Handmade 2009

Happy New Year!

Here are just a few projects from 2009. I can wait to see what is in store for 2010.

RSI

I got some very beautiful yarn for Christmas and some wonderful patterns from this Etsy shop, however I have to take a break from knitting. I think I over did it a little by making 2 scarves, a sweater for Ava and starting one for myself just a few weeks before Christmas. After 2 days of knitting in the car to and from the Polar Express in Williams I got a pain in my shoulder. I'm pretty sure it is a repetitive strain injury. Bummer! All this time and yarn and no knitting.

Pears or A Pair?

Erin, my four year old, is VERY into multiple meaning words. She brings them to my attention all the time. "Mom, there is a fly like a bug and flying a kite". Even odd ones like "Phillip the name, and fill up a gas tank". I had to think for a second about that one.

I decided to take a few snap shots of things around the house to see if she could find the word with two meanings in the picture. This activity is great for my language impaired students at school too. Here are just a few of the pictures but it was so much fun I'm sure there will be more posts to follow.

Easy.

A little harder.

Can you find more than one in this picture?

Mountains

Although my girls are still too young to go out and hit the trails on a bike like their dad I know he has a profound influence on them. This was evident when Ava choose not to make the holiday gingerbread man or Christmas tree with her cinnamon scented craft dough at school. Instead she came home with... a mountain. Correction, a mountain range.

I'm not quite sure how to hang it on the tree but I love it.

Christmas 2009

It was a very princessy-dinosaurus Christmas. The girls were happy that Santa brought Littlest Pet Shop toys and Disney princess dolls. There were also lots of craft projects, books and games opened.

My parents, Jeff's parents, my cousin Ty and Dick Williams from upstairs joined us for presents and brunch. I made casseroles, potatoes and monkey bread. Yum.

In the afternoon Ava played video games and Erin watched the Wizard of Oz. Then we put on our home videos of Birthdays and Christmases past. Seeing the girls as babies just blows me away. They have changed so much in just the past few years. I would love to keep them this age forever.

After a delicious dinner of rich cream cheese enchiladas we pulled a TV out by the tree and lit a fire. The four of us curled up and watched Night at the Museum 2. It could not have been any more perfect.

Small Moments

After cleaning her room Ava declared "Mom can we play Uno now? No wait I think I'll make a landscape of the Cretaceous Period."

Sweet Rewards

Cookies and juice were the sweet rewards for successfully completing her first dance recital.

Stocking Markers

A friend of mine from work asked me back in September if I could personalize the stockings she bought for her family. I have had them sitting on my shelf for months and I just now finished the project. Each stocking was different and fully decorated, plus hand embroidering each one would take more time than I have right now, so I came up with my own plan. Stocking markers.

These are made from wool felt stamped with fabric paint. I cut and stitched the names on stars and added a back and loop at the top for hanging.

They were a little different than my friend requested but she can use them for the stockings or hang them on the tree instead. They came out so cute I may have to make a set for us too.

Enjoying the Season

Last Sunday I tried to spend as much time as possible on the couch. I'm not sick but just felt like I deserved a little down time to enjoy the holidays before they are over. While my washing machine, dryer, dish washer and even bread maker were busy doing chores I curled up with Little Women on my MP3 player and knitting projects.

Coffee. Check.
Good smells from the kitchen. Check.

Loyal companion. Check.

Visitors. Check.

Hand delivered love notes. Icing on the cake.

The Polar Express

This weekend the girls got to take the Polar Express train to the North Poll. We enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies, listening to the story Polar Express, the lights of the North Poll and singing Christmas carols.

The highlight was meeting Santa and receiving a silver bell. It was a wonderful trip and a great start to the holiday season.

Sister Sweaters

sister sweater
Originally uploaded by MyKangaroo

Here is one of two sweaters I have made the girls for Christmas. I modified the pattern by adding long sleeves. I'm not sure how surprised they'll be since they saw me knitting these. They never asked what I was knitting they only commented that they liked the yarn. More detail can be found at Ravelry.

An Early Christmas Gift

I got a little present this morning from Jessica. She must have known I was searching for a simple way to jazz up my photos because she wrote about how she edits pictures for her blog Turkey Cookies today. What was this gift? Picnik.



I've seen it before, maybe even had an account there once, but I never did anything with it.

I can tell I'm going to have fun with this. Thanks Jessica! And you didn't even waste any paper wrapping it, how eco friendly of you.