Gracie Twirls!

 Adorably, Grace is taking a twirling class at Purdue this semester.   Grace is not only loving the class, but she is really good, too!   

 Her teacher is the Purdue Feature Twirler and beautiful and it really is every little girls dream. 

She takes the class with a bunch of other girls, including her pal Chiara.

Yarn Along - Sweet Success!

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ 

 My hat worked!  I figured out my mistake the last time around.  I had misread the pattern.  I had added a knit row right before that last row (all decreases) and I am pretty sure that caused a point.  I may have erred in my decreases further back as well, which would explain why the problem is so pronounced.  I was happy to solve the problem and I am happy to finally know how to successfully use DPNs. 

Funny thing about my pointy hat – my sister told me that the front cover of More Last Minute Knitted Gifts features a hat just like my pointy hat!  Too funny.  I guess one gals mistake is a knitting authors cutting edge cuteness!  


(For more Yarn Alongs, visit Ginny!)

Avila Update

 Avila is almost 16 months old now and her little personality is really developing.  It is adorable to watch her come into her own and to see her interact with her siblings.  She has finally decided that walking is indeed a pretty efficient means of transporting herself and I don’t think she has actually crawled in almost a week.  She’s not the most steady walker and sort of looks like she just got off a horse.  It’s so darn cute. 

 She is talking a tiny bit with her favorite words being “Mama”, “Daddy”, and “Grace”.  I can’t even imagine how exciting it must be for Grace to be one of her sister’s first words!  It helps that her name is pretty easy to say.  

  It does have it’s down side, because Grace gets yelled at all. The. Time. By Avi asking for help.  Or attention.  Especially in the car.  Sometimes, poor Grace spends the whole car ride saying “What?” “Gaeh!” “What?” “Gaeh!” “What?” over and over again.  Grace is pretty patience with the constant demands and Avila loves her for it!

Cute Kids at a Wedding

We went to a wedding over the weekend.  It was a beautiful wedding of some friends.  I think periodic wedding attendance should be required of all married couples.  I wish I could recount what Father said in his homily.  He did a wonderful job of articulating the vocation of marriage and the witness it provides.  Of course, I was wrestling a three year old and a 15 month old, so I can’t recall how exactly he put it.  (And who knows what kind of psycho-witness I was at the time!)  But it was nicely said and a great reminder to those of us “in the trenches”.   

My kids were cute!

And crazy!  (Christopher orchestrated this goofy picture.  He’s so silly.)

PeterXavier got a dance with the beautiful Hali.  Cuteness overload!

Extreme Baby Wearing

The other day, we took the kids bike riding on some trails in a nearby town.  We got there and then realized that I only had one baby wrap.  Since that one was designated for Bella, I had to get creative in finding a way to carry Avila.

Too tight sweatshirt to the rescue!  This actually worked quite well and Avila was a chipper little riding pal!  Ya do what you've got to do!

 Last weekend, we celebrated what would have been my grandfather's 100th birthday.  It was great to see family whom we so rarely see these busy days.

 In the background here, my kids are playing with balloons - a favorite form of entertainment of my grandpa.

 Cousins big and small.  And a shot of the cutest-couple-ever!

Amazingly dirty feet.

My family and my sister's family.  Apparently, I was really excited to have my picture taken.

Yarn Along - Help a (Birthday) Girl Out Edition

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

What. The. Heck. happened to my hat??  Why on earth is it pointy?  I followed the pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts, and it doesn't look a thing like the beautiful hat in the pictures.

I think this could win the prize for "Stupidest Hat Ever Knit".  So, help me out -- where did I go wrong?  Admittedly, this my first attempt with DPNs and I wonder if my gauge tightened when I switched from circulars to DPN?

Please help me before I botch this one, too!


(For less ridiculous Yarn Alongs, visit Ginny!)

Meal Planning

Once upon a time, I was really good at meal planning.  I had my handy binder full of our favorite recipes, a stocked pantry, an iron-clad budget, and a well thought out grocery list.  I shopped once a week and everything was beautifully streamlined.

Yeah.  I fell off that bandwagon quite a while ago.  But recently, I have started to realize how lack of meal planning can cause stress and some serious over spending.  I have been trying hard to get back into the game.  I also know that with our super busy schedule this semester, I am going to be very dependent on my crock pot.

The other day I ordered the cookbook Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook.  I also downloaded some cute meal planning charts from www.theprojectgirl.com  Although, since then I have seen a deal from Mamasource to get super cute meal planning (and other planning!) note pads for a fraction of the regular price!  Either way, cute paper helps keep us moving!

Here is the secret to my meal planning plan:  I handed that cute paper, a pen, and the cookbook over to my husband.  HE filled it all out (complete with "Chef Andrew" in the Sunday spot!) along with the information in the "grocery list" section.  Now my job is simply to execute.  And that's the easy part!

Yarn Along -- Finished!

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

I am so happy to be finished with this Market Bag.  And I am pretty pleased with the final results.  And my Malabrigo didn't let me down.  What fantastic yarn!  The other day, I was in River Knits and realized that they have bundles of Malabrigo!!  Woo!

Here's my new friend, all packed and ready for a day out!

Visit Ginny for more Yarn Alongs!

Creating Art With Kids

The other day, Andrew took the two "big" girls on a date, so I was at home with PeterXavier and Avila.  Avi quickly went down for a nap, so PX and I had a couple hours to ourselves.  It is rare that I get to hang out with just him.  We cooked up a nice, yummy lunch and then sat down to a project.



I am really intrigued with the idea of repurposing found objects. These shells were collected by Grace at my parents cottage a few weeks ago. The beauty of the inner part of the shell was calling me! So PeterXavier and I took our the hammer and broke those shells to bits.

My quality control man ensured that each piece was strong.  (He was loving this!)  And then we took out the Dremel and drilled small holes in the tops.  Viola!  Shell beads!

 

So pretty!  Such potential!  And such a fun time was had creating together.

Yarn Along -- Still Not Finished!

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

I was hoping to be finished with my Market Bag for this weeks Yarn Along, but no such luck!  I am still chugging away and, for me, making pretty good progress,  Thanks for all of the encouragement last week!

I am not reading anything new, as I haven't had an time!  Hopefully by next Wednesday, I'll have a finished project to share! 

And don't forget to visit Ginny for more Yarn Alongs!

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Seeing as today is the traditional start of the school year (although many kids have been in school for a couple weeks already!), I thought this was an appropriate day to post my review of the book Saint Thomas Aquinas by Raissa Maritain.  The story was originally published in French in 1934.


This book is really a gem for readers of all ages, although it is written with the 9-12 year old set in mind.  Written in simple language, it tells the life story of the quiet and often misunderstood boy who grew to be one of the greatest minds of the Church.  This story brings Thomas alive to the reader and can inspire in young people the desire to soak up wisdom and Truth.


Young and old would be wise to develop a love for the gentle Angel of Schools and this tale of his life is a great starting point!


This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Saint Thomas Aquinas. 

Who Needs Baby Dolls?

Also known as, "Why Avila will never learn to walk"


At the ripe old age of 15 months, Avila is still very much a crawler.  Can anyone blame her for her lack of motivation?

While the baby dolls around here are a bit lonely, their stroller certainly isn't neglected.

Princess Avila and her entourage.  

Co-op Day One -- Survived!

Today was the first day of the homeschooling co-op in which my kids have participated in the last couple years.  Despite the fact that we have been involved on and off since the begining, this is the first year I have taught a class.

Last night, I started wondering what was going on in my head when I volunteered!  Not that I wasn't not really looking forward to it -- I was!  What I had trouble understanding was why, exactly, I thought I could sew well enough to teach it!

After today's adventures in co-op, I still doubt my amateur sewing skills, but I must say, teaching those kids was a blast! 

Last night I finished up sewing each student a 98% finished bag.  Each bag had a little ribbon loop for a button closure, but no button.  So lesson number one -- sewing a button (as well as how to thread a needle and knot the thread).

And the kids got a kick out of the funky buttons Andrew made!

We also spent today's class learning a little bit about the history of sewing.  We started sewing a small needle holder as well, but ran out of time.  In the next couple weeks, we will finish up the small projects in the bag and each child will have a complete made-by-me (as in them, not me) sewing kit.

It was great fun and I am really looking forward to the year.

(If you think these made-by-me sewing kits are cute, I am pretty sure that after a little tweaking, they'll make an appearance in my Etsy Store as well as the  Craft Lafayette! craft fair in November)