giving thanks

so we had a last minute change of plans and went to visit ben's parents for thanksgiving. we found out sonny, ben's dad, won't be here for xmas this year so we wanted to get in some much needed family time with him before he left. and one more group hug! we had a very nice lunch with them and the kids had a blast. sonny built an amazing train table and maple was pretty much glued to it the entire time we were there. i don't know why i didn't get a picture. spent about 5 hours in the car, round trip, too. so needless to say we were pretty darn exhausted by the time we got home.

so, since i didn't get it done yesterday i am spending today cleaning and pulling out our tree and decorations. we don't have much so it isn't much of a chore. but i am looking forward to dolling up the house with some garland and ornaments.

and i am officially feeling the CRUNCH! i thought i had everything pretty much under control but now that T-day is past i am realizing how much i have left to do to get all of my projects completed. yikes. time to get organized.

hope everyone had a great day of feasting yesterday.

the meat is complete.

the meat of this banana, that is. yay. another xmas project going quite well. this one is for my banana obsessed little girl. tonite i will start on the peel. i think this will be my most exciting gift to give. i know she is going to LOVE it. big time.

in other ramblings, i just have to say that xmas is now LESS THAN ONE MONTH AWAY!!! seriously. i have got some work to do! tomorrow is thanksgiving and the focus of this year is NOT food, since i really can't eat much of it (yes i am still watching out for my little man and his digestive troubles.) so instead i get to focus on the other part of thanksgiving that i love - getting out the xmas decorations and putting up the tree! yeah! i am really looking forward to this. maple had a ball with the halloween decorations this year so i know she is going to really dig the xmas stuff we have. my mom made us an incredible advent calendar last year, but we didn't get it until xmas day. so this will be our first run with it. oh man. i suppose my chore today should be cleaning up the house and plowing through my to-do list so that tomorrow i can just enjoy the day and have fun with my dear hubby and kiddos.

recent knitting #4

this one is sort of a surprise. i'm working on some of these for some quick and easy little xmas gifts. can you guess what it is? all i can say is that it was fast and fun. and cute. and many more will be made!

recent knitting #3

this is my most favorit recent knit. a shawl for my mom. its a christmas gift. but since she requested it, picked out the pattern, and the yarn - well, i don't really consider this one a surprise. so i am showing it off!!! a very simple pattern, but it turned out beautiful!! i am kind of jealous and sort of would like to keep it for myself. maple would too.

this yarn, lionbrand homespun, is a little difficult to knit with. BUT it makes a very pretty and quite cuddly shawl. so its plenty worth it. i WILL make one of these for myself. after the holidays.

recent knitting #2

this is my norweigan star hat. my first project using 2 different colors of yarn (this is called 'fair isle' knitting, i learned). it was fun to do and i am pretty pleased with my first attempt at fair isle work. it did take me several weeks to complete this hat though. it takes some serious concentration to follow the chart of the snowflake pattern.

unfortunately this hat turned out hugemungous!!! even though i followed the child size pattern, it is actually too big even for myself. bummer. i guess this is why it is important to figure out your guage before you start a project. i am too lazy to do that.

oh well. its still pretty cute, in an oversized hat on a little kid kind of way. and it does keep her head warm. so i guess not all is lost.

recent knitting #1

ok. so this is not extremely recent. i finished this in mid-october. but its damn cute! another ltk pilot cap for alaska. it turned out great and i finished it just in time for the cold weather.

isn't he a cutie! i LOVE LOVE LOVE this hat!

WINTER!!!

WOW!! winter is HERE! it snowed twice last week and has been downright frigid. woke up to 14 degrees yesterday. BRRRRRRRRRRRRR. this morning we've got freezing rain in the forecast and MORE snow tomorrow. the snowfalls have really been beautiful and maple has LOVED playing in the snow.

ben got her a sled and they cruised up and down the road. she had a lot more fun than the pictures might tell you, (she has a straight face for the camera these days.)

alaska and i couldn't hang too long in the brutal cold. i love this shot though. he's saying "oooooh, its cold!"

what do you think of the kids hats? i love alaska's. has to be my favorite baby hat pattern (another ltk pilot cap.) maples is WAY HUGER than it looks in the pic. its actually too big even for me. don't know how that happened. i'm not real thrilled with it, but haven't gotten around to making her a new one yet. i will try to post some better pics later.

hope everyone's staying warm!

my kids got style

and she loves her dog.

daddy = zzzzzzzzzzz

we've started working on getting alaska off the boob at night. so he's been sleeping with ben and learning some different forms of sleepy comfort. well that daddy must be good stuff! ben took A while i started dinner, was holding him less than five minutes when i found this. what a cutie. ain't nothing like a snooze in daddy's arms. or arm.

YES WE DID!!!!!!

thank you will.i.am for creating these kick ass videos.

gramzee love

just had a great visit with my mom. isn't this the best picture? she was here for 2 weeks and it flew by. we had so much fun and didn't take enough pictures, as usual! i will try to catch up this weekend but just wanted to share.