Knitting Mania

Knitting mania has taken over our house. One member of our family is spending all of their spare time knitting. Who is this knitting fiend, you may wonder? Is it grandma, who comes to visit regularly? Is it me, working hard to create handmade items for Christmas presents? Is it Sarah or Rachel, practicing a newly acquired skill?


No....it is.....






Ben!

Ben is our knitting maniac!




Ben learned to knit at school using an empty toilet paper roll and four popsicle sticks. He initially started knitting with the intention of making Kate a scarf. He has been working on this at school for at least a month.


He brought it home the other day to see if it was long enough to be a scarf. Since it is fairly thin, he planned to wrap or braid it together to make it thicker. We laid it out and decided it was long enough. He could be done.

But...


he didn't want to be.


Here is our conversation:


Me: Great job, Ben. It is long enough. You can take it off and we'll braid it together and Kate can have her scarf.


Ben: But then I won't have a long piece anymore. Mine will be the shortest in the class. Everyone will laugh at me that mine is the shortest.


Me: You can just tell everyone that you are working on your second one.


Ben: No, I don't want mine to be the shortest in the class.

At this point, Kate chimes in: I guess I don't really need a scarf.


Ben: Okay, then I think I will turn this in to a snake. I will add googly eyes and a forked tongue, and then I can make it as long as I want.


Me: Kate, are you sure that you are okay with this? Ben, I don't want you to make Kate sad--you said you were going to make her a scarf.


Kate: It's okay. I don't really need a scarf. She didn't seem sad.

So, you can see it now. This knitting thing has become quite a competition and a status symbol at school. Can you just imagine all these little boys sitting around in their school classroom knitting? It is totally cracking me up. Not to mention David's response to this whole thing...



Ben was thrilled to pose for these pictures and show off the technique. You simply take a toilet paper roll and tape four popsicles sticks around the outside.
Next, you wrap yarn around the inside but overlap the popsicle sticks. You continue looping around and pulling the previous stitch of yarn over the end of the popsicle stick. You end up with a long tube.

Who knows how long Ben's will be?

To add to it all, we got a new issue of Family Fun Magazine yesterday. Can you guess what one of the featured crafts was? You got it, Tin Can Knitting, using the same methodology.

Who knew?

Worth It

Have you ever been so tired that you fall asleep every time you sit down?

I have.

Have you ever had so much to do in one day that you can't possibly get it all done?

I have.

Have you ever totally forgotten to take kids to one of their activities?

I have.

Have you ever had piles of laundry taking over the house?

I have.

Have you ever either needed to exercise and lose weight or go shopping to buy new clothes, but not have time to do either?

I have.

Have you ever had bathrooms that needed cleaning, food that needed fixing, and kids that need help with their homework and piano all at the same time?

I have.

Have you ever felt completely scatterbrained with so much running through your mind, yet not being able to focus on any of it?

I have.

Have you ever wondered what you were thinking when you decided to have another baby?

I have.

Have you ever looked at your sweet baby and decided it was all worth it?

I have.

I love my sweet little baby.

He is worth it.

Build-a-Bear

What Kate wanted most for her birthday was a trip to Build-a-Bear. So on Saturday when she unwrapped her gifts, she found a certificate promising her that she could go pick out her very own stuffed animal. On Tuesday we made the long-awaited trip to the mall.

Because of several previous visits to the store where she was "just looking," Kate knew just which bear she wanted. After choosing the bear, she picked a heart for inside the bear,

and kissed it for luck and love.
She watched while it was stuffed,

then gave it a bath.

Next came the hard part of picking out an outfit. So many choices...

Ta da! All done! A new best friend is born!

A Whole Hand Full of Birthday Fun

Kate turned "a whole hand" today! When asked how old she was, she would just hold up all five fingers and say, "a whole hand." Kate is such a fun, sweet girl! We love having her in our family. Happy 5th Birthday, Kate!

We celebrated with a flower fairy party for Kate and a few friends. The girls painted flower pots, played pin the flower fairy on the flower (artwork beautifully done by Sarah and Rachel), and decorated flower fairy wands. The highlight of the party was dancing with the wands. The girls all came dressed as flower fairies and it was fun to see their cute costumes.

They used the partially empty dining room to dance. (Notice the boxes on the side and pictures propped up against the walls? Lovely, isn't it. Maybe eventually we'll get all moved in.... Although, I must say that the boxes in the dining room are my new chairs that just came this week. The table is on back order, but will be here in a few weeks. I'm very excited!)

Kate wanted flower cupcakes for her party, which was WAY easier than doing a fancy cake. Good choice, Kate!

We also had little flower sandwhiches and apples all served on our very favorite flower plates from IKEA. (We've had those plates for years and have been one of the best purchases I've made--kids always love them!)

The girls were so sweet and anxious to "help" Kate open all her presents. It was such a fun party!We also celebrated with Grandma Hales earlier in the day. Grandma made her this fun apron. We loved having Grandma here for the fun.

Then, because we just hadn't had enough birthday fun for one day, we had our family party in the evening.

What a day!

Halloween Fun

Our Halloween was full of fun parties (I helped at both Rachel and Ben's class parties), the ever changing costumes (Kate was going to be Tinkerbell, but at the last minute decided she wanted to be a lady bug and we had to fashion make-shift antenae), and trick-or-treating down by the harbor. It was a beautiful day, (although not quite as warm as Sarah's bare arms make it look.).

Yay for Halloween!