Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The Uglies go for a Ride!

This video is OLD (October 20th), but so cute. T practices walking while giving Ugly Ghost and Ugly Dog a ride in his Educo walker. He started taking single tentative independent steps a week or two later and had his big walking break through about a month later at Thanksgiving.



I never get tired of watching these. I LOVE that little turkey tail. It's gone now that his hair is a little longer. He still gets bed head, but it's not quite the same. I'm also so glad we caught that darling pointy finger. He's been doing that for quite some time, but until I posted this it didn't occur to me that this is our first video record of it. That little finger was a huge breakthrough in communication.

He decided to crawl back down the hall instead.

What ever happened to December?

Super busy = neglected blog. I'm the oldest of 7 children and most of my siblings have a handful or two of children of their own. If I haven't completely lost count, I have 13 nieces and nephews at this point. Each year we draw two families for Christmas because gifting 20+ people is just cumbersome. This year I drew the two of the larger families ... 7 + 5 = 12 hand knitted gifts. Twelve may not look like a lot, but with a baby and a full time job, it's hard to find the time. Did I mention that I also made dress ups? In the rush to get things out the door in time for Christmas delivery, I failed to take pictures of most of the gifts, so I'm hoping my family will take pity on me and send me photos of said items being modeled.

I'd planned to only make hats, but I got a special request from this darling little guy. It went along the lines of "Will you make me a scarf today because I don't have one?" This little five year old already knows how to stroke the knitter's ego! There's nothing more rewarding that knowing that someone actually WANTS a hand knit gifted. He didn't get a scarf the next day, but he did get one for Christmas.


These Medieval dress-ups I made are REALLY big. hopefully that means they have a lot of years of entertainment in them.


Now that the Christmas gifts are done and delivered (all except one small delinquent item) I can start playing blog catch up.

Speaking of time flying ... What happened to may baby and where did this little boy come from. More on that to follow.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Pacifier Cache

T drops his Pacifiers behind the head board of our bed.


If you're wondering why the wall behind our bed looks like it's under construction ... it's been patched twice. The pipes for the guest bathtub are on the other side of the wall and we discovered mold when removing the base boards right after we bought the house. We hired someone to deal with the mold and when they opened the wall they found the sub floor and wall support 2x4s were mostly rotted through. They also found (and removed) a family of dead rats. Scott replaced the sub floor, shored up the wall supports, and patched the wall. We actually re-textured and painted it.

About a year later we noticed a terrible smell in our bedroom. After much investigation we determined that something had died behind the wall again. Scott removed the patch and found a stinky dead mouse. We haven't re-textured or painted. Who knows when we'll have to open it up again.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

I can't believe it's been a whole year

It seems like just yesterday I brought my 7 lb 3 oz baby boy home. He had the cutest squeaky cry, a head full of silky dark hair, and a snugly little body. Yesterday was his first Birthday! He's very good natured and doesn't cry much, but when he does its still cute even though he's lost his squeak. All his dark hair fell out and was replaced by soft dark blond hair that sticks straight up in back. We get may compliments on his natural punky hairstyle every time we go out. He is still very snugly and small, but not the tiny peanut he was a year ago. We had a small family celebration with Mom, Dad, Oma, Uncle Steve, Aunt Erin, cousin S, and cousin A.

Our little family poses for a picture with the Birthday boy!


Birthday dinner .... yummy!


I bought a white cake with vanilla custard filling from Costco. It was buried in frosting and had a frosting dinosaur on it. Torin helped pick it out. He thought it was fun to stick his fingers in the icing when we lit the candle and cut the cake, but when we gave him a slice, he cried and didn't want to eat it. He wanted the WHOLE cake. Remember, this is a Costco cake. We had so much that I sent some home with the cousins and still had a plate in the fridge and two large containers in the freezer. I know he has big eyes, but they are defiantly not bigger than his stomach.



T didn't seem to like the frosting on his tiny piece, so Dad cut it off for him and tried to hide it. Once T actually tried the cake he decided he liked it. Especially the custard. Did I mention that the cake packaging boasted 2 lbs of vanilla custard?



T gets ready to open his presents. He didn't really understand this party of the party. Why should he? Everything is his anyway, isn't it?


The loot.


T looks guilty as he makes off with a ball from one of his new toys.


Everyone wants to play the cool Pat Bells from T's German relatives.


Melissa and Doug Bridges from Grandma and Grandpa Swenson. This go with the starter train set the Swenson Grandparents gave T for his first Christmas.


Another fun music toy


Do these couches make my butt look big?
T tries to escape they party, but gets wedged between the couches. It must be time for bed.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The Force

The Halloween cram! I may not have much time, but I couldn't let T spend his first Halloween in a tacky store bought costume. Poor The Scoot didn't get a costume this year. I'll be starting his for next year right after I'm done with Christmas ... yeah right.

Little Jedi, complete with stuffed tissue lame light saber. It's Halloween morning and T is just about to head to school where he gets to participate in the Halloween parade. The cream "shirt" under his tunic is actually a onsie that I made. If I ever find the time I'll take a picture of it. It would have been perfect if I'd added some interfacing before inserting the snaps AND if I hadn't put one of the snaps in backwards. Oh well, it only had to last a day.


Only the cutest little Jedis get warm fleece robes to wear trick or treating. This cute hooded robe is fully lined for extra warmth.


T bundles up in preparation to go Trick or Treating.


T and his cousins head out to score some candy.


The kiddos had a blast and T brought home a ton of candy for The Scoot and I. I stayed home to pass out candy to the 10 children that bothered to ventured into our cul-de-sac. Those lucky 10 kids were thrilled with the handfuls of candy bars we dumped into their various candy receptacles. There were a lot of kids on the main road. We really need to figure out how to lure them in next year. Its bad for my figure to be left with so much Halloween candy. Luckily we offloaded about half of what I originally purchased at a Trunk or Treat on Saturday night.

Tactics

The lengths I go to ....

Go about your business Mommy, I have this covered, October 14, 2011


Mom Makes lunch while T plays in the kitchen jungle gym.


Go about your business Mommy, I'll clean out this cabinet for you, October 12, 2011


Mom Makes dinner while T searches for hidden treasures.

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