair so long that she finally gave up and fell asleep? We're awesome.

This is our tree on Christmas Eve after Santa arrived. Notice the two obvious spots where the lights are out? No way on earth was I going to fix that. On the list for next year: new lights.

So, just after Christmas we left the relative warmth of Florida (I say relative, because I'm cold... right now.) and drove to Virginia to visit with the husband's sister and her beautiful family. Also, because they had snow. And in the perfect amount... about three inches.

My kids were FINALLY able to see snow. We asked them what they thought snow "felt" like. Answer: Fluffy Cotton Balls or Clouds. What does it taste like? Ice cream. So, in true fashion we dashed all their hopes regarding the white evil. Kidding. I miss the snow. Sorta.

So, we brought every single piece of "winter wear" we owned. Including quite a few pieces I knit just for the trip. (Hint: not the hat Anna is wearing, Audrey knit that). We took the kids sledding, which, oh my word, I'd forgotten how fun that is!!!

And my kids LOVED it! All of them... well, not Libby since she still has no idea what snow is. But the rest. With the possible exception of Miles who only lasted about 15 minutes. Abbie and Anna stayed out for hours. Lucas would have too, if I hadn't demanded he go in due to his purple lips.

And disgusting nose.

But Matt even came out (I knitted that yellow hat!) Good times!

But the best part of the trip was getting to hang out with family. Here in Florida, we have none, so it's always great to get to hang with cousins (Hi Hannah!).

And since my parents were just a 5ish hour drive away, they came down to visit us in Virginia for a couple of days. Yay! Libby and my mom were fast friends.

And Lucas and my dad (Jumpa!) are the very best of friends. In fact, after they left every time Lucas would get in trouble he'd start crying "I want my Jumpa!" I want to say I found it annoying, but I'm really glad that Lucas has a friend. And I'm glad it's my daddy.

Um... Miles was there too. He's been flying under the radar a lot lately. Which is why while we were on vacation, I gave him a bath and realized (in AWESOME MOM form) that it was very likely the first bath he'd had in at least three weeks. As I said, Awesome Mom!

This ... This cowl was my Christmas Gift from Audrey. She gets me.

When we went to Virginia, I took my spinning wheel. Both so that Audrey and my mom could watch me spin. As I'm the only person I know who takes part in this terribly antiquated and equally awesome hobby, I'd love to get someone else hooked. I spun this yarn while I was there and left it with Audrey. Hopefully she'll knit something out if it and send me a picture.

Glamour shots by Deb. Or me. Just playing with some lovely window light.

I can't get over how grown up my girls are getting.

P.S. This is Audrey. She's amazing. I could write an entire book about it. But she's a fabulous cook, wonderful crafter, amazing gardener, patient mother, and gracious hostess. She also knits like the wind. Double puffy heart that my husband has such an awesome sister.

And now, for the final thing. We got a pet. Two actually. Guinea pigs. Why? I'm not sure. I got seriously railroaded into them by the husband. So this is Hershey (with Lucas) and Blaster (with Miles). They're okay. I guess. (Okay, who am I kidding, I want to cuddle them.)

To You. From Us.

2010-12-20T00:51:00.002-05:00

Changing My Mind

2010-12-13T00:42:00.000-05:00

I've been being very diligent about my knitting. I've knit almost exclusively items for other people for the last 4 months... I really wanted to be able to give my loved ones my hand knitted love this Christmas. And for the most part, I'm doing okay. All of my sisters will receive something. And my mom. And my mother-in-law, though she doesn't know it yet.

And with almost each finished object, I instantly become jealous of the person I knit it for. It's been very difficult for me to resign myself to the idea that I'm giving all of these fabulous items away.

Which is why when I finished this hat...

I put it on for these pictures.

And quickly decided to never take it off.

It's mine now. And it even got cold last week which of course, meant that I had to wear it!

I apologize to the person it was intended for. You will never know who you are.
Because the good news is, I'm still knitting.

More from our shoot.

2010-11-28T22:25:00.000-05:00

I'm saving our "money" shots for closer to Christmas (aka, after people receive the cards I haven't designed or ordered yet... yeesh.)

In the meantime, enjoy some random shots.

Abbie is totally my mini mommy... she takes such good care of Libby. I'm really not sure what I'd do without her.

What a cheeser!

Love, love, love.

Can you believe she's nine months old now?!!?!

My girlies!

Watch out! Here they come.

Honestly, one of my favorite pictures, ever.

We still like each other. More than just a little.

I can't get over how grown up my girls are getting. It's so wrong and I'm completely unprepared.

See what I mean?

Abbie is wearing a sweet little cuff I knitted for her. This is the only picture you'll see of it, because she took it to school and bartered it for something else as part of a project. She is demanding one in every color now.

This kid is giving us all a run for our money... cute as can be, but evil inside. I kid. A little.

And Miles. Miles has a girlfriend. But he promises that he loves me more. Eyeroll.

Typical

2010-11-23T21:37:00.000-05:00

We made an attempt at a family Christmas pictures (which eventually did yield something profitable).

But for awhile there, I was certain that we were going to have to send out our Christmas Cards with the following letter:

Dear All -
We know you appreciate honesty and laughter. This image is both. It also represents all five of our children. Please enjoy at your own risk.

The Us.

We have:
1. Abbie posing as though she's SUPER COOL, instead of a child who continues to wear sneakers that are too small because she decided to grow after Mom made the executive decision to buy her nice Nike's and now can't bring herself to afford another pair.
2. Anna bawling because her older sister has the audacity to pose in the same picture as her. Or maybe the breeze blew her in the wrong way... either way, tears.
3. Miles holding Libby because he's recently decided that he's big enough to take care of her all by himself. Yes, my heart flutters in fear.
4. Lucas picking a fight with Miles. 'Nuf said.
5. Libby going with the flow. Because that's what she does.

I hope you've enjoyed this peek into our chaos.

Take Two.

2010-11-08T19:53:00.002-05:00

Just about a year and a half ago, I talked about taking self-portraits. I hope many of you took me up on that challenge.

And I realized that I hadn't really shown my face around this here blog in quite some time. And I thought I could make you all laugh. You deserve it.

So, I got myself all dolled up and fluffed my hair just so.... pulled out the camera and started snapping away.
Here's me.

My hair. It's gone crazy.

After each of my children, my hair has gotten weirder and weirder.

Curlier and curlier.

More and more coarse.

So, I've given up and embraced the weird, curly and coarse. (And my dead tooth, courtesy of a root canal I had done over 10 years ago... lovely. If you want to send me the money to have veneers put on my front six teeth, shoot me an email. ahahahah).

My husband loves the curly girl.

And mostly, I think she's okay.

Even if she is a bit crazy.

At least I can take pictures that show off my best feature: my neck.

What?? Your neck?

Well, that's what someone told me once.

That someone married me.

The Rest

2010-11-07T19:53:00.000-05:00

Sorry. I got sidetracked with life.

I'm back.
Anna decided months ago that she wanted to be Tiger Lily. I put off her costume and put off her costume... and then went and bought all the stuff for it, and as of the Wednesday before Halloween, hadn't started a thing.

Fortunately, I have an awesome friend who had purchased this costume for her daughter for a school project. Done and done.

Yes. I know. I slacked. I figure I deserve one or two easy costumes per year, right?

And more importantly, Anna loved it. She should, since she's totally 1/32nd Cherokee Indian (what? you can't tell?)

And to be totally politically incorrect...

In other Halloween related news, my Bibs (her most common nickname) was just the cutest little bug.

I know, right? Those cheeks lure me in every time.

And finally, a group shot. Because nothing says Halloween like realizing with 4 out of 5 kids getting candy, you're bound to gain some weight.

Costume #3 - Halloween Fairy??

2010-11-03T18:00:00.001-04:00

In my efforts to encourage Abbie to read books on her actual reading level (more like 5th grade), I told her that her Halloween Costume needed to be from a character a book. I suggested lots of awesome ideas like Laura Ingalls, Ramona Quimby, etc... She would have none of my suggestions.

She brought me this book (which, to be fair, she did actually read.) Ugh! Fine. Whatever. I didn't have the energy to fight anymore.

Close enough, right? Just say yes.

I took a size medium adult woman's shirt, cut a hole in the neckband casing and slipped some elastic in to cinch up the neckline and I cut the sleeves off diagonally. We reused a sash from our ninja costumes from last year. The tights were a blessed find from JoAnns and honestly, I would have paid whatever they were asking because I was seriously stumped as to a homemade solution. The wings were also worth every penny I paid WalMart for them, because while I know you CAN make your own, I just wasn't about to.

I made the wand using tried and true methods of paper, cardboard, hot glue and duct tape.

We be Piratin'

2010-11-01T18:00:00.001-04:00

Every year I feel an intense amount of pressure to come up with handmade costumes for each of my children.

Why do I do this to myself? The answer is that I just don't know. It's totally unnecessary. And yet, every year... here we go.

Miles decided on a pirate. That is, after I talked him out of Super Mario (because I know that at least 3 of his friends were being Super Mario... I prefer at least a teensy bit of originality... sorta.) He took his job seriously. There were a lot of "Ahoy Mateys!" and "Shiver me timbers" going around.
And Matt took his job of fashioning a Spanish-style sword very seriously.
Here's a closer shot of the hilt:

The hat was fabulously easy thanks in large part to a tutorial my sister sent.
I also made the vest and sash, but lets be honest... nothing special there. Overall, it was Miles's overacting that made this costume awesome.

And because, if one pirate is good, then two is great, right?

Lucas loved it. He has been telling everyone for the last week that he's a pirate. A bad one.

But how could a pirate this cute, be bad?

Multnomah

2010-10-31T22:21:00.000-04:00

I wore it to church today. I love the blues and purples. And a simple, fun knit.

And yes, I'm avoiding showing you pictures of my face. Well, my hair really... it's huge. And weird. I'll show you better what I'm talking about this week.

And Now... For the Main Event.

2010-10-26T23:20:00.000-04:00

I've been putting off photographing all six (yes, there are more) finished projects I have because I wanted to wait until this one was done.

This was another test-knit for a knitwear designer. It was an absolute delight to knit. Plus, I got to use a yarn that I've never used before and absolutely fell in love. MUST HAVE MORE YARN. I think this week, I'll have to take some pictures of my yarn stash so you can laugh at my "need."

Yes. More cables on the back. And the sleeves. I was actually asked to knit the size 8-9. Abbie is teeny. So, even though she's 8.5, she really only wears a 6/7. So, admittedly the jacket is a bit long on her. But I actually like the longer length... it gives it more of a swing coat feel, I think.

Overall, I think it's great. I *almost* wish it was for me, except for the part where I'm not really into nautical cables for adults who aren't on a boat. Sue me.

Coming Soon to a Neck Near You...

2010-10-26T00:18:00.000-04:00

I made this.

I have forewarned my husband that it is time for me to move out of FL (as I type this, I'm sweating... our windows are open and the fans are going... it's too hot). I need seasons.

I need a reason to keep this for myself!

Grubby Mitts

2010-10-23T21:44:00.000-04:00

Ok, not grubby. But I love using those two words together. About a billion (not an exaggeration, I swear) years ago, I finished these mitts.

These were the most fun thing to knit. I learned how to do stranded colorwork (fair isle) and I'm hooked. I've been eyeing up a set like this. Tell me it wouldn't make you just thrilled to wrap that around you and head out into the cold...
But alas. We have no cold.
So, instead someone else will be enjoying these. I bet you wish it was you.

I think I need to make another pair for the 4 days it gets cold enough... what colors would you suggest?

Extra! Extra!

2010-10-15T22:50:00.000-04:00

Woman neglects her blog in favor of peace and quiet. Given that she's got five children, her pursuit for peace & quiet is fruitless.

Because it's finally October, the weather has started to cool to manageable temperatures. This means we can go out of our house for longer than the time it takes to get into our cars. Huzzah!

We have one particular tradition in our house that is highly protected. The post-church Sunday afternoon nap. If I don't get one, you really don't want to be around me on Sunday evening. On this past Sunday, I managed to get a decently long nap (longer than 20 minutes) and woke to the sounds of my children playing happily on the patio outside our bedroom. I wandered out there to check on them to find this:

Libby, who was napping, but woke up, was gotten out of bed by her big sisters and strapped into this thing. When I found her she was just rocking back and forth and happy as can be. That is, until she saw me.

Breaks a momma's heart. And makes me giggle my fool head off.

There... now that's more like it. Smiley girl. 7 months old now!
We took a walk as a family since the weather was so darned agreeable.

Guess who potty trained this week?!?!?!!!!

Love these little people.

Especially when they're full of happy noises.

Spinning.

2010-09-27T20:25:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned before, I ordered a spinning wheel for myself for my 31st birthday. I spent the first 2 hours swearing.... and suddenly it clicked.

I've been having a blast. Someday I'll take pictures of my wheel, but for now, you get pictures of the yarn I've spun.

This was my first attempts at spinning. It wound up being 28 yards of horribly over/under spun and awfully plied yarn. I'll keep it for fun, but it's not likely to be made into anything.

So, I tried again. This produced a "much closer to yarn" product. 216 yards of it! I still struggle with overspinning but I'm doing better. This particular fiber is Corriedale (the variety of sheep it came from). It's sheep colored. I could overdye this if I'd like and even ordered the acid dyes necessary to do so... We shall see.

For my birthday, my mom sent me a beautiful braid of fiber. It's a Superwash Merino Tencel blend. 253 yards of light fingering weight. I love it and have a project planned for it!

For kicks, I attended a Fiber Conference/Convention (way nerdy, eh?). While I was there, I purchased a couple of braids of fiber. One being what you see below. Ashland Bay Colonial Teal Multi. Whatever that means. This yarn is 166 yards of worsted weight. The perfect amount for a hat or possibly some mittens.

So.... uh, that's the yarn. I made it. Yes, I'm doing a little "I am so totally awesome dance."

Miles is 5!

2010-09-26T20:11:00.000-04:00

Friday was the 5th birthday of my oldest son.

As some of my friends would like me to remember, it was a mildly traumatic birth in that, he was nearly born at home, the car, the parking lot of the hospital and finally, the elevator. My labor was a mere hour and a half (which I went on to beat! Thank you Libby!) and he was born a quick and scary 12 minutes after arriving at the hospital.

Worth it? Sure.

A couple of months ago, we decided to sign him up for Soccer through the YMCA this fall. It was a weird choice to have to make. Sign him up to play with the 3-4 team or send him off to fend for himself with the 5-6s. We opted to go with the 3-4s.

When you're talking about 3-4 soccer it's like the punchline to an untold joke. You expect flower picking and bird watching and very little actual soccer playing. So, you can imagine that we were pleasantly surprised at the amount of soccer played and the fact that Miles, who is a total spazz, did quite well.

Miles's team is in the red. They call themselves the Fireballs.

Miles scored 3 goals that day.

And got really really sweaty. We're super proud of our spazz.

And as mentioned, he had a birthday. Happy 5 years of living on this Earth, Miles!

PFMP: Lotsa

2010-09-13T22:59:00.000-04:00

As in, lotsa stuff to share from my phone, apparently.

1. We joined the YMCA. I took Miles and Lucas to an Itty Bitty Sports Class. In case you were wondering about how A. Nerdy and B. Tiny my Lucas is...

2. A sweet 4th of July Hairdo!

3. Please pardon my extremely weird child. This reminds me of the fact that there's a mom whose child attends Preschool with Miles. She has a bumper sticker on the back of her car that reads, "WEIRD LOAD." I am fairly certain I need that bumper sticker... and I would TOTALLY put it on my car.

4. Same day. When nature calls, eh?

5. Right after I discovered that my children had left the garage freezer open for over 24 hours, thus ruining everything in it... I discovered Lucas as such... it brightened my day just a teensy bit.

6. Sometimes I knit stuff that never makes it to the blog. This is one such case. I knitted a square that is being included in an afghan for my local yarn store. They will be auctioning it and donating the proceeds to some such charity.

7. Libby loves herself some electronics.

8. Chinatown, NYC & Boba. Mmmm.... Also, how hot is my husband?

9. At Crumbs. Notice that each cupcake was $3.75. Yowza.

9. Just outside the Manhattan NY LDS Temple. If you weren't looking for it, you'd like miss it.

10. Ew. A concoction from the bowels of Abbie's imagination. I decided to let her make it. Two layers of rice crispy treats, covered with blue frosting (her favorite color) and strawberries. It was uh... nasty.

11. Lucas enjoying his payday Friday lunch. McDonalds at Walmart. I actually really hate both places.

12. Back to school haircuts for both Abbie

and Anna.

13. For kicks, I scribbled this moustache on Lucas. Good thing it was dry erase and came right off.

14. I like to pretend like we're potty training. We're not.

15. Check out these awesome shoes my sister sent for Libby. So so Cute.

16. Abbie came to me at about 1am. She told me she couldn't sleep. I told her to go read her scriptures. Yeah. It's like that for me too.

17. Negligent mother uses her cell phone to take first day of school picture of her oldest son. (((LOSER!!!)))

18. Why yes, I do take knitting everywhere with me, why do you ask?

19. Not to be outdone, Abbie demanded I teach her how to knit. I did. She made this...

20. My husband loves himself some fire engine red skinny jeans. I love my husband.

21. Ever watch the worlds most spastic reader? She cannot and does not sit still. She might start out sitting like a normal person, but within a minute or so, she's flipped herself upside down... she fell off the stairs immediately after I took this.

22. I love learning new knitting stuffs! More to come on these!!

23. An impromptu campout in our back yard. It rained. A lot. By 11pm, all of our children were tucked into their beds. Matt slept outside anyway.

I hope you enjoyed that. It's a real load off my phone.

Testing...

2010-09-03T18:17:00.000-04:00

My very awesome friend, Kami, spins yarn. Like, she uses an actual spinning wheel and fiber from actual animals. If you had asked me six months ago, I would have told you that that was utter ridiculousness.

Today I am telling you that as I type, I have a spinning wheel on it's way to me (for my birthday).

The reason this is relevant: Kami spun the yarn that these armwarmers were made out of. The pattern for these armwarmers is not actually published yet.

I was contacted by the designer and asked to test knit the pattern. They are SO comfy and super cute.

And completely superfluous here in Florida. Especially this time of year.

I guess I'll put them in my "Christmas Presents" stash. Don't you wish you were on my list?

My Baloney

2010-09-02T20:52:00.000-04:00

The name of this sweater pattern is Abalone. But I love to be weird. Hence, the name Baloney.

I knit this out of Knit Picks Comfy Worsted yarn. It's a SUPER soft Cotton blend and it is perfection for this Florida weather.

Again with the super large chestesses. Sorry. Anyway, this sweater/cardigan/whatever was really simple. I think if you can knit, purl and do a simple increase and are willing to learn to pick up stitches, you could TOTALLY make this. It was almost mind-numbingly boring, which is great for watching lots and lots of old movies on Netflix. Anyone else love watching the stage version of Peter Pan?

It's a dilemma...

2010-08-31T20:53:00.000-04:00

Do I inundate you with all my knitting projects at the same time, or do I spread it out as blog fodder for the next week...

Well, I guess we'll start at the beginning... I think this is the beginning.

Heavy sigh. As in, this was a labor of love. As in, I love it so much that I would wear it everyday if I didn't 1. Live in Florida and 2. Get strange looks for being overdressed in the dropoff line at Preschool. Jerks.

Please, try to keep your eyes on the shawl. I understand that my breasts are well, busty. Shawl.
The pattern is called Haruni. It's my first foray into knitting with laceweight yarn. Wow. It was stressful. But now I feel awesome. I mean, look what I made?!!? With my own two hands!

Also, not a great picture of the shawl, but I like the way I look...you know, kinda blurry.
A big thank you to my six year old daughter who took these and the next couple of entries' pictures. Isn't she awesome!?

Ahem... Where were we?

2010-08-30T21:17:00.000-04:00

Oh yes. Blogging.

So, school started awhile ago for us. We've entered our third week and as a bonus, this year Miles is attending a five day a week half day preschool. So, between the hours of 12p and 3p (read: naptime for Lucas AND Libby), my house is silent. Well, except for the sweet clicking of my knitting needles. Yes. I am liking this.

My husband is kind enough to do the early morning walk to the bus stop. I couldn't love him more for it. I am not to be seen in public before 9am. Trust me.

So, here they go. Off to First and Third Grade.

They really love riding the bus. I love that they ride the bus. It's a win-win.

And for the record, I already hate third grade. But I promise that you don't want to get me started. I could really complain all day long. It is making me take a long, hard look at my reasons for not homeschooling... we shall see.

My girls each picked out skinny jeans to wear to school that first day. I've had to enforce the "please put your dirty clothes in the laundry hamper and not back in your drawer to be worn for 5 days in a row" rule.

Heh. Skinny Jeans that sag on my children's tiny heinies. Bwahahaha.

Ah yes. Welcome back to ~~freedom~~ school.
And this is the part where I confess that Miles's first day picture got taken with my camera phone... stay tuned.

Better School Pictures - Take 3!

2010-08-27T21:56:00.000-04:00

A couple of years ago, I started a program which I received a great response from and which I totally enjoyed doing. Better School Pictures! Since then, several of my photographer friends have started similar programs in their areas. It makes me so happy!!! If you're in the Austin, TX, or the Tri Cities Washington Area quickly call those ladies!

So! Here are the details, which are only slightly different from last year.

The Better School Picture Day
Saturday, October 2, 2010
9am - 11am at a location TBA in the Longwood/Lake Mary Area.
$25 per child. I spend 5-10 minutes with each of your children. Just time enough to get 3-5 great shots of them. Your pictures will be fully edited and presented in an online gallery. The $25 pays for the sitting and ONE fully edited full-resolution file on a Data DVD with rights to print. If you decide you would like all 3-5 files, the cost is only $50 total (or an additional $25, make sense?)
Email Me now to reserve your spot! Or call! Whatever!

And for illustration purposes...
Here is the picture that was sent home from the ACTUAL SCHOOL PICTURES.

Honestly, I don't know how the school photography places manage to screw it up so badly, but there you have it.

And just to prove that I can get pictures like that of your kids too...

I don't know about you, but I'd much rather be sending out those pictures to my relatives...

ONE HALF

2010-08-26T23:35:00.000-04:00

Good Gravy.

I am one very lucky mama.

I've had the lovely opportunity to have this precious little girl in my life everyday for the last 6 months.

Her smile lights up my every moment.

And despite those cheeks, she's a tiny peanut. A mere 12 pounds 9.5 ounces at 6 months. But since that's pretty standard fare for our family, we're not concerned.

She crawls. Really. She eats solids. And despite what the above picture looks like, she does not yet have any teeth.

But she's working on them. She absolutely adores her big sisters. And I believe the feeling is mutual.

We really just can't get enough of her.

It's okay to admit you want to steal her. So long as you don't ACTUALLY steal her.

Instead maybe just blow her some kisses.

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You

2010-08-25T23:06:00.001-04:00

1. Better School Picture Day - Take 3 is coming!
2. Holy Crap my baby is 6 months old!
3. Holy Crap I have 3 kids in school!
3. Knitting Projects Galore!
4. PFMP Randomness!

And because no blog posts should go by without pictures.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

2010-08-16T21:57:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to Jessica! Either you, or your daughter(s) has won yourself a sweet pair of fingerless mitts!

Meanwhile.

2010-08-15T00:56:00.000-04:00

As I'm desperately trying to get all caught up over here, check out what you've been missing...

My baby thinks she can crawl. She can't... at least not today. Ask me again tomorrow.

And Finally:

2010-08-12T21:00:00.002-04:00

The last project that I finished while on our 2700 mile trip (holy crap!) was this pair of socks. FOR ME.

Yes, it's a lovely blurry image.

And actually, I don't really like them. The yarn was too splitty. I've found a different method of construction for the toe that I enjoy more. I don't really care for the patterning on the foot. But I love the ankle height. I love the colors. I love that I learned three new techniques. Learning new techniques is what keeps me knitting. There is always something new to learn, and more than one or two or even 10 ways to accomplish the same basic look. It's a blast!

Knitting Giveaway!

2010-08-11T21:15:00.001-04:00

CLOSED! Thanks everyone who entered!

(Sorry! I know many of you saw this earlier this week... Oops!)

Anna also feels the need to complain that I never knit for her.
She requested some hand warmers, you know in case her fingers got frozen in this Arctic Wasteland that is Florida. Don't ask, I have no idea.

These were SO easy that I'm offering to make another pair!

If you'd like to win a sweet little pair of handwarmers (either adult or child), leave a comment below. I'll pull a name next Monday!

Tea Leaves

2010-08-10T21:00:00.002-04:00

Not the leaves, the Sweater.

Abbie had previously been complaining that I never knit anything for her.
Fine!

A short sleeved cardi it is! I'm sure it would look tons cuter if she wasn't wearing horribly awful clashing colors with it, but whatever. I finished this right before our trip, so it's been waiting to be blogged about for quite some time!

I adore the ruching!

One of these days, I'll work up the guts to knit myself a sweater. Maybe.

NYC Day 3

2010-08-09T23:28:00.000-04:00

Fortunately for all of you, we only spent 3 days in NYC. I'm not sure I could have kept up our pace any longer anyway.

We started out the day at the Natural History Museum. Now THAT is a museum I could go back to over and over. The whole time we were there, I kept saying, "Oh man, the kids would LOVE this place!"

After we left there, we walked over to the best lunch ever. The Shake Shack.
We sat on a park bench, with a nice breeze blowing over us, chowing on the best hamburgers we'd had in a VERY long time. We sat on that bench for quite some time, just really enjoying each others' company and watching the people walking by. That would have to be my very favorite memory from NYC.

From there we walked down Broadway (didn't see any shows), got some more cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery (not as good as Crumbs, but lets be honest, neither can hold a candle to MY homemade cupcakes).

For a couple moments that afternoon, I felt like it wouldn't be so bad to live in NYC. Except for the rent.
We caught the Subway to Times Square. It wasn't actually on our list of things to do, but we'd basically accomplished everything else, so why the heck not?!

Once we got there, however, we realized that we were within walking distance of a very famous store. So we walked the uh... 10 blocks (farther than we originally estimated) to go to B&H Photo Video. It was awesome. They use a conveyor belt system so that you don't have to carry any of your purchases around with you (I'm sure it totally cuts out shoplifting - you don't touch anything you purchase until AFTER you've bought it). It was totally cool and Matt left with a new little toy. He's been having a blast ever since. We can't wait to get his first roll developed!

It was really weird at times to be walking by these totally famous buildings and not point and laugh at what felt like the absurdity of it all.

And as I mentioned before, this is the closest we got to the Empire State Building. Shame on us. We took this picture and then immediately went and caught the Subway back to Chinatown one last time. We met up with our awesome friends, the Forbes, who came down from Albany to have a delicious Chinese dinner with us.
I have absolutely zero pictures of this event, so it may or may not have happened.

We were fairly well-spent after all of our walking and seeing and buying. So, it was definitely time to head back to get our kids (which we did the next day), but not before buying some delicious bagels. I'm still craving them.

Swift

2010-08-07T22:12:00.000-04:00

I'm going to get to our NYC Day 3 post, but first I wanted to show you guys something totally cool.

Let me tell you a little about yarn.

Yarn comes from the store wound up in a couple of different ways. Very frequently, it comes like above: in a hank. It looks beautiful but it's impossible to knit from. The yarn must first be wound into a ball or a skein or a cake. I know. Nonsensical words.

Well, in order to wind from a hank into a ball, etc you have to have a Yarn Swift, which typically looks something like this and costs between $50-80. I didn't want to spend $50-80 on a swift... and well, how hard could it be?

Except, I'm not at all adept at using tools. But you know who is? My dad. I gave him some basic instructions and within a couple of hours he'd churned this out:

I know, it doesn't look like much. But the fact that it breaks down so that I can store it out of the way is perfection!

Now, this is what I'm talking about. So, how does it work?

Well, you just unwind your hank, and place it on your awesomely made yarn swift and with the use of one of these: (a ball winder).

In no time flat, you've got yourself a cake. Super easy to knit from and also, totally mesmerizing to look at.
Plus, you just saved yourself $50. Which allows you to buy more of this:

Yes, this would be all the yarn I brought back with me from my trip.
Okay, now for some nerdy yarn talk.
The green on the end is a Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca/Silk Fingering Weight.
Next to it, is an Alpaca Tencel Mix I couldn't keep my hands off of.
The purple is a variegated Laceweight Wool. It's a gorgeous hand-dye... and it's 1300 yards.
The Noro Silk Garden is next to it. I think this is destined to be a shawl.
The next yarn is so awesome I can almost not bring myself to talk about it. My totally awesome friend, Kami handspun this for me. (There are two other skeins, also). It took her 60 hours. After you spin the yarn, apparently, you have to boil the yarn briefly to "set the twist". When she went to do that, the colors all bled. Apparently, the person who dyed the yarn (it was a custom request) failed to take the proper steps to ensure it wouldn't bleed. Kami sent this one skein, unset, so I could see the beautiful dye job and her fabulous workmanship. Someday, if I want to knit with this yarn, I'll have to set the twist myself (and watch the color bleed.) But in the meantime, I love it.
Finally, on the end is an awesome Spud & Chloe superwash wool intended to make something for one of my children... dunno what yet.

Have I blathered about yarn long enough?
Thank you to my awesome Dad for indulging my requests and building me something so cool! Again!

NYC Day 2

2010-08-06T20:59:00.000-04:00

Day 2 in NYC turned out to be the busiest day EVER. Just keep in mind that we didn't take a cab anywhere... we walked EVERYWHERE except when it was faster to get on the Subway.

We started the day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a lot of art. There was a Picasso exhibit that was packed but interesting. There was a LOT we didn't get to see because of exhaustion and time constraints.

Oh, and because of Libby (she wasn't real happy).

Also, sculpture is kind of insane. How on earth do they do that?! (Julius Cesar).

Matt would have liked to have spent more time there, but truthfully I think you'd have to spend weeks there to get the full idea of the massive amount of art they have in their collections.

From there, we left the Met and bought ourselves a sweet hot dog from a street vendor (classy!) and then we walked ACROSS Central Park. It's a really big park. Painfully so. We did all this to enjoy one of these:

What's that? We failed to take a picture before we devoured THREE huge cupcakes? Judge me.
We hopped on the Subway and ended up in Chinatown. Then we remembered that we didn't really want to be in Chinatown. So we got BACK on the Subway and rode it to Ground Zero.
I wish I could explain to you the feeling that exists there. It's as if the rest of NYC is bustling right along and it's loud and noisy and dirty... and when we walked by Ground Zero (which is really all you can do right now... there's not much to see. Hence, no pictures.) I felt a distinct calm. I was moved to tears.

From Ground Zero, it's just a couple quick blocks to the Brooklyn Bridge, which we decided to walk over (since we were staying in Brooklyn with Matt's cousin and her family).

Really cool! Wonderful views of the city. Breezy.

That very well may have been my favorite part of the day. It was the closest we came to seeing The Statue of Liberty (shameful!). But it was fun. Highly recommend it!

As always, Libby was a dreamboat.

And yes, those are my feet. They were FILTHY by the end of the day. And blistered. I'm really unsure how far we walked, but I have no doubt that I got my 10,000 steps. Time for a pedicure.

Libby on Vacation

2010-08-04T23:53:00.000-04:00

Now, normally I would say that taking a baby with you on a vacation is not ideal. But if you had to take a baby, you would want it to be my Libby.

She's just such a sweet little thing. We got SO many looks, and comments and coos. People simply couldn't stop themselves from being in love with her. It was as if the people of NYC had never seen a baby.

She really is THAT awesome. It's not just for pictures.

NYC Day 1

2010-08-04T00:31:00.000-04:00

Back in May, my husband and I celebrated 10 years of marriage. Being that it was in the middle of the school year and we had a barely 2 month old, we elected to put off true celebration until this summer.

We decided to take a trip without 4/5 of our children. We left them with my sister Rebekah, who is living at my parents' house while her husband is deployed with the Air Force. Fortunately for Bekah, my brother Adam and his wife, Mika are staying with my parents for a little while and they were able to help out with the herd.

So, Matt, Libby and I headed to NYC. Now, keep in mind that I have never been and am truly not a fan of cities.

I loved it.

The first day we were there:
We figured out the Subway system and headed directly to Chinatown. Matt had been researching and planning this for literally a month. We ate at Joe's Shanghai. Joe's is famous for their Xiao Long Bao. They were delicious. We actually ended up eating there twice in the 3 days we spent in NYC.

From there we walked up to SoHo. Purl SoHo to be specific. Oh friends! Pure heaven, right here.

After blowing my budget on yarn and fabric... we were off.

SoHo was a really cool place. Great shopping. Very cool storefronts.

And I had my very best friend with me. What more could I ask for, really?

Back To Vacationing

2010-08-02T21:12:00.000-04:00

We didn't do that much at my parents... it's the reason we go there... the ability to lay around the house all day and not feel one bit guilty about it. Yes, we like that.

We did get out one day and took the kids to Hershey's Chocolate World. I have no pictures. It is just about THAT awesome. It's a pseudo-tour through Hershey's Fake Chocolate Factory. It smells good and it's a nice opportunity to sit down. You get free chocolate at the end. Meh. It was fine. I'm sure the kids enjoyed it. I know that I did as a child.

The only other thing we did as a family while at my parents' house was take the kids to the BEST PARK EVER. First, you must understand. It was HOT. My parents do not have central air conditioning. Hence, the need for some water fun.

It was probably 10 degrees (at least) cooler by the water. And the water itself was refreshingly (near bitter) cold.

But as you can see, the kids didn't really have any trouble just jumping right in despite the frigid water.

Matt wore his FiveFingers. Nerd.

Lucas wasn't so sure about the water at first. He was more interested in the playground which is nearby.

But don't worry. The lure of all that splashing won him over.

I'm the lucky soul who got to follow him around and prevent him from drowning. Which I had to do on more than one occasion. Yes, he was soaked head to toe and I loved having thigh-high wet pants to wear home.

Where was Libby during all this?

Eating grass. Not even kidding.

On the Road Projects...

2010-08-01T19:34:00.000-04:00

One of the great benefits of road tripping versus taking a plane is all that uninterrupted ~~drive~~ knitting time. Knitting is a wonderful way to take a craft on the road with you.

I finished 5ish projects with our 2,700 miles of driving, of which I did only maybe 250 miles. My husband is excellent.

This shawl represents the biggest project I finished. It's knit up in a wool/silk blend. It's also my first attempt at a lace project. It was really quite simple. The only question is:

Why on earth do I need a shawl if I live in Florida?

Truthfully, I don't know! But I love it so darn much that I'm looking for any 5 degree drop in temperature as an excuse to wear it. And also, I've started a second shawl (should finish it tonight) and have purchased yarn for several others. It's not ALL selfish knitting... I think.

Spoiled

2010-07-31T21:00:00.000-04:00

One thing that my mother is a professional at. Spoiling my children. Miles cried pretty much the entire way home about how he wanted to go back to Grandma's. Even Anna piped in with a, "But I want to go back to Grandma's where I don't have to do chores." Oy.

Another way my mom spoils them is through food. Every night MUST have dessert.

I promise Lucas didn't mind (note all the scratches on his face from Emily?)

Moving On

2010-07-30T21:00:00.000-04:00

From there, we traveled the six hours from VA to where my parents live in Pennsylvania. And from the moment we arrived it was all about the swings. My parents have several (as in LOTS) of mature trees on their property. When I was growing up, I remember spending HOURS on rope swings, climbing trees, building forts, and even raking the leaves into big piles in the fall. It is the same today for my children and that makes me so darned happy I could wet my pants.

I can't really give you the full magnitude of how high this particular rope swing goes, but this might give you a vague idea. The man in the picture is my oldest brother Adam... He's about 6 feet tall.

Hold on tight!

We are Family

2010-07-29T21:00:00.000-04:00

We took a quick couple of minutes on our way out to snap some pictures of Audrey & Family.

We miss you guys already!

In Virginia

2010-07-28T21:18:00.001-04:00

Our time in Virginia was mostly spent just enjoying the fact that we didn't HAVE to do anything. We picked vegetables out of Audrey's garden. We enjoyed their great and spacious house (Audrey has her own craft room!) We swam in their kiddie pools. Audrey took me to a yarn store (swoon! more about this coming!)

Audrey has an endless amount of patience. She made homemade noodles for the lasagna we feasted upon. Craving it right now. She even let the kids (and me) help. She's a saint.

Their family just added ours right into the mix of things. It was wonderful.

Even when Lucas was demonstrating his monkey skills.

Our "older" kids kept themselves occupied pretty well with drawing and playing and making a magnificent mess in their playroom everyday.

Isn't Hannah beautiful?

Pretty sure Miles is in his pajamas in this shot...it was that kind of a trip. It was hard to leave them, but we had more adventures awaiting us.

Avoiding Inundation.

2010-07-27T21:17:00.000-04:00

Yes, we went on a vacation. Yes, it was fabulous. I'm going to try to slowly blog about all the wonderful and fabulous things we did, but it'll probably a post/day about it until I'm done.

For starters, this was a road trip. Is there really any other way to do it with five kids? We certainly can't afford the $2000 in airline tickets just to get to my parents. Plus, if we travel by ~~car~~ minivan we can stop wherever the heck we want.

Our first stop was in Roanoke, VA where Matt's sister and her family live. We dig them. They tolerate us.

There we met up with Hannah (above) and Emily (below).

Emily and Lucas pretended to be friends when everyone was looking. But when everyone was preoccupied with all the delicious food Audrey forced us to eat, they were just plain brutal to each other. It's been over a week since we saw them and Lucas's scratches have finally healed (not even kidding!). But don't worry, it wasn't all Emily as we caught Lucas biting her several times. Our only consolation was that they were equally matched in meanness.

She looks real tough, eh?

Hiatus.

2010-07-10T00:47:00.002-04:00

We're on one. Be back soon-ish with something fabulous...

4 Months

2010-07-03T14:35:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it's been four months since Libby was born?

Some days it seems like just yesterday.

And some days it seems as if I've known her for ever so much longer.

I admit that in the evenings, after she's fallen to sleep, her father and I sneak in to peer at her tiny body.

And we laugh and smile and talk of what a fabulous kid we've made.

More Knitting?

2010-07-02T13:23:00.000-04:00

I realize that I'm posting an awful lot of knitting projects and that many of you do not, in fact, knit.
I didn't use to, either.
I have never taken a class.
About 10 years ago, I borrowed a knitting book from the library. If I remember correctly, I used some very cheap yarn and started with... sharpened pencils. Yes.
I taught myself. And then, I promptly put aside knitting and decided to scrapbook instead (which I still do, on occasion).
Three-ish years ago after my brother, David, died (he was an avid knitter) I decided to pick up the needles again. I actually even made a really crappy pair of socks, using real needles this time. And then I put aside my knitting and decided to sew and take pictures, which I still do.

Then, last November, I decided to remind myself how to knit again since it was getting "cold" outside. This time, it stuck. I can't get enough. Knitting is the last thing I think about at night, and the first thing I think about in the morning... and what I dream about all night long. I find myself thinking up ways to slip in some knitting time and I almost always have a project with me.

If you would like to learn to knit... here are some excellent resources.
www.knittinghelp.com
Great video tutorials. Also check out YouTube for anything you need help with.
www.ravelry.com
TONS and TONS of patterns, and people who know what they're doing. Great forums.

I would just love for each of you to learn to knit. I find it to be incredibly relaxing and it makes me feel like a million bucks when I have a finished project. Like this one:

Many thanks to my friend, Melinda, for helping me to get a good shot of Miss Libby in her new dress.

I decided on these hilarious little bobble buttons.

In the Knick of Time

2010-06-28T22:12:00.000-04:00

For Father's Day I had already picked out my husband's gift. He hadn't been very discreet about what he wanted.
So, he received a gun. Not just any gun, no.
A big honkin' NERF gun. Boys. **eyeroll*

A gift for my dad, on the other hand... well, I could manage that. I started some socks for him on May 30th. I assumed I would finish them in time for Christmas. At least, that's what my track record suggests. My first pair of socks took me about 4 months. I know.

Miraculously, I finished them on the Wednesday before Father's Day. Mailed them Thursday. He received them on Saturday. Just in time.

These are pictures of my husband modeling the socks. They're a little big on him because I made them for my dad, who happens to be larger than my husband... but isn't everyone?

My dad claims he will never wear them just to get me back for refusing to use the wooden spoon he hand carved for me. Cruel.

Sunday Sharing

2010-06-28T00:39:00.000-04:00

This week in history:
June 2007

One of my very favorite pictures of Abbie.

Also, hilariousness and a tiny Miles (he was totally sporting one of those rub-on tattoos around his belly button.... I remember that he ended up getting a tan line from it.)

Speaking Of...

2010-06-18T20:59:00.000-04:00

Quite a few of you noticed in my last post the hilarious thing I failed to point out.

Libby... firmly latched onto Abbie's shoulder. Abbie just kept giggling.

Well, sure. It's funny.

That is, until you realize that your eldest daughter just received her first hickey. Nice.

If you had five kids...

2010-06-17T20:16:00.000-04:00

none of which were in school.... you probably would struggle to find time for blogging too.

Well-Rested

2010-06-14T23:16:00.000-04:00

I am certain that as soon as I type this blog post and hit "Publish" things will change, but I just wanted to brag on my girl.

None of my babies have slept in my room past 2 months. I just find that both baby and I sleep better when we're in different rooms. I will wake up to every little tiny sound they make and I don't really give them the opportunity to learn to put themselves back to sleep. I just works that much better to have them in another room... one where I can hear them if they really wake up and start crying, but not where I wake up at their slightest sound.

Unfortunately, in this house, such a room does not exist. The kids' bedrooms are on the completely opposite side of the house and upstairs. I am certain that Libby would wake up the girls before she ever woke me up. And having three children awake is not ideal.

So, Libby has been sleeping in our room in the Pack N Play. And as a testament to what an amazingly wonderful kid she is... having her in my room doesn't bother me one bit. Her little noises don't wake me up. And she RARELY wakes up in the night. She's in bed by 9pm and wakes up around 6am. I feed her and she falls back to sleep until 8 or 9am.

She takes WONDERFUL naps too!

I'm one very spoiled mama. And I can't recall a time that I felt as well-rested so soon after having a baby.
I love my Bibby.

Ain't she a doll?
(And yes, she's a tummy sleeper.)

You Win!

2010-06-14T21:00:00.000-04:00

Can I first say how much I wanted each of you to win... I kept picturing you guys all in matching headbands made by me... Yeah. I'm THAT cool.

Congratulations to.... SHERI!!! Good thing she brought me all those Snickers and Cokes.

I'll shoot you an email. Or Facebook you. Or catch you on Instant Messenger. (I promise this wasn't fixed.)

Stay tuned for some totally cute pictures.

Reminder! Only a couple hours left!

2010-06-13T14:58:00.000-04:00

Just a reminder to enter my giveaway! It closes at midnight tonight! I, myself, am getting a little excited to see who wins!

And a promise of new posts this week. The last day of school was last Wedesday and we spent last week getting adjusted to our new summer schedule. Bleh.

PFMP Chapter 2

2010-06-10T18:46:00.000-04:00

Matt bought himself some Vibram FiveFingers. Weird shoes. Weirder that we'd take the whole family along for that purchase. Don't be fooled. They ran all over the store and I was fairly certain they were about to kick us out when we left.

This sweet little angel sleeps like a dream (finding some wood to knock on). She begs for bed by 8:30pm and doesn't wake up until at least 5am... then goes back to sleep till 8 or 9am. I'd be feeling well-rested if I wasn't staying up until 1am watching Netflix On Demand.

Ain't nothing better.

We had a bit of a fever bug run through our house. Lucas just wanted to be cuddled with a blanket over his eyes. Sad, sad little boy. He's all better now, thankfully.

Matt received a rather generous bonus (which he TOTALLY deserved!) from his employer this month. With it, he purchased himself a Cintiq. All of his artist friends are drooling. I've been enjoying it because it means that he's spending his evenings painting and drawing, instead of playing MTG (ugh!).

In case you needed an update on Anna's toothlessness. And yes, there's still another wiggly one in there.

Yummy! I purchased this yarn to make myself a pair of ankle socks... We'll see how it goes... it involves quite a few techniques I haven't ever used. I love trying new stuff!

Talk about distracted driving! Kidding. Matt was driving. This is a WIP for a certain father of mine... Since, you know, Father's Day is just around the corner.

Miles built me this tower last week. He has yet to dismantle it. He's very proud. His architectural skillz are... uh... beautiful?

Giveaway Time

2010-06-07T22:22:00.000-04:00

In my last post, I promised a giveaway. I have one and personally, I think it rocks.

I really and truly can't get enough of knitting. You benefit.
Check out this totally adorable headband I knitted for my oldest daughter.

What? She's only worn it once, and I've stolen it and wear it more than frequently?

Well, I'm giving one away. Same color. Possibly a slightly different pattern (keeps things interesting on my end.)
A couple ways you can win:
1. Post a comment telling me how awesome I am or how cute my kids are.
2. "Follow" my blog and post another comment telling me that you follow!
3. Post a link to this giveaway on your blog OR on facebook and post ANOTHER comment telling me you did!

That's right... you get up to THREE chances to win.
The giveaway will be open until 12am Sunday, June 13th. I'll post the winner and email you on Monday, June 14th (so make sure you leave your email address!)

Good Luck!

Tutorial: Make Your Own Mei Tai

2010-06-01T23:30:00.005-04:00

I debated quite extensively with my husband about this tutorial. He saw how much time and effort I was putting into making it just right for you guys and he really wanted me to sell it.

I explained to him that I love you guys too much. Besides, it wasn't entirely my design and it's not like there aren't other tutorials out there.

So, download all my lovin' here!

In the tutorial, I mention that I didn't create pattern pieces for you, but I lied. I actually went back and created a pattern for the main body. You can download it here.

I hate disclaimers, but I have to have them. Feel free to make these for yourself, and for your friends. Please don't sell the pattern OR any Mei Tai Carriers that you make from the pattern. AKA Personal Use Only.

And pretty please. If you make one, take a picture and send me a link or an email. It makes me so happy!
Stay tuned for a giveaway on Monday!

Linked up here:

Blame Me.

2010-05-30T22:30:00.000-04:00

So, recently (as in, in the last month) Miles taught himself to read.

It started out pretty slowly with random words on signs and very short books.

And then suddenly, he was full-on reading. He's four. He won't even start Pre-K here until the fall. His teachers are in for a surprise. He's knocking my freaking socks off.

So, for your viewing (and listening) pleasure, I present:

Miles SingReads A Book to Libby

Truly. I wish I could take credit for his genius, but I'm pretty sure I had nothing to do with it.

Also, keep your eyes peeled. I have a sweet tutorial coming soon!

Wordless Wednesday: It's Not Even Close to Halloween

2010-05-26T15:53:00.000-04:00

3 Months

2010-05-24T16:51:00.000-04:00

I'm existing in some alternate time warp over here, because I cannot believe it's been 3 months since my sweet Libby was born. She's still my tiny sweet newborn (and must stay that way forever!) and I am not ready to bid goodbye to her tiny self.

I don't think we really need a picture commentary here, right?

Admit it, you want to kiss on those lips, don'tchya? They're mine. Back off.

Yep, I'll be holding this little one close to my heart.

Clones

2010-05-21T21:51:00.000-04:00

Recently, I sent my husband this picture message.

He replied with a common, "Libby is just so darned cute!" And he's right. She is.
One small problem however. This is not Libby.
This is Libby:

The top picture is actually this girl:

And in all honesty, if we got another child exactly like Anna, it wouldn't be a bad thing.

New Series: PFMP

2010-05-19T22:51:00.000-04:00

Pictures From My Phone
Tragically, I don't always have my good cameras strapped to me. And I find myself grabbing for my camera phone more and more often. It's not great, but it'll work in a pinch.

So, I present the first in a series of installments of PFMP.

I just can't help but stare at my baby's sweet Ruffly Little Bottom. Even if she is sporting some homemade Babylegs handed down from Lucas.

I have recently decided to stop slacking off and actually start DOING my daughters' hair. Enough ragamuffin. I've loved looking at both of these sites for inspiration and how-to.

Just loving on my baby. I really wish I could infuse a little bit of her sweetness and love into each of your lives. You'd thank me.

Check it. I finished the other sock! It was so gratifying that I'm ordering some more sock yarn and casting on another pair!

I borrowed a friend's Mei Tai recently to see if I liked it. I loved it. I've been a sworn fan of the sling since I started using one for Miles. But with all the recent recall panic, it's made me nervous. And I don't actually like putting newborns in the cradle carry in the sling anyway. AND, it doesn't matter how big my baby is, after about 20 minutes in the sling, my shoulders and back start aching and the sling actually starts sliding off...
Enough lament. I tried the Mei Tai. I LOVED IT!!! I wore The Libs in it for over an hour and didn't have even an ounce of pain in my back afterwards. My only complaint is that my shirt was covered in baby drool, lol. Libby loved it too! She slept the entire time.
So, I decided to make one for myself. I read quite a few tutorials, but in the end, I decided to just copy the one I was borrowing. I bought some Home Dec weight fabric for the middle and the straps are duck cloth. I added a double layer of quilt batting to the main body and also the shoulders. If anyone wants a real tutorial, let me know and I'll see about taking some pictures, and drawing up some plans.
Let me add this... if I wear a button down shirt, I can even nurse in this thing!

This concludes our first installment of PFMP. Join us next time!

Progress

2010-05-17T21:18:00.001-04:00

Ever since learning that Lucas is the skinniest child on the planet, it has made me extremely paranoid about making sure that Libby is growing well.

This just in: she's doing fine.

She's 2.5 months old and I'm starting to get a little teary at her babyness instead of the infantness that I'm used to. She's become extremely interested in the world around her.

She loves to munch on her tiny fists, and particularly enjoys time in the bouncy seat so that she can be more upright and lookin' around.

She's just about the cutest thing ever. We adore her.

Tangential funny story: I was nursing her whilst lying down on the couch. The boys were watching TV and I was secretly napping. Suddenly, Libby unlatches and starts crying. My eyes pop open and I see Lucas backing away from us. I look down at Libby and her ear is all wet. Pretty sure he was sucking on her ear while I slept/nursed and got a little carried away. Poor girl.

I really do feel badly, though, that I didn't learn to knit earlier. Libby's the benefactor of 99% of my knitting love. Tho, I did make these for my sister's kid. The other day while driving in the car, Abbie passed me a note that said something like, "Dear Mom, I love you soooo much! When are you going to knit me something?" Guilt trip much?

Anyway, I totally made Libby some summer pants.

I seriously can't get enough of this girl... unless it's 3am.

Giving you More.

2010-05-13T08:36:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone-

I know that my blog is really rather scatterbrained when it comes to topic. So, in order to please you, if you could go ahead and click on over to the blog and answer my poll over there on the sidebar, that'd be great...

If you don't, you'll just have to continue to listen to my train of thought!

Wordless Wednesday: Outtake

2010-05-12T23:32:00.001-04:00

His Love.

2010-05-10T21:24:00.000-04:00

Last night, my husband was snuggling on our dear, sweet Libby when he suddenly looked up at me and said, "I'm sorry. But I'm gonna spoil the crap outta her. I can't help it."

He sure does love her.
We both do.

What I've Learned

2010-05-09T21:51:00.001-04:00

I remember a conversation with my father about how each of your children are different and have to be raised differently (he would know, he has 9 of them). What punishment or reward works for one child, will not work for another, etc.

It's pretty much the only parenting advice he's ever given me. And it's advice I've been forever grateful for.

Each of my children has taught me something different. Something invaluable.

Abbie has taught me about Justice. I was a horrific child. My mother is nodding her head right now. I was headstrong and willful. That's my Abbie. I can't even tell you how many times my mother said, "I hope you have a daughter just like you!" And so I have Abbie. My mom gets her revenge. Abbie's an amazing girl with fantastic talents, but there are times I am sure I am going to have to sell her.

Having Anna has taught me about Mercy. While I have one child just like me, I also have one child that is sweet as pie. Sure, she's also emotional and sensitive, but she makes up for it with her desire to love you, to be your friend and to serve you. If you've met Anna, you know what I mean.

Miles. I'm certain that Heavenly Father gave me Miles to teach me about unconditional love. The day he was born, I felt my heart explode. I really didn't know that such love was possible. He really is a Mama's Boy and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Lucas has taught me that our Heavenly Father has a sense of humor. This kid is pure comedy. He has the ability to make everyone laugh. And he knows it. The other day, in his extreme excitement over whoknowswhat, he spit in my face. It was the first time he had ever done that so I knew he didn't know it was wrong. He thought he was being funny, and it took everything I could muster not to start laughing. Now, that's talent.

This little girl. Miss Libby. She has taught me about how very much the Lord wants to bless me. Her arrival has brought our entire family to a place I didn't know we could be. Happy. Content. Full. Complete. And perfect.

So, this Mother's Day, I present to you the sixth thing I've learned about God from having children.

He loves me. More than I could have ever thought possible. He has blessed me with these 5 wonderful, amazing and spirited little people. They enrich my life in ways I could never have imagined. I am blessed.

Toofless.

2010-05-08T23:21:00.000-04:00

At the moment, Anna has 3 loose teeth.

She did have 4. But last week, one was just too wiggly for me to stand any longer, and I pulled it out.

She carefully placed that tooth under her pillow after the repeated promptings of both her mother and father. And yet, somehow, the tooth fairy missed her that night. *EyeRoll*
Instead of just leaving the tooth under her pillow, Anna decided to play with it. That afternoon, she called to me from the bathroom.
"Mom? I was washing my hands, with my tooth in my hand, and I dropped it down the drain. Can you come get it?"

Thinking Errors 101
- Leave your tooth under your pillow.
- If you need to wash your hands while holding your tooth, put the tooth DOWN, then wash your hands.
- Under no circumstances, am I going to fetch your old tooth out of the drain.

I told her to go ahead and write the Tooth Fairy a letter and explain the situation. She brought me this:

Shall I interpret?
"Dear Tooth Fairy, When I was washing my hands I accidentally dropped my tooth down the drain. Please can I still get money?"

Best letter to the Tooth Fairy, ever. She placed it under her pillow and sure enough, the Tooth Fairy left her some "muny."

Good thing too, you wouldn't want to make this girl cry.

As Requested

2010-05-06T23:24:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday, we took the opportunity to have Matt bless Libby at Church. Every other time we have blessed one of our children, my father has been present. Unfortunately, he was unable to be there this time, but that's okay. We had our Ward Family present and Matt was surrounded by a good group of his friends. I think it was the first time I realized that we aren't a "Young Family" anymore. We have arrived. We are middle aged. Ick.

But this post wasn't supposed to be about that.

A billion years ago (or 8) when we blessed Abbie, my mother made her a very beautiful dress. Anna also wore that dress when she was blessed. But it's been six years since Anna was born and my style has changed drastically. And my mother's skills have improved dramatically. So, when we found out we were having another girl, my mother offered to make a new blessing dress. I emphatically accepted.

Last week, this dress arrived.

Smocking! What seems like hundreds of French Knots.

Pintucking! Bullion Roses. All lovingly Hand Embroidered by my mother... who has terrible arthritis.

This is the hem. Inlaid lace, more hand embroidery, more rows of pintucks. This dress is insane.
And I love it. And I love her. Thank you, Mom.
(Better pictures of Libby IN the dress, still to come.)

Some Numbers.

2010-05-06T07:00:00.003-04:00

5.6.2000

+ 10 years

+ 8 moves

+ 5 babies

+ an undisclosed number of extra pounds

+ countless sleepless nights

+ the love and blessings of our Heavenly Father

= 5.6.2010

Happy Anniversary to my Sexy Asian Guy!

If you give...

2010-05-05T14:16:00.000-04:00

a mom some knitting needles, she'll need the perfect shade of yarn.
And when she has her yarn, of course, she'll search for the perfect pattern.
And once she's found it, she'll make her sweet baby a gorgeous little shrug.

And then she'll realize that her little girl needs a dress to wear with the shrug.

And being that she's a resourceful type, it'll be a dress she has to make herself.

And of course, the mom will need some material for the dress for which there is no pattern.

And then the mom will remember the beautiful king sized vintage sheet she picked up at the thrift store, which will match the shrug she knit.

And when the dress is done, the little girl will need a matching pair of bloomers...
Oh wait. We haven't gotten that far.

Contagion

2010-05-04T13:26:00.001-04:00

Infection. No, we're not talking about my cold (which, by the way, I'm feeling worse, and not better, thankyouverymuch!)

Instead, we're talking about baby smiles.

Don't they just kill you? I know that for me, I start giggling and can't stop. It actually makes my stomach muscles ache.

Don't even get me started on baby laughter.

Just about the only thing that even compares, would be one of these:

Admit it. You yawned, didn't you?

My Apologies

2010-05-03T23:50:00.002-04:00

For being MIA. I've been sick. The flood of snot and subsequent headaches have kept me fairly well sidelined.
I promise to have something pretty for you to look at tomorrow.

Come back then!

Fabric Covered Notecards (Don't Peek, MOM!)

2010-04-29T23:14:00.001-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I saw some fabric covered notecards being given away on MADE. They were really beautiful. And it struck me that they were something that my mom would probably enjoy.

Good thing Mother's Day was coming! I don't REALLY think ya'll need a tutorial for this, but I took the pictures anyway.

You need:
Pre-cut Cards (or just hack down some cardstock to the size you want)

Fabric Scraps (mmm... I love me some fabric scraps.)

Heat N Bond (or Wonder Under, etc)
Rotary Cutter, Mat & Ruler - though... your mat will probably be in better condition than mine.. oy.

IRON
Sewing Maching (could totally be optional)

Step One:
Put on a good movie. I recommend this one.

Step Two (aka the real first step):
Cut your Wonder Under to the same size as the front of the card you'll be making. Mine was 4"x 5.5". Evs.

Step the Third:
Cut (or tear!) your fabric into random widths and play around with the layout.

Step Foursies:
Pretend you know how to quilt and sew them together all pretty like. Iron. Notice how I added an extra strip from the previous picture? As I was sewing it together, I realized it wouldn't be wide enough, so I improvised. I give you permission to do the same.

Step Five:
With your ruler & rotary cutter, cut down your mini quilt into the dimensions of the front of your card (and the piece of Wonder Under you've pre-cut.

Step Sixaholic:
Iron your Wonder Under (sticky side down unless you WANT to ruin your iron) to the wrong side of your fabric. Follow the directions on your particular brand of sticky stuffs. Peel the paper backing off. You should be left with the back of your mini-quilt looking shiny.

Step VII:
Flip it over and iron it onto the front of your card. The adhesive on the back of the fabric will fuse it to the paper. I do, however, recommend doing a better job at lining up your fabric than I did on this particular card. Duh. I had to pull it off quickly and re-iron. I'm a genius.

Step Eight is Great:
You're done if you want to be. You could add some embellishment in the form of buttons, ribbons, etc etc.

I added a little heart shape that I cut out on my Cricut (yes! it cuts fabric too!).

Some other tips and ideas:

I mentioned before that you don't NEED a sewing machine. True story. I made two without using mine. I simply laid my fabric strips (overlapped slightly) carefully on top of the Wonder Under and ironed them right to it. They stuck together.

You could add some decorative stitching after the whole thing is sewn together... I recommend doing it after you've applied the Wonder Under and peeled the paper off and before you iron it to the card.

That's it, mostly. Feel free to ask any questions. I had fun making them for my mom, and now I need some for myself.

For FREEEEEE!

2010-04-28T20:17:00.000-04:00

What movie is that from? Anyone remember?

While I don't love everything about my husband's job, they do treat us, as a family well. A couple times a year, they hire a company called SuperSitters to babysit everyone's kids so they can have a date night. They have a fabulous family Christmas Party with Santa, they do Trick or Treating around the office (6 floors of cubicles!) and they have a wonderful company picnic during the summer.

Except this year. Instead of doing a picnic/carnival like they did last year, they opted instead to pay for everyone to go to Universal Studios. They even paid for parking and a catered lunch. Sounds like a blast, eh?

Well, I'm sure it would if you didn't have 5 children ages 8 and under. We decided to brave it anyway. The kids will enjoy the memories, right? Well, those that are old enough to have memories of it. We're TRYING to be good parents over here.

So, we headed off with our bags packed full of snacks and water. We weren't about to buy any food. No sir.

We arrived at the park and it was already crowded and hot. This is the first picture we took just inside the gates. Kids = Sweaty. Matt = Already Irritable.

We headed to play in Seussland. And that was fun. I think. Matt was REALLY paranoid about losing one of the kids. And rightly so, Lucas loves to wonder and we know he's just so darned cute that someone's bound to take him, right? Note: Please only take him if you promise to keep him. No Returns Allowed. I'm serious.

We rode the (NO WAIT) Carousel and Matt and the older three kids stood in line for 30ish minutes to ride some other ride in the Seuss area. Then we marched over past the new Harry Potter Area to the Jurassic Park play area. It involved a lot of shade. Wahoo!

Then we headed back OUT OF THE PARK (read: 1 mile) to eat our catered lunch at Universal CityWalk. Lunch was all the chaos of eating out with 5 kids, one of whom pooped all over me. Can you tell this is headed downward, and quickly? Do I look amused?

At that point, I was totally ready to LEAVE. But I was trying to be a good sport. My feet were tired, Libby was tired but wouldn't sleep and it was HOT. We marched back the mile into the park and ran into their SuperHero Parade. Those dudes were HUGE. Cyclops was probably 6'9" or taller and Captain America was quite the hunk. Lucas was terrified. Hence, his absence. He was gripping my side in utter terror. Poor kid. He didn't get the memo about them being the good guys.

We made our way to what would prove to be our final destination... a splash pad. A tiny one. Our kids couldn't have cared less how big it was. They were in heaven. After they'd been thoroughly soaked, we started to head for the gate. I could sense our freedom. It was within my grasp. As we neared the entrance, Matt said to me, "Let's just take the kids over to the Seuss play area one more time."

Folks, I started to cry. I couldn't walk anymore... I was done. In desperation, I turned to my right where I noticed an ice cream shop and quickly said, "Kids, do you want ice cream, or do you want to go play?" It was a risky venture but I won. We, in an intensely cheap move, shared a single ice cream cone.

And left. Phew.
So yes, we went to Universal Studios where my children rode exactly two rides, ate one $4 ice cream cone, and walked ALL OVER. I couldn't be more glad that it was FREE.