Zana, Jacob and I went up to the NH Sheep & Wool festival this weekend. I wasn’t sure what to expect having never been to one before but I must say it was a good time. We saw lots of fiber producing animals. Among my favorites were the miniature sheep:
so cute!
I could totally have one of these as a backyard pet. They are no bigger then a medium sized dog, seemed to love affection and best of all you can shear and make sweaters with them!
There was a lot of texture and inspiration there. My hands have been bothering me so much lately that I haven’t really been able to knit in a while but it sure did make me want to get back into the swing of things. some of my favorite textures are pictured below.
cone of combed fleece
before and after spinning
SU colors anyone?
wall of color
Zana and I decided that maybe we could save on paying to insulate our house by just hanging my stash of wool on the wall. Not only would we stay warm but it would look pretty as well! I didn’t buy much since I have to move it all across the country soon but I did get a needle felting kit and I got Sam a stuffed llama. I think the best part of having gone is teaching Sam to say llama.
I have nothing to report on the house front yet. It has been on the market for a week now, we’ve had 30+ showings (if you include the open house) and so far no offers. I’m hoping that we can end this madness soon, I’m getting real sick of having to leave the house for random 30 minute periods of time, especially when it’s dinner hour.
We went on vacation to visit my family in Atlanta last week and while we were gone the counter and sink in our kitchen were replaced. I honestly did not know what to expect when we got home but I must say I was plesantly surprised. They look great! Of course we did it just in time to move out of the house but I hope the new owner leaves it like that for at least a little bit.
the kitchen!
There are a few things I have always wanted to do while living in Boston and this week I got to check one of them off that list. Our good friend Jacob was running the Boston Marathon so we packed up and headed over to Coolidge Corner to cheer him on.
We got there just as the Ernst Van Dyke passed by. Unfortunately I didn’t get my camera out in time to get photographic proof of that. We got there early but boy am I glad we did. With 3 kids, 2 strollers and 5 adults we were able to carve out a nice bit of space right up front to watch from.
looking for the runners
Sam loved watching them all go by and everytime a group would pass by she would ask for “more”. We saw the lead women and men (and the very obvious sponsor vehicles) come by and then watched as the more “average” (not that I consider them to be average by any stretch of the imagination) come on through. After a very funny conversation between Chris and Joe about whether or not one approaching runner was in fact Jacob he arrived…
Jacob!
and passed by very quickly.
I must admit that being at the marathon is very different from watching it on tv. I’m glad that we got to see it before we moved. Maybe if Jacob runs again next year we’ll make the trip to see him run. It is truly inspirational to watch all these people run 26.2 miles and while a fair number of them seemed to be pushing their limits, most of them were still able to smile about it. My flickr stream has many more photos or the marathon if you want to see more head on over there.
Before Christmas and the onset of moving preparations I was actually sewing for a bit. I swear! I made 4 doll quilts in total for various young people I know:
already being put to good use
waiting to be sent to its new owner
I also made a shirt and dress for some special kids in our life:
looking spiffy in their outfits
The shirt is the Kimono shirt from Habitual only I lengthened the sleeves since is was winter. I used the fabric line from The Very Hungry Caterpillar book by Eric Carle. For the dress I used a simple tied at the shoulder dress pattern with a band of fabric from the Olivia (Ian Falconer) line. The kids seem to really like them and I know that I do. Enough so that I made a dress for Sam as well. She has yet to wear it but I’m sure she’ll love it when she does.
I am going to a class at Quilting By the Lake at the end of July and I am hoping that it gets my creative side going again. I did pick up a couple of books at the quilt store the other week and hopefully I will be able to take the time to explore them once we are past the push to get the house on the market. Only 2 weeks to go!
We have had so much going on and it’s been so long since I posted I don’t know where to begin. I guess I’ll start with the news (or not for most people) that we’re moving. Chris has decided that it is really time for him to be able to work in a real office. I can’t say as I blame him expecially now that Sam can open his office door and has interrupted a few conference calls this way. We are in the process of getting the house ready to sell. We have made good progress on our punch list and only have a few big things left to do. We are hoping to have it on the market in early May. I don’t know what that means in terms of moving date but I’m guessing sometime in July.
We are sad to be leaving our very kid/family friendly area but I am also looking forward to starting a new adventure on a new coast (I’ve only ever lived on the East Coast) and think that we will have a lot of fun.
In other news Samantha is quite a talker now and is working on 3 word phrases as well as telling stories. She is also entering the pretend play realm. I came upon this scene today after I had finished my lunch:
making "tea"
She is also becoming more interactive with other kids. Mostly in the getting upset if someone uses a toy that she *might* have wanted to use sometime in the future, but also in other ways. She was trying to tickle Sofie and Theo this week, they all held hands in the car on the way to the farm and this is how she and Theo said goodbye on Tuesday:
hugs for friends
Sam has also become a big fan of her potty. Last week she was putting her big bird on/in the potty and telling me he was pooping all the while she was filling her diaper. Today she told me that she was pooping (she was) and wanted to sit on the potty. I kept the diaper on this time but I think we’re rapidly (sooner then I was expecting) approaching the time when we may be doing it without the diaper. For those soon to be entering this phase I highly recommend 2 books to read to kids about the potty. The first one is Everyone Poops and the second one is Once Upon a Potty (make sure you get the correct version as they have a boy & girl one) they are both classics and most of us probably read them as children ourselves.
In other news spring is finally here!!!
spring is here!
I am so excited to finally be able to get out and go for walks, go to the park and best of all do some running. I was doing really well until the snow and ice arrived this winter. I am also trying the hundred pushups and two-hundred situps routine since I need to tone my core muscles. It’s challenging but it also makes me have more energy and feel a lot better. So far I have even lost 6-8 pounds since October, hopefully I can keep the trend up!
Samantha wanted to pass on some tips on how best to get complimented on the use of utensils.
Well I wasn’t going to work on the living room but when Sarah and I started hanging pictures in the office/play room I/we were forced to deal with the living room as well. The office/play room is still in progress so you don’t get to see that yet. However I think the living room looks great. Sam is also somewhat fascinated by the things hanging on the walls. Every so often she stops what she’s doing and points at them.
the view from the dining room into the living room
my new favorite sitting corner, especially when it’s Hero’s night.
You may have a long wait or a quick one but your vote counts so go vote. If Sarah and I can stand in line (over an hour in her precinct) with 3 toddlers and not have any meltdowns you can stand in line as well.
I’ve been having a lot of “I remember when we did this last year” moments lately. The first happened when we went to sing-a-long at a local toy store a few months ago. The last few have been this past week:
Halloween a year ago:
Halloween this year:
At Sofie and Theo’s 1st birthday:
at their 2nd birthday:
This doesn’t even show half the changes that we’ve seen in the last year. Her verbal skills are incredible, she has more words then we can count. I think she may have tried to (without prompting) say (no signs) “more apple” today. To be fair I am probably the only one who would have been able to understand it as “more apple” but she is getting there.
She is learning how to express her feelings, both through saying “no” and “yeah!!!” as well as the occasional meltdown (which I realize is nothing compared to most kids, but for Sam is unusual). So far I seem to bear the brunt of her negative displays of frustration but from what I understand that is not uncommon since I am the primary care giver.
I expect that I will have many of these “we’ve been here before, look how far we’ve come” moments but having these first ones is particularly heart warming and maybe a bit terrifying when I think of all the times to come.
This past week was “create a landing strip,” clean the shelves and organize the shoe/coat area(s). It wasn’t very hard to tackle this particular area of our house. I got baskets for everyone’s shoes, cleaned out the jacket area and the coat rack and moved the dresser we had in the office/play room to the dining room for the landing strip. I also cleaned out the built in, dusted all the shelves and got rid of the vcr tapes we had.
The landing strip:
The shoe area:
This coming week is going to be exciting. We’re supposed to work on the living room, but since I had to clean off the dresser to move it and all the stuff that was on it landed on my desk I’ve decided that I need to work on the office/play room. At least it will keep me occupied while the election returns come in tomorrow.
