Beautiful snow...

I couldn't resist going out to take a few pics of the new snow we got over night. There was 4" outside just waiting for Glenn and I to clear off of the driveway and sidewalk. Afterwards I couldn't help but stand out in what was still falling and listen to it hit the mounds that were covering everything. Gorgeous and peaceful. Nothing like going out at 6am and experiencing the newly fallen snow.

The next creation...

After much rooting around amongst the masses of yarn and patterns, I decided on the Pimlico Shrug. I've had this sitting in the "que" on Ravelry but have been moving other things in front of it for a few months. So after sitting on the floor for quite some time, with all the yarny piles around me, I finally said enough already. No more monkeying around. Just grab the yarn and needles and plow right into it.

I must admit that after seeing all the projects on Ravelry and reading how many knitters had problems figuring out the pattern, I was nervous. Would I be able to figure it out? The first three rows, simple. Purl, knit purl. On to row 4. No problem, I thought. Until I got started on row 5 and when placing the yo's, things just didn't look right. This project was going to kick my tail, I thought. There were alot of "CRUMBS" and "For the Love of Pete" being said for a while. So after a few stitches on the 5th row I decided to rip things back to the beginning of the 4th row, one stitch at a time. I wasn't going to drop a stitch and totally monkey up the whole beginning of the project. So I sat and read the pattern again, trying to picture the stitches in my head as I was looking at the picture in the book. Then the light went on and all things were good. There are times when you must step back, take a breath and begin again. After the second try I was the one who came out kicking tail. A silly little pattern was not going to get the best of me.

So here is what I have accomplished so far after completing on full repeat (16rows) and started on the next one. Not bad I must admit. Only time will tell with how the whole thing turns out. I'll keep you posted on if there is any more tail kicking going on.

As for the rest of the weekend, it was GRAND! Quiet, peaceful, relaxing. Some would think boring. But it was right up our alley. There were some hairy, scary moments though with two little girls trying out their new roller skates they got from Santa. After a few times of feet flying into the air while on the wood floor (while Glenn and I were holding them up), they were banished to the family room on the carpet. At least the carpet slows them down and it's a bit more cushy. There were a few times where they escaped to the wood floor to exclaim "I'm getting really good" then only to be followed by a thump on the floor. Then you would see two wee people crawling across the floor heading downstairs for the family room. Glenn and I were giggling quietly amongst ourselves. Everyone had a great time with all their gifts from Santa. Glenn couldn't get enough of his PS3. The hockey game was a blast! Very detailed! I haven't seen any blood on the ice yet though. Just not a good ole' hockey game without it you know. The girls of course have their skates on the whole time they are awake. And I sat and enjoyed my new knitting books, Itty Bitty Nursery and Itty Bitty Toys. I just love Susan's patterns! They are packed full of fun and color. These two go great with her book Itty Bitty Hats. They are the other reason I picked the shrug to knit. Because once I start digging into these books, I don't think I'll quit for a while! :)

Especially since I just found out that I'm going to be an Auntie again in August!!! My little brother and his wife are expecting!! I'm so thrilled! So you know the drill... I must do my part on keeping all these wee one's looking good with lots of cute things to wear.

On that note, I must go make some progress on the shrug while things are quiet for the moment. Hope everyone is having a FAB day!

On to the next project...

I happened to finish the cowl yesterday afternoon. I was quite pleased with the turn out. The pattern is so easy. I think I'm going to have to find another great color to make another one with. I'm glad I chose a yarn that was a little thicker than what was recommended. It's very soft and snuggly.

Now the question is...

What to do next? I guess that means I will be rooting around amongst all the yarn and patterns figuring that out today.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Things are going pretty well around here today, even with two little girls who are eagerly awaiting this evening when Daddy gets home. They are helping with getting things done around the house and making sure things are just right for tonight and tomorrow. We will be waiting for Daddy to get home from work, which will be late. He always volunteers to make sure every package is out of the post office and delivered, just in case they are some one's Christmas present. So it is worth the wait.

Our tradition around here is to open family gifts on Christmas Eve while snacking on all kinds of goodies (little piggies, bbq meatballs, dips, chips, punch, etc.) and enjoying each others company. Then tomorrow morning we wake up VERY early to see what Santa was kind enough to leave us. I usually go take a wee little nap after checking out the gifts, before getting things ready for Christmas breakfast and dinner.

It's going to be a wonderful few days to come. Can't wait for it all to officially start tonight.

I had to show what I got in the mail yesterday!

I received the loveliest silver ornament in the mail yesterday from Regina who lives in Germany. What a sweet person she is. The little heart looks perfect on my tree. Thank you again Regina! I love it!

The girls have made sure that everything is ready for the big night tonight in particular. They even think of Santa's reindeer. You know they get hungry while on that hurried, long trip they make. So there has to be a little snack for them while Santa is inside making things just right.

So with that we wish everyone a

Very Merry Christmas!

Enjoy all your wonderful traditions with your family and friends as you celebrate the next few days. See you back in a few!

A quiet day...

Today has been a very quiet day around here. Nothing to panic about since all the shopping and baking is finished. What a wonderful day it has been. The only things that have been happening is reading Christmas stories, putting cookies plates together for our neighbors and knitting. Exciting, huh.

As I was sitting in the living room enjoying some yarn time, I noticed how the sun was streaming into the room onto the tree. The whole tree lit up with all the brilliant sunlight beaming on to it. The ornaments looked so pretty. And the tinsel sparkled like diamonds as the slightest bit of air moved them around. Then I quickly jumped up to show pictures of the ornaments we bought this year. Every year (except for last year) we go pick out new "Old World Christmas" ornaments to add to the tree. This years collection clearly had a "woodsie" theme going on. That's clearly right up our alley. I'm the only one who strayed from the theme.

The beautiful Santa that I picked out

a wonderful moose for Brenna

Em's lovely purple glittery bird

Brenna's little hedgehog

a glittery purple present for Em

(maybe she strayed also)

a beautiful timber wolf for Glenn

and last, a handsome glittery frog for Brendon

Wonderful choices for the tree. I wonder how long it will take to fill the tree up with our lovely collections?

Then there was alot of reading going on while letting the hours pass by. Every year there seems to be another addition to our Christmas library so it takes a little longer to get through them all. But who cares as long as there is quality cuddly, snuggly time going on. Below are a few of the favorites of the girls. The illustrations are wonderful as they pull you into the stories. All the wonderful colors, characters, etc. Very magical stories. Our favorite this year is "The Snowman". Remember there are no words in this story, so one must use their imagination through out the book. Love it! Brenna will just sit and look through the pages for hours if you let her. I found the dvd movie that was made about this book and it is just as wonderful! The artwork and music that was put into it is truly magical. The movie has become our favorite this year also. So if you have wee ones running around the house I do suggest that you get this for them. FABULOUS!!!

With that, I must go. Hungry people staring at me you know. And then after warm and cuddly pj's are on, there will be a few more Christmas shows to watch. Maybe "The Snowman" again. Nothing better I tell you. I love it when things are relaxed and you just go with the flow. I'm sure hoping there will be many more Christmas's like this one.

Time to take a breath!

This is the scene we woke up to this morning. Too bad there wasn't more. The girls and I decided to enjoy watching it fall while snuggling in a warm bed. So we throw open the curtains and blinds and just watched in quiet for quite some time. We are hoping that there will be some left to look at for Christmas with the temps getting a wee bit over freezing here this afternoon. We are keeping our fingers crossed. It was very peaceful just watching out the window seeing all the little flakes dance through the air as they were making their way down to where they would land. Brenna wondered what it would feel like floating down like that. Peaceful is what she came up with.

Of course we couldn't stay in bed all day. Way too many things to get done. Baking, cleaning, etc. So off we went to start the day.

Brendon's hat was finished. I went with the eyes from the 80's version of the ninja turtles. The recent ones are to mean looking. Quite please with how it all turned out. No pattern here, all from my own little head.

Now I'm working on a cowl that won't mess your hair up when you want a little more protection than just for your neck. You can find the link here for free. Very easy to do and quick! I'm nearly done with it. I might have to make a few of them in different colors.

The cookie baking is finally done. The plans were to have that all done this past weekend, but no. So with Glenn back to work, the girls and I got to work so that cookies would not be haunting us in our dreams. Trust me when I say that some of the Brenna's decorated ones would be a diabetics worst nightmare. Sugar sprinkles heaped up everywhere! At least the girls had fun. The idea was to have the girls decorate the cookies on a big plate with edges so sprinkles wouldn't be all over the floor. That worked some what. I'm just glad that the plates were there to catch what they did. :)

And the final cookies were the raspberry stars. My favorite! Not sure how long these will be around.

Now remember I totally lost my mind and agreed to 8 different kinds of cookies this year (one is more like a candy). Yes, something was definitely wrong with me. But in the end it all worked out well. There are cookie tins sitting around everywhere filled with yummy treats. Here is the list the girls came up with:

Chocolate Chips

Peanut Butter

Chocolate Chocolate Chip

Pecan Sandies

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip

Decorated Sugar Cookies

Raspberry Stars

Christmas Strawberries

So now I can take a break and sit back and relax. All the shopping is done for presents and food. Thank goodness. While Glenn was home this Sunday he kept coming up with more ideas for presents and it was making my head spin. I just told him "you want, you go get it". I wasn't going out to the stores anymore. He never left the house. So his shopping must be done also. Too crazy out at the stores. All that is left to do is fill a few cookie tins for some friends and take them over to their houses.

So now I will go figure out what is for dinner and then kick back with my knitting while some Christmas movies are being watched by the girls. It's wonderful when you can feel everything settling down before Christmas gets here. Love that. I can honestly say that it's been a very pleasant time around this house with taking things as they come and not wigging out about every little detail. And I'm sure Glenn and the girls have loved it also. :)

Friday!! Already?

Where has the week gone? We've been having way too much fun around here I tell you.

Reading Christmas stories, crafting, baking, watching Christmas movies, etc. You get the idea.

I finished Glenn's hat and had a wonderful little model show it off for pics. It's so darn cute! I found a pattern on Ravelry and ended up changing it a bit for my liking. I made felt eyes instead of sewing buttons on. Much better, if I may say so myself. Glenn took it to work today to wear. We'll see what kind of comments he gets. He said that people will probably think he's a fruitcake. I don't think so. Wouldn't you smile if you saw someone wearing this, walking towards you? You know you would! The ears kill me because they shake a bit when you walk. Awesome!!!

I got Brendon's hat done. Now there's only the little headband to make to go with it. What will it be? You will just have to check back to see. :)

There's been lots a craftyness going on around here.

Gingerbread houses that can be kept for a long time.

And little gingerbread people requiring no oven time. Love it! The girls are just a bit peeved that there are more girls than boys in the kit. They say that there is a conspiracy against boys and they got jipped. At least they are cute hanging on the tree downstairs.

Must be off now. Lots to do again today. A little bowling to get out and stretch the legs and spend time with friends. And afterwards, back to the kitchen for some more flying flour and sugar. There are still more cookies to make. I still don't know how I got conned into 8 different kinds of cookies this year. There must have been lots of little eyes batting around here when deciding the list. Anyhoo, I'll be back to share in all of that doughy fun.

I hope you are all in the Christmas spirit by now. Have fun!

What a wonderful weekend!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We had a wonderful, slow, enjoyable one with Glenn home on his long weekend. So very nice. Only a couple of trips out to the stores. The rest of the time we were just lounging around and letting the day just happen. Lots of snacky foods, watching the snow fall, taking in our Christmas shows, etc. Very FAB!

Yesterday there was just enough snow to go to the nearby hill to get some sledding in before things melt. We are suppose to be above freezing here for the rest of the week. So the girls were out at the hill for about 2 hours seeing if they could spin around as they were "flying" down the hill. They would take turns on the Super Duper Saucer to see how far they went down the hill before stopping. They kept saying it felt like they were on the saucer from the movie "Christmas Vacation". Trust me I saw no flames coming out the back and nothing was sprayed on the bottom. I love that scene in the movie! Just about hurt myself laughing so hard every time I watch it. What a CLASSIC!!!!

So after two hours of fun in the snow, it was back home to dry off, warm up and take a nap. Yes, there were two tired little girls after all that fun. Could barely wake them for dinner. I guess it's a sign that they had a blast.

Today starts our Christmas break. I'm letting the girls handle the schedule as to what is planned for the day. Apparently today there will be some banana chocolate chip muffins being made and a couple of foam gingerbread houses to be created. I think I will sit by and work on Glenn's hat since that wasn't finished over the weekend.

I also wanted to let all the followers know that I have been reading your blogs and have enjoyed them alot for the past few weeks. But when it comes to commenting on them, Blogger has not been so cooperative. Every time I go to comment on all the wonderful vintagey Christmas decor, crooked trees, gifts made, etc., Blogger hangs up and nothing gets posted. Who knows. I get frustrated and walk away. So do know that I am reading about all your wonderful happenings. I'm just not able to comment on them every time. I'm wondering if some of the lag has to do with all the great blog decor that is it out there on some of the blogs. Who knows again.

Anyhoo, we are wishing everyone a great day! Stay comfy and cozy out there!

More lights...

As promised...

I just love this little guy!

All the little animals were drinking from the river that was going through the yard. There was even a seal and a dolphin wearing a Santa hat. So cute!

And who doesn't love this guy!

We found out that the gentleman's grandchildren help him pick out new pieces to add to the display. Nice job!

We are waiting for some more snow this afternoon in hopes of having enough to go sledding. With the snow dances the girls are doing you would think we would have had a blizzard by now.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Christmas spirit...

It's been busy here the last few days. The usual "house" stuff and getting the girls finished with lessons so they can start their Christmas break. We always start a week early but then go back to lessons the week after Christmas. We are able to get alot of baking, crafting, etc. done for Christmas and little ole' Mom here isn't pinging off the walls by the time Christmas Eve gets here. And I know the family LOVES that! Christmas Spirit just has a much better vibe around here because of it.

With all the talk of getting in the spirit of things, we took the girls up the hill for our yearly Christmas light tour (one night out of many). There is a lovely (very pricey) neighborhood that we drive through every year to see all the lights that were put up. You have to drive UP a windy road through the neighborhood and it's fun to see what ideas were come up with for decorating hilly, sloping yards. It's all pretty cool.

But this is our absolute FAVORITE! This gentleman goes all out and has been doing this for nearly 20 years. Each year he adds something new. There are over 500,000 lights throughout and it's amazing! He says his power bill goes from $50 in November to $1500 in December. He saves up for it during the year and has had to have extra circuit boxes added to the house just for the lights. He says he just wants to share Christmas joy with as many people he can because he has been so blessed in life. And Christmas lights have always made him happy this time of year. He is a sweet guy. He lets everyone get out of their cars and walk along his driveway to see everything he has worked on. He starts putting things up in October with a few friends so that he can start the light show Thanksgiving night.

Here are the shots from across the street. I had to take a few pictures to show the entire front view of his yard. Sorry if the pics are a wee bit fuzzy. My hands were freezing being that it was only 1f out.

And of course here is his neighbor's house. I don't blame him one bit being he helps out with the mega display next door. :) You have to laugh.

So to my cousin David in Georgia, who goes all out every year with lights. You don't have anything on this guy, yet. Keep working at it. :)

We still have the Garden AGlow to see at the Botanical Garden for more lights to see. It's our traditional family thing to do now. I'm just glad they have wood barrels to warm yourself by there. I will share more lights from our trip last night, tomorrow. There are lots of "individual" things that must be shared with you. I still have some lights to put outside before the snow comes tonight. Our lights are nothing compared to the above but they are nice to look at though.

On another note, Em's slippers were finished the other day. She loves them. I was informed by both girls that the slippers are the BEST for sliding across the wood floor. Great! Nice to know that I made my children something they can kill themselves with will walking across the room. Gives you a warm feeling throughout.

I must go so that another jam packed day can be shared with Glenn. He is enjoying his long weekend the next few days and the girls are making sure they don't waste a minute of it. He thought he was going to rest! :) Lots to do before the predicted snow comes tonight and tomorrow. Fingers are being crossed for some sledding time around here. Too bad Mom isn't here for it.

Back here tomorrow for more lights!