The Funny Farm

baseball practice

2010-04-20T06:32:00.000-05:00

a picture of babygirl I took while she was running up and down the hill at baseball practice.

Again..wow, long time!

2010-04-19T11:52:00.002-05:00

So much going on. Between baseball right now, just got done wrestling, then was football...football starts again in a couple weeks even though baseball just started. It's fun though. It's what I was put on this Earth to do, drive kids, watch kids, go crazy! haha...I do it well!! ;)

so a few pictures, cause it's also what I do.

This weekend we had some windy windy weather, but an awesome sky. this is in our backyard, it's our little pasture.

Then Josh and Steve were flying a new kite.

and one of all my babies from Easter Day

Wow...has it been that long!?

2009-11-30T09:26:00.002-05:00

Wow, so much going on. time has flown by. Seems like when football season is going on, we all eat, sleep and breath football. And you know what, that's fine by me!! So much fun. Tommy played center and some defense this season. Had a great year! had become more aggressive which is great for a kid his size. He can move some kids! Joe's first year and they had an ubelievable year! UNDEFEATED!!! That's unheard of in our little school! It was just an awesome season for the boys. So now it's over and we are rolling right into wrestling season. Along with finishing our kitchen!! So I'm just goign to post a few recent pictures for now and then hopefully come back and update more.

This was our sad attmept at a Christmas picture. LOL

Josh's new hat...he loves this thing.

Josh again

Lauren on Thanksgiving. We went for a walk and she had to sit and take a break

I have a Photography blog...

2009-07-30T12:08:00.001-05:00

well, more like a Photography wanna be blog. I want a place to post some of my early work. So hopefully I can look back in a year or two (maybe more) and see just how far I've come with taking pictures that "wow"

Beth's Photo Blog

10 months old!

2009-07-15T10:16:00.002-05:00

Technically 10 months 5 days old...taken on July 14, 2009. Lauren Abigail.

7/12/09

2009-07-14T07:01:00.002-05:00

more summer time pictures

2009-07-11T07:04:00.002-05:00

Our summer is flying by. Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to:

my cool kiddos!

2009-07-02T08:54:00.001-05:00

practicing some color popping

2009-05-31T17:37:00.002-05:00

any and all cc on PPing is welcome!

A few more....

2009-05-23T12:43:00.001-05:00

wow...it's been a while!

2009-05-20T07:22:00.003-05:00

May 19, 2009

Goodbye 2008

2009-01-02T08:27:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year everyone!

I have to admit, I was a little sad to see the new year come. I'm kind of sentimental. I thought 'But 2008 was the year my baby girl was born and now it's not 2008 anymore!" I'm not sure what that matters. I mean now I get to share 2009 with her and all my guys. For New years eve we went to Steve's sisters house. But i drove seperate. I got home around 11 with Lauren. When the ball dropped it was just me and her in my dark quiet bedroom. I was nursing her and had turned the t.v. on and had the volume down real low. I wanted to see teh ball drop but didtn' want the noise to disturb her. I saw the new year in feeding lauren. whispered happy new year to her, put her to bed and then fell asleep myself. It was a very sweet night. And then around 1 am the rowdy loud crew came home LOL So much for my sweet, quiet, serene house. haha

I'm sad that the HOlidays are over. I'm sad that my kids are getting bigger and that the Holidays won't always be that magical, look at the lights, look for santa and rudolph kind of time. I guess it's only really that way for Josh. Joe too maybe, but not so much (He's in 2nd grade) Next year Josh will be in school and I won't get to share the holidays with him the way I have been. That just makes me sad. I cant' stand the thought of him going to school. my sweet boy. And it was Lauren's first Christmas and now it's over. Soon we will take down the tree and decorations and my house will look so bare.

So to top it all off, I have a cold and last night i Put all the kids to bed myself. Joe was first. He asked me to read him a bed time story and I Nicely explained to him not tonite, I didn't feel good, I hadn't showered yet and I still had to get the other three to bed. So I didn't read to him. What kind of Mom am I? I said no to reading joey a story! Really, how much longer will he be asking me to read to him? And I said No. I wondered if he felt like I didnt' have time for him. I was up around 11 nursing Lauren when it really hit me that I said no to him. I wanted to finish feeding her and then go wake Joe up just so I could go and read him that bed time story. I felt so bad.

Then Josh was laying in my bed waiting for me to finish with Lauren so I could lay in his bed with him and he fell asleep in my bed, so we just carried him over to his room. But it made me think, you know, it won't be like this forever. I actually do like laying with Josh at night. SOme nights it annoys me because I have laundry and dishes and all kinds of stuff to get done, but soon, he wont' want his Mom laying in his bed and again...Say it with me....it makes me sad. I think I may need medication LOL

So that's my nice cheery new years post. haha does that make you want to jump off a bridge or what!?

Christmas 2008

2008-12-31T10:50:00.003-05:00

Wow, times been flying by. Can't believe that baby girl is 3 1/2 months old! We had a really nice Christmas. The boys woke up before Lauren did and we let them open gifts. Lauren finally woke and the boys helped her open her gifts. We went to visit Steve's parents and all of his family was there. Then the Saturday after, we celebrated with my side at Michele's house.

Here are a few pictures.

6 week apointment

2008-10-29T09:56:00.003-05:00

Lauren and I went in for our 6 week check ups yesterday. She weighed 11 lbs 14 oz and was 23 inches long. She checked out great! She started sleeping through the night about 4 nights ago too! YAY! She still have some really fussy times at night before she goes to bed for the night. But otherwise, she's so sweet! Oh, and she has a fit unless she is being held. She will last on a blanket on the floor, in her swing, or in her bouncy seat for about 3 minutes before she starts having a fit!

So here are a few pictures.

Hanging out with her daddy.

ON my bed all wrapped up after a bath

A couple more pictures

2008-10-15T19:17:00.001-05:00

taken today, October 15, 2008

One Month Old!

2008-10-10T08:10:00.002-05:00

My sweet baby girl is One month old already! Wow, time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday we had her, but then again, It seems like she's always been here. She is such a sweet heart. She sleeps well at night most nights. She usually will sleep a 4 hour stretch and then either a 2 or 3 hour stretch. She is usually up and wide awake first thing in the morning while I"m getting the boys ready for school. She will sit in her bouncy seat and just watch us or doze off. Then around 8 or 8:30 she is ready to eat. She naps on and off all day until evening when she is usually awake for a short stretch of time. She has been getting out and about quite a bit, first the Ovarian cancer walk at only 4 days old, football practice, football games, flag football, church oh and of course, shopping! It is so much fun buying little girls clothes. I swear we are going to go broke.

So here are a few pictures.

First one is actually her 4 week old picture, taken this Tuesday October 7.

Next are October 9, 2008...exactly a month old!

And last, all my kiddos. (Dont' mind the crap in the background. Steve was just taking down the pool for the winter)

Oh, I guess I'll put it here. I am working on a sweater for me. It is going slow only because I don't have a lot of time to work on it. I just finished the back. I love it, but I hope 1) that I finish it to at least get to wear it at the end of this winter and 2) that it fits! I'm known for making sweaters that are way too small. It's called the Central Park Hoodie.

Sweet Baby Girl

2008-10-01T13:34:00.003-05:00

How cute is she!? She was on my bed "watching" Josh color and I walked out to use the bathroom, came back in and she was out like a light.

From Lauren3weeks

(She is one day shy of 3 weeks old in this picture)

Here she is at exactly 3 weeks old, hanging out with her Daddy when he got home from work at her favorite place, infront of the sliding glass door.

From Lauren3weeks

and here is one of Josh the day Lauren fell asleep on my bed watching him color sharks.

From Lauren3weeks

My kids are cute...Oh, did I actually type that out!?!? haha....Yes, I'm a bit partial. but, dang....they are cute!

My Birthday!

2008-09-26T08:12:00.002-05:00

So yesterday was my Birthday. I turned 35! Yikes, I'm old! My guys (oh...and Lauren) made it so special! Steve had picked the boys up from school the day before and took them shopping. So in the morning they had all kinds of gifts for me. They all got to pick out something for me. TOmmy got me a cd and some cute ghost socks, Joe got me some hershey kisses and a I love Mom key chain and a cute monkey pillow that came with a fleece pirate monkey blanket. Josh got me some truffles and a sea shell necklace (Josh always gets me jewelry) Then from Lauren I got a pink shirt and pink nail polish and on a card "Lauren" wrote "If I have to wear pink, you do too" LOL and as a joint gift, they got me a craft organizer so I can either take knitting projects and/or scrapbook stuff with me (It's so cute) and Wii Fit!!! Yay! I have been wanting it! Steve was apparently very lucky to find it. He was told no one has them. It is so cool. I can't wait to get to use it more and more.

So then, I headed to MIchele's and we went shopping. I"ve been wanting a cute new pair of jeans. Then we went to lunch, then to Target. Oh...bought some CUTE baby girls clothes too of course. that could seriously prove dangerous to our bank account. SOOO many cute baby girl clothes!

So after wards, michele gave me a gift. A Turkish spindle which I have been wanting for SO long and I LOVE it! some georgeous merino hand dyed roving and a subscription to Spin Off magazine!

Came home and a friend from church brought us a meal, steve took Tommy to football and me and Lauren, and Josh and Joe stayed home. Candace and Darryl and Alex stopped over Darryl had not seen Lauren yet. Then Steve's parent's stopped wtih CAke and ice cream.

The best gift of all though, was that Lauren slept from 10:30 - 2:30, then from 2:30 until 5:30!! and I slept SOOOOO good! I feel like a new woman today!

A baby girl!

2008-09-16T13:36:00.003-05:00

So it's been a week, guess it's time I update the old blog.

Last Tuesday, September 9, 2008...our family was blessed with another little baby. A pink one this time! Yes, I can cook girls! (I won't say make girls, when I said that once Steve quickly corrected me and told me that the MAN determines the sex) She is just the sweetest little thing. Here is a picture of her from this morning at exactly a week old!

She looks just like Joshua!

Okay, so a quick, non detailed birth story. I had a doc. apointment on Monday, the midwife said I was 3 1/2 cm dialated and 80% effaced. She "swept my cervix" and said I probably wouldn't last more than a day or two. Had a non stress test and then made an apointment for that Friday to try to get something started. (Like break my water or something else on the natural side to get labor started. Since it's a birthing center, they don't induce like with pitocin or anything "medical") I was uncomfortable and crampy all that day and night. I had that "Bulging bag of water" feeling. Weird to explain, I just remember it with the others when they told me I had a "bulging bag of water" So we went to bed. I thought something MAY happen so I had the kids clothes all set out for school the next day, had their back packs ready etc....

I got up a few times to use the bathroom and I thought I was starting to lose my plug at one point, but was real groggy and didn't inspect it for too long. I went back to bed at almost 4:00, layed there facing the clock and at exactly 4 am my water broke. Again....a very weird feeling. I swung my arm behind me to hit Steve and said "STEVE MY WATER JUST BROKE!!!" He flew out of bed. Good thing, or else I"m sure he would have gotten soaked. He was like "What do you need?" I said get me a towel to put between my legs til I can get to the bathroom, so he did that. He was nauseous from jumping out of bed so fast. So I went into the bathroom and got myself situated. Steve called his Mom. I went out to call the birth center, but could'nt get anyone to answer, I was getting nervous no one would meet us at the birthing center! So Steve took the phone and tried while I packed Tommy's lunch. I knew he didn't like any of the menu choices. All the time, I was having a few, very very mild contractions. Nothing hard or intense at all...I mean, i was packing a lunch! How hard could they have been. We left the house around 4:30. I was still okay, few mild contractions. The whole ride to the center though, I was leaking fluid. Around ever bump and curve I felt like it was pouring out of me. About half way to the bithing center, things changed. I could no lnoger just relax and make it thru contractions. I went from the good old "He he he he hoo" to the old paniced "He Hoo He Hoo" really fast. Steve knew things were getting serious. I got to the birthing center. Maribeth (My favorite midwife) was there. She knew I wanted the big tub filled so she said she would start it, but got another phone call before she did. I was standing leaning against the bed trying to get thru a contrax. and I said to Steve "I think I need to push" so MB came in and checked me and sure enough I ws 10 cm and 100% effaced. I started off pushing once on my back, hated that. got on my side, didn't even push once on my side, hated the way that felt. Stood up and pushed once, but I Thought my legs were going to give out. Got up on all 4's. Pushed once, she said she can see about "That much" (She put out her hand and showed me the size of about a quarter) of the head when you push. I didn't think I could do it. It was so very intense. MB was behind me, Steve was infront of me putting a wet cloth on my head and I swore at that moment I felt my Mom sitting right next to me on my right hand side. I thought, that's it....I can do this, I am going to push with all I got. I was looking down at my hands and how white my knuckles were from digging into the bed and I pushed one more time and her head started coming out. I had to slow down and wait. While the head was about half out Mari Beth said "She's so pink!" and then I was finally ready to push the rest of her out. I was still on all 4's and she just slid her right underneath me so we were face to face. I thought for sure it was another boy since she looked exaclty like Joshua. No one had seen if it was a boy or girl so MB said "I'll move the cord so you can tell us what it is" and I said "Oh my gosh, it's a girl!" So a whole 45 minutes of labor, probably less than 5 minutes of pushing and she was here! It was a wild, fast, intense ride! Looking back I'm glad it was fast, but at the time, I thought I was not going to be able to do it. We got to the birthing center at around 4:55 and she was born at 5:16!

Many more pictures to come I"m sure. You will all get sick of seeing them!

Sleeping Josh

2008-09-08T19:20:00.001-05:00

Check out how Josh fell asleep the other night while watching T.V. (Don't mind our messy carpet. We are getting ready to knock out walls, re do the living room, paint, redecorate etc....so we will be replacing the carpet so I don't do much as far as scrubbing/shampooing it)

Yes I am....

2008-08-30T09:11:00.002-05:00

....still pregnant that is. My due date was yesterday (august 29) Well, actually, one of my due dates. If you go by my dates I am due tomorrow (August 31) if you go by my U/S I was due yesterday. Whatever, doesnt' matter. I am so sick of the comments and questions and phone calls though. Like the people who come up to me at football practice and say "You still carrying that thing around!?" NO!!! What gave it away!!!!! Or just the phone calls to find out how I am feeling and if I feel any "different" or like it will be soon. Come on! I have no idea!!!! Otherwise, I'm not totally miserable, so I have no complaints. I even sleep half decent at night?

One other thing....It's that time of year again! The National Ovarian Cancer Coalitions Walk for the Whisper in Philadelphia is fast approaching. We are slow at getting our team set up this year. I put it off because if I really want to think that far ahead...I actually could still be pregnant then. (Aaaack!!!) But I finally signed up. Will sign the kids up once I know more about the football schedule for Joe. But for now here it is... Team Gail's Grace page

Some more knitting stuff.

2008-08-27T11:58:00.003-05:00

I finished completely the Meseta Alta Shawl. Blocked it last night and added the fringes this morning. It is georgeous. I love it. I was hoping to finish before the baby comes, so now that's it is done, can I please go into labor!?!?

Anyway, here is a crappy picture of it hanging on my clothesline.

And of course a picture of Joe and Tom on the first day of school. They started back this past Monday (8/25) It was so sad to see their Summer come to an end, but three days in and they seem to enjoy their teachers and being back into a routine. I'll post more later, but for now just wanted to get this shawl picture up finally.

Oh, one last thing. I went about an hour and a half yesterday and scored on some Shetland fleeces. I got one brown and one white. The brown is awesome. I have it soaking right now. Can't wait to card it and spin it. I was so excited because Shetland is my favorite to spin and it was so cheap! she had a ton of it, but figured I"d better just get two for now. Especially considering I still have 2 tunis fleeces to process and spin.

Some knitting stuff

2008-08-17T16:55:00.006-05:00

So I started on a project for me. I've been making so much for the baby lately, Well, this will kind of be for baby too. Anyway, My sister and I went to a huge yarn/spinning/weaving/fiber store a few weeks back and I bought this book which I really really love. I highly recommend it if nothing else for the beautiful photographs.

I spent 30 bucks on it, but Amazon has if for only $19.80!
Shear Spirit

So I fell in love with a pattern in the book and immediately bought some lovely, supper soft Alpaca yarn to make this shawl!

and here is mine, a work in progress. I have only been knitting it for a week and I am a little more than quarter of the way thru. Here is was in the beginning of the week when I was unsure about it.

And now after working on it for only a week (Supper crappy picture of it since I layed it out on my bed and you can't see the details of the lace work up the middle. Also, once it's done and blocked I think it will look so much better.)

My hope was to have it done before the chili days of watching Tommy play football started. But now that I have started and see how fast it's going , I know it will be done in time. I also wanted to be able to use it to nurse baby under when I"m either at practice on at the games. It's kind of light and airy, but will help hide "the girls" while I'm nursing. I can't wait to add all those fun fringes all over the bottom.

Wow, 3 years!?

2008-08-01T14:51:00.003-05:00

Holy Smokes, I cant' believe it's been three years since my Mom passed away. It seems like just yesterday we were sitting by her bedside when she took her last breath. I just cant' believe I have lived the last 3 years without my Mom here! I miss her so much. I don't think that will ever change. It still hits me hard sometimes and sometimes it still seems so surreal. 3 years!?!?

Anyway, our summer is going well. I'm tired a lot, it's way too hot and humid for me outside most days. We go out in the mornings and then in the afternoon if we go out, it's only to swim. I have 4 weeks left until my Due Date. Yay! I'm excited, but then again, the thought of the end of summer comign and the boys going back to school makes me sad. It always does when summer ends. But, football just started for Tommy. He had camp this week. I am so anxious to get back into football season and seeing all our football friends again.

I dont' have much really to catch up on. Steve's Dad had a heart attack about 3 weeks ago. It was scarey. Joe was there when it happened. The boys have been taking turns working with Steve and it was Joe's turn. He was a little freaked out. We all were. I went down right away to pick Joe up and it was before the Ambulance had taken him away so I got to see him. It didn't look good. He's home now and trying to take it easy. He wears out quick, but he seems to be doing good.

A few months ago I started a small etsy shop (a different one from the yarn/wool one) to sew and sell some baby stuff, mostly cloth diapers and slings. I got approval to sell a specific kind of diaper which was fun. I just listed a dipe that I think is supper cute, but it's pink LOL and I'm still sewing mostly all blue for this baby. I don't know, I'm still thinking boy.

Anyway, here is the link to the shop Tiny Petals Baby Boutique

and here is a picture of the "FattyCakes" diaper I just listed that I love.

The outer is 100% cotton flannel

The back:

Inner is Hemp fleece and the layer that is against baby is Suede, so that it pulls the moisture away from baby's behind and pulls it to the soaker that is in the center.

The back all opened up

The internal soaker is made of 3 layers of thick hemp fleece.

How fast can you type?

2008-07-09T07:42:00.001-05:00

I found this on another blog and thought it would be fun. Click on the box and take the test and see how fast you can type (I think I"m going to do it again actually....It's early and I Dont' feel like I was "On" this morning)

86 words

Speed test

The little wheel....

2008-07-07T20:10:00.002-05:00

...Here it is. DH bought it for me at an auction. It needs a little work, but he is convinced he can get it working. I just think it's pretty. I have no idea what kind it is or how old....

Anyone have any ideas? (I have another picture too, but didn't realize

when I took the picture that there is a little naked kid in the background LOL)

Summer is in full swing.....

2008-07-07T19:55:00.003-05:00

....Aack, it's been a while since I"ve posted. I mostly just have pictures.

First I'll start off with two of Joe and Josh. Steve had Tommy to work with him and after we were done swimming one day the boys where cooling off with popsicles and I snapped a few pictures.

Next, Steve and I made a hackle for my sister! I'm so proud of how this turned out. He is making one for me too. (He actually makes it, I finish it.) Here are a few pictures of it.

More pictures to come of a little spinning wheel that Steve picked up fairly cheap at an auction. I"m anxious to find out what kind it is.

Some animal babies

2008-06-19T15:42:00.004-05:00

Okay, so this one's not an animal, but still thought it was cool. This train is from the Railroad that is next to this farm. It rode thru the farm every so often.

I have way more pictures to share than these two but these two are just the CUTEST!!!!

I took the kids to a little farm place. They have a HUGE corn maze, that isnt' open yet, so for now they have this little petting zoo, hay ride, tractor ride, some little games. Very cute. We had an awesome day for it.

Like I said, I have way more pictures than this, but I just had to share these two for now.

Oh and I should add, these weren't taken with my good camera. I didn't want to carry it around with me all afternoon. So I took the Fuji point n shoot. Still came out pretty good though.

Rambouillet and Targhee

2008-06-12T17:06:00.001-05:00

Just finished plying this a couple nights ago. Bought the roving off etsy, already dyed. It's about 254 yards. worsted to bulky. I'm not sure what to turn it into, but I really want to make something for baby out of it.

any ideas?

End of school stuff

2008-06-07T14:02:00.004-05:00

Wow, can't believe how fast this school year went by. I also can't believe that next time my kids are in school they will be a 4th grander and a 2nd grader!!! What!? when did that happen?

They did SO awesome this year. (Especially Tommy!) They are such smart little guys. Not "Egg Head" like smart, but "Cool" smart haha...there's a huge difference!

So along with school letting out (Yay! I think I"m as excited about that as my boys are) They just finished a great baseball season. Tommy made it to the all star game again this year. It was last night. It was an awesome game. Our team lost, but still a great game. Tommy had a few amazing hits and played great in the field. He got to do 2 innings at 1st base and 2 innings in center field. I don't have the pictures off of my camera yet from that, but they will be coming shortly.

Here are a few pictures of the last regular season game that they played. Everytime I stood up to take a picture of Tommy when he was hitting, he's hit the first pitch and I wasnt' even out of my chair yet. But i made up for it and got pictures of him at the all star game.

Anyway. Before the Game
"Go Pirates!" (steve is assistant coach #22)

Joe hitting

Joe catching (I've always had a thing for catchers, they are just so tough!)

Joe again

Tommy #12

"Good game, good game, good game"

Okay, so enough with baseball. I went into Joe's classes end of year party. They just basically played outside, ate ice cream cones then played some other kind of trivia game, but I left before the trivia because Josh was having a melt down.

Few pictures.

Joe and his buds playing football (It was supposed to be two hand touch, but that went terribly wrong at some point and they were all on top of each other in a big dog pile)

Joe was "Student Teacher" for the day, that's why he got to wear the visor which read "Student T ache" now haha

Joe and his best bud Cole

Joe and his first grade class

Memorial day picnic/ Mike's Birthday party

Luke

Mike

Mike and Joe

Some spinning stuff for a change

2008-05-15T08:57:00.003-05:00

So a while back I bought some roving from a shop on Etsy. It was Shetland/Kid Mohair and it was all white. So I split it in 2, spun and dyed each half. Then just finally finished plying it last night. It's so soft. It's more colorful than I usualy do, but I realy love it. I think I"ll make a diaper soaker or two out of it for the baby.

Here's a picture.

It's May?

2008-05-10T13:24:00.002-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's May already. I am 24 weeks pregnant now. Almost 6 months! I cant' believe that. I feel good, sometimes the end of the day is rough with the sore back, I swear I'm larger by the end of the day. Of course end of the day is when I wait to do my chores. Mucking the stall, hauling buckets of water to all the animals. I guess maybe I should think about doing that earlier in the day. Sometimes just making supper is enough on my back.

Let's see, the boys are playing baseball. I really really want a zoom lens so I can try to take some pictures of them on the field. But I can not bring myself to spend the kind of money that I'd need to spend! I don't know how some people do it! Especially the amatures like me who consider it just a hobby.

Okay, I have only two pictures, and I'll admit, they are not that great. But I"m embarrassed to say, I haven' thad my camera out in a couple weeks. So this was just this past week. We had beautiful weather and I got nothing done inside because Josh wanted to be outside all day long.

This is Josh in his "Ivan" man glasses. He insists it is not "Iron" man, but "Ivan" man.

It was very sunny and we were under a big umbrella, so the background is really really bright.

Settings were:
1/250
F/5.6
ISO 200

And then of course, blowing bubbles.

settings:
1/350
ISO 200
F/5.6

Baby Stuff

2008-05-01T10:04:00.003-05:00

I'm on a total knit everyhting I can find for the baby kick. In one week, I've knitted 3 diaper soakers, a sweater and 2 pairs of booties. I have yarn to make one more soaker and then a pair of pants. And then I just got the stuff in to make the CUTEST maternity shirt ever. I hope I can get it finished before I pop. LOL I should, since most of the summer, I will probably be plopping my large body on the deck and watching the kids play, jump on the trampoline, swim etc....

Here is the shirt...Mine will be pale blue

Here's the booties. I made one of each color since I won't know until birth what color I will need...

And the Sweater.

I have pictures of the soakers somewhere, but they are pretty boring. Once you've seen one diaper cover, you've seen them all right? Just all different colored. I'd love to be able to make a pink or a blue pair. Oh well, I can do it after baby comes since they knit up in less than a day.

that's all for now. Must get back to some knitting.

Aaack! Again!!!

2008-04-28T07:44:00.002-05:00

So 6:00 am I heard a noise that was so loud, I thought it was thunder since it's supposed to storm today and had been raining. Then I came too enough to realize it wasnt' thunder and woke up and looked out the window and saw my fence GONE!!! The guy admitted to me that he was going at least 70 MPH on my road where the speed limit is only 40 mph. His car spun 4 or 5 times and he flattened my fence. I was ticked! He was all cocky too......

Joshua

2008-04-25T09:18:00.000-05:00

Messy face

2008-04-21T17:21:00.002-05:00

I think every picture I take of Tommy he has a messy face.

ISO 200
1/180
F/6.7

First try at using lightroom and I made it "antique-ish" in light room, then sharpened and resized in PhotoImpact.

one more...non kid

2008-04-16T20:49:00.002-05:00

He's my furry baby...but not my human baby.

This is Roscoe. It was taken in sunlight, so I know the one side is kind of blown, but I like how his tongue is sticking out.

Steve was away tonite so me and the boys had a campfire, played some lacross, played with the dogs. Oh and of course, took pictures. I have a few more, but I"m having some PP issues and I want to post them on the board and maybe get some help with them before I put them here.

1/350
F/5.6
ISO 400

was my ISO too high? I was partially in shade taking pictures of my kids and was having light issues so I pumped up the ISO and in this one I guess I should have gone back down to maybe 200? Must go ask Heidi........If anyone else knows, please let me know!

who's tired of pics of my kids?

2008-04-15T17:26:00.003-05:00

Just for something different....first a picture of my brother supper cool Jeep. He took this picture with his camera. I think he has a Canon Rebel XTi but I may be wrong.

1/250
F/11.0
ISO 400

All I did was crop and sharpen it.

Then some flowers on one of our fruit trees. Don't ask which one this is from, we put in a bunch more last year.

I sharpened it in PhotoImpact and added a vignette.

1/45
ISO 100
F/5.6

okay...last ones...

2008-04-07T19:05:00.002-05:00

for now at least.

This one is Tommy. I forgot to get the settings. His eyes may be "popped" a little too much for my liking...Oh, and I left the dirt and marshmallow on his face LOL

might be getting the hang of this...

2008-04-07T18:49:00.001-05:00

...new photo editing software. This is another picture from Sunday. Look at those lips!! Ouch!

1/90
F/5.6
ISO 200

Joey

The only one I'll post....

2008-04-07T16:22:00.002-05:00

...see previous post if your confused LOL

I have been messing around some. Of course I forgot to crop the hot dog out of the corner LOL Oh well, I have been sitting here "Playing" for way too long.

This is Josh from Yesterday. The SOOC picture is on my flickr or on the message board if interested. I guess it would help to see it SOOC if I'm asking for CC but I'll have to post that later since quite honestly I am tired of sitting here and I need to go feed my animals and then my kids.

So here is Josh I played with in my new PhotoImpact 11 (Did I go into that story at all?)

1/90
F/5.6
ISO 200
55 mm

Fun, Low key Sunday

2008-04-07T09:28:00.002-05:00

So after church Steve took us to lunch at Outback Steakhouse...YUM!
then home to clean up in and out. I started inside but quickly went outside because the boys had a big fire going (Well, steve did) burning some of the limbs and dead stuff off of those trees we cut down a few weeks ago. Then had a "camp" fire and toasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Stayed outside until 8 pm just watching the fire, poking it with sticks (The boys) and playing with the dogs and on the playground. It was so much fun.

I only have one picture because I"m having exposure issues. I have a few posted on the small board hoping someone can help me. If anyone thinks they can, let me know! I'm really having issues. I think one looks fine and then someone says "It's too dark" or "Too something" and I"m like REALLY? I'll never get this. Not that I want to be a pro, but I just want to take good pictures of my boys. Sometimes I get discouraged and think I'll just go back to my little Fuji. haha oh well. Here is the one and only picture I will share for now. It's not even that great, just to document the day and the fire and the hot dogs....and Joe's chapped lips haha

Oh No!!!!

2008-04-04T16:19:00.001-05:00

if Josh falls asleep at all during the day he will literally be up ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!! Aaack! I'm in trouble

1/180
F/8.0
ISO 400

Craving.....

2008-04-03T09:50:00.000-05:00

....enough said....Now, I'm going to go get some fruit.

Go Fly A Kite

2008-04-02T08:58:00.003-05:00

Sat. Steve put together this awesome awesome kite. It looked like a monster truck! It was awesome, but didn't fly at all!!!! Not sure if it wasn't enough wind or what. But hey, it looked awesome! hahah

This is Josh hanging on our side gate watching Steve running up and down the lane trying to get the kite up.

1/2000
F/5.6
ISO 400 (I dont' know why I kept it so high being that we were outside. Honestly, I didn't even look to see what ISO it was set at)

THat Amish farm you see in the background is our nearest neighbor and the cornfield there is where we do a lot of walking, sledding, running etc.....

An Easter Picture

2008-03-26T15:01:00.002-05:00

I'm still getting used to my flash. I mostly only use my camera outside or our house has so many big windows and the sliding glass door, I always try to take advantage of the natural light. Anyway, this was at my sisters house, which is like a cave. I literally wear a hard hat with a lamp attached to it every time I go there (Okay, maybe not, but you get the idea)

So I got out the trusty old flash, still had no idea what I was doing haha and took a picture of Luke after I gave him a home made peanut butter cup (Yum) and then he sucked on his nuk LOL Can you see the chocolate ring?

Anyway, It seemed dark, so I tried to lighten it. Now I"m wondering if it's too light. Anyone have any ideas? As always I am open to any and all CC and plays on this picture. I can post the original too. I'm gonna post both on the photography board and see what the ladies come up with.

Sepia

2008-03-22T09:04:00.003-05:00

Easter Egg Hunt

2008-03-19T07:37:00.003-05:00

So Saturday, very last minute, I found out about an Easter Egg Hunt about 5 minutes from our house. It was early, but luckily, we were already outside playing so that means we were all dressed, and everyone had two shoes on. (As opposed to the "I cant' find my other shoe" that usually happens when we are rushing out the door)

I met up with my SIL and her daughter there. It was a COLD morning, but the kids had fun. A few pictures, of course.

Joe and Josh waiting to watch Tommy hunt for eggs. Someone on the photo board mentioned it was too dark, but I am having a bugger of a time making it look lighter but still looking okay. Anyone have any suggestions?

Josh checking out his loot

All the kids waiting to hunt eggs (These are out of order, oh well)

Josh

We had to drive thru this covered bridge to get into the park. I thought it was so cool. Would have loved to have gotten all the kdis up there for pictures, but there were people everywhere leaving the hunt. I was lucky to get this shot with no cars driving thru it. Luckily, this park isn't that busy on a normal day. So some day I"m going to pack up the kids to go there and play for the day and then I can take pictures then.

Also, we had some fun when we got home. Steve, his Dad, his Nephew, and his brother all cut down these 2 huge trees in our yard that were dead. It was actually very funny. I took pictures (Of course) but am having a hard time resizing them for some reason. Now we have the best yard ever (if you're a boy) a dirt pile AND....2 dead trees to climb on. Last night the boys built a "fort' out of some of the bigger branches.

One More

2008-03-12T12:45:00.001-05:00

We have Heartbeat!

2008-03-12T07:59:00.002-05:00

So yesterday I packed up Josh and we went down to the birthing center. I didn't have an appointment but they said I could just drop in to see if they could hear the heartbeat. (last time...at 13 weeks, they were unable to hear it) So the midwife who delivered Josh was there (I love her!) and she said Okay, now don't get worked up if it takes me a while to find it. so I layed there, and layed there and layed there and she pressed on my uterus and tried and tried and tried. She kept going to my belly button with her hand. Eventually she said "Is that your uterus way up there?" Right now I think it's supposed to be a few inches below my belly button, but the other day I could have sworn I felt it right AT my belly button. So she moved the doppler up higher and sure enough, that's where the heartbeat was. YAY, we heard it. It was beating at something like 147 BPM. So after 3 kids and all the times you hear the heartbeat, I usually don't get all weepy any more when you hear it, but man, as soon as I did I started crying. Felt kind of silly. But I told her I was sure she was going to tell me I had ovarian cancer instead of telling me I was pregnant. She knew all about my Mom passing from Cancer so she understood and she said "No honey, ovarian cancer doens't have a heartbeat" So we are all good now.

BUT....why is my uterus so high or big? I mean I always carry high, but not that high that is stumps the midwives! So now I cant' wait to have an ultrasound and see what's going on in there.

Maybe I'm a month further along than we thought? (haha every pregnant womans dream, to be told she's going to have the baby a month sooner than expected)

Or we can go with my DH's suggestion...there is more than one. In which case I will kill him! (Has to be his fault...right?)

Or is this baby going to be even bigger than my last? (Lord help me!)

Hmm, just cant' wait until that ultrasound.

Okay, onto some pictures (of course) Our little Craft board's photography forum is starting to pick up. It's fun! Heidi is such a huge help. And it's so UN-intimidating to post pictures there for CC. If you are reading this and into photography in any way (I'm a WAAAAY newbie) please join us! it's fun...

Crafty Gals

Anyway, here are a few pictures from yesterday outside on our "Prop" (haha it's been broken down in the yard for a couple years now so it serves as our favorite prop for taking pictures anymore)

There are a few more and they can be seen at my Flickr

Just a couple projects...nothing exciting

2008-03-10T09:32:00.002-05:00

So Saturday I went to a baby shower. DH had the brilliant idea I should make her a gift. Even though she lives in a different state, it's his cousins wife (2nd wife, but who's counting) and I barely know her. So I had just bought a pattern to make myself a diaper bag. I figured okay...I"ll go and buy enough stuff to make two. Well, let me tell ya, this thing was a pain to make. Not TOO awful, but just had a really hard time getting the lining to fit in just right. So it puckered up a bit in just 3 spots at the top and I deemed it Not Fit to give as a gift. That and I really didn't want to have to make another one for myself AND it was too much trouble for a girl I barely know. So I bought her a little diaper bag (along with some stuff to put inside) and decided to keep the one I made for myself. DH was SOOO mad! Then I was mad at him. He said I was "vain" for not thinking it was good enough to give as a gift. VAIN???? I told him he needed a dictionary becuase he Obviously has no idea what that word meant. Anyway, he got over it, I did too and now I have a pretty cute diaper bag for when this baby comes! Here is a picture of the outside and the inside.

I did tell my sister that when/if she has another baby...especially if she finds out she is having a girl (SO many cute girlie fabrics I found when I was shopping for this) I would make her one.

And....I made a sock finally out of the STR sock yarn I bought a while ago. It's Pebble Beach colorway and I think it's my favorite sock yarn as of yet. Wow, this stuff is so nice. I love this pattern too. I found it free on someone's blog. I know I really show add the link to the pattern, I'll add it later if I think of it. But for now here is my sock AND I've alreayd started on sock number 2! So that just goes to show you how much I love this sock!!!

Yay...my bribe worked!

2008-03-07T14:16:00.002-05:00

So Josh has had a gift card to Toys R Us now for a while and he was outside playing in the mud yesterday and of course, as soon as he saw my camera, his hands went up over his face. I told him if he let me take his picture, I'd take him to Toys R Us to use his gift card haha. It worked. Here is the result. I thought it was kind of cute, good thing since I only had one shot at getting it.

ISO 200
F/5.6
1/60
50mm

Oh and how about that hair.....think he needs a hair cut? haha

Onto baby news, I think everyone knows now. And I think I"ve decided that since we were unable to hear the heartbeat at my 13 week apointment, I"m going to stop in in Tuesday and see if they can hear it now. They told me I didn't need an apointment just to stop in any time for a heart beat check. The midwife that delivered Josh will be at the bithing center, so it works out that I have no plans that day and I think we are going to pop in just for some peace of mind. I can't wait to hear it!

So Frustrating

2008-03-05T20:18:00.002-05:00

So I would love to be able to be one who could take a picture of the day, but I seriuosly have a very hard time finding good things to take pictures of. Especially right now with all my flowers dead, trees....dead. And...the only "Model" I have here during the day who hides his face every single time I take out my camera! It's so frustrating. How am I going to learn? I even tried bribing him. I seriously had almost 20 pictures on my camera of Josh...all with his hands over his face. Stinker.

This is the only one where you could see at least part of his face and he's under our trampoline, so it's a crappy picture anyway. But, just to prove that I am still taking some pictures, I'll add it.

F/5.6
1/30
iso400
55mm

A week's gone by

2008-03-03T08:07:00.003-05:00

and I never updated. I had my Doctor's apointment. Steve got to come with me, but I felt bad becasue it was less than exciting. Couldn't even hear the heartbeat. It was weird. She tried two different dopplers and the one picked up the heartbeat, it was beating at 138 beats per minute, but we couldn't hear it. I was only 13 weeks, so she wastn' concerned, plus I told her that my uterus is way tilted and we always have that trouble early on, but still...I think every pregnant woman is still un easy to tell people or really feel comfortable until they hear that heartbeat and I still haven't gotten to. I don't go back for another 4 weeks, so I will be 18 weeks. I don't want to have to wait that long to hear it, so I"m wondering if my local Hospital rental place rents out dopplers. I would just love to rent one for a month just for peace of mind. It's kind of hard to hide the belly now. Especially later in the day. Yesterday at church I had on a tighter fitting shirt though and no one said anythign to me haha, everyone must have thought I have been hitting the donuts to hard. I bought an awesome pattern to make a diaper bag, I'm really excited about it. It's so cute! I am just searching for the perfect fabric. Something not too girlie, since anyone who knows me knows that that is NOT me. haha (You should see my purse) I am starting to feel better the nausea is for the most part gone. I do however, get a weird taste in my mouth still sometimes. Since it's my second trimester and it's a new month and since I"m starting to feel better I am going to really start trying to get back to the eating healthy and exercising like I used too. I am starting off this week doing that (annoying) chart I have to fill out for the birthing center that I have to write down everything I eat for three days and track how much water and how much fiber, protein etc...I get in. So I'm hoping that I can do really good from here on out and really not gain too much weight. So far according to my scale, I've gained 3 lbs.

Oh, also, this was a new midwife we saw on Tuesday and Steve was less than impressed wtih her. Also, (I've tried this a few times, on a few different websites) When I type in the first day of my last period...I get the due date of August 31st, the midwife took out this ancient looking dial, she even mentioned how old it was, and she figured out my due date as September 2. So I said something to her about it, not really questioning her, just like matter of factly and she just said something about her dial being right. It's not a big deal. Except when people see how big you are, ask you when you are due and hear August, they are less likely to make comments on how huge I am than if they hear September. So I've still been telling people the end of August. haha Hopefully if we decide to have an ultrasound, they will pinpoint the date better than the midevel dial and I will be due in August. I've gotten used to the idea that I will probably go late anyway, but still...I want to be able to tell people August!!!

All worked up

2008-02-25T08:52:00.002-05:00

So tomorrow I have my first appointment with my midwife. I am 13 weeks (and one day, but who's counting) I have this stupid fear though, I can't wait for tomorrow to come.

I once read that with certain cancers' the patient can get a positive pregnancy test if they take one. I got a positive pregnancy test. Also, with Ovarian cancer, your abdomen swells, my Mom at one point looked like she was about 7 months pregnant, she had nausea, constipation, tired, vomitting....all the same stuff that pregnant women get in the first trimester. So I"m scared to death that tomorrow when I go to the apointment the midwife will say "Your not pregnant, you have cancer" I know that's stupid, but it's just been going thru my mind ever since I first got that positive test. I can't wait to get this appointment over with. Aftewards, I am going to take Josh to the feed store and order our baby chickens. We love having babies! So I'm anxious to get them ordered and get all set up for them. Awe, I can just hear them peepin' now!

One more thing. I'm anxiously waiting a call from Tommy's school. Last week he was tested for the gifted program and I have yet to hear how he did and if he made it or not. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I definetly won't push the issue it will be totally up to him if he wants to join if he did well on the test. I never thought I wanted a child in the program. Mostly because of my experience with it growing up. I was in the gifted program from 1st grade until middle school when I dropped out. I was so tired of hearing "You can't get anything but A's...Your gifted!" Steve had the same experience. Hopefully, since we are aware of that, we would be different with our kids if they ever make it in. But I"m still not sure I want that "label" hanging over their heads forever. Like if they ever do average or fail something it is totally unacceptable because they are "Gifted" Let's face it, we all fail or do less that wonderful at something.
So for now, I'm just waiting to hear, but I am not going to call them or push the issue.

Look at these angel faces!!!

2008-02-22T13:00:00.003-05:00

HAHAHA Okay...NOT! They had off school today for snow. So I made my bed and wanted to play. Normally the light in my room is okay for taking pictures no flash (I'm in the process of looking for a flash for my camera) but today it was kind of dark and dreary out so the lighting was kind of bad. So I messed around with this picture some in Photoshop and ended up putting a vintage action on it to make up for the color "weirdness" (original is in my flickr if you are interested in seeing it or better yet playing around with it and seeing if you can make it better. I'm bad at fixing the colors, contrast etc.....Just please let me see when you are done and let me know what you did because I have SO much to learn)

Anyway, this is one of the best shots I got of my guys.....

ISO 800
1/45
F/4.0
28mm
In crappy original light

Awe..Look how cute!

2008-02-20T14:05:00.003-05:00

Okay, so the cat's out of the bag. Steve told his parents this week. My big secret is that baby #4 is cooking. Yes, I am crazy. 4 kids! Most likely....4 boys! (I don't do girls. Never have been girlie, would rather be in my jeans and T shirt, I love tractors, riding dirt bikes/4 wheelers and getting muddy...I mean come on! My luck, I'd have a prissy little girl who would want to wear dresses and won't like getting dirty! Aaack, what would i do with that!?!? ) Anyway, so yes, I am crazy or at least almost there and will definetly be there by the end of August when this little one is due.

So....I started these baby socks almost 2 months ago. Should have taken my 2 days tops to finish....nope, 2 months. I have had no motivation and have been sick as a dog! Luckily I am 12 1/2 weeks and that means Morning sickness should be ending soon...right!?

Anyway, I had to use my on camera flash, so the colors are kind of off. The brown in real life, looks orange in this picture. And they are propped up against some fabric I just bought to make some baby slings. Oh, and I just bought the CUTEST pattern ever to make a diaper bag....haha a pattern for some capri's for me. I better get busy!

Ok..so the socks.

So one of the biggest reasons I like to wait a while to tell anyone, my MIL comes up with some crazy and downright quite annoying ideas about what you can and cant' do when your pregnant. So I talked to her yesterday for the first time since she found out and get this....when I was getting ready to hang up the phone she said "Okay, take it easy, you know...don't stretch or anything" ROFL One of her things is that if you stretch, it will wrap the cord around the babies neck. hahaha Makes me want to go do some yoga right infront of her. Ugh...let the crazy, unsolicited, MIL advice begin. Dont' worry, I'll keep you all posted some of her crazy thoughts/ideas as they come up.

This weekend

2008-02-18T14:10:00.002-05:00

The boys had their last tournament of the season this weekend. It was awesome. Okay...back up, last Friday, Tom got paired up against a HUGE kid who was a few years older than him and jsut stomped all over him. Tommy got really frustrated and upset half way thru the match. Seemed like he didnt' fight so hard. So I talked to him a lot since then and told him, when you get against someone who is really fighting hard or who does something you don't like, don't let it get you upset, use it to get you mad! Use it as fuel to really fight even harder. Well, I think my talk must have done something becuase this weekend he took first place at the tournament! It was so exciting! He got a trophy and everything.

And in this one he looks less than thrilled, but you can see it says first place on the trophy at least.

Joe did good too, but it still hasn't "clicked" for him. It's still fun to watch. I took soem video, but I have to upload them yet.

So okay...dumb blonde moment of the week.

Tom was invited to a bowling party. I tooka quick glance at the invite, thought the party was at a bowling alley 5 min. up the road. Took him there at 1:30 on the dot (The time the party was to start) no one was there. I had no purse, no wallet, no license, no cell phone. Luckily, Steve left his in the car so I called home quick and had steve look at the invite again and here, the party was at a different place, about a 1/2 hour from my house. So Mamma (That's me) put the old mini van into overdrive and flew like the wind to get him to the party...a 1/2 hour late. haha Oh well, he had fun. But by then I din't want to come home then have to turn around and go right back, so I sat in the parking lot until the party was about 20 min. from being done,then I went in and just hung out. my DUH moment of the month. Good think the months' half over, I'm only allowed one per month!

Wow...been a while

2008-02-08T13:56:00.000-05:00

I havne't posted here in a while. Same old stuff going on. But I do have a secret!!! Not many R/L friends now though, only my brother and my sister. Anyone have any guesses!?

The only thing I wanted to do was share a few pictures. I'm trying to get half decent with my new camera and I took these yesterday of Luke and Josh.

Josh (This one isn't the best, I was still messing with my settings and this one was only ISO 400, once I upped it to 800 it was So much better)

ISO 400
1/90
F/5.6
55mm
natural light

Shark haha (Little stinker, it's about impossible to get his picture right now)

ISO 800
1/125
F/5.6
43mm
natural light

Luke

ISO 800
F/5.6
Shutter 1/125
55 mm

Michele and Luke
ISO 800
F/5.6
1/125
55mm

natural light

Joey

2008-01-21T15:07:00.000-05:00

I'm sure the coloring is "off" on this picture since the sun was so bright and behind me, but I love it. This is Joe when we went for a walk with all the boys over the weekend. Of course this was their favorite spot since it had a huge puddle here.

Wow

2008-01-21T14:11:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I"ve posted anything. I'm soo tired, so not a whole lot to post about right now, But I did finish Steve's Sock finally!!! YAY, he even wore them to church on Sunday!

Here they are:

pictures

2008-01-10T09:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, so this new camera has me a little flustered. I was taking pictures of Josh the other day though and half the time I had it on automatic, half on Manual. I can't remember what these were. I know I should write down the ISO and shutter speed/f stop and all that too. Anyway, I liked these pictures so I am gonna just show these (2 out of like 40 that I took LOL)

More toys!

2008-01-04T09:33:00.000-05:00

So my sister ordered my Christmas gift a while ago and was waiting for it to come in. She gave it to me yesterday. It was a Hackle and Diz! (The Diz is georgeous, Mother of Pearl) So of course I couldn't wait to play. All my roving is boring colors though, I really need to dye some or buy some pretty colors to blend. So last night I made these beautiful little fuzzy balls. They are superwash Merino/Bamboo about 2 ounces total.

New Yarn

2007-12-31T12:51:00.000-05:00

I put this on the blog to my shop... Fibers N Threads

and I just added it to my site, but not many people see my other blog, so I thought I would put this picture here too since It love the colors on this yarn.

Free First Class Shipping ends TODAY!!!
Etsy shop

Christmas is over!

2007-12-26T14:58:00.000-05:00

It's always a let down the day after. All that preparation, baking, buying, wrapping, making a list...checking it twice. The day after, although fun, is always a let down...It's over. We are having fun today, opening all the gifts out of their boxes and annoyingly over-twist tyed toys. We've played so many games, played Deigo (of course) I've done everything but been able to play with my new camera! Steve got me an awesome Digital SLR camera. It's a Pentax K10D. It's got a lot of features and "bells and whistles" that I still don't know about.

Okay, so first, last Thursday I got to go in and help Joe's class make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. It was so cute, I had so much fun. Here is a picture (Still my old camera)

Then we decorated our own gingerbread house (also, old camera)

Christmas eve I was SO sick, woke up in the m;iddle of the night with that gurggley stomach going on. Ended up in the bathroom more than my bed. I was tempted to lay on the bathroom floor several times instead of heading back to bed in between "episodes" So Christmas eve I was about worthless. Steve took Tom to work so it was just me, Joe and Josh. I had the stomach "thing" a headache, sore throat, body aches and chills. Just couln't get warm. was shivering so much I was unable to do about anything. I ended up taking Tylenol and was able to at least wrap some presents. GOt it all done, and then made a dessert because steve's parent's were going to come around and deliver gifts so it wasnt' so hectic at their house the next morning. I only have one picture to show of that night. It needs no caption.....All I'll say is I don't think my In Laws like me very much.

'(Still old camera, I hadn't gotten my new one yet)

So by Christmas morning I was feeling a bit better, no more fever, aches, chills etc.... We opened gifts and made apple turnovers. Played wtih the kids. Heres' all pictures with my new camera

Eating turnovers
(Don't mind my messy house)

We got the kids Dart Tag. So much fun! I want to get them full velcro suits so I can just nail them with those velcro darts.

Tommy

Joey

Josh

(Remember, my house is still in the middle of major renovations)

And here's Steve and JOsh. I love this picture even though I forgot to turn on the flash

Some pictures from that night at my sister's Michele's.

Mike (My brother) and his GF

My Kids and Mike

My kids and my sister Michele

My kids and Whitney

So that's all for now. I have three kids home from school all running around like crazy so I have to tend to them this week instead of being lazy like I want. I'm sure I'll have tons of pictures to post now that I have that new rockin' camera.

Christmas Tree

2007-12-17T14:33:00.000-05:00

Tommy and I were away all day Saturday so Steve took Joe and Josh out to get a tree. Joe was so proud that he picked out the tree. We do a live tree every year and then plant it after Christmas. I sure hope this one lives.

I didnt' realize how bad I need to dust the cobwebs from above my window until I saw this picture LOL Oh well...

New favorite Etsy shop

2007-12-17T10:46:00.000-05:00

So my spinning has been at a stand still, my knitting has been very limited, although I just started some mittens for my boys teachers that I have GOT to get done in the next few days. But, I have bought a few things on etsy lately and I love nothign more than opening up someone's blog and seeing a picture or a review on something that was bought at my etsy shop so I decided to share some great little shops that I've found recently. First has nothing to do with knitting, yarn or fiber of any kind. Instead it is a beautiful silver pendant I bought to wear on a short, brown leather cord. This is her shop jocallate's I got this pendant and it's beautiful. It came in the mail so fast and I put it on as soon as I got it and am wearing it now. Her stuff is so pretty and although I'm not a jewelry person, I think I may order a couple more pendants to change it up a bit.

So, onto fiber and some pictures....My new favorite fiber related etsy shop is called fleecemaker's and I just recently bought two lovely 4 ounce bundles of roving they produce and sell right from their farm.

First little beauty is a Finn Shetland and Kid Mohair blend, so soft. I can't wait to spin this up. I'm not going to dye I'm going to spin it and then decide if I want it to stay natural.

My favorite though is this 4 ounce bundle of Natural colored Romney. It's the most beautiful dark dark chocolate color, so unbelievably soft. I can't wait until after Christmas so I actually have some time to spin it.

And here they are together.

So go check out their Etsy shop fleecemaker's I will definetly be buying more from them.

so that's it for now, we just got thru a supper busy weekend and this week I"m looking forward to a low key week, just baking, getting gifts wrapped, helping at school and spending time wiht the kids. YAY

Needle Felting

2007-12-06T07:54:00.000-05:00

So this was only my second attempt at needle felting. I decided to go smaller and then maybe I would be able to finish something. As opposed to the bear I started and only got the head done. So last night I made this little duck. Now I know it's a little rough haha I need work. I actually need an actual picture of a duck to look off of to do this, I did this very late at night and just winged it. So here he is. I think his name is "Herbert"

I have more pictures to come. We got snow and the boys and me and Steve went sledding, SO much fun. AND....Josh turned 4 on Sunday and I have lots of pictures of my big guy! Hopefully I'll post them soon.

It's December....YAY

2007-12-01T16:15:00.000-05:00

I got a pretty good jump on my Christmas shopping this year, so I am actually looking forward to enjoying the month of december with my family and friends. Especially my new friends who I met thru football. YAY, we have a couple get togethers planned and then in the new year plan on trying to get together once a month, and anyone who knows us when we all get together that spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!!! HAHA

So today I cut the kids hair, they all needed it bad! put them in their spiffy new shirts and took some pictures in hopes of finding one I can use for a Christmas card. It was...um...Fun, for lack of a better word. Of course, Joe makes everything interesting if nothing else LOL

Here are a few shots.

And last one is of my little Bear....Josh will be 4 years old tomorrow! Wow, I can't believe my baby boy is four already!

Here is a picture of him from today.

(Complete with lunch still on his face haha ...typical)

How cute are my kids!?!? Okay okay, I'm a little partial.

Almost December

2007-11-26T14:52:00.000-05:00

Yay, now that Thanksgiving is over, I can start decorating for Christmas. I didn't do much today but got some new wreaths to hang outside and I made myself this new centerpiece to put on my server.

We got snow!

2007-11-20T14:03:00.000-05:00

This was yesterday, November 19, we got some snow and my boys were just so excited!

Josh wanted to go play. We mostly just walked around and looked at everything that was snow covered and looked at our footprints.

Footprint LOL

One more thing....

2007-11-16T14:55:00.000-05:00

Remember the Pumpkin Cappucino blended roving I got from cjkopeccreations

Remember it from this post.....

here all the way at the bottom, second to last picture, then all spun up into singles

here also second to last picture

well, I just navajo plyed it and am fairly pleased wtih how it came out.

It's about 121 yards, somewhere between worsted and a light bulky.

(crappy picture taken inside instead of outside since it's FREEZING and I"m fighting the start of a cold)

One project down

2007-11-16T08:32:00.000-05:00

Finally I (Kind of) finished my Montana Woolies slipper socks. I say Kind of because I bought leather soles to put on the bottoms in hopes of making them last a little longer and I can't find the second pair of soles. LOL That's classic me, I would lose my head if it wasnt' attached to me head. Anyway, here they are. Looking at the picture, I see that it looks like one is bigger than the other, also, classic me.

These are so special to me becasue Tommy bought me the shetland spinning fiber last year for christmas. Picked it out by himself and he didnt' know that shetland was my favorite fiber to spin.

Here is the bottom of the one that has a sole

Last night I wanted an "Instant gratification" type knitting project so I started making some Christmas ornaments. These are crappy pictures and you can see all the crap laying around my yard LOL and my thought was to give these to my brother since he is a huge Philadelphia Flyers fan and since this is his first year in his own place for Christmas and will need to get decorations come Christmas time. But I want to make it clear to him that if he doesnt' like them for whatever reason he should by no means feel like he has to take them. I mean we are Tony Stewart fans (also orange and black) and we can hang themon our tree if he doesnt' like them.

(Remember, we just finished an addition on our house and the outside is still a muddy mess, with debri all over, so keep that in mind when you are wondering about how crappy my lawn looks LOL)

Last but not least, I added a new sock yarn in the shop and I have a few more to re skein and take pictures of. Here is the first of a few to come

Mom's Birthday

2007-11-14T13:59:00.000-05:00

So yesterday November 13, would have been mom Mom's 58th Birthday. Some people may think it's weird that we still "celebrate" her Birthday. Here's the story. For quite a few months before my Mom died, she was unable to eat. The couple weeks before she died she wanted spaghetti, and meatballs and when she was in the hospital she wanted a cream filled powdered donut (we brought her one but she never ate it) Anyway, we kept telling her when she got better we would take her out for spaghetti or we would make her spaghetti and meatballs complete with home made sauce. Of course the whole time we knew that would never happen. So in honor of my Mom, every year on November 13, we get together and have spaghetti and meatballs. The first two years we had it here at my house and this year we were going to do the same, but I ended up having a meeting that night and instead, Michele, Me, Josh, and Luke, went Christmas shopping, then went to see our brother Mike at work and all of us went out to a really really good italian restaurant and got spaghetti and meatballs to "celebrate" Mom's Birthday. We didnt' get a cream donut though, so I think maybe this weekend I will buy some, or wait until we celebrate Thanksgiving and suprise them with them then. We had fun, got some great Christmas decorations at BIg Lots and picked up a few small gifts. Oh and the day before Mom's birthday I happened to walk into Walmart and in the flower case, what did I see??? Mom's favorite flower. (Let's see if I can spell this right) Alstomeria...so I bought a bouquet. How pretty....

I love batts

2007-11-11T22:20:00.000-05:00

The more I spin them, the more I love them and I love making them. This one is my latest. It's merino and bamboo top, about 2 ounces. I think it will look like a candy cane when it is spun up.

New Bed = Good nights sleep!

2007-11-10T10:55:00.000-05:00

YAY, Josh will be 4 in December and is the worst sleeper EVER! Up until now he has had his crib, converted into a day bed in his room. Don't know why, I think he has only slept in it 3 times since he got his new room. He insists on sleeping on the floor, But he is usually up a few times a night, and/or wants me to sleep with him which means I end up on the floor. Let's face it, I'm a bit too old to be sleeping on the floor every night. We have talked to him aobut a big boy bed and he insisted that he did NOT want a bed. So Steve went out last night without telling him and got him a mattress and box spring and this really cool head board that has little cubbies to put his treasures in. He was beyond thrilled when he saw it. Then Steve and Joe went out and got him some new Diego Sheets and a new comforter. Josh spent most of the evening laying on his bed coloring and was just so excited for Steve to come home with his new "blanket" He was shaking at one point he was so excited. So here is a picture. Of course the bed is not made haha it is in my house so why would it be made!?!?

Look how happy he is about his new bed!

We had a GREAT nights sleep! Infact he slept all the way thru until 8:30! That is the latest he has ever slept!

Also yesterday morning I went to my sisters and we ate some yummy pumpkin french toast and made some needle felted Christmas ornaments. (Pictures some other time) We had so much fun and the ornaments are so cute. I defenitely want to make more. So when I came home I had two packages. One was from Sundance (LOVE their clothes) and was a skirt and shirt I ordered and the other was my very first skein of STR sock yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Check it out:

How pretty is that!? I have been looking at their yarns for so long, but could never decide what color to get. Finally decided on this one. It's Pebble Beach and I can not wait to cast on for a pair of socks out of them. I know I will be a repeat customer there. It came in so fast and their colors are georgeous!

I am almost done spinning the PUmpkin Cappucino roving I posted a picture of a few posts back. Here is a really bad picture of it still on my wheel

Still not sure what I am going to knit it into, but it is spinning up so nice!

And last but not least a picture of Leo the wonder dog.

He's got the life! Spoiled dog.....

DeSTashing

2007-11-06T12:48:00.000-05:00

I felt supper supper guilty yesterday when I ordered a skein of sock yarn. I mean, come on, I dye my own, sell it, have a ton of stuff I bought along with all the hand dyed and I bought a skein!!! What's wrong with me.

(For all you knitters, I'll just say, it's my first skein of STR, So pretty, I can't wait to get it. Pebble Beach I mean come on! Like I could really say no to those colors!! )

So anyway, I am slowly going to go thru my yarn stash, mostly my sock yarn sicne I have so much, and start de stashing. So any of my sock knitting friends, if you are interested, I have a skein of Opal and a skein of Trekking up on ebay right now. Here's the link to my ebay stuff.

Link to my ebay stuff I am hoping to add more to my ebay listings soon. I just have so much! DH thinks I have a problem! LOL

"Yeah Boss, Never trust a Bunny!"

2007-11-01T13:38:00.000-05:00

HAHA movie of the week around here has been Hoodwinked, anyone seen it? It's really funny, Josh wants to watch it every day and of course goes around saying the line from the movie that he loves the most and that's...."Yeah Boss, never trust a bunny" LOL Crazy kid.

Speaking of the Bear, here are a few pictures of him with his Daddy a few weeks ago sacked out on the couch together.

A close up of the "Ink" he got on his belly. He's a tough kid! I don't raise no wimps, I said "You get that tatto and you don't complain about the pain!" hahaha

Let's see, what else, been so busy here lately. I finally finally got my laundry room done, well almost done! As done as done gets around here. You know, it has no door yet, crown molding's not up and there is no window sill, but at least my brand new washer and dryer are upstairs! No more falling down the basement steps down to the spider infested, dirt floor basement to wash my clothes anymore. I actually enjoy doing laundry! Well, at least until I have to fold it that is.

Football ended this last weekend. It's a bummer that it's over, but then again it's nice to have some "free" time. Last game was fun. Michele, Luke, Mike, Whitney and Steve's Dad all came. Some pictures of course.

Tommy getting ready to kick off:

End of the game with Uncle Mike

with Poppop

and again with his best buddy "J"

So tomorrow we have a football party to go to in one of the families barn, complete with hay rides. It should be fun, next week is the banquet. All the kids will get trophies. I don't know if Tommy knows he's getting a trophy or not.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I got to go in to school and help at Joe's Harvest Party in his class and tomorrow is TOmmy's. Plus it's "Donut's with Dad" tomorrow, so the kids will have gotten to see us plenty at school this week.

Last weekend Tommy got to go to a Halloween party in one of his friends barns. It looked like so much fun. THere were a ton of kids there haha, it looked crazy actually. Their barn looked awesome. Here is a picture of Tom with some of his friends when we first got there. (He's the Pirate incase you couldn't tell)

I guess last but not least some knitting/spinning becasue it seems like the only peole who really read this blog are some knitting/spinning "friends" so here goes.

I'm still working on the Montana Woolies, or actually have been on a break from them for almost 2 weeks since I've been crazy busy and since Josh is having sleeping issues at night and I usually only work on those at night when I can concentrate on the cable pattern. So since I usually end up laying on his floor with him until he falls asleep and then I usually always fall asleep, I haven't been able to knit on them.

I did finally finish a spinning "project" and here it is.

It's about 320 yards, Superwash merino, 2 ply, sport weight. Would make some cool socks I thought, but I have plenty of sock yarn, so I put it on Etsy at least for now. I was glad to finish that up since I just today got in the mail my next spinning project. Check out this beauty

I got it off of etsy from CJ Kopec Creations and I can't wait to start spinning it. By the way, it came in very fast and she has some awesome other colors too, so I am sure I will be a repeat costumer.

I just got some roving in to dye and list but have only gotten one done. It sold already but I think it's pretty enough to put a picture of up on here.

It's Merino. I have to get my act together and dye up the rest of it and list it. Hopefully next week I can do that.

Guess that's all for now. I promised the Bear I would go out and watch some more of Hoodwinked with him and that laundry out there ain't gonna fold itself!

Been a while

2007-10-10T13:11:00.000-05:00

Lots going on around here. Busy with football still. It's so fun. the team has only won one game, but they are pretty good. A couple weeks back they played a really really good game, they should have won, but lost 7-0. It was a real heart breaker. They got a touchdown and it was called back because of holding or something like that. Anyway, Here is Tommy's football pictures. Oh, and in the beginning of the season he was 93 lbs (without pads) and wasnt' sure if he would be able to play (have to be under 90 with pads to play) and now he is 85 lbs! He has done so good with exercising and eating healthy. I'm so proud of my boy!

Let's see, knitting, For Christmas last year, Tommy bought me a 1/2 lb bag of shetland roving (Shetland is my favorite( and I spun it all up

and I've been waiting for just the right project to use it on. And I found this pattern for a great pair of really really thick socks called "Montana Woolies"
Montana woolies pattern

So I Just got done turning the heel and I love them. I am going to buy some leather soles to put on them since I didnt' reinforce the heel with anything, that way I"m hoping they will last a long time since the roving was so special to me. Here is what I have done so far.

They are going to keep my tootsties so warm this winter.

And last, FINALLY we are out of that 90 degree/humid weather. I Love love love fall and am ready to be a little chilly. I want to wear a sweater and mittens and drink hot cocoa at at least one of Tom's football games, instead of shorts and T's and sweating my butt off. So I was very excited to know fall weather was on it's way and I dyed some superwash merino and made a batt.

I love the colors. I have it onsale on my etsy shop and I have more to card, but I love it. I'm thinking of trying to dye more just like it so I can keep some. It is Superwash Merino and Angora bunny (which I found impossible to spin unless I mixed it with Merino. I dont' know how people spin that stuff! I should keep trying, but mixed with merino it makes such nice batts and pretty, soft yarn)

Check it out!!!

2007-09-26T10:10:00.000-05:00

Yes, that's right, I actually finished a PAIR of socks!! LOL I love them. THey are really soft, and I like how they striped.

So yesterday was my Birthday. I had a great day. I took Josh to Steve's sisters house and Michele (Our younger sister) and I and Luke all went to a shop out in East Berlin. Should have been only an hour and a half away but there was a bad accident on 222 and the raod was closed, it took us 3 hours to get there! Anyway, it is all knitting, spinning, weaving, dyeing, fibery type store The Mannings Then came home, the kids went shopping after school with steve and gave me a few presents. I got Dance Dance Revolution for PlayStation, OMG that's so much fun. And a great workout! Then we went to football and a couple of the other mom's "Kidnapped" me, threw me in a Jag and took me to Dairy Queen. Then after football, Steve's Mom made us cupcakes so we treated the team and all the familes to cupcakes. worked out perfect since I didn't want a cake since I didn't want leftovers sitting around for me and tommy to eat.

Fun day!

Now back to the housework that I slacked on yesterday and man can you ever tell when you look at my house!

Finally

2007-09-19T13:33:00.000-05:00

I got in some supper soft, squishy superwash merino and I finally got around to dyeing some of it. I didn't even get half of it done yet. But it was fun doing just the 6 skeins that I did. With football, kickboxing, schoolwork etc....Seems like I would never have a chance to get these done. But I did, and I just listed them this morning. They are around 430 yards, sock yarn, superwash, all dyed by Me!

Keep checking if you interested, I have a lot more to be reskeined, dyed and listed. I am hoping within the next week to have it all done and up on my Etsy

September 18, 2007

2007-09-18T10:50:00.000-05:00

Fall's almost here! YAY, my favorite time of year. This past weekend was so nice. A litle cool, NO humidity. Perfect football weather. Joe started saturday. He loved it. I'm so glad I get to go watch him this coming weekend. Tommy played Sunday. They lost. His buddy Jonathon got the only touchdown. He's such a cutie, he told him Mom he cried as he got to the end zone. Here are a couple pictures. We "kidnapped" Steve's brothers boy after church. They go to the school that we played against. their school colors are blue. Ours are red and black, so we painted him up all red and took him to the game to suprise his parents hahaha Here they are on the ride to the game.

Dylan, Tommy, then Joe (Left to right)

Forgot to add...Tommy weighed in and was only 1 lb over! So he's at 91 lbs. and if he loses that 1 pound then it won't be an issue every eek over whether or not the other coach will let him play.

Half Time

Tommy #77

Last but not least. I finally got to skeining up a bunch of yarn. I dyed it and am drying it now. ONce it's reskeined again I will list it on my etsy shop

It's all sock yarn. around 430 yards. Superwash Merino.

Walk For the Whisper 2007....pictures

2007-09-15T19:16:00.001-05:00

Here are a few. We had some beautiful weather. Had a great time walking.

Here is our team early on in the walk. Before my sister (Gina) and her DH (Joe) got there. (Some crazy construction made us late too. We were a little annoyed with all the traffic)

I think there may be one other person missing from that picture, but for the life of me cant' figure out who it is. I may be counting wrong.

My brother and the love of his life hahah (cardboard cut out) He loves that girl on all the Mercury commercials. I tried to get him to kiss the picture, but he woudln't

Tom and Mike

From left to right, Michele and Luke, Me (Beth) Mike, Whitney and Gina, infront is Tommy

Big arch of balloons that you walk under to start the 3 miles. They had a dj there and Tommy was standing under it dancing after the walk LOL

Seemed like there were so many more people there this year as opposed to the last few years. This is a not so great picture of all the people infront of us at the walk. There were a lot of people!

A Big Thank You!

2007-09-14T19:38:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to take a minute and send out a big thank you to a bunch of people. Tomorrow is the walk in Philadelphia for the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. This year we got 13 team members to walk in Team: Gail's Grace and raised over $1,000 (Although right now our page only shows $830 something.....we have quite a few donations to hand in the morning of the walk, so before too long, our total will be updated and correct) Check us out. Team Gail's Grace I want to thank anyone and everyone who donated. This is such a great cause. Something I feel passionate about. Awareness is #1 with catching this disease early. But unfortunately not much is known about symptoms. The NOCC is all about education. Getting the word out there, letting ladies know the ever so subtle symptoms. I am a huge advocate of this since losing my Mom at such a young age. Mom was only 55 when she died from Ovarian Cancer. It was (and still is) devestating to all of us who knew and loved her. I just know she would be so proud of us for doing this walk for 3 years in a row now.

Also want to say thank you to the 2 ladies who bought yarn from my etsy store Fibers N Threads Morning of the walk, I will be donating the proceeds from the sale of the teal sock yarn I sold to the NOCC and I can't tell you enough just how much it means to me that you supported our team by purchasing the yarn. Alfiberdreams and Yarn Collectors Anonymous (Thanks girls!)

So now I am just getting all of my stuff together. My donations, camera, T shirts and/or signs to hang on our shirts to show everyone what our team name is. Tomorrow will be such an emotional day. I always wish I just had the chance to participate in this walk just one time with my Mom. I sure wish she was here to come down to Philly with us. But I know she is proud of what we are doing and she will be there walking right along with us tomorrow.

Love ya Mom!!!

More on football

2007-09-11T07:27:00.001-05:00

Last night at practice, they called all the kids around, so that's our little guys...on up to the 6th graders and just talked about the games. Then all the bigger kids started clapping for our little guys for winning their first game. (all the other teams lost) Our guys thought that was so cool. When they were dismissed to go to their fields for practice, our guys were doing flips and sommersaults and carrying on. They thought they were hot stuff.

Then we were talking about how excited our kids were after the game and one Mom said their boy was at home eating ice cream just thinking about the game and he said "Mom" and she said "what" and he said..."Thank you for my life" HAHAHA How cute is that!?!? I mean, it doesn't get any better than that!

Proud Mama!!!

2007-09-10T07:08:00.000-05:00

I thought watching my kids wrestle was exciting, It is...but. I thought seeing them play baseball was exciting, it is...but. I think I now know what it's all about.....FOOTBALL!!!! OMG, yesterday was Tommy's first game (The one before was a scrimmage, only used half the field, wasn't even on a football field, it was half the soccer field etc....) Okay...start from the beginning. almost 2 weeks ago, Tommy was weighed and told that he was 6 lbs over the maximum to be able to play in this league. With pads on you had to be 90 lbs or under. With his pads he was 96 lbs. We refused to put him on a diet, but just started trying to eat real healthy as a whole family, try to stress Tommy drinking water water water, and just try to make him aware of how much he is consuming. So yesterday morning, we knew he had lost a couple lbs, but not sure how much and if the coaches would let it slide or not. SOme coaches will let a kid that is a few lbs over play anyway, that will change from game to game. We were so nervous in the morning. TOmmy hardly ate anything. He and Steve woke up, just like they had done for the past week and a half and went for a bike ride or a walk, did jumping jacks, practiced kicking, just any kind of exercise for about an hour to sometimes an hour and a half. He ate a granola bar all morning, that's it. Him and steve worked out then went for a bike ride. We were so nervous over weigh in's. We got there early so they could practice, I had to work the concession stand (which was so much fun by the way) I worked there for 2 hours. Our coach took all the kdis in for an "unoffiical" weigh in (Both coaches have to be present for the official one) and TOmmy was only 2.5 lbs over now (That means he had lost 3.5 lbs!) and the coach told him he thought the other coach would let him play anyway. TOmmy came in to tell me and he was so excited. steve said he was standing a ways off and he saw Tommy come running at him with a huge smile on his face, and literally jumped into steve's arms. LOL I didnt realize at the time that the firs weigh in's didn't really count, so a little while later a lady came in and said "what's wrong with TOmmy? He's out there crying his little head off" I was like OH NO! I htought maybe they changed their minds or whatever. Found out a little while later, they did the official weigh in's. He was so nervous standing in line that he just started bawling. THen they weighed him and they didnt' say right away if he could play or not. As soon as they came out and told him he was okay to play, all of his team mates came over and jumped on him and were hootin' and hollerin' it was so cool! they all really support each other. Oh, there is another kid on the team who is in the same exact boat, over by 6 lbs. Lost 3.5 etc...he was able to play too. SO, (This is the coolest thing) Because of all their hard work to lose weight, the coach made TOmmy and this other kid the team Captains! How cool is that!?!? So now the fun began! The team all came running out thru a big paper banner, so cute! (I mean, I know they are big tough football players, but OMG, just so CUTE!!!) So Tommy got to play Linebacker, Right tackle and he was the kicker! It was an awesome game. Columbia got the first touch down and extra point, our guys came back and got the next touch down but no extra point. Came close to the end and we got another touch down, no extra point. It came down to a fumble and a PV (us) turnover to end the game! YAY! we won! Now, just have to add...our school is not known for having the best football team,to say the least. The highschoolers have played 2 games so far, both losses. and the 2 other PV teams that played yesterday lost, our little dudes are the only team that have won!!!! It was so much fun. We were the rowdy section of course. the coaches wife was sitting next to me and she lost her voice. another friend was on the other side ofme and we were yelling and carrying on. The coach's wife said we were louder than the parents for both of the other games that were right before ours. And of course I got pictures....

Our team running the the banner

Team Captains at the coin toss (Tommy #77 Chris #21)

PV on offense...action shot

Tommy setting up the ball for the kickoff

Him getting ready to kick another time

Right after the game

Oh, we have friends from wrestling who are a real nice family. The Dad coaches one of the older teams. Their 2 boys play football and wrestle. And, their little girl is Tommy's age, but she is this tiny little red headed, blue eyed, freckle faced spit fire. I love her. haha, she is hilarious. She is a chear leader and OMG, did she ever steal the show. There were times when they weren't chearing and they just would play music, and she was dancing and going crazy!!! She was playing air guitar, and dancing to Born to Be Wild (Very fitting) and all the other chear leaders were just standing there wathcing her with this look on their face like "Are we supposed to do that too!?!?" SO CUTE!!! I shold have gotten her picture. I will next time.

Check us out!!!!

2007-09-07T09:53:00.000-05:00

More to post about later. But first, check out our team for the Walk for the Whisper! We have a few more people that are going to sign up and a few donations to take day of the walk. Like the profits from my Ovarian Cancer yarn that I sold! (Thanks Ladies!) So we don't look so pathetic now that we actually officially have a team. Our team ROCKS! Team: "Gail's Grace"

Link to our Team Page

I think I have a problem.

2007-09-04T07:24:00.000-05:00

I finished my sock with the yarn I hand dyed and am selling on my etsy store with proceeds going to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition (Which by the way was a huge BOMB! no sales, which sucks. Even if I just would have sold one skein, at least I could have brought that money day of the Walk for the Whisper and donated that. Oh well)

So I stayed up late last night and finished. Turns out, I love it. One of my favorite socks I ever knit. Here's a picture

But.....My problem is this....

5, that's right, I said 5 beautiful, hand knit, cozy warm, lonely lonely socks. With no mate. I have a problem! DH said I was a freak! LOL So I told myself last night (ANd DH but he didn't believe me) That I will NOT start on another sock, unless it is the mate to one of these beauties. I think I am going to make STeve's 2nd sock first. His is the brown one. I don't think he will wear them, but he keeps giving me a hard time about how cold his un socked foot is LOL SO that's next on my list.

So Summer is officially over. The kids are back in school for their second week. Back to football practice after a 4 day weekend. Back to homework. But that's okay. The kids enjoy school. I hadn't posted it, but we are having some trouble with Tommy. Turns out he weighs 6 pounds too heavy to play with his age kids on football. Very Very upsetting since he is not fat. Just very tall and "sturdy" He has supper broad shoulders. (I can vouch for that, those shoulders tore me all up during child birth) and he's just a big boy. So 6 lbs on a boy who is not fat is going to be next to impossible for him to lose. And I won't put him on a diet. But I am trying to make healthier meals, bring in only healthy snacks and him and steve take a walk together every day. Poor boy, I feel bad for him! But we will still take himto practice becasue he seem stolike it so much. He can suit up for each game, but he will have to sit out for every game he is over the weight limit.

First day of school

2007-08-27T07:49:00.000-05:00

Wow,it's hard to believe that the boys summer break is over. Always sad for me, but I can honestly say it was time. The last couple of weeks Tom and Joe have done nothing but fight. It was getting unbearable. So I definetly think they needed a change. We had a great summer, we did a lot. I have a few more pictures to share. First is just a cute shot of Joe and Josh with Leo.

This picture Of Leo Joe actually took. I loved it.

Now on to football. Saturday morning, Tommy had his first football scrimmage. They played 2 teams for almost 2 hours straight in the hottest, most humid conditions I think we have had all summer. It was so fun! They boys did so good. SO CUTE! Tommy is right tackle on offense and linebacker on defense. He made one absolutely awesome tackle with a guy who broke away and was just about at the end zone. it was awesome. He had quite a few great takles and plays. A few pictures:

Tommy is # 77

Tommy and his best bud Jonathon

And last but not least, the pictures of the boys waiting for the bus this morning and getting on the bus. They are the very first stop this year, so the first ones on the bus in the a.m. and the last ones off in the p.m.

Busy Busy Busy

2007-08-19T15:24:00.000-05:00

Wow,only one week left of summer vacation. For the most part that makes me sad. Then Tom and Joe start fighting and carrying on and I am thrilled! Joey having some issues right now. He is very hyper. Very defiant, he has started lyeing about little stuff, but still lyeing none the less. He is a total hurricane. He can trash a room in 2 seconds. He is very very loud and will make noise and get louder and louder just to be annoying. I told Steve today that I swear if he were tested he would be diagnosed with ADHD. He disagreed, but I"ve worked with kids in the past with that diagnosis and I'm almost certain he is. I am anxious for him to get back to school and get some structure and discipline from someone other than me.

We have been trying to do a ton of stuff with the boys. Last weekend, On SATurday we took them bowling. Fun for them, but I couldn't bowl since I broke my toe (wrestling with Anita up at kickboxing) I had fun watching. Then we went to mini golf. That Sunday then, after church, We went fishing. I am the only one who caught anything and I finally got a "The one that got away story" Here are a few pictures from fishing.

Steve at the bottom of the damn (The water was low still)

The boys trying to catch something at the boat ramp.

Me fishing at the only spot we even got nibbles the whole day

Tuesday then (August 14) My MIL came up early to sit with the kids and Steve and I ran about an hour and a half away to look at a van and we got it! YAY, we've been looking for so long. I love it. First, we rode out there in STeve's DAd's old Jeep. It was fun, felt like we were dating again since STeve always had Jeeps. Then Igot to drive the van back. Here is a link to pictures of the Van

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/img_popup.jsp?car_id=227233999

Tommy also started regular football practice this past week. Every night. for 2 hours. It really wears him out, but he loves it. It's fun for us too. I'm friends with one of Tom's friends Mom, so I get to sit and talkwith her the whole time.

Then Friday, Steve took off work and we took the kids to The Camden Aquarium. It was so much fun. Here are a few pictures and a link to see all of them.

Link to the whole album

Camden Aquarium

I think that's it for now. Last week of summer vacation coming up so I'm sure we will be busy trying to squeeze in everything we didn't get a chance to do.

One last thing for any of my fellow knitter/spinners who visit, a skein I just got done plying. The colored strand is corriedale, merino and tunis, the white is merino/tunis. Approximately 180 yards. I spun the colored strand from a batt. My first real spinning from a batt. It was fun.

http://images.etsy.com/all_images/9/9dc/0c3/il_fullxfull.10559471.jpg

Ruched Camisole

2007-08-03T09:20:00.000-05:00

Yay, I just finished. Actually...kind of funny. I was going gung ho on it last night and got to the straps. It says to crochet a chain that is 16" long and I mis read it and did only 16 chains and then started the strap, they were WAAAY short and when I put it on I was like "Um, something's not quite right" So I took them apart and did them right this morning. I love it, it's so soft. I used the yarn that was recomended in the book "Knitting Lingerie Style" by the way is where the pattern came from (Love that book, there are so many other projects in there that I want to do)

I even ordered a pair of the cute little ruffled undies that are pictured in the book to go with it. So cute together! (Sorry if that's TMI, I won't post the picture of the undies with the camisole) So here is my camisole

Yarn is Knit One Crochet Too Douceur et Soie Baby Mohair and silk blend, oh so soft. While I was making it, my youngest (3 1/2) would walk past and touch it all the time and put his head on it and say "Oh, it's so soft" LOL

"Double Boogie"

2007-07-31T09:41:00.000-05:00

haha, so we made this deal with the boys, if they saved up half the money for a Nintendo Wii we would put in the rest. We thought this would be a few month project, do a few chores here and there, save their quarters. Little did we know, they had stashes of money they have been saving in their room. Little stinkers had their $125 in a "Wii Fund" jar (an animal cracker container they dumped haha) In just about a week and a half. So yesterday we went to EB games and took the chance that they would have the Wii and sure enough, they had some there. It is actually fun. I'm not a video game type person, neither is Steve. But this is fun, gets you up and active. Well, this morning, Tom and Joe were golfing and Josh was laying on the couch watching and every once in a while he would yell out "Double Boogie" and then laugh hahaha. I tried to tell him it's "Bogey" but didn't work, sounded close enough to boogie that that's what he thought it had to be.

Football camp started yesterday. It's actually only for Tommy although Joe is signed up for football too. Me and the boys went last night. It was fun to watch Tom out there playing with the other kids. He can be so shy and timid, I'm hoping between football, wrestling AND being picked for the baseball All Star game it will give him a little self confidence and get him out of his shell a bit. Cant' wait for their games to start! That will be so cute! Yes, I will be one of those annoying MOm's who is snapping pictures the whole time.

So some fiber-y stuff. a batt I made. It is superwash merino, Tunis, Mill ends, and some Angelina blingy stuff that is kind of hard to see in the pictures.

on sale at my Fibers N Threads

Also....The Ovarian Cancer Walk for the Whisper is in a month. I just signed up our Team. For those of you who don't know, Two years ago Tomorrow (august 1st) I lost my Mom to Ovarian Cancer. She was only 55 years Old. This will be our 3rd year in a row going into Philadelphia and doing the walk with the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. Here is a link to our "team page" I just started it, so no one else has even signed up or donated, so that's why it's basically empty.

Team Gail's Grace page

and I have had this advertised on my etsy site for a while now. Me and My sister are dyeing some superwash merino sock yarn teal and white in honor and memory of my Mom. Part of the proceeds from sale of any teal and white skein will be brought with us on the day of the walk and donated to the NOCC (National Ovarian Cancer Coalition) on the day of the walk. We dont' have it done yet, so it is not listed, but here is my skein I took pictures of and a sock I started to knit with it. If you are interested, look for it to be listed in about 2 or 3 days.

This is what it looks like knitted up into part of a sock.

What would we do without.....

2007-07-23T11:42:00.000-05:00

....this pool.

This cheapie old pool, has been the best thing ever this summer. All of the kids love it. I have no idea what the kids would be doing all summer without it, the lane next to our house that goes back to the Amish house that is way far behind us in the woods. They ride bike on there every day and ahve a fort built back there in the woods. And last, the dirt pile that we still have from when we had the basement dug for the addition. They are crazy, and ride their bikes and their scooters down it and have ramps and stuff built at the bottom of the pile haha.

anyway, these pictures I took on Friday of the boys in the pool. I didn't crop any of them, so keep in mind my back yard is a big junked up. That deck looking thing will eventually be build up to be flush with the side of the pool so it will be nice, we had to take that off of our existing deck when we did the addition, for now it is just sitting on the ground. and the old red building/barn is going to be replaced here real soon, so it's all overgrown around it and their is junk piled up behind it for, well, I'm not sure why...so just ignore all the "Redneck stuff" sitting around

Josh

Tommy

Joe LOL

Leo

Crashed out in usual fashion on my bed

A Batt I made

what I had done from spinning the batt on Friday. I have a lot more done now. It's almost all gone. I love spinning from batts.

Friday already

2007-07-20T09:57:00.000-05:00

Another week has gone by again! It is a georgeous day. No humidity at all. In a bit I promised the kids a long bike ride. They just got into a movie that is only about a 1/2 hour long, so I'm waiting a bit. I actually only want to play with some fibery stuff. I just dyed some hot pink superwash merino that I want to card into some pretty batts. I am loving my drum carder. I have just a couple pictures.

This one is corriedale, superwash merino, and goat and bunny angora

Then last night I made a 2 ounce batt out of some hand dyed superwash merino, bamboo, baby alpaca. So this morning I split it and pulled it out into these 2 slivers.

and last picture, is Peanut the one eyed Pirate Cat. Sqeezed himself into this box and was crashed out haha

My socks are still on hold since I am really not in love with them. I really love the one I did first that striped, but since it's doing this funky thing with the colors, I really do'nt like them. I am thinking of taking the 2 ones I started apart and seeing if I can start over some way to get another one that stripes. (Scroll down to see what I'm talking about)

and I am just about done the Rouched Camisole I started from the Knitting Lingerie style book that I am still in love with. I am anxious to finish up with that so I can start on the next project from that book, the pearls and silk cami. and to go along with the rouched camisole, I am going to buy a pair of these to go with

Ruffle butt pants

Probably NOT the Leapord Print ones haha. but how cute are they! My camisole thing is teal, so I will get a pair to match that. I don't think I can pull off the Leapord print ones LOL

A week has gone by

2007-07-14T07:53:00.000-05:00

First a sock update, remember the Lorna's Laces I posted about last post? I started a 3rd sock with the fresh skein. Made sure I started at the same end as the first sock that striped. And I am getting the same effect as the 2nd sock, no striping at all. so it looks like I will have one odd, striped sock.

My question is, Isnt' it weird for 2 socks to come out that way when the first one came out so nice and striped? Do I buy another skein to knit a 4 th sock and hope that it knits up like the first one (striped) so I dont' have one odd sock? No pictures to add to the initial one from my blog, but the 3rd one looks exact to the 2nd....weird! I'm not sure I'll be knitting socks with that yarn anymore. It's beautiful, but when you cant' get a matching pair out of it, it's not worth the trouble.

Not too much exciting going on, lets see. First, I got my yarn from my Pal Heidi We decided on just the amount of yarn we would spin for each other. Everything else was a secret. We did 4-5 ounces of anything we wanted. I spun her's up, hated it and decided to make her a new skein. So I am a total slacker, Her yarn is not done yet. So I can not share any secrets about it. But I got my yarn this week along with some Romney fleece! Here is my yarn

How pretty is that!?!? I love it. I had every intention of waiting to open the package until I got hers sent out and that lasted all but 5 minutes with the box sitting on my kitchen table. I am so close to finishing hers, I am hoping to get it sent out on Monday. Heidi, I'm so sorry I'm such a slacker and I"m not done yours yet!!!

Tuesday the kids had a friend over, Wednesday they had 3 friends over, Thursday, they had their cousin over. OMG, I am exhausted. I like having friends over for the kids, but just once I would love for someone to give me a break and take my kids. I am always taking everyone's kids. Especially Steve's brothers three. It gets old. I mean, don't get me wrong I like having kids here, but me and Steve never ever get even just a 1/2 hour alone so on the weekends it would be nice and trust me during the week just once I would love to let my kids all go somewhere so I coudl have even just 2 hours of quiet time. It never happens though, so I will keep on wishing.

Friday I took the kids fishing. We had a blast. I only intended on staying an hour or an hour and a half. But we ended up there over 3 hours. I didn't even pack a lunch because I thought we wuold be back by then. We were so hungry when we finally left. Here are a couple of pictures.

Josh by the water

Me and the boys at our table by the water.

My guys

A Goodyear blimp that went over the lake. (Josh saw it and told me that we should have one of these LOL)

And here are two pictures i finally got off of my camera from the Railroad last week.

On the train.

Standing next to the train.

And last but not least, from when we got the slip N slide a few weeks ago

That's all the pictures I have for now. I have been really into making Batts and I did a really pretty one yesterday and had every intention of taking a picture before I uploaded all the pictures onto my PC, but I forgot so I will still have to do that. If I ever finish Heidi's yarn, I want to spin the batt I just made last night. It's so pretty. I just ordered some different stuff to add into my batts like some Bamboo, some baby alpaca, I forget what else. I can't wait for that to come in so I can play. The batt I made last night had superwash merino, corriedale, angora and mohair. it's so soft. I have a bunch of Llama I want to wash so I can play with that too. I just really have to get Heidi's yarn done before I do anything else.

Well, that's all for now. It's Sat. am and Steve is working. I just put in a batch of Blueberry muffins for him. (His favorite) I'm so nice right!? Actually, I want to take a trip ALONE to the yarn shop when he gets back LOL So that's my bribe for that haha. I have a project I want to make and I need some 100% silk yarn. I want to see what the LYS has before I order it online.

sock dilemna

2007-07-05T13:51:00.000-05:00

So I started on a pair of Socks with my very first Lorna's Laces yarn (Love it by the way) Started Saturday, finished Tuesday. So Wednesday morning, I casted on for sock #2. Here's the deal. I bought 2 skeins since 1 would not be enough to a pair. I knit the first sock, then instead of switching to the second skein, I figured I'd just start the 2nd sock with what was left on the first skein, then move on to skein #2 after #1 is gone. Well, I just now realized that my socks aren't going to match!!! Check it out...

So I'm really bummed, but I feel like I should take sock #2 apart and start over with the new skein, but I was so excited to have that much done on sock #2 since I am notorious for knitting one sock and then not knitting the match to it for a year and a half. DH calls me the "crazy sock lady" Not to be confused with the "Crazy sockS lady" the one who actually finishes a pair.

So I can imagine what everyone will say, but I'll ask anyway, would you take sock #2 apart and start over?

Strasburg Railroad

2007-07-05T12:55:00.000-05:00

So Tuesday (July 3) I took the 3 boys to the Railroad to ride on a real steam locomotive. Then we walked around and got a couple cheap souveniers. Then out to lunch. It was a fun day. Here is a picture that someone came around and took for everyone then you can look at it and decide if you want to buy it or not.

Me and my Guys.

And they said it couldn't be done.....

2007-06-29T09:16:00.000-05:00

haha...I'm loving this new knitting book I just got (See previous post) and it's always a joke with Steve about how I can knit anything except underwear.....WELL, let me present, my hand knit panties!!

HAHA! How cute are they? Knit with Cascade Fixation yarn, mostly cotton with some elastic in it, so they are stretchy and so comfy! Ok, so I havne't worn them yet. Or even tried them on, since I want to show them to people and I feel kind of weird busting out a pair of my Unmentionables after they've actually been on my body.

And here's a skein of lace weight yarn that I dyed yesterday.

I love it. Unfortunately I can't keep it. It was part of my first dye job that I am doing for the yarn shop. I just love these colors together and I may have to do some sock yarn for myself out of this. Actually I have some white merino roving I think I'll spot dye these colors and see what it looks like spun up.

Doing a little dyeing

2007-06-27T12:21:00.000-05:00

So as most people I know, know....I have been dyeing some yarn and selling it on my etsy shop...(Shameless plug coming.....)

Fibers N Threads

So I happen to be at a yarn shop a few weeks back and happen to talk to the owner and told her how much I enjoy dyeing my own sock yarn and selilng it. She suggested I bring some in so she can try it out and that maybe I could sell her some yarn for her to sell in her shop. So I got a call back from her last week, met with her on Thursday and I got a "dyeing Gig" haha (that sounds so much better than "new project" or whatever. So she is going to start a "Mystery Shawl" type thing. You sign up, get part of a shawl pattern, yarn, stitch markers or something else little. Then you finish the part of the pattern you got and you choose the next part, like you don't know what is next you just maybe choose #1, 2, or 3 and they send you that pattern. HOpe that makes sense. So everyone who does this will all come up with different shawls at the end. So, here's where I come in. The person who joins, somehow picks among the color schemes that the shop offeres and I hand dye the yarn for them. It's so cool, all the shops in the "Village" where the shop is are all different, unique colors with a contrasting trim. and all the skeins will be dyed to represent one of the shops. How cool is that? So I am doing a little bit of dyeing right now just to check my colors, which I ordered just for this project. I think I've come at least close on all the colors. and I am very excited to give this a go since I love dyeing yarn and come on, there is only so much hand dyed yarn you can having sitting around before it becomes an obsession. Especially when you can' t knit it fast enough compared to how fast I can get a bunch of skeins dyed.

First skein, sock weight, is on the stove right now. It has flecks in it to represent a mosaic tile type wall outside the shop. Very cool.

Oh, and I just got a book in the mail that I LOVE>....I have been eyeing it for a while now and finally broke down and ordered it. I mean, you can knit your own underwear! that's right, PANTIES!! How cool is that! Steve will think I'm nuts, but oh well.

Another week gone

2007-06-25T07:07:00.000-05:00

Another week and weekend of summer is done. Kind of bums me out that June is almost gone. We had a nice weekend. Friday night we took the kids to play miniature golf. It was their first time. It was fun. A georgeous night and perfect for being out in the beautiful golf course. It's so nicely set up kind of in the woods, so it's all shaded, with a creek that runs thru most of the place. The boys loved it. Saturday Steve worked an auction so me and the boys went up for a bit. I only got 2 Cutco knives and a cool bean pot. 2 Bucks for them both!!! and the Cutco's look brand new. There is a receipt in the box for $79 and I got them both for $2! Plus a bean pot!!! LOL Saturday night we took all 3 boys to see Pirates of the Carribean 3. I have never been more excited to see a movie before LOL (How lame is that?) It was good. We all enjoyed it. The first one was still my favorite, but I like how this one ended. It was Josh's first movie. He did really well for an almost 3 hour long one! Sunday we were semi lazy. Tommy had a Birthday party to go too and we got a visit from Aunt Linda and her new grand baby! He was so cute! 5 weeks old already and he looks just like Uncle Joe. She was here for a couple hours and I got to hold him the whole time. That could be dangerous! I am now officially down 15 lbs (actually 16 as of this morning, but I never count it as a true loss until I see the same number on the scale for 2 days in a row....I don't know, I know that sounds dumb, but that's what I do) So I just know as soon as I get down another 10 lbs or so I am going to give in and have another baby.

Otherwise, I've been in a bit of a "funk" lately. Haven't really talked to anyone about it. Steve knows I've been "sad" as I told him, just because I didn't want to burden him with anything. Dont' even know why I'm writing about it. I guess just becuase I think if I talked to someone about it I may feel better, but my choices of people to talk to who may eve come close to understanding is very slim. So posting that I am in a "Funk" is the closest I can come to talking about it. now along with the Funk, it's a rainy Monday and I have to try to keep 3 boys content inside without killing each other!