Birthday Goodies

Last week ended up not like I expected, but with a good end.

It started with that mitten mix up that wouldn't give up - I am glad to say that it didn't get the best of me.  After frogging, dropping stitches, losing my on the thumb and frogging again, getting my guage wrong somehow and redoing it yet again, it finally got done.  I could have gotten a whole new pair done in the time it took me to fix that one mitten.  What a sigh of relief.  And sadly, what was my favourite pattern may now not get looked at for awhile.  What a shame, because the hand dyed Merino wool from Bristol County Dyeworks finally arrived in the mail... right on my birthday!  That was exciting, and in the New Moon inspired colours.  I was waiting for this to arrive so I could make myself a pair of Alice Cullen inspired Pulse Warmers for myself with this very skein of yarn.  But I need to take a break from this pattern.  It will happen, but not now.  Besides, I have my twin sister's birthday waffle mitts to make.  Yes, they should have been done by now, and would have, had it not been for those horrible mitten mixups last week.  I will be visiting my twin next weekend, so that gives me just enough time to get her mitts done, and hopefully no mess ups.  A fresh new pattern will do me good.  And the yarn I am using for her is brand new so that will be a treat to work with.

Part of that mitt was finished while spending a long night in the local ER waiting room.  I'm not sure how long your average wait is where you live, but over here people wait on average about 8 hours.  For most parents with a cranky child (and most children are at least agitated there) this can be a very long night, and physically draining.  My little Emma had lost her footing for a moment and fell backwards.  She would have been fine, only when she landed her head made contact with the foot break pedal of the play pen which was nearby.  I never noticed just how much that pedal sticks out.  It never got in the way before now.  I cleaned it up, iced her head, and told my husband she'd going to need stitches - let's go.  I knew it would be a long night, so I packed well.  Stroller with the big cargo basket underneath, a pillow, blanket (it does get cold there with the doors so close to the wait area), her favourite machine-washable toys, water and snacks for all of us.  Oh, and my knitting for whenever she falls asleep.  I was certain I'd have enough time to finish a project there.  I have to say, Emma surprised me by just how well she handled the wait.  She was in surprisingly good spirits, as long as I was right there with her at all times.  She was so happy that big brother (age 7) had let her borrow his new moo cow pillow that moos when you squeeze it.  That was a big deal to her, and she kept showing us how to make it moo.  It really does sound funny - this cow doesn't just moo, it moo snores!  When she finally fell asleep around 1:00 am, I took out my knitting.  I must have been really dragging, as I didn't get more than a few rows done in a couple of hours.  This was when I did all the unraveling, reknitting, losing track of my rows and trying again.  When I realized I was too tired to knit efficiently, I put it away with only a few rows gained.

I won't go into details of how utterly unimpressed Emma was with the poor bedside manner of the doctor.  He was wanting to get the wait times brought up to speed, so his visit with us was prompt.  I didn't expect him to be quite so rough handling a toddler though.  It was hard for a mom to watch, but that's why I'm the mom and he's the doctor.  All I can say, is that when I told her "It's over.  It's all done." I took her in my arms and she held on so tightly.  She didn't relax until we had her back in her car seat buckled in, and then she let herself drift off to sleep again.  We were both exhausted.  I got home just in time to start work.  My good friend and client was so nice to me, she mercifully brought me a Tim Hortons coffee.  I got through the day, but had a difficult time getting Emma to bed on time.  So another late night for me.  The next morning, so surprise, Emma and I were both sick.

Sick, just in time for my planned girl's weekend.  We were going to have my family over, and some friends, go bowling, have a wii zumba party, watch a movie... whatever, something like that.  But now feeling so ill, I had to cancel plans.  And rest.

When we were both feeling better, my friends brought me out for an evening coffee.  I had a Caramel Macciato (spelling?) with extra whipped cream for my birthday.

 
I was spoiled with this nice goodie package from my friends.  Knitting magazines, flavoured coffee, chocolates, a book by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee that I was eyeing, a page-a-day dog lover's calendar, a night light for my Kobo ereader, candies and hand-dyed yarn.

There was more chocolate than is in the photo,
but I am kind hearted and shared it with my friends so it's no longer there.

Here is Emma showing the cute little knitted bag she was given.  Her birthday is next week.  She loves to run around with this little purse, it's so adorable!

I was even given a link for a free birthday pattern to knit from MinKnit on ravelry.

Last but not least, my husband and children took me out for brunch, then to the yarn store for dessert.  I picked out some needles and yarn for my birthday pattern.  That was very nice of them.  They score bonus points for this one.  I was really only hoping they would clean the house for me, but this was both unexpected and well enjoyed!

ARG!

OK.  So, I got my friends mitts done.  I screwed them up nicely.  I relaxed a bit too much on the second mitt, and the gauge changed a tiny bit.  You can see it here in the photo. If you stretch the first mitt, you can make them look the same, but when I wear them I can notice a relaxed fit on the second mitt.  I am tempted to make a third mitt in a relaxed fit as well.  I might have enough yarn left over, but it's hard to tell. 

 Aside from having the mitts being one tighter than the other, I have a problem with a blob of color showing up on the hand.

 You see it?  Does it look to you like someone spilled something there?  I tried to make the second one identical by casting off at the same point.  I thought this would make it so that when finished, you could wear the blob on the insides of both mitts.  Of course, it turns out I made two left mitts or two right mitts.  This pattern is designed so you can wear the mitt comfortably on either hand, which is true.  It feels good wearing it.  But I wanted mirror twins, not like this.

I thought I had read somewhere that there was a way to make the color spiral the opposite way, but I don't recall how it's done.

Here's what the other side looks like.  It would have made a nice outer side for the hand.

But this is what I get...

 It doesn't even look like a pair, does it???

I really wanted to have this project done by this coming Friday, as my friend comes over for my birthday weekend celebration.  I'll try not to pout... on the bright side, I will be learning something new.  Can't fix a mistake without learning a lesson.  Just breathe...

Preemie Knit Patterns?

One of the members of a disscussion group I belong to has just had her baby - early.  24 weeks old, and just a pound.  So I have decided to knit her some baby clothes, as they are much needed.  This of course will mean another :) trip to the yarn store, right after I had said that I would be limiting my trips there and going from my stash.  But I do not have any baby yarn in my stash, and I think a preemie would have especially sensitive skin.  Would organic cotton or Blue Skies cotton silk be soft enough?  I have very limited amounts of those anyway, but maybe enough for a baby hat.  Or I could be smart and knit them into colour rows;  then 3 half skeins may make enough for one Owlie Sleep Sack.

I need about 200 yards for this pattern.  I wonder how to make it small enough for a teeny baby, as this is newborn size in the photo.  I'm guessing I would take the same pattern to the yarn store and get smaller yarn and smaller needles, and hope for the best?

I'm trying to find something to try out patterns on, like my toddler's dolls.  If needed, I can try to crochet my own something, but you haven't seen how badly my self-designed crochet projects turn out, as I don't post them.  Here is what I have to work with:

The teddy bear might be the closest in size for now, but this baby will grow...


If you have any suggestions out there for preemie baby patterns, please send me the links in the comment section.  Thanks!

New Year's Goals for 2011

Instead of Resolutions, I am going to write my goals for this year. As a friend suggested, unmet resolutions can make one feel like a failure or discouraged enough to stop trying. So I am going to write Goals rather than resolutions. It's been proven that when people write down their goals, they have a much higher success rate than if they were to just make mental notes of their goals.

So here they are, better late than never.

1. Spend more time with family. I am making it a priority to spend more 1 on 1 time with each of my three kids, as well as making at least one day a month as a special family event. This is not so easy, as my husband works too much so having a day where he is home to do something with us is not easy to come by. His days off will usually fall on a day when the kids are in school (homeschooling was great for this, but my boys would not take their school work seriously).
2. Transition my volunteering commitments to home-based things like charity knitting rather than leaving the house to volunteer, as my children miss me and complain I’m not home enough when I volunteer. This will be a hard one for me, as I love to volunteer in my community and don’t like to turn things down. I’m committed until June, then I may allow someone to replace me. Last year I was asked by my family to quit volunteering, and I did drastically cut down the amount of time I went out to volunteer. But I get so much out of it, I decided to stay on board for another year.
3. Knit from my stash as much as possible before drooling over new yarn at my local yarn store. Very challenging, as I have just last month started to frequent this cute little store with Blue Sky alpaca…. Of course, I will allow myself to purchase things there for swaps, or special gifts, birthday projects… see how hard this is? But I definitely want to see if I can use up all my stash. That would be awesome, even though I don’t have a large enough stash. Also, yarn given to me doesn’t count for a stash diet, does it???
4. Learn how to knit and read at the same time. That would be great! I knit continental, but can learn the other way if that’s how people do it to read while they knit.
5. Really pay down my debt. Also, to set some money aside for savings/investing. That will make my hubby happy.
   
6. Actually get my taxes done on time this year. Oh, and return ALL my library books on time this year. The library makes enough money off my late fees to possibly open a new wing...
   
7. Declutter the basement. It’s No Man’s Land down there… but I want to get ALL the junk out. At least half of it by Spring. Start finishing the basement by the end of next fall.
8. Have knitted Christmas presents for each member of my family/friends done for 2011 Christmas. I wanted to do that this past Christmas, but started too late and only got a few done. This year I will plan ahead, knit ahead, and have each finished object in a Ziploc freezer baggie for me to see and remember it is done! I’ve already started by organizing a space in my closet for this, with empty freezer bags labeled with names on them. I will be going through my stash and putting the skeins for intended people inside the bags to help prepare. And maybe the pattern if I think of it.
9. Get in better shape. I plan on doing this through the winter with Wii Zumba, which is so much fun. This includes losing a few pounds/inches. I want to get rid of the muffin top, but also have more energy.

I will check back every month and see how these goals are going. Wish me luck!

Guess what I just got on Etsy???

OK, so first see the photo on the post below of the Alice Cullen mitts. OK, so anyone of you who have actually seen Twilight's NEW MOON movie, may notice that these mitts are a little off in colour pattern. The ones in the movie (you can see the photo and view pattern details on ravelry, but pattern is in the book Vampire Knits ).

This has been driving me crazy! The yarn here is hand-dyed, so I can't find anything that would make these cute little splotches of colour. So I found out from the designer, Nancy Fry, that the hand-dyed cotton is available on Etsy. There were two skeins left! I don't know if they make more or not, but it was called New Moon. The colour was apparently inspired by the hues in the movie. So I got one! I know, I know... why didn't I get two? tsk, tsk. I'm sure once I start working with it I'll be kicking myself for not getting more. By the way, you are the only ones I've told. No one else knows! Can you imagine how much trouble I will be in when my best friend finds out that I didn't get a Twilight yarn for her, too? She is a huge Twilight fan. I wonder what knitted goodies the next movie will inspire? And do you think Alice knits her own things? She would be fast enough, and has the designer's flare. And would Bella take up knitting when she becomes a vampire, as she won't have clumsy hands anymore. She wore those really nice warm pair of grey double knitted cable mittens in the first one, the day of the slippery ice incident. So she might take it up, but as she doesn't care much for fashion, she probably wouldn't. I myself am fashionably challenged, I have not of the fashion world. But I love knitting!

So - if you had super speed and accuracy like the Cullens, what would you do with it?
Would you knit a pattern that you like but have never bothered with due to skill level, length of time to finish, etc?

Itching for a winter knitting swap!

I'll start by showing you what's on my needles today. This is a pair of Alice Cullen inspired fingerless mittens. I got the pattern from Vampire Knits, which has lots of mouth watering winter knitting projects. Bite me. :)

I'm making these for my college friend Debbie, who will be coming to visit me for my birthday next weekend. I didn't get to see her for Christmas, and realized I have never knitted anything for her. She doesn't knit, but I know she likes to stay warm. And the weather where she lives is slightly milder than here, so fingerless may do well for her. At least for spring, anyway, or fashionable shopping!

I have discovered a local yarn store in the next town over, and have been finding excuses to go back and wander around. I picked up a few more skeins yesterday as an early birthday present to myself, as well as some new dpns. The very nice lady at the store answered my questions and was kind enough to demonstrate for me how to knit in the round with 2 circular needles. Now I know, so I may have to pick up some extra circs to have 2 of each size. My circs were not long enough to do that 'magic' whatever it's called method. Forcing it to fit only made my yarn catch and snag where the cable met with the needle. ARG! So I'm using dpns to knit mitts, which is fine with me. I LOVE bamboo needles. They make knitting pure pleasure.

Now that I have gotten into the groove again, I am itching to join a swap! Back in 2008 I participated in a few, and made friends with some wonderful people. Most of us drop a line to one another via blog comments now and then. It's nice to stay in touch. I really liked connecting with people who live in other parts of the world - it really makes the world feel smaller (or closer, if that may be a better word).

Unfortunately, the swaps I joined back then do not have a repeat swap going. I was really looking forward to bumping into some of those guys and gals in another round.

Now I am going to have to seek out a new one to join.

I can knit, I can shop for fabulous yarn to send out, I can spoil my buddy with goodies like chocolate, coffee, etsy things, but I don't sew or do hand-made cards or things like that.

I hope to find something soon with a winter, chocolate, coffee, mystery, or something like that theme to join in on. Too early for spring themes for me. It's not even ground hog day yet.

If you are happily involved in a swap right now, I will try not to be jealous.
Now off to ravelry I go to check things out...

Huh?

So, today I am trying something new. This funny yarn - I forget what it's actually called, as it has been in my stash for a long time. I think it's called Fun Fur?

So for tonight's ESL kitting club that I'm volunteering for at the community centre, we are doing a simple garter stitch dishcloth knit-along. I wanted to show the other participants how you can make different things with the same stitch, like a scarf. How different can you get from cotton than fun fur? So, I pulled it out and cast-on. I quickly realized it was too tight, and had to start again. I was knitting the second row, thinking to myself how I will explain yarn tension to the group, and the same thing happened again; too tight. How will i be able to undo this???

If I can barely find the stitch buried in there to knit, how on earth do I undo stitches? :)

I guess this one had better be perfect, but inside all these tangles, I doubt if anyone would actually be able to tell what blunders lay there.

Normally, I knit Continental style. But as most people do it the other way, I thought I would brush up on English style knitting for tonight's meeting. At least I won't be going too fast for anyone. I wasn't sure just how new some of these knitters are, so I decided not to pick out a pattern with purls in it. Am I wrong? I think it would be challenging enough to try and teach a new technique, and new knitting terms to those who are struggling with the English language. It's conversational English we are trying to focus on, so I would like the participants to be as relaxed as possible, not having to over-complicate things. I've met a lot of wonderful people while volunteering at the community center. Our neighbourhood is very diverse, and through some of these programs we are able to get neighbours to reach out and say hello to one another.

I am a little nervous about my teaching ability. Knitting is something that I haven't been able to teach my kids, and I wonder if I'm just terrible at explaining it. I am bringing some youtube videos that show in slower speed the beginner steps. I won't be the only volunteer there, but it makes me feel better knowing I have expert backup if needed.

Wish me luck!

Getting There...

So I have taken stock of my finished knitting projects since November, and realized I have actually completed 7 projects! Wow! I guess I am definitely showing signs of improvement in both speed and skill. I think I still knit slowly, I'm just getting better at finding little bits of time to knit with. It helps that I take my projects along with me in my little knitting bag that can stash into pretty much any purse.

I still don't think I'm skilled enough (or patient enough) to complete a sweater. The last one I tried to crochet was such a disappointment. After running out of yarn, I bought more that was a non dye lot yarn and it didn't match up at all. So I had to wear it as a vest, but it just didn't cut it. At least from that I've learned my lesson of not underestimating how much yarn you need. Better off having extras than not enough.

Most of the projects I've done this winter have been fingerless mittens of varying sizes from toddler to adult. I started with the Alice Cullen inspired fingerless gloves, then made a pair of Sucky Thumb mitts from Ravelry, then made multiples of these for family and friends. From there I moved up to the Irish cabled fingerless gloves for one of my sister's Christmas gifts. I wanted it be special, so I ordered her yarn from fabulousyarn.com and I was so happy when it arrived. Skinny Dyed Blue Sky Alpacas 100% organically grown cotton... it felt soooo good to work with. However, I am still not too experienced with cabling. I had only one small sized cable needle, and found out it was making my stitches too tight. So I tried using one of my extra dpns to hold on the cables, which kept sliding off. Then I'd drop a stitch here and there. Then I used metal dpns instead of my wooden ones to speed things up, as it was getting dangerously too close to the Christmas mailing deadline. Wrong choice: I had entire rows just slide off the needle when I went to pick up my project out of the bag. Back to the wooden needles. Back to the yarn store to find a solution - happy silicon protectors! Sigh. This pair of mitts ended up totally missing the deadline for Christmas shipping, and finally arrived in England today. I've been eagerly waiting to find out what she thought of them, and was ecstatic to find out that the mitts were indeed received with joy. :) :) :)

This got my confidence up, and I made the exact same pair for practice in another colour of the same lovely yarn. This time I got the pair of mitts done in only a week, and only dropped stitches twice. I had to frog two rows, but only because I was knitting late at night and lost track of my count. I knitted a few extra rows past a cable row and had to go back. But they turned out nicely as well, and I will deliver them this week to their recipient who is looking forward to wearing them. I tried them on as well, for this photo.



Mind you, I have not finished blocking them so don't mind that. They feel so nice to wear! I am going to make a pair for myself. But when? It's so hard to resist knitting things for other people when I get to do the whole "Ta Da" thing when they are finished... and see that smile on someone else's face. It's so tempting...

Maybe if I do a 5 to 1 ratio of things for others and then a little something for me?
What's your system? How do you choose when to make something for yourself????
Maybe because I'm still new at this. Does it get easier in time? Seeing how many UFO's my friends have, I doubt it.

Speed Knitting for Express Post

Christmas is coming, time is ticking too fast, and I have a thousand things to finish knitting!
But after having had my needles dormant for so long, it feels great to be back at it! So I'm not complaining, it's actually kind of exciting for me. Especially since everything coming off my needles ends up looking good and getting great reactions from my gift recipients. What has been on my needles?

A few weeks ago I was wandering around Ravelry, when I saw a project that I just had to do. It was a pair of Alice Cullen inspired fingerless mittens. OH, I wish I had that hand dyed yarn! I am a yarn addict. I've somehow managed to not have an entire basement overflowing with yarn, probably because it has too much other junk in it. My husband doesn't realize what a blessing that is. :)

My friend has been encouraging me to only purchase yarn that I am about to use. But when I see yarn, I can either picture a project that I don't end up getting to... or it's so delightful that I am determined to find a project later for it. So she has been coming with me to the yarn stores when I need to get a 'now project' supply of yarn. This has been helpful in keeping me accountable to my budget - what a true friend. I try to return the favour, but I'm not sure it helps as last time we went shopping, both of us ended up purchasing one of those eReaders. For my friend, I'm certain it was a good deal as she reads at least 2 books each week. This will very quickly pay for itself for her; for me, I think it will encourage me to read more often as this is something I've been wanting to do but haven't. These eReaders come with over 100 classic books, which I love. Especially Jane Austen. I've also been reading Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

Anyways, I've been knitting a few mini projects for this kids to get my gauge steady enough before knitting my sister's Christmas gift, as it has cables in it, and slippery silk/cotton yarn. The pattern is so lovely, I can't wait for the whole thing to be finished. If you want to check it out, and know my username on ravelry, go there to see what I'm knitting. I can't post a photo here yet, as my family sometimes reads this blog. But when she gets it in the mail, I will for sure post a photo of it.

One of the things I've been knitting to warm up to this project has been such a success with my clients, that I'm now making a pair of "Little Thumb Suckers" for each of the kids I take care of during the day. My kids are also requesting a pair, as well as one for each of their friends - in army camouflage yarn of course. They are so adorable, and great for when I am taking kids to school. The kids in the stroller don't like to wear mitts. But with these, they still have most of their hands covered and have their little fingers sticking out to play with toys. I got the pattern over on ravelry. Here is a link if you want to make your own pair. Please let me know if the link becomes broken.

small moments

I was sure I'd written more often than this. In fact, I remember writing a post that didn't get published, most likely I was led away from the computer and someone else started using it... my DH assures me that he always opens a new tab when I am working on something.

But here we are, and I am typing this up as my toddler sits beside me at the kitchen table gluing Christmas foamy shapes onto her green construction paper. It will later be proudly displayed on our wall for everyone to see. Her favourite part is lifting the foam shapes off the paper to watch the glue smear all over. Oh no. Now she is gluing shapes onto the table. Small interruption here and there... eventually this will get done.

Has it really been so long?

This Friday, my baby will be 18 months old. She's healthy, sleeps mostly through the night, and gets into everything! My oldest son, who will turn 14 years old next month, says she is such a trouble maker now because she will be a goodie-goodie later... we can only hope. :)

She has us all wrapped around her pinky, even her big brothers. At first, her older brother thought she would be just the same as any other baby he's seen. He has since realized that her personality is one-of-a-kind. He is crazy about her! He will go out of his way to be goofy, or do anything to get her to laugh. She has such a great laugh.

All the smiles make up for the trouble she gets herself into when asserting her independence. She has learned so well (like her brothers before her) how to climb up on things she shouldn't. She climbs up on the dining chairs, but refuses to climb from the front - always from the side... today she found the consequence of that when she found out she was just heavy enough to make it tip over on top of her. Poor thing. :(

She has also learned how to climb over the baby gate, just like a fence. I can't believe she would put her little toes into those small holes and dig in, but she does. None of the other children I've watched have even tried to climb that high; but she does. Emma will climb up high enough that she can fall onto the other side, but doesn't go over - she just yells out to anyone who will come and rescue her and act like it was our fault for letting her climb up on the gate! I'm going to have to get one of those baby gates with the plexi-glass sides so there is nothing to grip her little toes on.

Then there's the table, both under it and over it. Emma likes to hide under the table, but is always trying to stand up straight when she's underneath. Then screams when she hits her head on the wood, or the holts underneath that hold the extension leaf together. I'm always reminding her to stay out of there, but curious minds will explore... and yesterday she decided to climb all the way on top of the table and sit right on the edge with that proud smile of hers. She sure knows how to get my heart racing!

Having three beautiful children is full of both blessings and sacrifices, as any parent can tell you. There are days when my life is so fulfilling that I'm 100% content to have my complete identity be "mom". When watching all the little things my children do is worth giving up (or putting aside) all my hobbies, accomplishments, or things I would still like to accomplish for myself... like my photography, scrapbooking, volunteering, or just sleep. Even those little things like household chores get put aside if I'm needed, then keep piling up. I was so blessed this weekend when my old college friend came by for a visit - she stayed the whole weekend and helped me sort through the children's outgrown clothes to give away. It feels so nice to get things done, especially after feeling like I've been drowning in housework. Not that I'm complaining, it's such a funny way that things have gotten undone. My little Emma likes to help with all the chores. When I'm unloading the dishwasher, she likes to help by passing me dishes. Of course, when I'm loading the dishwasher, she still likes to unload and pass me dishes... same thing for the laundry. She follows me around and likes to unload all the clean, folded laundry out of the laundry hamper before I get a chance to put away the clothes. She has so much fun with that, you should see how she giggles when I say, "No Emma!" and then she tosses the clothes out of the basket.

But there are times when I feel so tired, and really miss doing something for myself. I haven't finished (or started) a knitting project for so long... but I'm determined to get back some of

'me'. I was inspired by my sister, who is mother to my adorable nephew! She gets up every morning before he is awake to do some Wii Fit exercises. Since it feels like I don't have a waking moment to myself, I decided to do the same thing by claiming some time before anyone else is awake in the morning. I bought a new Nintendo Wii system off Ebay (great deal, I was happy to save some money) and a fitness program for it called Jenny McCarthy's Your Shape. I think the term "Wii Workout" would have been more catchy and fun, so that's what I call it at home. Well, it's been only one week since we've had it, and I feel great! I don't mean that I've lost any weight yet, but I feel like I have more energy, and I'm happier. It feels nice to do something for me again.

And tonight I'm going to a beginner Zumba class at the Community Centre... I keep hearing how fun these classes are, so I signed up for a summer session. I'm not going to put pressure on myself to do all the moves I know I can't do yet, but I will be going there to have a good time working out with other moms. As FlyLady says, "Progress, not perfection".

Burk's hidden gift

Would you believe it? My little boy has gone from toddler to teen! He's now 13 years old!!!

When my big sister was visiting us last, she gave me a gift to hide until Burk's birthday.

I thought carefully about where to hide it. Somewhere Burk would never look... and decided to put it in the bottom of our baby's diaper bag. There it was, in almost plain sight to anyone who might check inside there to get something for the baby. A few times I've asked Burk to go get me a diaper from Emma's diaper bag, and he was always in such a rush to get this task overwith that he barely look in there. In fact, he'd usually just reach in the bag and pull anything out that was closest to the top. Now and then I'd asked my 5 year old to help me out by bringing me something out of the bag, and while he was a very good helper he never did get to the bottom of the bag. Now don't get me wrong, my older boy can be an excellent helper when needed, but he has an aversion to diapers or anything related to them. I wonder if it's genetic, and if he get's it from his father? And I wonder if there is a world record for the person who has changed the most diapers? I'm sure it would go to one of the caring ladies who has worked in an orphanage most of her life. But for someone to claim that title they would have to actually keep track of each diaper change... not something I would have the time to do.

Emma's first spoonful!

Time flies, eh? Emma is now 6 and a half months old, and time for
her to start baby food. So my friend came over to watch Emma take
her first taste of baby food. Ok, so she's already tried a Farley's
biscuit to gum on when she was teething, but this was her first spoon-
fed baby cereal. We made it very thin, and didn't give her too much.

She loved it! Hubby took photos while she tried it out. Her first
bite was interesting. She waited for the ta.ste to sink in, then
tried to grab the spoon!

Then she went down for a good nap.... zzzzzZZZZZ

Here are some of the photos.

By the way, I'm STILL not finished my table runner yet, but at least
I did finish the crocheted hand towel.

Two very good friends of mine are coming over on the weekend to help
me do a serious de-cluttering of my house! One to help me sort, the
other gets to play with Emma while we sort through the junk into give-
away and throw-away piles. We try to donate to both Cerebral Palsy
and the Canadian Diabetes foundations on a regular basis through
their clothing pick-up program. It's an easy way to pair down on
your closet - if you can't actually walk through your 'walk-in'
closet, just grab a large garbage bag and start tossing things in
it. Then either drop it off to your local Value Village store, Sally
Ann box, or call for a clothing pick-up. Don't worry if you think
your clothes are out-of-date, anything they can't use will get
recycled or turned into other things through one of their many useful
programs.

Newbie Geocachers

Looking for something fun to do on a budget this summer? Why not try
geocaching!
This outdoor hobby is becoming quite popular, and with a handy
website database, you can participate all over the world.
As most kids like to go treasure hunting, this makes for a great
family adventure, with fresh air and good exercise to boot.

Some people go out and purchase a GPS device specifically for this
purpose, while others just use their iPhone, Blackberry device, or
the GPS on their portable navigation system like TomTom, or Garmin.
From what I've heard from the people I've bumped into on our
adventures, the Garmin is the way to go. I can't tell you how many
times my TomTom has been off course, even though I had just updated
the coordinates or satellite. Mind you, as far as driving directions
go, my TomTom is awesome! We never get lost! But when you are
trying to find a treasure in the middle of the woods, you don't want
to be off by 40 feet, or it makes it exponentially harder to find.
Some caches (treasure) we managed to find even being off course,
though it took several tries. Other times we were spot on.

The last one we went to, we were so far off that the family who hid
it offered to help us find it. I'm glad they did, it was no where
near where we were looking! We had a good time exploring through the
woods. One thing I like about the Kitchener-Waterloo area where we
have been geocaching, is that the other geocachers are very friendly
and helpful. And each forested area we visit seems to have it's own
character, so it's never like going to the same place twice. If you
are into nature walks, bird watching, or any type of nature study
then geocaching would be a great hobby for you to try out.

My kids like to search for new and interesting bugs while we are out,
and we take photos of them to research when we get home.

My Little Artist

This is Evan, my 5 year old. He is so crafty! He will stay up waaay
past bed time inventing craft projects if only his little eyes would
stay open all night.

When he found out that there were no Transformers trading cards, he
decided to solve that problem right away by making his own. He has
folded a paper several times to make it as sturdy as a real card, and
then stapled it (with a child safe stapler) to make sure it stays in
place. He has several of these that he gives me, and others that he
brings to the park to make sure there is enough for anyone else who
is needing some Transformers to play with. His favourite ones are
Optimus Prime, and Megatron. I'm sure these would do perfectly well
for a Flat Stanley project. Maybe I'll look into that..