Knitting In The North

Holiday Highlights 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14

 

 

 

I know it's trite to say that time flies, but I literally have trouble believing that my sweet baby Katie just turned fourteen.  Fourteen!!  It seems so big, so grown up, so mature, so scary.  And I suppose she is all of those things, actually. 

 

The first one to volunteer to help me shovel the snow, the one who is my right hand in our house, with the kids, with life.... is growing up.  It's hard to believe in a few more short years she will be heading off to college, taking on the world as an adult.  It makes me a tad teary to think about it, but is also makes my heart swell with pride.  I'm happy to say that now, at fourteen, come what may, I genuinely like my teenager - which I know is a huge blessing in itself, one not every parent has at this particular moment. 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Katie.

 

Halloween

 

 

 

 

As much as I love taking pictures, every now and then I get so caught up in the moment that I completely forget to pick up the camera.  Halloween night was one of those times; I was so busy adjusting wigs, setting out pumpkins, finding props & chasing Liam that capturing it all for posterity went right out the window.  Fortunately, a friend saved the day by grabbing a shot of the brood while begging for candy.

 

 

 

 

We have here, then, a halo-less angel, a fearsome pirate, a pink-haired Little Mermaid, and a brave astronaut.  Even the astronaut lasted the better part of an hour going from house to house, and then we went home to enjoy hot chocolate, while the big ones went back out for more (and more, and more...).  There are carefully labeled bags of candy tucked into the pantry, and Halloween is over for another year.  I wonder who will venture out with me next autumn?

 

Family Pictures

 

 

It's only taken us seven years to get organized, but a couple of weeks ago, we rounded everyone up and headed off to the park with Stuart's camera and tripod.  300+ shots later, here are my favourites, although I'm still trying to decide which one to get printed and framed.  Opinions, anyone?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a couple of fun ones of the kids being goofy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Sunday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following The Trail...

 

 

When I'm trying to sneak in a bit of schoolwork during the day, and it suddenly occurs to me that the house is strangely quiet, I find it a very good idea to stop what I'm doing and look for Liam.  By following the trail he leaves behind him, I generally track him down...

 

 

 

I suppose I'm thankful that he knows how to entertain himself, and enjoys using his imagination...

 

Birthday Boy

 

 

Although Liam turned three last week, we celebrated the big 3 today with him, and a few of our family friends.  I really love having a theme for parties, so when I discovered an Eric Carle Birthday Party kit a month or so ago I knew that was it.  Liam LOVES Eric Carle books, and one of his favourite is The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so that is what we went with.

 

 

The kit came with paper hats, a cardboard birthday banner, as well as goodie bags and stickers.  It also had a book filled with ideas for a themed party, that were all too complicated for me to deal with.  We had a do-it-yourself helium balloon kit, and Katie obliged us with custom artwork for each one.  I planned a couple of simple crafts, but we ended up just playing and visiting, although Katie did also offer her facepainting services.

 

 

 

I baked cupcakes last night, and this morning Stuart helped me quickly decorate them before our guests arrived.  The sun shone, we played outside, everyone was happy.  And most important - the birthday boy felt loved and special (and even tried out his new run bike).  I suppose that's what it's all about, right?

 

 

360

 

 

Life, again, has become crazy busy.  I seem to be saying this a lot lately, don't I?  Since I've missed even the weekly yarn along in the last two weeks, I thought I'd write a quick update - a 360 degree view of life right now.

• Schoolwork is occupying every spare moment I have right now.  I believe I may have been a tad ambitious when I signed up for three distance courses over the summer semester.  I'm keeping up, but I feel the dread of falling behind looming.  I hate that.  The schoolwork is good, though.  You can tell you're meant to work in a library when you find an Intro to Libraries course fascinating...

 

• Stuart has been riding the bike we bought him for his last birthday. Now that we're all on wheels, we've been riding to a local park a few times a week, as a family.  It's great to get us all outside together, and it's really been helping me build my confidence on the scary bicycle.

 

• This week, I officially managed my first "truck-free" day.  As in, I rode my bike (with Liam in the trailer) where I needed to go, instead of driving.  Not that I just stayed home all day.  (Although that would be nice...)

 

• Liam turned three this week.  He's suddenly turned into a preschooler - it's crazy.  Overnight, he's started doing things like cutting with scissors, drawing and painting actual pictures, arguing with his mom, and reciting the alphabet and numbers.  His party is this Sunday - I'm planning a Very Hungry Caterpillar party, since it's one of his favourite books.

 

• Having no babies in the house is something different for me!  This morning, my nephew & his mom came for a visit.  He's nine months old, and so busy.  Funny how a house becomes not child-proof so quickly.  But I really love being able to get rid of so many things that we've always kept "for the next one".

 

• Flowers that are pink and yellow at the same time are my favourite.  The dahlia (above) was at the grocery store the other day, and leaped into my cart when I wasn't looking.  It makes me very happy.  Sometimes I find snapdragons this colour, too.  They're even better, because I can make the dragon roar, which makes Liam laugh.

 

• Katie was honoured at her school award ceremony last night, with a Principal's list academic award.  That means she got all A's (and one B) this year, which is huge for her first year of high school.

 

• A guy I work with is directing a performance of "As You Like It".  I'm going to get tickets tomorrow, and Stuart & I are going to have an actual date night.  Not just shopping at Costco kid-free, which is our usual date night.

 

• Brian is turning into an electronic whiz.  He went to a garage sale last weekend with $5, and came home with a TV, an adding machine and a broken DVD player.  He's been having lots of fun taking things apart.

 

• I was knitting Citron with some Noro Sekku that I bought in a fit of needing something yellow.  Then, I saw the pattern Echo Beach, and had to rip out my Citron to cast on for that, instead.  It's slowly, slowly coming along, but the colour changes keep me entertained.

 

• Gwenyth is almost finished Kindergarten!  She still loves it, but thinks it's a lot of work.

 

• I went to my first library conference this week.  My library was holding it, so I got to spend a day in workshops, and I thought it was awesome!  So many exciting things to learn about, and I was introduced to the comic strip Unshelved.  Very funny, even for those strange people who don't think the library is the best thing since sliced bread.

 

• I'm still working on Liam's blue sweater, although not as quickly as he would like.  He gets very annoyed with me when he catches me working on Echo Beach, and says, "That's not my blue sweater!" in a very threatening and meaninful voice.  I'm so lucky to have such an observant child.

 

Wow, I had even more to say than I thought I did!  Did you manage to read all of that?  What's going on in your world these days?

 

Poor Little Bunny

 

 

Little Liam has been felled by a nasty stomach bug - I don't think I've ever seen him so sad, or quiet.  He was at the computer on his own for a few minutes, and Stuart found him like this.  Poor little guy...

 

"9"

 

 

Brian turned nine yesterday.  He opted to take a couple of friends to the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie instead of having a party, but I had to turn it into a bit of one, anyway.  Quick fish cupcakes, and a few little accessories can make any day into Pirate Day, right?

 

 

 

 

Just the fact that he would rather go to a movie with a few buddies shows how grown-up my boy is getting.  I love it, though, that he's not to big to throw on the pirate gear, and act it out when he came home, checking with the Blackbeard book brought home from the library (for accuracy, of course).  

 

 

 

My, how the years have flown...