I Heart Faces Submission

Here is my submission for the weekly contest (iheartfaces). I am excited to see everyone's pictures!

Fun new toy

My neighbor, Jan, has two daughters who are in elementary school and she likes to hand down the things they are not using. Of course, I LOVE hand-me-downs. In the past she has given us an art easel and a Little Tikes outdoor car. She called last week and told me that she had some fun collapsible playhouse things that she wanted to give to the kids. We set them up in the basement and they are a HUGE hit with the kids. They spent several hours this weekend crawling through the tunnels, dragging toys into the tunnels, chasing each other through the tunnels, etc. Such a fun toy and the possibilites are endless!

I have finished a few projects since I learned how to crochet. I have made the kids and myself new hats, and I made a granny square scarf. I love making things and have a bunch of patterns ready for my next projects. Mark wants a hat, so he's next and then I'm going to try a simple felting project. I told him the other day that I may have to get a job to afford all of the yarn I need/ want!

Hats everywhere

I have worked my way through the crochet book and have done all of the projects in it. My favorite project by far has been the hat. This is the first hat I did, a turquoise one, made from yarn that came with the book. Peyton is my lovely model! I really like this hat and used the pattern to make one for each of the kids. They went to Michael's with me early this week and chose their own yarn, with no help.

Is anyone surprised that my girly girl picked pink? She loves the hat and especially the flower.

Liam insisted on blue yarn and also asked for a flower. I told him that I would put a pom pom "flower" on it because I did not want to put a girly flower on it. I mean, the boy already wears a purple dress around the house and occasionally angel wings! I had to bribe him with candy to wear the hat in a picture. He HATES having his picture taken (sound familiar, Uncle Craig?)

Ah Peyton. I asked her to please model Liam's hat for one picture (before the bribery). This was her reaction!

Little boys and trains

What is it with little boys and trains? Liam got two different ones for Christmas, a wooden one from Nonna, and another one from his cousin, Amanda. The wooden one fits perfectly onto the train table, so it has a permanent home. The other one is a lot bigger so we have to set it up on the floor. It also has a remote control that moves the engine along the track, forward and backward. I wasn't sure Liam would be able to figure out the remote, but he did and loves it. I should have known. I think boys are hard wired to be able to use remotes, game controllers, etc.

It is a rainy and dreary day today. I had thought about taking the kids to the Children's Museum, but I do not want to venture out in the rain, so we're just hanging out at home. They spent a good part of the morning stringing beads onto pipe cleaners and now they're watching a movie. They moved some chairs into the family room to make a movie theater! After the movie we'll probably head to the playroom for a while. I finished Liam's hat last night and I'll post some pictures of both kids in their hats later. Liam is reluctant to pose, so I'll have to be sneaky!

Simple pleasures

My children have always gravitated toward the more simple/ real toys, things like boxes, cell phones with no batteries, old Tupperware, bowls, cups, etc. Mark's mom got Peyton an "office" for Christmas and it has been a HUGE hit. That's not to say that she is not loving her Cinderella horse and her new dress up clothes, but the office has been a great source of imaginative play for her. We set up her office in the basement guest room and she will go in and play doctor's office, store, etc. She wrote a thank you note in children's church on Sunday and asked me to please "run down to my office and get a seal for the envelope."

While Mark was at work yesterday I took down all of the indoor Christmas decor. We wanted to leave it up until Ephiphany (today), but the city was collecting trees and I figured it was easier to leave it by the curb than to find time to get to the landfill. The city recycles all of the trees into mulch that they use in local parks. We do have our outdoor lights and candles in the windows. We'll leave them up for a few more days.

It is raining and only in the low 30's today, after reaching almost 60 yesterday. The local weathercasters were calling for an icy mix and a few area schools had delays today, but the delay we were sort of hoping for didn't happen. Oh well, I'm still hopeful for some good snow this winter!

I have never been a Christmas-lights-in-the-yard sort of girl. We didn't do it growing up, and Mark and I never put them up at the old house. We did candles in the windows and a Christmas tree, but never lights in the yard. We moved to this house in 2006 and that Christmas, and every Christmas since, Mark has strung lights on the outside bushes and the porch rails. This year he let the kids help, so the lights were all wonky and crazy. As we drove around looking at lights this year, the kids got exited about seeing the deer in people's yards. So we got one! They were crazy on sale at Ollie's and I spent $5 on this one. We put it in the yard and the kids were so surprised when they saw it. He has been named Rudolph, even though he doesn't have a red nose (as Peyton reminded us).

We bundled up the kids today and went to the park for a hike and a picnic. We even took Randy, who spent the whole time sniffing everything she could sniff! The sun was shining and it wasn't too cold. It was a great way to sort of wrap up our holiday time. We have church tomorrow and I have Bible study, so the lazy go to bed late, get up late time is coming to an end.

Happy New Year...it's 2009

I remember being in elementary school and figuring out how old I would be in the year 2000. Now it's 2009 and I feel like time has been flying! We had a very laid back evening last night to ring in the New Year. I made two dips, buffalo chicken and spinach artichoke, and we ate veggies and dip too. It was a finger food meal and the kids loved it. We also did jiffy pop on our stovetop. We ate and then dressed the kids in their jammies to watch "The Berenstain Bears." They stayed up until about 9:30 and then crashed. Mark and I finished the final Star Wars movie and then started the documentary on how they were made. I didn't realize it was midnight until we heard the fireworks downtown. We went to bed around 1am and then got up at 8:30 and went to The Little Grill for breakfast.

The kids wanted to play outside when we got home, but it was only around 30 degrees so they didn't last long. They spent the morning playing and hanging out with us. Peyton is at our neighbor's house now and Liam is asleep.

I bought a how to crochet book yesterday (thanks Grandma for the birthday money) and spent last evening and this morning learning some stitches and making a few projects. The book came with a few skeins of yarn and 6 projects. I knew a tiny bit from my Nan. She taught me how to crochet when I was around 10 years old, but I had no idea how many things I was doing wrong! I have now learned more than just the one stitch I used to know...woo hoo! I made a little bag to carry jewelry, a soap loofah, and two flowers. I'm going to tackle a little purse next and then a granny square scarf. I'm excited because I've been wanting to learn for so long and had no idea how to do it. Not sure if adding another hobby is such a good thing (I'm already busy with photography, scrapbooking, etc), but it should be fun!