My Little Supermodel

So my DH took my DS in to get his 2yr pix taken. While waiting to see the proofs, my DH was just about to call me to tell me that we had NOTHING to worry about in regard to our kiddos ever being models 'cause apparently DS was quite a pa-toot during the shooting and just NOT working with the photographer... he had his own ideas about where and how he was going to stand. ANYWAY, as my DH is getting ready to make the call, the photographer comes out requesting that he sign a model release. HA HA!! "You've GOT to be kidding." was pretty much the response. Turns out that the photographer caught a pix of my little man in one of his finer "totally him" moments and liked it so much that the studio had already blown it up and had it in a big frame ready to hang in the front of the studio. I had to go by after work just to see for myself and, sure enough, there was my little supermodel in the front of the studio for all to see...and giggle over his "pose". Anyway, it was super stardom status to us and gives us a chuckle every time we see the pix, in our house or at the photo place.

More Birthday Cakes

I've had a few people ask that I post pix of some of the other cakes I've done. Well, there are only two that I've done that were pre-blog, but here there are anyway for you to see. The Monkey cake was for DD's 2nd bday and the clown cake was for my DS's 1st bday.

Monkey was yellow cake baked in a glass mixing bowl (to give the domed shaped). Its ears were created using a cupcake cut in half that were then tooth-picked

to the base (cause I couldn't get them to stick with icing like Martha did) and then all was iced.
Clown cake was created by using a round chocolate cake layers covered in chocolate icing with the clown and such iced on top.

3 Year Old + Scissors = OH NO!!!!

It started out as such a BEAUTIFUL day. Despite being January, we were playing outside in the mid-70 degree weather. The kiddos were helping me to plant some flower seeds and we were playing on the swing set... life was beautiful. Then my 3 year old daughter (see bday pix in previous post) needed to go to the bathroom. Yippee!!! (Yes, we finally have this potty training thing done with her.) Upon returning outside to play I notice that her hair is all wet. When I ask her why she was wet she told me that she'd washed her hands (meaning also she obviously did her face and some of her hair as well). (I'm picturing liquid soap everywhere.) Her hair looks a little funny, like more than just "wet" and when I ask her if she used anything other than soap she informed me that she washed with "sticky soap" (aka hair gel). Great. I'm fearful for what liquid soap and hair gel mess will face me when I enter the bathroom. I was NOT prepared for what I encountered. As I open the door to the bathroom what I saw brought me to immediate tears (after the screams of horror and disbelief first....think old horror movie screams and frightened looks....that was me). PILES and PILES of gorgeous long blonde locks of hair were EVERYWHERE!

I ran back outside and hollered for my DD to come over to me so I could see WHAT ON EARTH she did. Keep in mind that her hair is plastered with soap and gel so despite the initial shocks I received upon checking out her new "haircut", we were in for FAR more shocking results once we washed the goop out of her hair and saw what was the real end result of her haircutting session.

My DH chopped off the beautiful long locks of hair to, as best he could without giving her a buzz cut, "blend" what was left of her hair with her new self created "rocker chick" do. He did an amazing job...for what he had to work with. I'm still heart broken over it, but as everyone keeps telling me.... it will grow back. I just have to keep repeating that to myself, "It will grow back. It will grow back..." Currently, her bangs (which she didn't have before) are ALMOST 1/4" long. The sides of her hair are about cheek level in front and she has SEVERAL 1-2" wide chunks all across her crown that are, at best, about 1/2" long and, unless we gel them down and do a Donald Trump comb-over, stick straight up in the air.

When we asked her WHAT she did and WHY she did it, my DD merely responded (while primping her sticking up in the air and have no hair in some places now 'do), "I made it SOOO pretty!" Lucky for her she is cute....

In Honor of the Smurfs... Adventures in Dyeing & Felting

Remember the "Smurfs"? Well, for a few hours recently, I was Smurfette when I forgot to wear gloves to dye some yarn. Fortunately, the blue has washed/faded away and I'm back to normal.

The Magic Yarn Ball Swap on Ravelry seemed like a good excuse to try some new knitting adventures, namely dying and felting yarn. As one of my "goodies" to be hidden the "magic yarn ball" I decided to make a felted needle case and figured out a way to do so entirely from my stash. I'd inherited some fisherman's wool that I dyed with Kool-aid (2 Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonades). Unfortunately, my pix of the dyed yarn didn't turn out as vivid as the aqua yarn (which, luckily for me, was the color I was going for). Once my hand-dyed yarn was knit, it was time to try my luck at felting....that was kind-of fun. I should have felted the item a little more as once I was done with the case, I could still see some of the stitches, but... I'm pleased for my first attempt. Some ribbon to close the case and my swap partner's initial and we were done!
Wrapped this, along with a bunch of other goodies, in the yummy Ranco yarn I got for her and off it shipped!

Magic Yarn Ball Swap

I mailed my Magic Yarn Ball (MYB) to my wonderful swap partner from Ravelry AND I also received my MYB from her! This particular swap has been lots of fun even though it was a secret swap. The hardest thing about it was winding that gorgeous ball of yarn around 25 "trinkets" that were included. Some of my swap partner's favorite things were strawberries, angels, and her favorite colors were pink and purple.... So what did I send? Well, the first photo is what the finished MYB looked like before it was put into the shipping box.

Unwinding the scrumptious ball of yarn revealed chocolates, a mini calendar, a magnet, note cards, candy, home made stitch markers, a necklace, home made bar of soap with flowers and herbs from my garden, an angel knick-knack, multiple patterns for the yarn ('cause I couldn't decide on just one), and a DPN needle case (and my first dying AND felted project)!

As though that yarn and goodie porn wasn't enough... there's MORE. Following are a couple of pictures of what I received! First is of the ball before unwinding and the next is of some of the goodies that were hidden inside. The yarn is hand-dyed wool in YUMMY mocha/chocolate colors. I can’t wait to cast-on!


Some of the included goodies were: candy (yum!) 3 sets of buttons, lace ribbon, animal print ribbon (I’m gonna have to make something for my DS to use this cute ribbon), stitch markers, a row counter, cute coat hangers, absolutely precious pin cushion, pad of paper (perfect for my desk at work!), some iron on appliques and other goodies… oh.. yes, the goats milk almond soap too… I LOVE that stuff!

A "Hoppy" Birthday

I still can't believe it. My baby is now 2 years old! We hopped into the new year with a birthday party celebrating my son's 2nd bday. We did a frog theme this year (since we did an animal theme for his sister's 2nd bday as well... she was monkeys) complete with a fly on the frog's tongue...we didn't want anyone going hungry... HA! I was tempted to make a red velvet cake for the base but decided that might be a little gross for everyone so chocolate it was. Fearing that the cake alone might not be enough, I made "lily pad" cupcakes to go along with the frog. Yummy ice cream, blue "pond water" punch, and family and friends completed the perfect day.

Just in the Nick of Time

Finished, just in time for Christmas, the baby "Converse" booties and balaclava mentioned in the previous post! Both projects were full of "firsts" for me on the knitting front but I'm beyond tickled at how they turned out.

We had an excellent visit with my folks. My brother and sister-in-law were there through Christmas as well so we had MUCH fun playing family games, visiting and, of course, eating way too much of Mom's good cookin'. As an extra Christmas present, we got to leave the kiddos with Nanny & Granddad for a few extra days! 2008 is now here and we are neck deep in a ton of new projects to get the new year started including doing a mini makeover on the second bath that wasn't functional and was a nasty black hole and also refinishing a dresser.

Sewing projects and more knitting are soon to begin as well...just after this weekend which is DS's 2nd bday/party.

Happy New Year!