Done!!!

I recently joined the world of knitting. I am really enjoying it and was pleased when Aaron asked me to make a hat for him. I found a pattern on the internet and plugged away at it with MANY calls to my mother for help.

It is finally done. It is practically IMPERFECT in every way, but I sure learned a lot! I kind of knew it would be a little small for Aaron, but felt too unpracticed to try to alter it to make it bigger.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how it swirls to a point (as pictured in the third photo.)

Aaron being a goof

Aaron being...normal???

The swirl

Fashion Designer

Monday Sophie stayed home from school sick so I was able to get a picture of her! She designed a skirt and crown for her and her doll Ceila out of construction paper and tape. I really need to teach this girl to sew!!!

First Day of Spring

There is nothing special about these photos except they are of my lovely children, on the first day of spring, taken with my friends new fancy dancy camera! (oh except for the lichen on the tree, that isn't one of my children!)

Seize the Day

We mopped the floors the other day and all three kids were more than eager to help. I put on some loud music and off we went washing floors, walls, cabinets, appliances and much more. I can only hope that when they are 16, 14 and 11 1/2 they are still as eager...but I am not counting on it!

More Ice

I found these ice formations in the driveway. They were so beautifully amazing. I wonder if you could make an ice lab to recreate such intricately delicate ice crystals or if this is one of those things only God can create....

Thai Festival

Sophie's school has had a visiting teacher from Thailand this whole year. They have been learning about Thai art, food, literature etc...

This last week they had a group of Thai teachers come and teach them a dance to perform for the community. They also presented some dances for us as professionals.

I am so grateful for all the school does to bring cultural diversity to our little rural Vermont town in a way that we would never be able to do ourselves.



This lady learned how to play this very difficult instrument 7 months before she came to the United States in order to earn money to come here. Her classmates were 6 years old!

Sophie in her Thai dance costume.

Doing the dance. Her partner Stephen has had a crush on Sophie since kindergarten. I caught him at a bad moment...he really is a cute kid.

Mischief

When we took the cabinet doors off to paint them, Jacob discovered the baking soda and that it was good for making tracks (both boys love to make tracks in the mud, in the carpet, in playdough...)

The other day I couldn't find Jacob. I finally found him shut in the cupboard (the door was open a crack,) making tracks again. Thankfully baking soda is cheap.

The Dress

A couple of Saturdays ago Sophie and I went out for a mommy daughter date. We went shopping (classic huh?) Really we just went to get yarn, but we stopped into a few other stores.

One of them was having a great sale. We found this dress and just for fun Sophie tried it on. But she LOVED it. She WANTED it. It cost $18 which is a great deal for what it cost originally, but I think it was way over priced to begin with...so for a long time I debated whether it was worth the $18. I tried to call Aaron, but he was outside.

Finally Sophie started twirling around in the dressing room and I was sold. The added bonus...there was an additional 25% off at the register so it came to $13 (close enough...) We saved 77% off the original cost. So here is the fashion show, and a video of Sophie twirling.

Failure

This morning I made bread, and I have never failed so miserably. Here's how it went...

The recipe called for two cups of water. I have made this recipe so many times I have it memorized and don't even have to pull out the recipe card. But today for some reason I only added one cup of water.

So as it was kneading under the bread hook it turned in to a solid rocky mass. It was at this point I realized the error of my ways.

So I figured I could add the missing cup of water and just turn the mixer on the stir setting and slowly mix in the water.

This resulted in a volcanic eruption of yeasty water that coated the walls, cabinets, my face, my shirt and probably several other locations that I have yet to find.

Still determined to succeed, I covered the top of the bowl with a towel and started again...good idea right?

Well the water still was not absorbing into the dough so I turned the speed up on the mixer and thought I was having success until the towel got caught on the top of the dough hook and got wrapped around several times before I could turn the machine off.

Then I sunk my arm about half way up to my elbow into the dough and began hand mixing. Though EXTREMELY messy it was successful enough that I was able to turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead it almost to a normal texture.

Maybe, MAYBE it will turn into a halfway decent batch of bread. And maybe while I wait, I'll find my brain. I seem to have misplaced it. I am pretty sure I left in the other day light savings time....

ABC Challenge

Aaron's sister Abby gave us a challenge to photograph the alphabet in our home. It was a lot harder than I thought. Here goes...

Apples...there are never enough

Butter, I have tried not to be a snob and use margarine, but butter is the only one for me!

Crayons... every child deserves to have a box of 64 crayons

Dinosaur- Bad rotation sorry! This is a really cool 3-D dinosaur book someone gave us

Eggs from our lovely chickens

Fire- This woodstove has made the living room soooo comfortable and saved us money too!

Gnomes- A childhood memory

Horse- Sophie's gigantic horse from Grandma and Grampa Kinney

Ice Cream- If I had to give up all other desserts, this would be the one I keep. Not this particular flavor though

Jar- We do a lot of canning so these come in pretty handy

Kids! Pheobe, Jacob, Ben, and Verna (Sophie is at school)

Lanolin for my poor dry skin

Mouse- As if we didn't have enough wild mice...

Nuts- Crazy people like us make the world go round!

Olive Oil-Pure, healthy...cures all kinds of problems (according to the Spanish)

Piano- A source of joy for me and all children who enter here

Quilt- It isn't done yet, but I am really loving quilting and learning a lot!

Refrigerator- My new refrigerator...need I say more?

Stove...ditto above

Tea Cup- This one is my favorite though it is a mug rather than a cup, but I do drink tea out of it (herbal of course!)

Ulu Knife-AWESOME knife for dicing onions, smashing garlic...and scraping the fat from a seal's pelt if you use it the way it was intended.

Vase- I can't wait for my garden to start supplying me with beautiful bouquets.

World Wide Web- Where would I be without it?

Xerophyte- A plant adapted to dry conditions. A christmas cactus qualitifes right?

Yeast-I go through a lot of this with all the bread I make!

Zamia-Latin for pine nut. I like 'em, no one else does...yet...

A Jacob Post

I noticed Jacob had been quiet for awhile (this is either really bad news, or he is reading books.) Ben alerted me as to his whereabouts. He was in the bathroom, dumped out the cotton balls and used the bag as a hat, and was LIBERALLY applying lotion.


Jacob has finally really gotten into drawing. The other night while we were busy he was very thoughtfully drawing out all these squiggles. Every once in awhile he would stop and think with his hand resting on the side of his head, hence the grey marker on the side of his face. I asked him what he was drawing and he answered, "B, C, D...it's my name." I tried to prompt him to do it on the video, but you know how kids are they never do it for the camera. After awhile we had moderate success, but it was way cuter the first time.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

The first three people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Who's in?