Merry Christmas 2013

 

 

Another successful Christmas in the books.

Find the pictures here.

You want a picture of the kids and the dogs, you say?

No, that's not crazy. Not crazy at all!

 

 

Merry Christmas!

Beginner Band - Rowan's first concert

Tonight was the Winter Concert for Sterling's music program. It's about 90 minutes of musical cacophony as the students show us what they've been up to in their hours after school. This was Rowan's first year playing in the band, and he really enjoys it.

This is video number 1. There was some sort of student being ready malfunction between songs, so the wait with nothing happening got really long. I ended up stopping this one and starting another video once they were ready to play again, so you can save yourself some time by hitting the stop button on this one once the song is done.



Video number 2 (with bonus Rowan announcing one of the songs!)


It's like you were there! Except you missed the beginner violins, the advanced violins, the violin solo, the advanced band, the sterling band, the sterling singers, and the sterling stars. I could have taped it all, but Merry Christmas!

Santa visit 2013

Rowan asked for a Telescope. Niall asked for Snap Circuits Extreme. Eleri asked for a Minnie Mouse umbrella.

I've been fretting the evening away though. Sally started out the trip with us, but somewhere somehow she went missing. Eleri has no clue because of the backup Sally, but I've been completely over-emotional about it. I'm hoping Sally is located. We still have 2, and Eleri is unaware, but no one else will know just how important Sally is. I know I'm anthropomorphizing my daughter's stuffed friend, but I can't help it. I want all the Sallies here where they belong!

Niall is 9

His golden birthday. 9 on the 9th! We pretty much celebrated him all weekend. He played lots of Wii, got his presents, and got to go to the movies with John. Pictures to come.

Big News!

This just happened.

Worth the Blister?

School pictures!

This year, I decided to take school pictures myself. I've bought the package from Lifetouch every year, and they're not bad, but I feel like I've gotten good enough to take my own pictures from now on. Either I'm good enough, or I'm cheap enough! lol

I posted a set on facebook, and everyone had different opinions about which one was best, so I just picked my favorites.

Here is Rowan's 6th grade picture

 

 

And here's Niall's 3rd grade picture.

 

Halloween 2013

Another one in the books. No one was sick this year. Hooray!

Niall was a shadow. Eleri was Sally the mouse. Rowan was a fox.

 

We carved pumpkins after school, but Niall pooped out on doing his. He chose a complicated design. Oh well.

I carved Eleri's after she chose the design, and Rowan carved his own.

Happy Halloween!

Now she is five

 

It's hard to believe, isn't it?

 

Eleri has had a great birthday. She got lots of presents, had a party with her friends, and in general feels like a special little person. What more can we ask for? Birthday photo set located here: Eleri's 5th Birthday

We also got the news from the endocrine doctor. Everything looks the same as it did before, so we can keep on as we're keeping on, and they'll see her again in April. :)

It's hard to believe that next year she'll be in kindergarten. Crazy. What am I going to do without my little shadow?

The birthday starts early

Eleri got a bit of her birthday fun early this week. We had to take the van to the shop for the scary noise it was making (no big deal, heat shield is now tightened, yay!) and I had taken her car seat out just in case we needed to put it in the green car to get somewhere.
I'd been planning to turn her forward facing for her birthday but I didn't want to install her car seat rearfacing only to turn it forward in less than a week, so we turned it early.

 

She loves it. She keeps saying "weeee!" and says that she loves looking forward. She looks so BIG to me now!

 

Putting her forward facing meant that we needed to drag the other seat out of the shed to put it in the van, so she could be behind the driver. More convenient for me during the day - especially since that door is the one that works well. The one on the passenger side is stupid and takes an act of congress to get open, and we all know how well that's been working lately...

But to get the seat out of the shed, John had to take a bunch of the outside toys out to get to it. One of those things was the bike I'd been saving for Eleri's birthday. She saw it and there was no going back. So, another birthday present early. She loves her new bike, too!

 

 

For your enjoyment

This weekend I got purple hair!

 

No, it won't wash out. Yes, I meant for it to be like that.

I've wanted purple hair for years!

And Loki got bat ears

 

Hers will come off. That dog will do ANYTHING for jerky.

Enjoy the little things!

 

We saw the endocrine people today. I found that shirt about a month ago. Isn't it perfect for her?

The good news - Eleri has grown 2cm in the last 5 months. We no longer have to cuff the legs of the jeans that we had to cuff twice last year. Hooray!

But her growth velocity is still only at 4.8cm a year. They really want it to be at least 5cm, but since it's almost there we can do a little more watchful waiting, maybe. They took 3 tubes of blood today to run some more growth hormone tests. If she's at the same level as she was last time, or has gone up, we'll continue to wait and watch. If her level is lower, they want to go ahead with the full growth hormone stim test. They'll call with results in a couple of weeks and we'll go from there.

Official Stats

Height: 92.9cm or 3 feet and 0.58 inches
Weight: 13.1kg or 28lbs 14.1oz

Happy girl

 

Someone was really happy that dance class is starting back up again.

Practice!

I think the tuba is getting easier to listen to. :)

The one that taught me about gauge

I cast on this sweater 2ish years ago. I went to the yarn shop with Fran, and we saw the sweetest little sweater. She loved it and bought the pattern and yarn, and then handed it all to me and sent me on my merry way with it.

I knit a gauge swatch or two, figured I had it, and started knitting. I knit the fronts, the back, the sleeves, and then thought they might be easier to sew together if I blocked them first, so I threw them in the bath.

That's where I got my big lesson.

You see, the yarn was completely different after it had gotten wet. WAY different. It GREW. A LOT. And suddenly the reason I didn't get gauge on the needles the pattern recommended was pretty obvious. Because it grew once it got wet.

I skipped that step where you're supposed to wash your swatch the way you'll wash your finished item. I'd done that over and over again, and the swatch never really changed with washing. It might get a bit thicker, but the size was always pretty much the same - but then the fiber was always the same. I usually just knit with straight wool, or a wool and acrylic blend, or plain old acrylic. This was a fancy blend of merino, silk, and cashmere. It didn't do what I was used to, and there is where I fell down.

Faced with a way bigger sweater than I wanted, and having to do a bunch of seaming while matching up stripes, I stuffed it in a bag and walked away from it. But I did remember the lesson and made sure to wash the swatches when I cast on for bigger sweaters for me - you better believe that!

Finally, I took the pieces back to Fran and handed them over. I really do hate seaming, and she said she'd be happy to put the pieces together for me, but she was not going to knit that ruffle.

I got the pieces back from her this summer, and finally sat down yesterday to do the last bit. That ruffle went on for ages, but everything else was done, and even though the sweater was way bigger than I originally thought it would be, Eleri was now the perfect size to fit it, so I needed to get cracking before there was a chill in the air.

She picked out the button after her nap, and here we are.

2 years later, it's a perfect fit!

WIP Wednesday

With dental visits, orthodontist visits, car pool, and baseball coming up - knitting that travels well is essential.
Socks fit the bill.

First Day of School! 2013

I always think of Nemo yelling on the first day of school. Time, once again, for the quiet to descend on the house as the boys head off to another day of school. I have this last year home with Eleri, and then they'll all be school kids. I may need some holding and lots of chocolate for that. eeep!
They are both going back to their old classrooms, so the nerves and such that I always had for the first day of school don't come into play. Next year will be different, because everyone will be starting a new classroom, but this year is pretty smooth with more of the same as last year.

 

6th grader

 

3rd Grader

I told them to look cute, and this is what they gave me.

 

I told them to show me some blue steel, and they did this

 

Just look at Niall in the first one and Rowan in the second, and you have a pretty good picture.

We made sure they had what they needed, reminded them of the house rule (always be kinder than necessary!) and then they were off! They are both in the oldest grade in their classrooms this year, and they are looking forward to the bonus responsibilities and privileges that come with that. 

 

Have a good year, boys!

ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! And introducing WIP Wednesday

I got to try out the new Rex urgent care today.
Rowan dropped a spaghetti sauce jar on the front walk yesterday when he was taking out the recycling. He cleaned it up (he said) and I forgot ALLLLLL about it until right before lunchtime today, when I found a big piece of glass with my foot.
I now know what hurts the instep more than Lego. A big piece of glass.

 

5 stitches and a tetanus shot for me!

Black and white and after I got cleaned up, because I love you.

 

So, I'm grounded for a while. No pool for 2 weeks. I can't even shower for 3 days. :( Thank goodness for a tub and a shower head on a hose. Mama needs to wash her hair. 

 

What's a girl to do with forced sitting time? Good thing I knit. 

It's WIP Wednesday. I decided to start working on a Tempest Shawl, for my Goddaughter's first communion some time in the future. Yes, I have a lot of works in progress. I've decided that Wednesday is when I'll show you whatever particular one I'm working on that day.

instagram!

I'm going to add a button in the sidebar that will link to an instagram slide show. Why? Because I've been using instagram again since I got the ipad, and Mom doesn't have instagram and she isn't on facebook so she misses the shares of instagram there. TECHNOLOLOLICAH! gee. I'm making it work.
So, here's the slide show. And once I figure out how to add a little doohickey to the side, you'll be able to click that and see those. It will work as long as I remember to upload the pictures to my flickr and change them to public view and stick them in the instagram set.
Or you could just get instagram. MOM. *gives Mom the fisheye*

oops!

I was talking to Mom yesterday and she reminded me that I haven't been putting things on the blog. Oopsies!
It's been a very busy summer. I swear, Rowan has spent more time away from home than he's spent here! And we only have one more week until school starts back up again.
It's been SO RAINY that we haven't been out in the pool as much, or outside as much.

I promised pictures, though, so here are pictures of John's birthday.
John's birthday pictures
Flickr has changed their format, and I'm not a big fan of what they did. But it is what it is.

We had some entertainment this morning. Niall lost two teeth last night, but one is somewhere in the bottom of the pool. He put the one he had in the pocket with a note about the other one and hoped for the best. Our tooth fairy hasn't exactly been reliable lately. Imagine his surprise when he woke up to find this!

 

A teeny tiny letter!

It looks like we're going to be getting a new and more reliable fairy. Niall is excited about that. Will she bring golden dollars? Toys? Hotwheels cars?

 

Niall thinks it's pretty awesome.

Video fun

Eleri finally trusts her puddle jumper! It makes swimming in the pool so much more fun.


I have no idea why it's all pixelated like that. It looks normal on the ipad, but I've tried to upload it several different ways and it's always like that. Oh well. You get the general idea. She loves it!

I wanted a video of Niall, too, but all he wanted to do was make his stuffed panthers meow at me. I told him I wasn't going to film annoying. We'll see if I can get one of him soon.

The Harry Potter Project

So, it's been a while since I blogged. I could keep telling myself that so much has happened and I have to catch up, but that's overwhelming and only leads to me putting off updating. I've decided, instead, to just jump in now and post about today.

Our house is small for a family of our size. 1200square, and we can now say that we are definitely living in every inch of it. See, the boys have been chafing each other raw with living in the same room. It's not unheard of, and really not something I can blame them for. It's tight in there, and they have such different personalities. It's not easy!
But we only have 3 bedrooms...

John told me about how when he was a kid, and he and Dan were at each others throats, but they only had 3 bedrooms, his parents converted the dining room into a room for him until Ben moved out. We don't have a dining room, and we have a LONG time until Rowan goes to college, but it was a good idea - repurpose a spot for someone so that everyone has their own space.

One day, it hit me. We have a walk in closet in our master bedroom. That closet has a window. We don't actually USE the clothes in the closet most of the time. Most of the time, we use the clothes that are in our dressers. Half the time we can't even walk into our closet because of all the shoes on the floor. John's shoes are boats. Have you seen his feet?

I thought, and measured, and took everything out, and measured again. I thought some more, and climbed into the attic to measure the crib because it converted to a toddler bed and was smaller than the car bed. It would work if I took a shelf out and we figured out where to stash some clothes. John thought it was a pretty good idea, even though it looked like our closet had thrown up all over our bedroom.

I felt kind of bad about it. It seems very Dursley to stick a kid in your closet, even if it's the smallest kid in a good sized closet. But it has a window, right? Harry Potter didn't have a window.

We took out the shelf and spackled the holes. I found a mostly full can of purple paint, "Italian Fantasy," in the shed, so I painted it. I also had an extra vinyl Eleri that my friend made me when she made the one for the dress up station. The dress up station does not fit in her new room, but the spice racks I got from Ikea do, and they make nice little bookshelves.

She's spending her first night in there tonight. I just tucked her in, and she's smiling so big her face is about to crack. I wonder how long it will take her to fall asleep?

 

Looking in from our vanity area

 

I had to use the iPad to take pictures. I couldn't back up enough with my camera!

 

 

 

Take a picture of me sleeping!

 

 Take a picture of me building!

 

The fairy lamp isn't plugged in, but it's pretty.

 

The steps are from Mom, since Annabelle doesn't use them.

 

I think this is going to work out really well. Now we just have to get our room looking this good! 

Last day of school 2013

I'm so far behind in blogging it's not funny. But oh well. It's the last day of school!

For Rowan, the last day of 5th grade. He's grown so much! Today's picture of Rowan is weird. His shirt is hanging funny. I didn't notice the book bag weirdness when I was taking it.

  

He's a little taller. His hair is a lot longer.

Niall has also grown a bunch. He couldn't smile as well because last night he woke up to go to the bathroom and tripped over some stuff on his floor. His lip met a chair and is all puffy now. The caterwauling at 2am shot me straight out of bed. But anyway...

 

He's grown a lot, but his hair shrank.

One more year done!

 

Fall 2012

 

And now Spring 2013

 

More dancing

We've been extremely busy around here. Lots to catch up on.
Have a dancing video to tide you over.

We love dancing class

Thursday mornings, when I tell Eleri that it's dancing class day, she responds with glee.
So much fun! She's getting better at it, too.
Enjoy!

Niall's First Communion

 

Pretty Proud

You can see the full photo set here. 

Brothers

Once again, the difference in personality is glaringly obvious

Sewing fun

I will always be glad I learned how to sew when I was in high school, simply because I can do things like this.