I got tricked, big time

For about 2 weeks, I've been stressing over an event my darling husband said I needed to attend. It was an event that could lead to a move which had my hormonal emotional pregnant state in such a fit is misery, I literally cried about it at least once a day.

Little did I know, and I didn't know anything, it was all an elaborate trick. Even my neighbor, who was supposed to babysit for us, was in on the deal. I think I am still in shock. I'm just now not mad at my husband, lol!

Anyway...I was so surprised by a fabulous gang of friends! A baby shower for my little man to be. I can't even describe how sweet and special it was. For my first two babies, we were very much alone in the barren lands of Indiana so it was just so special and surprising to me. Nathan could see, by the display of friendship and motherly love, how upset I was at the possibility of uprooting our family and moving away from such wonderful people. I am truly blessed! Crying now...have to stop, lol! Thank you ladies.

::special things for baby and me::



::Even the boys got some great new things to play with::

Katie has more on her blog along with some great full body shots! lol

Getting ready...

Happy Monday! I usually am not one to wish anyone this but today it just fit!

We had a nice, quiet weekend getting ready to welcome home boy #3. If all goes like it should and mother nature decides to let me bake Logan until the 4th, we have a bit more quiet time ahead of us...all of 11 days (not that I am counting, but, hey, I totally am)!

The house is ready, the room is ready, the boys are ready. While Nathan chopped wood for Habitat for Humanity this Saturday morning, the boys and I spent some time playing and relaxing before Nana came over to take me shopping for last minute mommy things. It was nice. No rush. No "frantic" knitting or dyeing (not that I didn't knit a bit of course) but it was all quiet and slow. Well ... as quiet as a house with a 2 and a 4 year old can be.

This week we plan on finishing some family craft projects, make some homemade cards to send people, bake some bread, and get all the nuts and bolts of my daily life lined up just "in case" someone decides not to arrive when planned for!

Some moments for ya:

::something to stock soon::

::something else to stock soon on the left, something for me in the near 10months future, lol, on the right::

::a ready room-diapers are washed, wool is knit::

::little brother ready to be a big brother-really, how cool is he?::

Happy Monday!

A "craft-o-licious" week

This week, like most of the country, we got lots of snow! With lots of snow comes lots of inside time and school cancelations. Because I am like a walking baby time bomb, I can't take my kids out in the snow and ice (plus, it is too cold) so we have lots of time to find fun things to do.

For my oldest son's first school Valentines, we decided to use his favorite skill - cutting. With a agglomeration of papers cut into irregular shapes, paper mache was the course to take. We layered a small pasta bowl with plastic wrap and used book order forms (you know the ones like from Scholastic) and made a great mess. For the paste, I used 2/3 c. warm water and about 1/4 c. white Elmers' School glue.

With having to obviously heat the house, there was no worry that the bowls wouldn't be dry by the next day for the paper towel layer. Once the paper towel layer was ready, we painted. Mason had to get some action with that too. It is amazing how much paint one can find on new wood floors in 9 min. of a two year old painting.


To fill our bowls, I saw a really cute idea in the Feb. issue of Family Fun. It caught my eye right away as it involved cutting. I feel as a mommy that I really have to nurture my oldest son's creative side as he is by nature analytical and exact. This was fun to do and it involved steps so it was perfect to work on each day of our long snowed in week. Our final product...two homemade bowls filled with conversation hearts and friendship blossoms.

I think they are cute and they were fun to do. Maybe next year we'll decorate clay pots a bit earlier and grow grass in them and "up" our creativeness with the friendship blossoms. That would involve dirt and cutting which is always a good thing in this house.

I couldn't be outdone by my children so I found something new to do too. I'm seriously in love with Amanda Blake Soule at Soulemama and am obsessively (in a good way) reading through her books. In the past, I've tried to be one of those great paper and pen memory book scrappers but alas, that is just not me. When I saw how she using fabric and string to make memories last, I had to do it. Like now. Since I am so proud that my newly 4 year old can write his name, a h-u-g-e deal for him, I embroidered it so we could always gaze at it lovingly on our mantel. It was so fun. Fast. I got to use a needle and wool...mama happy.
Oh and one more thing...I did get to finish my last custom until I'm ready for more when Logan is here and settled! Shorties too! Plus, I got to work on something to stock. Fun again. I love craftolicious weeks.

Ok, sorry, the end.

Please, have a laugh on me

One of my goals this year is to improve my sewing abilities. I could never say to someone that "I can sew" and I need to change that. I'm not sure how that will happen as it takes practice to do something well...and I have this whole obsessive knitting issue... oh and a soon-to-be mother of 3 4 years and under. Oh and a wife. A housekeeper and so on and so on. But I will do it. I have a machine. A rather nice, sturdy workhorse so I should be able to do it, right. Well...sadly, wrong so far.
Today my lovely imaginative children were into puppets. They were helping me organize some of the toys for the soon-to-be born boy and found some puppets. Oh man, it was Christmas all over again. And of course, my oldest needed a T Rex puppet with teeth and two fingers and angry eyes. He wasn't going to be patient enough for me to knit it so we sketched a picture and I assumed I could just whip it up. Well...umm...I don't have a lot of fabric on hand as I gifted a bunch away so I just had to wing it and wing it I did. Sort of. I made a pattern (I know, smart) and tried to cut those lines straight (never seem to be able to) and sewed it on up. The arms with two fingers didn't make the cut but I do have some ferocious looking teeth compliments of an old kitchen towel.
So please, laugh, So far February has been a long month. I need Spring. Like now. Even the picture is bad lol.
BUT you know what...it was played with. And it chased Pooh Bear puppet. So hey, some success.
And now I will go and knit. I have to sew a liner in my son's Tomten sweater, dino fabric of course, this weekend too. I hope I can dig my head out of the sand come Monday.

What a busy non-knitting week!

It is a rare occasion for me not to knit a lot during an entire week but this past week was an exception...and boy did I miss my wool and needles! Instead of quietly creating knits for others and myself, I cleaned, painted, and tested my mommy patience to the absolute max...while being 35 weeks pregnant! It was worth it though! Now, I have safe, clean wood floors and carpet that isn't scarred by 17 years worth of others' abuse. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it that way for sometime as it won't be redone ever again! I was lucky enough to have a wonderful crew of talented men redo our space (and a husband who worked his "honey-do" list to the max). I couldn't be more pleased at the professionalism and above and beyond work Lilly's did for our family. Nothing beats hometown boys. If you are like me and love looking at other's homes, you can see some more pics of it here. Here is one shot for your viewing pleasure.
Well...I did get a little bit of knitting done. Just a smidgen though. While waiting for my last custom's details before I take a bit of a break to have a baby, I started the Quincy hat. I don't have much to show yet as I just closed the moebius part of it. I do love how he has written the pattern to include a icord edging without having to go back and add it. I'll have to figure out how to do that on some other pattern in the future. My wheels are turning for a matching cowl since I can't seem to not want to wear one everyday...some sort of marriage of the Destroyed cowl and the Quincy.