we're cute

so we take cell phone pictures of ourselves in the morning when we're relaxing with our coffee, yarn & babies:

And then we send pictures of our cute selves to Auntie Lala (my youngest sister Lexi; nickname started when she was born, my middle sister couldn't say Alexandra and somehow turned it into LaLa and so it is).

Then we get a cute picture of auntie lala & grandma back - copying us. :)

We love being copied.



WIP Wednesday

So, my friend Kim had her baby girl, Dylan, last Wednesday. Baby is still at the hospital but should be going home any day now. Kim's home & doing as well as expected. She started having fever in labor which turned out to be an infection that passed to baby. Hospital policy is that antibiotics on newborns must be completed in the NICU. Lovely, over Christmas. I just can't wait to see her in person & snuggle the little thing!

Anyways, I visited the new (again) mama at the hospital & brought gifts. The first is a handmade owl pillow for the kids to share or just for the big brother to think that it's just for him being a great big brother. :) And the second was the stripey scarf. Finished and turned out really pretty (I think):

I may be biased since I modified the design so much & added stripes that it's almost like an original design. Like I kinda sorta designed something. :) I was really tempted to keep it.

Also: my sweet darling little brother gifted me yarn for Christmas. Right away the wheels started turning and I am now in the middle of knitting myself a hat. I hope it fits because this is also an 'original' design. (original being used very loosely).

It's an office mystery.

Who does this belong to?

It was on my desk this morning when I got to work. The cleaning lady came last night, though she usually is here over the weekend. She must've found it on the floor, but right away when I spotted it I had to ask my boss (60ish yo) if it belonged to her. I actually just asked if she loves dorks. She doesn't hear well so I had to repeat it several times before I finally got over to show her LOL.

Then we asked the agent when he got here, he's about the same age as my boss. Oh they're hilarious.

This post brought to you by:

Not really, but I love chapstick {waay more than blistex; and you should too} and I took this picture to prove a point to my little brother. :)

And the mystery continues....

lucky

I've had some blog contest luck lately, and won two giveaways!
Merry Christmas to me!

Here's the first one: I won some sock yarn - actually a whole sock (and shawl) 'kit' yarn, project bag, needles, and pattern for socks & a matching shawl! I'm intimidated by the whole 'sock knitting' idea, but that is one of my main knitting goals for 2011 - to get at least 1 pair of socks under my knitting experience belt. I recieved this in the mail about a month ago now, but I haven't started yet, now that Christmas knitting is over I'll be casting on soon. The yarn is so squishy & such a pretty color, I can't wait!{Thank you again, Carrie!}

Here's the second one: Tea! Haven't gotten it yet, but exciting nonetheless. I'm really into coffee now and have been thinking about giving tea a try for a warm night-time drink. Here's the problem, what the heck kind of tea do I like? no idea. I hope I like the tea I won. :)

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

snapshot sunday

devin watching choo-choo movie {quietly!} in his bedroom.

a tiny fraction of my christmas sewing.

::Attention Everyone::

::I have a very important announcement::

::Just want all my readers to know::

::I love you and Merry Christmas::

::Hope everyone is having a great Holiday::

WIP Wednesday

Well, Christmas is upon us (just about) and I decided very last minute that I wanted to make a scarf for someone (still not sure who). It started from a half-ball of pretty gray yarn with a rainbow strand:

It's hard to see but I like it. anyways, since I had a half-ball and I knew where I got the yarn (hobby lobby) I figured I'd easily get more. Not true, I have about 14 inches of scarf and no more yarn. What's up with that - they never change their selection! So after trip to said hobby lobby I came home with new sparkly yarn and began again, changing the pattern ever so slightly.

It's mainly cream with 3 black stripes on each end. well, only one end so far, but the plan is to have black stripes on both ends.

Also, in WIP news, being a new year and all, i'm throwing away orange. i'm sick of it {staring at me agrily} and i know there are much better patterns out there for me. especially now that i'm a little more experienced and will likely have fewer mistakes. so, dissapointing but what a relief!

Also for the new year - A new year-long project. Not really a project either, I just don't know how else to describe it. It is a 'totally useless stitch-a-long' {TUSAL} and here is the rules. Basically, you begin with an empty clear container of any sort:

Vase - posing with my twins

and put the trimmings from your knitting (in my case; for everyone else, it's whatever craft they enjoy most) in and post a picture of your TUSAL container every new moon (or once a month-ish). this should be easier to do than stupid razor cami. :)

I also have a big knitting goal for 2011 as well as a goal to learn crochet in the next year. Wish me luck!

Happy Wednesday and I'm off til Monday!

total eclipse & tuesday two

bahaha! I bet you think I'm talking about the movie*. And I'm not! {Last night was a Lunar Eclipse (so I hear anyway) - I didn't know this until like 8 pm last night and I guess it was supposed to happen around 1.30 am. and I most certainly was not awake then. {after reading the link, it looks like I was on my way home when it happened, but it was really cloudy from all the snowing} Anybody see it?

I went over to my bff Kim's house to watch the Vikings lose last night and everytime we looked outside it got brighter & brighter. Refraction is awesome because by the time we left (at 11.30pm) it was brighter outside than it was when we got there at like 7.30. And with the moon all covered up!

Also: two videos for Tuesday, from Jimmy Fallon last night (you know, because I was awake that late and the lightness outside tricked me into not being sleepy): Laugh.

*ps. in case you are wondering about my reading progress on breaking dawn - i'm slow. I'm about halfway done and haven't been reading much (obviously) but it's not because I'm not interested. It's still on my bedside table & I haven't book-cheated on it yet so maybe after Christmas I can finish. :)

it's monday

and i don't really have anything to write about today.
I really want to try this before Christmas! I saw it on Today show 4th hour also.
plus I tried the owl pillow over the weekend and it went well until the end.
I know exactly where I went wrong and am in the process of making 3 more (possibly even more) and properly this time.
also, it's snowing hard right now. white christmas. (not that it wasn't already going to be... but it woulda been more like 'dirty' white christmas)

Today I love....

slippers in the winter:

{Zoom}:

knit by grandma O.

This sparkly red nail polish:

Christmas-ey

My Christmas station on Pandora.

This owl pillow which I guess I'm going to have to make. I just decided.

and this sweet face:





WIP Wednesday

ok, so i know i just did last weeks WIP wednesday on monday so we'll make this short & sweet. Like it was last minute or something (who me?)..

the stripey mitts are done, only one has ends woven in, the other is lost in my son's bedroom already.
At wal-mart last week, Rob passed yarn and said "curdy, please will you knit me a vikings stocking..we can buy yarn!" (I love the way that man thinks) - so purple & yellow yarn found my basket.

When we got home, the yarn found my needles (hey, by the way, I think I need more knitting needles) and they didn't form a stocking (on purpose of course) but a little Vikings hat for my baby. :) The stocking will probably wait til after Christmas so I have time to make a set of 3 (mine won't be Vikings, but maybe D's will) for our family for next year (and the rest of the years)

Bear is saying 'cheese'



Getting bear snuggly in the new(ish) blankie.

Oh and one other thing:

I have blonde hair now.



little blanket

I'm taking this off my sidebar now, but I wanted to explain what it was. A month (?? I can't remember time goes so fast!!) or so ago I saw that this company was sending free mini blankets if you post this button and show them the link to where you posted it. So I did. I got my mini blanket and it is adorable and super super soft - also they sent a card with it if you want to buy a real full size blanket. I'm pretty sure these blankets arent' just for babies - it is seriously really nice. The card said that the mini blanket has a $15 value, so idk if the link still works but I'd try it. When it showed up, Devin immediately claimed it for his teddy bear that has the matching fuzz and wrapped him up for cuddles. So cute!


This is the one we got.



hello monday

uff - sorry for the lack of posts last week. WIP Wed in particular. I was looking forward to it and ... meh. I guess i got busy. hey lauren - WIP stands for Work in Process (or progress as I like to say). For some reason I learned that term in college - for accounting purposes, but it is also used for blogging purposes referring to knitting.

So lets start with that: last week I mailed off a hat to Lauren's little girl, I think it is a pretty adorable hat!
D tried it on for size - and it did turn out a teeny tiny bit tighter than I'd hoped especially considering that M is older than D and also considering that D's head is much larger than average.


Not a great pic of the hat, but an irrisistable photo of D

Evidence that D needs a sister - she's adorable!! HA!



The lucky & adorable recipient

Next: my littlest sister said she liked my sweet mitts. and that she wanted a pair. I used the same yarn to make hers as well as a much much simpler pattern and with (black! sparkly!) stripes. I finished both this weekend (my needles are somehow getting faster - I'm glad!) other than weaving in the ends (which is an annoying but necessary process). Here's number 1:

And what my couch looks like every weekend that I get to knit the snowy days away (which is my favorite way to spend the weekend):

The afghan in the background was knit by my mom circa 2007.

This weekend we also got laundry done. some, not all. ufff. how does it always become such a huge job??! Thursday night we went to "uncle jesse's" house (that's D's God-father - his name is Jesse, but we like Uncle Jesse, for the FullHouse factor) and brought 'sexy' (Dev's nickname for Lexi) some toys that D had grown out of and we thought D would like to play when we go there to play. Instead they played with the basket for her toys.

And a cute video - just for Monday:

online shopping

errr. online window shopping. Love.

So I'm on Old Navy to see what's on sale this week.
Found this cute shirt, I mean its nothing special, but I don't have one like it..
I like to read the reviews on ON because they don't sell plus size in the store,
so that's one way to know what you're getting.

Read review #1.

Wow lady, Tell us how you really feel. This is my favorite: "old navy please put ur womens plus in the stores seems like u hate fat people and dont want us going to your store"

That's great. I do agree though, that they should never have taken plus size out of the store. Sucks.

PS - Post 100!! wooohooo!

Oh christmas tree!

We got 'er up!
See, we borrowed this tree (it actually might be ours... i'm confused) from my parents. A few years ago, Mom brought over the tree, the trimmings and the stand, and we brought it all back to her when we were done with it to store in her garage. This year, all she brought us was the tree. We're on our own for the trimming and the stand. 
Didn't find that out until we opened the box to start putting it up. Funny story: when I decided I was going to do the tree, I thought D would like to help, I opened the box and he dug his hands right in, but the first branch he touched he goes "Ack!" Soo funny, my kid talks like a comic strip! He thought the tree was icky garbage.
So days go by and we finally make it to wal=mart and get a stand & some cheap-o unbreakable ornaments.
I put lights on and then let devin go at it with the decorations.

As you may have suspected, yes, all the ornaments were in a little blob:

So funny. While we were decorating, D found an ornament that he thought looked like a cookie and decided to give it a try. Another "Ack!" ahahahahah!! It was really a ceramic wreath painted yellow.

Our first present under the tree - from my wonderful dad!!

Fuel pump

Also, ever since the tree has gone up, D has been rearranging & re-pretty-ing our tree. As soon as he woke up day one, it started (close your eyes if you're easily offended!):

Porn to adorn our Christmas tree.

In other news: the weekend went by at warp speed, as I'm sure the rest will this month and I got a tiny bit of knitting done. Lauren E I need your address...

Friday

first text message of today from Rob:

Ready to go to the mall, mommy!

Since Devin has been home with Rob 2 weeks in a row now (minus my whole Thanksgiving 4-day weekend), Rob said he's starting to feel bad that D doesn't play with kids all day long and that he thinks daddy is boring. So we decided we'll take him to dino-land at the mall tonight for awhile. And look around and hopefully not be trampled by Christmas shoppers (we normally avoid the mall like the plague - all year).

Short & sweet (phrase applies to this blog post as well as my cute son!)
Happy friday!

Happy Birthday {adoption post five}

{supposed to be posted in November}

Leighton had his 5th birthday party in Fargo and I was invited!! I've never been invited to his birthday party before, what an honor!! We've always seen each other around this time of year, obviously... but I've never met any of his extended family. I got to meet his grandma, and aunt and uncles - finally, FIVE years later.
We went to the Holiday Inn with the Shipwreck Bay pool. We swam and had cake and guess who else showed up..

baby daddy. Lmbo, can't really say baby daddy when referring to a 5-year-old or when the baby was adopted at 20 days old (five years ago...) ...but still, I do. And it was AWKWARD! I'd run into him in town here and that wasn't so awkward, he gave me his email to give to C&A, never did I expect them to invite him to Leighton's Birthday party in less than a week! Oh well, I'm glad for the fact that they can be in touch again, just hope I don't have to anymore...

Leighton gav e me my Christmas gift early - all handmade by my sweet boy. A hand-painted keepsake box with a pair of socks inside. He painted grips onto the bottom of the socks and a christmas ornament which is sooo adorable. I seriously can't wait to do stuff like that with Devin! I only got one photo from the party and it's terrible but I'll share it anyway because it represents the day for me. Leighton's mom wanted a photo of Me, Leighton, AND baby-daddy after this. It was sooo funny how she asked too "i know this isn't your first choice of things to do, but could we get you to come over and take a picture with Leighton & B?" LOL And also that she owes me big time. HA! I kinda want to see that picture after seeing how bad my own turned out...

Happy 5th Birthday, Buddy!!



WIP Wednesday

well. I don't have much to talk about for WIP wednesday.
I've knit up a couple pairs of mitts. fingerless mitts.

one for me:

The holes aren't mistakes, they're in the shape of diamonds. I know this picture sucks.


A pair for D (which surprisingly he likes):

Also, I'm just about finished with the purple bag for Rob's mom. I've yet to take a picture of it... (??) but I'll describe it... The bottom is dark purple, then the round part of the bag is lavender fishnet with a ring of dark purple again around the top and a lavender strap. Just need to stitch the strap on to the bag. It's interesting.. :)

Now lets talk about my Christmas tree!



Houston, we have a problem!



Thanksgiving

So, this thanksgiving we had a choice to make based on the forecast. A winter weather advisory. Wednesday was supposed to be super bad around dark and keep getting worse until Thursday afternoon. (which is not even close to what happened) I asked to leave work early Wednesday since we had not packed to stay the night anywhere. So I went home and packed up (our dirty laundry to wash at gma & gpa's) and we left by suppertime on Wednesday. The weather and roads were awful & the air was tense. Thank goodness we had a photographer along for our huge 35 mile adventure.

He captured several gems like this of the back of my head & me holding onto the 'oh shit handle'.

Also, several photos of what looks like fingers and back seats...

and he did not like having the camera turned on him so much, it looks like a smile but I'll tell you it was actually whining..

We had a great Thanksgiving. My brother didn't make it, but we thought of him. Mostly about sending him a picture of a tiny piece of turkey and a dinner roll on a plate. He's a seriously picky eater and that's been his Holiday meal for years.  My sisters & I did some impromptu wardrobe swapping after dinner, which is not a great idea unless you really like to feel super fat. Getting new clothes from every which direction (I also got about 15-20 new tops from Rob's mom earlier in the week) made me go home and throw stuff out. Feels good to have cleaned out my dresser & closet!!

Other fantastical photos taken by our little photographer (not during a blizzard):

oh good times. wonder why there's a crack on my cell phone screen?

ps. no sinus infection yet. woke up today feeling like a million bucks..

break

I unintentionally took a bit of a break from blogging.
pretty sure I'm getting a sinus infection. at least it feels like it.
so I'm taking the afternoon off from work today.
and hopefully, I'll have time to post tomorrow.

Oh, and I'm ordering this today. Lucky me.

Thankful {adoption post four}

Thanks everyone for the kind words on my adoptions posts!

Thanksgiving was my last 'normal' day before Leighton was born five years ago. Honestly, I can't remember how we celebrated, but I think it was just us 6 (- my parents & siblings) at home that year. Dont remember Friday, but I assume I worked at BK at least a few hours. The day after black Friday - {Black Saturday?} I worked some 8-5 or so at Bath & Body Works in the mall. In my stretchiest shoes which barely fit that day. I didn't know that I had eclampsia because I hadn't been to the doctor for my pregnancy even though I was 30-some weeks {stupidity - hindsight is 20/20 indeed!}. To this day, it is unknown how far along I was, but my doctor's guess is 35-ish weeks. I should have been on bed-rest and medications.

Instead I was working. So, imagine being 35 weeks pregnant and working 8-5 on your feet {oh yea, my employers didn't know about my pregnancy either}, helping millions of customers. That was my day, and it was exhausing! I went straight to bed after dinner that night and slept and slept. Woke up with a monstrous headache {noonish}, got tylenol and went back to bed. The last thing I remember is waking up around 3pm and going to the bathroom to change my pants because I'd peed my pants {from seizures... not a normal occurance for me incase you're wondering}. My brother & I shared the basement and he & his friends were in his room which was only seperated from my room by glass french doors.

So, there's that crazy background story.
This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for life - I should have died that day due to deadly high blood pressure basically. I'm thankful for open adoption. I'm sooo super very thankful {really I know the words don't make sense, I wish I could make some up words for how thankful I am} for the parents that God gave to my baby boy! And that they've allowed me to be a part of his life. That they've raised him to love God, love me, love his family and be an awesome big brother!

I'm super thankful for second chances! I've been blessed with the opportunity to be a mom for real this time and it is soooo awesome! Some days I think about what I gave up, but on better days I think about how lucky I am to get to experience motherhood and be a birthmother.

Open adoption has allowed me many visits & hugs {the hugs are my favorite!} and will always allow me to know where & how my baby is doing! I pray we will always have that special bond!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Texting funny

Lately we've been slow at work and about 3.30 - 4.00 I get bored.

So today I texted rob "i'm bord"
then "bored I mean" (stupid touch screen!)

then I walk away for a minute.

Come back to "i'm hung"
then "hungry I mean LOL"

oh suuure!

exciting link!

I'm soo super excited about a link I found today and I wanted to put it someplace I wouldn't lose it.

Behold! (or not, if you're not into sewing cute baby stuff...)

I know of at least two new babies coming soon! (neither of them are mine - phew!!)

getting festive over here

Oh yes it is!

And Devin helped!! Though, that particular string is not up yet and is still sitting on the livingroom floor. heh. Just after this picture D went down & I didn't want to bang & crash around and keep him up... and then, as we all know, procrastination happened all the way until Monday morning when we have important things like work to go to. The four stars did get up in the 'dining room' window though. Besides, its not like you can really 'go all out' as far as decorations go in an apartment anyhow. We don't even have a balcony, so meh.

Plus this weekend we got our 'first snow' that stuck and was light and pretty. I think Devin's face says it all:

brrrrrr.

We got waaaaay more this morning, which made for a fun drive to work and even more fun standing in a foot of snow to brush the foot of snow off my car & fill my shoes (cuz I don't have boots... insane!{they are already on my Christmas list})

So anyways. Today was day #1 of no more daycare (at least for now). My pockets feel better already for not shelling out $110/week. As of today, Rob is Mr.Mom. Today was the perfect day for day #1 though, since I was 20 minutes late for work the way it is... would've been here around 9 if I'd've had to make 'the drop-off,' HA, i'm exaggerating but still....

Oh yea, and Rob is doing snow removal for the winter (perfect day for day #1 of that too as soon as his shift at home is over!) with a guy he's known forever who has a business. So yea, Happy Monday! :)

Friday Five

Today... 5 random things from other places on the internet.

{first}  - wow - some seriously dilusional people - sick sick sick
{second} - ha.
{third} - made this last night. made a few changes. like the form - muffins. And the flavor - chocolate chips needed to join in the fun.
{fourth} - place some friends showed me a couple weeks ago. didn't know they had a website (and other locations!) though. Love it and I know it's one of my new favorite places. If only I knew where to start once I got inside.
{fifth} - for sale by owner - someone please buy!

Happy Friday!

10 Common Misconceptions {adoption post 3}

Here's an interesting adoption article about some adoption misconceptions.

Hmm.. here's my thoughts briefly:
1. Kind of goes with #9.
2. Too soon to tell {for me}. My mom's adoption is closed obviously, and right now I love that I have an open adoption. Ask Leighton how he feels.. hehe.

4. Hmm. Interesting. Leighton's little brother is black and he seems pretty sweet to me! Oh and his parents aren't celebrities as far as I know.

5. Smile.

6. Adopted children are special. In the same way that every other baby/child is special. Their parents love & adore them. Adopted parents and birthparents.

8. Like I said: court. That day I had to do that, it was official and the only people who could take Leighton away from them was the agency or state. If they were unfit for any reason, and only for 6 months until they finalized their legal stuff. That's just ND law though, every other state has different {but often similar} laws.

9. My favorite. "Birth mothers and adoptive mothers are not in competition. Both are important to adopted people and both love their children as often as the general population of mothers love their children, that is, nearly 100% of the time. Birth mothers are severely judged in U.S. society."

Leighton & I ~ 3 years ago

shopping trip

I went to the grocery store yesterday on my lunch break, finally equipped with some coupons and a planned out list {i've been major slacking lately}. Check out how long my reciept is:

Check out the bottom {well, you don't have to, this is a terrible picture}:



Total: 24.48
Saved: 22.?? - 48% Yippee!
I shredded the reciept after I took this and forgot to read it first. =/

So we ate one of our .30 treats {yay coupons} last night:

I tried teaching Devin to say 'peach pie' but he kept saying it 'cheap pie'. awww.

Sorry, WIP wednesday cancelled this week. Got to the straps on orange and now I attached one in the wrong spot and I'm frustrated and not starting anything else yet; soon.....   I did finally get to try it on and it does fit me! Hooray for that! And I did sew the sweatsuit for D this week and it came out well {enough, for a first outfit and for a baby to wear}, but I want to put something on the front of the shirt... it's just boring white. And I sewed a purse too, but it also needs 'something' but I don't know if I will keep it or give it away so I don't know what 'something' is yet.

This post brought to you by the boy drinking milk in the bathtub; strange kid: