New Year's Eve

it is New Year's eve and what are our plans. I hope to be in bed around 10pm and be able to sleep through the night. Nathan has been doing really well with this, we are so excited. Nathan is fighting the cold/flu that has been going around so he hasn't been the happiest of campers. In fact, he has been downright crabby this morning.

Work yesterday was really good. There was an all day crop-a-thon going on so I got to hang out back there and help the customers with their pages. Right after work, I headed up to our neighbor's parents house for a photo shoot. This is Round 2 as it has been aptly named. Her dad wasn't feeling well the first time so this is a redo. Of course Kami's little girl Ashlyn wasn't very interested in sitting down for the pictures so there were a lot of photos of her trying to get away. Here is my favorite from the session. You'll notice that it isn't a family picture or even a picture of her looking at the camera, but it shows her innocence and love for exploration.

I'm hoping today will be a productive crafty day. I'm going to scraplift an idea from Ali Edwards. She cut up the holiday cards she received and created a scrapbook layout from it. I think that will be perfect for me as well.

Have a safe and happy new year!!!!

I got out of the house today

Today is really the first day since Nick started blackjack training that I have gotten out of the house without the kids. Damn, did it feel good. Nick didn't have anything that needed to get done today so I got to leave for most of the day. Of course I didn't get organized and out of the house until 10:30, but I didn't have to be back until 4. His training starts at 6 and we had an just a tad bit early Hanukkah candle lighting so we could be together. I started out of course by calling my mom and she met me at Fiber Factory. She needed a tapestry needle so it was a good excuse to meet up. I had a little bit of store credit that was burning a hole in my wallet but I did need some yarn for baby projects. I just got an email from my cousin that she is expected their second child, then my SIL is due at the same time and our friends in California are having twins. Since the twins are the only ones that the sex is known on so far, they are the only ones that I bought for. As luck would have it, I got to buy pink and blue yarn for them. I can't divulge what I'm making, but whatever it is will be made out of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. I can't wait to get started knitting with that yarn. While we were there, my mom spotted the display of SWTC Mariposa. I nonchalantly said that I have plenty of yarn, Optimum DK that would be great for that project. She is going to knit it for me (or at least die trying). Does anyone happen to have the pattern? It isn't downloadable from SWTC and my mom is ancy to get started.

For the second part of my day, I scrapbooked at Scrapbooks, ETC. Even though I do work for Recollections, Scrapbooks ETC is my favorite store for finding new products. Since they also own Bazzill Basics Paper, I can always count on new goodies. I got three pages done and feel good about scrapbooking again. After getting through the holiday projects, I just wasn't motivated at all during the last month to scrapbook the stockpile of photos that I have. I randomly picked out a few photos this morning and packed my Mimi tote and headed out the door. Here is what I made:

Christmas Eve (very picture heavy)

We have an interesting family, and holidays take the brunt of it. I'm Jewish and Nick is Catholic, we are raising the boys with both holidays. They get the best of both worlds. Jared knows the difference between Hanukkah and Christmas already and can sing songs for both, it is so cute. Tonight is Christmas Eve. I would have to say that Nathan's favorite thing to do at Grandma Sue's house is to go up and down the two stairs that she has in the living room. He has gotten very good at it, and only fell down a few times. Nathan is the shy one in the family and normally stays very close to me. He really warmed up to everything this night and I didn't have to hold him at all, nice break for my arms. Nick's family opens all of their gifts on Christmas Eve, then we settle down for sleep and in the morning the Santa gifts arrive followed closely by a french toast breakfast. Our family settles down to sleep alot earlier than the rest so we headed home at 7:30 with our exhausted kids and I hear Madisson kept the room hopping until she passed out around 9:45. I don't know where she gets that energy from, but I sure wish I could bottle it. Here are some favorite pictures from the evening.

all of the grandkids with Grandma Sue

winter wonderland

Jared's new bike

both boys just looking at the tree in awe


Nathan's new LionKing ride-on toy

Jared got a Hummer SUT remote control car

Uncle Dick playing with Nathan

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!!

December 24th, 2005

You'd think by looking at the title to this post that it would have something to do with Christmas Eve. At least for this particular post, it doesn't. This is the first night in the last almost 18 months that Nathan has slept through the entire night. He went to be a little after 7pm last night and this is the time that he woke up this morning. I feel like the light at the end of the tunnel may be upon us. I knew he wouldn't sleep through the night while we were nursing, but that ended when he was 10 months old. It has taken him 12 teeth and a few colds to get to this point. Nick and I looked at each other Saturday morning and we both asked each other if he had gotten up. We both said "no". Sometimes we will let the other one sleep so at least one of us would be rested. This morning we were both so rested. It was a welcome treat. I'll let you know if this was a one time thing or a welcome trend.

A FO for this weekend

I got done with Jared's hat made from SWTC Karaoke. Isn't it cute!!

I put the earflaps on, but they looked kinda dorky. I think it was because the Karaoke isn't a thick yarn. A sturdier yarn and the earflaps would have looked fine.

I've spent the morning picking up my scrap area, it was such a disaster. I have completed three different holiday gifts for family members. Sorry, I can't post pictures because some of the them read my blog. I have one more project to finish and then the holiday related scrapbooking can be put away for a while. I'm still working on Halloween pages so I'm nowhere near being on track.

The rest of the house is a wreck and Nathan is going to be waking up from his nap any minute, I'd better get to cleaning it.

See, they do get along

Bathtime is the only and I do mean only time that the boys get along. Something about having to work together to soak the bathroom floor brings out the best in brothers.

I'm actually getting some knitting done since Nick has been gone at night. I watched whatever I've TIVO'd and knit or scrapbook. It is awesome. I'm making the earflap hats from LMKG. I'm using some of the new Noro colors that just came out. I'm hoping they won't be too itchy for the kids. I think I may be starting over though since I didn't read that well and if you wanted the earflaps, then I should have been doing a garter stitch for the first couple of inches. This was such a quick hat though that I don't mind starting over. For whatever reason the colors look brighter in the picture than real life. They are more muted and more boylike. BTW, it is color 163.

Madi's mittens are done

Okay, I have learned a few lessons from these. First, if you make adjustments to a pattern, write them down. I just knit the first mitten without thinking about how I would duplicate it for the second one. Hence, my stripes are a bit off. Second, knit the mittens at the same time on the same set of needles. Since these were knit flat and then seemed, it would have been pretty easy for me to do that. They are really soft though and since they were Cotton-Ease, extremely washable. My niece, Madisson, absolutely adores them. Here is a pic of her hands: