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Road trip, new cousin and Team USA

Posted on March 1, 2010 10:46 am by TheAngelForever

Early Saturday morning, we left the house. At the time, it was snowing and we had a 4-5 hour drive ahead of us. I was doing the driving and the snow definitely made me nervous. By 7, we were on the road. Once we got out of the general area, the snow cleared up. Kick-up spray from other cars were the main concern. We stopped once and continued along on our way. My parents were about an hour and a half in front of us. We kept getting calls to update on road conditions. The last 30-40 minutes was a bit hairy. We saw several cars and a double truck off the road.

By noon, we finally made it to Uncle I and Aunt M’s house. Why were we heading there? It was time to meet Baby Cousin BA and play with new big sister SG. Here is a photo of the little guy all wrapped up and sleeping in the blanket that I knitted for him.

Now a close up of his teeny tiny handsome face:

NHL had a blast playing with cousin SG. They ran around, used PlayDoh, colored and danced. JSL was not feeling so great, but played from time to time. Let’s just leave it at MiraLAX was purchased to help what is bothering him . . . *sigh*

Sunday morning, we packed back up before leaving to go to Baby BA’s bris and party afterward. Lots of photos of family coming from this later. TechyDad has those, so I am stuck sharing what I took with my cell phone quickly. At about 1:30, we figured it was time to leave the party. We had a 4-5 hour trip back home. Of course, on the way we stopped at Wegmans since we do not have them near up. It was fun to see how into the Team USA baked goods they were. Guess they were really cheering on Ryan Miller!

JSL fell asleep before we got to Wegmans and managed to stay asleep for another two hours once we got into the car. He was a very tired little guy.

Meanwhile, NHL amused himself in the backseat. He had fun playing games on his LeapFrog Didj since it was behaving. Note the level of concentration on his face = tongue sticking out.

Thanks to my father, at about 3:30 we found the Team USA vs Canada hockey game on a radio station. Talk about an edge of your seat kind of game. As we were looking at scenes like this:

TechyDad and I listened to the game and save after save that Miller made. We all know that Team Canada won the gold, but kuddos to Team USA for the nailbiting third period goal to tie up the game with 24 seconds left. They deserved better than Silver, but played their hearts out and deserve a lot of respect.

We arrived home at about 7:15 and got the boys into bed. After all of the traveling, everyone in the house went to bed very early. Today my mission is to make NHL a "Thing 1" from Dr. Seuss shirt to wear to school tomorrow. They are celebrating Dr. Seuss and also going on a field trip. Thanks to this, NHL’s costume will be minimalized – no red pants or blue hair. Promise to share later. Now off to be creative.

Categories:
cousins family fun jsl knitting nhl photos road trip school winter

Knitting while I read

Posted on January 29, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Call it the teacher in me, but I really like to read. In recent years, I have fallen behind on reading books that are for me. When I was teaching, it was materials for the classroom. I read a lot of chapter books to keep up with Children’s Literature. Then, it was reading to my boys. I could tell you all about the latest adventure of Jack and Annie in the Magic Treehouse books, but I could not keep up with books on the NY Times Best Sellers list.

I would sit and read my friend Nancy’s blog about all of the books that has read and wish I had read more of them. Yes, I could have read if I really wanted to. After all, I read all of the Harry Potter books, Twilight Series and others since I had my boys. The dilemma that I had over the last two and a half years since having JSL is I found another past time that I love. That passion is for knitting. Hearing the clicking and clacking of my needles as I work on a project is therapeutic. I love making things for my family, friends and others.

A solution was to find books on CD and listen to them while knitting. I even used an audio book in my classroom once and the kids loved this different strategy to literature (great for listening comprehension skills). I tried listening to books on CD, but did not like them while knitting. Hauling my computer was a pain and I still heard everything else in the background.

The other day it dawned on me. There are MP3’s of books that I can get from our library. Duh, I have an MP3 player and can put them onto it. Sunday, I put The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs onto my MP3 player. I sat there and heard chapter after chapter as I knitted away on my soon to be born nephew’s blanket. As I type this, I only have a few chapters left to listen to and the blanket is onto the third skein. I already have my next MP3 book waiting to "read" while I multitask.

Since I am so behind on must-read books for adults, my question for this week is:

What book(s) do you recommend for me to try to get on MP3 to "read" while knitting? Thanks in advance for any suggestions, I really appreciate it.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #84

Categories:
Aloha Friday books decisions knitting me moments

Meet Piggy Oink-Oink

Posted on January 5, 2010 9:43 pm by TheAngelForever

I would like you to meet Piggy. Or, as JSL calls her "Piggy Oink-Oink" using snorting noises on the hyphenated part of her name. This is Piggy taking a moment to text message her friends on Twitter.

Way back in October/November, when we were bribing NHL to go to swim lessons, he asked for the Mouse from Kohls Cares for Kids. The deal was to go in the pool with no issues two weeks in a row and we would buy him the Mouse.

Of course, when you buy NHL a Mouse, chances are JSL will want something too.

Rather than pick the Moose, JSL quickly demanded the Pig. I figured that Piggy would become like every other stuffed friend in our house – a dust magnet. Seriously, neither of the boys had ever snuggled a stuffed animal. We would buy them for special events, like at Disney World, but they would rest on their beds with perfect fur.

There must have been something different with Piggy. Since she came into the family, Piggy has been all over. As we noticed how attached JSL was with Piggy, we realized we should probably buy a Piggy Part Deux, just in case something should happen to the original Piggy Oink-Oink. The day before Thanksgiving JSL and I went to Kohls and picked up a back up Piggy.

Piggy goes near and far, to the couch and in the car. He is often on the floor and is a favorite pillow or wrestling buddy. After a month or so, we noticed how loved Piggy has become, she is the first stuffed friend that has matted fur in our house. JSL loves her so much that he even allowed Piggy to try on his new scarf that I made for him. Here is Piggy modeling the scarf.

His love for Piggy makes me wonder. Perhaps there is more to this love for Piggy Oink-Oink. This may be my little guy following in my footsteps. After all, I had several Miss Piggy (a la Muppets fame) dolls that went all over with me and collected pigs growing up. Must locate photos of myself with Miss Piggy from years ago at Nana & Papa’s house to compare to photos of JSL.

Categories:
animals Disney interesting jsl knitting looking back nhl photos play time shopping sleep

Think Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Posted on October 5, 2009 9:53 pm by TheAngelForever

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The sad truth is that most of us probably know someone that has breast cancer. Last June, someone I knew was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went for her yearly mammogram and something did not look right. Her doctors called her back in for a biopsy. The result was surgery and yet another at the end of June. During this time, I knitted this cloth for the new breast cancer warrior.

When we parted ways, I gave her a big hug and wished her luck on her surgery. Fast forward to September when I saw her again at school. She looked amazing, strong and was proudly sporting her pink bracelet.

Last October, I wrote about a hero of mine. My Aunt S is now a six year breast cancer survivor. I know this because she was diagnosed just before I gave birth to NHL. Thank goodness Aunt S caught her cancer early, fought it aggressively and is with us today adding lots of precious memories with our family. She is a huge part of our family and see her often since we live close. The boys are especially love to see and play Aunt S. Aunt S is special because she will toss on snow pants to play and make snow angels, build sandcastles at the lake, and take time to talk. This summer, they spent some time at the lake with Aunt S and the rest of our family. Each of the boys loved their time sitting with Aunt S on the boat with the wind in their hair. Here is Aunt S with each of my boys.

Please remember not only this October, but every month to check your breasts. Don’t put off having your yearly mammogram and be sure to have a baseline done when your doctor recommends it if you have never had one before. Early detection is crucial so be sure to…

Categories:
family health awareness knitting looking back photos

New circular adventure

Posted on August 24, 2009 2:36 pm by TheAngelForever

Are you able to identify what the photo below this is?

Any ideas? Really, I would love to know if you can guess. Here is another view:

Obviously, they are knitted washcloths that I have made. If you go deeper, they show my fear to try new and exciting knitting projects. Basically, I like mindless knitting to relieve stress and I have latched onto this DW Cloth pattern. The photos are the 40 that are currently made and in storage. This 40 does not includes dozens that I have given away throughout the year. In June, I made teacher gift bags and included 2 for each of NHL’s teachers (2), aids (2), and therapists (2).

I have been itching to try making a log cabin blanket, but can not wrap my brain around the pattern on my own. I can start it, but do not really understand how to add on the next rectangle. Last night, I decided enough was enough and I am breaking out of my shell. I asked people for suggestions on some patterns for a project and received a few great ones. This morning I finally settled on one, dug out my never used circular knitting needles (oy!), and some Caron Simply Soft Sage Green yarn and started on something new and exciting.

So, while the boys were playing earlier I got everything ready. I cast on 168 stitches (yikes) and started to knit. Here is what I have done so far:

Knitting on circular needles was not bad at all. Still getting used to them, but it is working out nicely. The photo does not do the Sage Green yarn justice (really not mint colored). So there you have it, I am trying something new and feel great about it.

Have you tried anything outside of your comfort zone recently? I would love to know if you have. Oh, if you knit please share any EASY patterns that you love to make. I have never made a hat, mittens and not really into socks, but you never know what I may try.