Mother's Day was very nice, we decided to go to Greenfield Village since we have the member pass and were reluctant to spend too much money. No fancy brunches this year for us.
The weather was perfect, sunny with a slight breeze. Of course, everyone else decided to go there too, but we got there rather early so we managed to avoid most of the crowds. We hit the carousel first just in case Mr. Gasbaggy takes 3 times as long as the other workers to tell the rules man was working (he wasn't), then we wandered around. It's nice now that the kids are older we can explore the interiors of the buildings and actually learn a few things. When they were smaller, we had to keep on the move at all costs. They seemed to have the most fun rolling down one of the big, grassy hills. Even the teen got in on the act and we managed to sneakily get a picture of her, don't tell!

We have been busy around here! Getting ready for Lydia's ice show this weekend means lots of driving to the ice rink as usual. Last month, I joined the Coraline Mystery Box Swap hosted by My Little Mochi and that has kept me busy and worried. Worried because I knew there would be swappers with tons of talent participating in this swap and I wanted to please my partner so I thought hard about what to do. My ideal project would have been to make a doll similar to the Coraline doll in the movie but I just couldn't make one that was good enough. Thank goodness I found a great pattern for the Cyclops squid thingie and he came out great. See him over there?
I also decided to make a shrink plastic bracelet which came out so detailed and cool and I made some fabric pins. I felt bad in a way for using so many downloaded images and not drawing any myself but my drawing skills are so bad, that I knew it would be horrid. So the box is on its way to California, hopefully it will get there today or tomorrow.

Wow, it has been way too long since my last entry. To the right is one of 7 ATCs Lydia made at my request. We have this metal Ikea tree-like thing and I wanted to hang Valentine ATCs from it so she made some for me. I liked this one the best. We found some cute free downloads of vintage Valentines and she went to work.

The kids loved the little amigurumi frogs, I also made two cute little birdies for the girls, a tiny turtle for the boy and for all 3, I made some adorable hearts from a free Roxycraft pattern. The lesson learned this Valentines Day was take pictures of the goodies you make for the kids before you give them away because they will be hard to find after that. Especially with Kai because he always wants to sleep with them and they get lost in and/or under his bed. When I find them, I'll try to post a pic, I really loved how the hearts came out.

Here they are after the recital, so proud.
Tess playing 'Ballade', as promised, I already posted this elsewhere but what the heck.

The recital went well, it was in a church this time because the community center the teacher usually uses was already booked. The church was huge and a had a gorgeous and well tuned (LOL) piano. Kai did so well at his very first recital and Tess played like the old pro that she is having done this since age 7. Actually, she always gets a touch of the nerves, in the videos you can see how she's kind of hunched over due to being nervous but she plugged away and played beautifully. She was annoyed at herself for the few mistakes she made, because you know it is always perfect at home.

Kai doing his song, 'Chinese Dreams'.



This is their improvisational song, keep in mind, it is improv so there is not much melody just "noodling" as their teacher says. :)



Blogger won't let me add anything else so you'll have to wait to see Tess play solo.

Sledding!

We have been getting so much snow this winter. Normally I complain about it but I have really been enjoying it this time, maybe because there has been so much that we haven't had the nasty brown ugly version because we keep getting new snow. Anyway, David has taken the kids sledding twice which is exactly two times more than last year. Like I said, there has hardly been any snow the last few years. My dear friend Nicki is a former Michigan resident now living in Texas and she asked me for some snow pictures so here they are. I don't have any oh so pretty ones, but I like these sledding shots very much.


This awesome toboggan was given to David by a older guy he talks to when he works out at the Y.


Tess getting splattered, look at the air she's getting.


Always together, these two.


When did my baby boy get so big?!


Lydia and friend looking cute.

I made these Amigurumi froggies for the kids for Valentines Day. I was debating about making them different colors so they would know which frog was theirs but I had a lot of this green yarn, so here they are, standard green frogs. In order to differentiate between them and tie them into the holiday, I sewed little heart patches on their bums with the initial of each kid. The patten is from the Lion Brand site, they have so many Amigurumi patterns that are adorable. In addition to the frogs, I'm also making 3 little turtles. I have decided those are going to be different colors. One yellow, one blue and one either purple or mixed, I have to see what's in my stash.




Tess and Kai's piano recital is this Sunday, they get to play a song together. I am so excited about seeing them up there. He's playing a song called Jackson Blues, which is 3 very simple Blues chords while Tess does what their teacher calls "noodling", which she explains as a sort of Blues-ey improvisational thing. I know, the Blues? As their daddy says, "What do these kids know about the blues?". They must know something because it sounds great to this biased mama's ears.

One of my projects for Christmas that did get completed was making book bags for my kids and our niece in Seattle. I found this wonderful and cute download from Kitschy Digitals called the Woodland Book Lovers Kit. It came with downloads for a reading log, book plates, book marks and iron ons to add to a book bag and you could personalize them all in Photoshop. The blog showed several ways that her readers had used the kit and pretty much all the ideas I used were from them. I love the way they came out. I ended up making just 3 bags with different colored pockets for each child, they all got the supplies. No reading log for the teen, however, she's out of that stage. I also didn't make her a book bag because I was worried she would think it was too babyish or tween-ish so I bought a really cool Converse canvas tote (try saying that 3 times fast) and ironed on small pockets with the little deer on them so it would tie in with the book marks and book plates. They were a hit with all 4, it made me happy. You never know how gifts like that are going to go over. Don't you the love the gnome stuffie pin? Another awesome idea from the Kitschy Digital readers. There are a few more images of the set at Flickr .

Found this cool website that can turn your pictures into Tilt-shift miniature style photos. It is so fun to play with. I didn't have time to search my iPhoto library for a perfect picture to use but I think this one demonstrates the idea pretty well. I think I might start taking photos in a certain way just so I can use this cool application.



Neat, huh? It really does look like a miniature scene now.

I planned on blogging about our wonderful holidays and I may get around to it, complete with photos, but then again I may not. We had a great Christmas and we spent New Year's Eve up at the cottage, it was really fun for just the 5 of us to get away.
I didn't want to come home but we had our annual White Elephant party to host so we had to get back to reality. That party was a blast as usual. We get to see friends that we pretty much only see once or twice a year, we make our pledges to get together more often throughout the year but that just doesn't seem to happen. Ok, I don't want to end on a downer. We did manage to not get stuck with the worst gifts and I made sure each guest left with their heinous objects. I have to be strict or else we end up with all sorts of crap hidden in our house. One year, we found a mini JFK bust, a not so miniature Indian Chief bust, a scary stuffed Harlequin music box and a flute playing bottle left from our grateful guests. Ingrates! hee hee

I am so behind! I tried to blame it on the snow and Kaiser being home sick from school yesterday (he's better now) but no, it's just me. I am a procrastinator and I'm slow, that does not make a great getting things done combo.

Things that are done:
3/4s of the Christmas cookies.
A few handmade ornaments the kids are giving to my mom.

Things that need to be done:
Make fudge
Make the rest of the Christmas cookies
Finish the handmade ornaments
Finish the book bag sets I'm making for Tess, Kai and my niece.
Finish decorating the house ( I know, it's the 18th!)
Take the kids to Fantasyland to see Santa
Shopping, shopping, shopping

Things I've given up on doing as I think it really is too late:
Taking a photo for Christmas cards
Sending Christmas cards to anyone but immediate family (sorry friends!)
Going to Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village, they are usually sold out by now

Ok, must get off my bum, they are predicting a huge snowstorm coming our way and that will mess up my already pathetic plans. BTW, I fixed the comments setting so anyone can make comments now. I have no idea why I had it set to only members of this blog may comment.

These little bird ornaments are addicting and so easy to make. Well, as long as you don't try to use this odd upholstery remnant you have in your stash that is impossible to turn right side out when sewn into a very small shape. Anyway, the tutorial was kindly shared at The Purl Bee. The birdies will not be staying on that white tree as they are too big for it, that was only for photography purposes. BTW, I apologize for that awful picture. I was in a hurry to take it. Not a very good excuse. I need a professional photo stylist around here and some good lights probably wouldn't hurt either.

I am actually supposed to be working on some other adorable ornaments for an exchange with a friend. My only excuse for not having them done yet is that my sewing machine was broken. No really! It was! The hand wheel cracked on the inside, not sure how it happened. My darling, brilliant husband, said "Order the part! I'll fix it!" So I did and he did a few days ago. Yay for mechanically inclined spouses!

Isn't he cute? A hedgehog pincushion! I made it today for Tess for Christmas, I know she'll love him and that she'll finally stop using my pin cushion which in turn will mean she'll stop misplacing my pin cushion. We both win! Got the pattern here. Well, actually, I was lead to the pattern from this awesome website called One Pretty Thing , just try and tell me you can't find something to make for someone on your gift list on their Handmade Christmas roundups. Whew!

Ok, I had much more to write but I have to get the kids at school and hide the hedgie! I should write about how my break was good, we went to the parade, it was cold. We went to Disney Wolrd, it was fun. We drove! We survived, we still like each other. The Mouse knows how to do up Christmas (of course!) and oh I have tons of pictures to share. Check my Flickr soon if I don't post 'em here.

I've been trying to start writing a blog entry for a few days now and they all keep coming out sounding bitter and awful and I decided I'm not getting much out of blogging. I'm not really sure what I want to get out of it in the first place to tell you the truth.
I read other blogs and they are much more interesting and fun and I think I'd rather just read than write, so I think I will for now. Not sure for how long, a few weeks or months. All I know right now is that I'm too cranky and whiney about blogging to write anything I want anyone to read.

Yeesh, next time I must rethink letting a crabby little softie take over the blog duties. Anyway, yes, it does appear many blogs are talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas now so I thought I would join the party today. Our family and my parents usually go up north to the cottage for Thanksgiving but we aren't this year so that will be different. If the weather isn't too awful, we may brave the crowds and go to the Detroit Thanksgiving Day parade which is actually called "America's Thanksgiving Parade", I'm not sure why. I suppose part of it is due to the fact that poor Detroit has such a bad reputation that they can't even put it in the name of the parade anymore. We are always out of town for the holiday so we never go to the parade, I think the last time we went Tess was only little, like not even 2 yet. I can picture her all bundled up in her fleece snowsuit with a little red nose, trying to clap with mittens on her hands. Lydia was 5 and seemed more excited about riding the city bus to get downtown than going to the parade, until we got there and she realized it was going to be a REAL parade with huge floats and gigantic balloons. Ok, enough reminiscing. I just told David we should go to the parade (btw, David, go to work already!) and he just sighed. Way to be enthusiastic, dear.

On to Christmas. So far, only Lydia has made a list, she wants a new Nano. An orange one with 8GB and video, they are very cool and also kind of expensive. New ear buds, an iTunes giftcard, a Barnes and Noble giftcard, clothes and a pair of black, low top Converse. Mostly gifts to keep her mostly solitary, which is how she mostly likes to be these days. Oh well, I remember being 14. As for the littles (I know, not so little, but that's how I think of them), they have been surprisingly quiet about it so far. I'm sure I will be getting a list from each of them soon enough.

They all have been sweet and thinking of others however and we all decided to pick an animal from Heifer International to give to a needy family from around the world. We can't decide on which one to pick, Kai is going for cute and wants to send a flock of chicks ($20). Of course, Lydia is thinking a trio of rabbits($60) is a good idea and Tess goes for the gusto with a water buffalo ($250), but I think a share of a water buffalo would be more our speed ($25). Maybe we'll do them all. It seems like such a great organization though, I'm excited that the kids are so willing and eager to get involved.

As for locally, they each buy a toy to give to the local Toys for Tots and we make fudge for our neighbors. We'll adopt a family this year as I dropped the ball on it last year and felt so guilty, so I better get on that early as I'm sure there will be even more families in need this year than usual.

er, hi, just a Pumpkin Pal here, see me over there? It's November 11th? Oh great, what am I doing here? Aren't people blogging about Thanksgiving and Christmas now? No wonder she wants me to do this today, she's ashamed to be blogging about a jack o' lantern softie 11 days after Halloween so she sends the poor innocent orange guy to do it. Is it my fault that she took so long to crochet me? That she wasted countless hours watching bad horror movies on tv during October when she should have been making my legs and arms instead? BTW, I feel like I should be going to Jazzercise class with these things. What's with the stripes? Oh, now she says I'm complaining too much and should be grateful for my existence. Well, thank you very much Dr. Frankenstein, I'll be sure to think of you at my next dental appointment. Get a load of those teeth!

Was your Halloween suitably scary? Ours was fun, we did lots of pre-Halloween activities. Greenfield Village, Treats in the Streets at the Detroit Historical Village and we even drove out to Flint to Crossroads Village/Huckleberry Railroad to ride the "Ghost" train and trick or treat in their old timey village that gets all decked out in corny Halloween decorations (see photo above). I'd say we got our uses out of the sushi costumes that David worked so hard on. Lydia makes for a convincing 50s housewife too, wouldn't you agree?




Can you see the tiny baby pumpkin getting eaten? My husband has an evil streak.


I know, it's November 7th, the election (Go Obama!!) is over and I'm blogging about Halloween. So sue me!

This little boy turned 6 years old on Thursday. He brings such joy and light into our lives, he's a bundle of energy and such a big, funny goofball who is the first to offer a hug and words of comfort to someone who is having a hard time. I find myself feeling a little sad as he gets older and seems to be growing up so fast but then I think about the wonderful person he's turning into and I just have to let him go ahead and get bigger. What can I do about it anyway? He had a good birthday, his class had a field trip to an apple orchard and I came along as a chaperone, the weather was great. We did the hayride and the apple picking and the corn maze and of course were chased by yellow jackets while trying to eat our donuts and drink our cider. It wouldn't be fall in Michigan without bees in your face. After school we had soccer for big sis but then went out for pizza and had birthday cake at grandma and papa's house. It was a lovely day and I think he enjoyed himself.



I love you, my silly boy!

Oh, October is almost half over and I have not even blogged once yet. Do you care? haha
Well, we are fine here. Soccer is almost over already, they get it done with quickly in this new town, apparently. The boy's team is doing well and the girl's team is improving and I am really proud of both of them. Watching the kindergarten team is hilarious the way all the kids follow the ball around wear ever it goes. Kai is not afraid to get right in there and has scored several goals this season, he gets annoyed that he is not the best on the team. Give me a break, kid. Tess was really nervous about getting too close to the ball at first but she has really pushed herself in the past few games and even made an assist that got them a rare goal in their last game.

Lydia had her first big cross country meet last Saturday, there were about 25 schools competing, it appeared to be a pretty serious deal for the bigger school who had large teams with uniforms and their own tents and everything. As opposed to Lydia's little rag tag school, who had sort of a Bad News Bear's vibe without the pot smoking, swearing kids or drunk coach aspect. So, they came in close to last, wow, some of those first place kids are serious runners, it was pretty cool to see how fast some of them were. I think Lydia had fun, she is really not into competing, so the fact that she even did this was impressive to me anyway. David and I wanted her to get on a team in high school for at last one trimester and she may even get a letter, woo woo. I think it's kinda cool as I never did any sports whatsoever in school. She probably won't do it again next year but she still figure skates which takes up a lot of her time anyway.

Well, what have I been up to besides driving kids around, grocery shopping, worrying about that dang rabbit and her broken leg (yes, the saga continues) and not blogging? It seems to be a whole lotta nuthin'. I am slowly getting rid of clutter but it is taking forever, I've been doing a little crochet and made a weird pirate guy and am working on a pumpkin companion for him.

Our 22nd wedding anniversary is next Saturday. Yes, I was a child bride. haha No, but I was only 23, I think of that as pretty young now that I'm an old bag of 45. We were the first of our crowd of friends to take the plunge and we had the big church wedding and all. I only had one attendant, my cousin, who was pregnant at the time. I just saw her son that she was preggo with at the time a few weeks ago, he's been living in Toronto the past couple of years. He's a sweetie and such a grown up man of 21. Yikes, it makes me so sad because his mom was my bestest friend. I've written about her here before. We've become estranged for no apparent reason other than she met a guy and married him after 6 months of knowing him and decided I wasn't necessary in her life anymore. Yeah, I'm bitter and still really heartbroken over it all yet I can't bring myself to just pick up the phone and call her. What would I say anyway?

Ok, wait, this started out as a post about 1986. Here is a list of the top 20
songs from the year I got married:

1. "That's What Friends Are For".....Dionne & Friends
2. "Walk Like An Egyptian".....Bangles
3. "On My Own".....Patti Labelle & Michael McDonald
4. "The Way It Is".....Bruce Hornsby & The Range
5. "You Give Love A Bad Name".....Bon Jovi
6. "Greatest Love Of All".....Whitney Houston
7. "There'll Be Sad Songs".....Billy Ocean
8. "How Will I Know".....Whitney Houston
9. "Kyrie".....Mr. Mister
10. "Kiss".....Prince & The Revolution
11. "The Next Time I Fall".....Peter Cetera & Amy Grant
12. "Burning Heart".....Survivor
13. "Stuck With You".....Huey Lewis & The News
14. "When I Think Of You".....Janet Jackson
15. "Rock Me Amadeus".....Falco
16. "West End Girls".....Pet Shop Boys
17. "Sledgehammer".....Peter Gabriel
18. "Human".....Human League
19. "Sara".....Starship
20. "Higher Love".....Steve Winwood

I don't know about you, but in 1986 I was NOT listening to most of this crapola. Mr. Mister? Huey Lewis? Gross! Hell, we played 'Master and Servant' by Depeche Mode at our reception. I insisted on a DJ because I wasn't going to risk any wedding band breaking out into 'Proud Mary' or 'Celebration' at my wedding reception, thank you very much. We had to supply the DJ with our own records and he probably thought we were the biggest bratty music snobs he ever met, we probably were. I think we did let him play the Hokey Pokey and maybe the Chicken Dance? Luckily there was no Macarena back in the Stone Age so we didn't have to suffer through that one. We weren't that mean to our guests and we threw in some Glenn Miller and other big band stuff for the oldies.

I doubt we'll do anything too special, we didn't even do much for our 20th two years ago. I think we're going up north anyway, maybe we'll go out to dinner. Boy, do I sound like a killjoy or what?

A few things I'm liking very much post:

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bites. Oh my goodness, these are so so yummy and I can eat just a few and be satisfied. Plus, they are really cute. Yes, I said cute.

The Mentalist on CBS, Tuesday nights. Ok, it stars Simon Baker, who is quite good looking and charming and his character is troubled and flawed, brilliant, has a tragic past, he's very observant and is a former fake psychic, now a cop (or he works with cops, not sure of the specifics) he's trying to atone but his arrogance gets him into trouble. I've taken to watching CSI type shows to get my crime show fix and I just don't like them so when this show came along, I cheered. Yay, a detective show without the annoying CSI cliches. BTW, why are there so many damn CSI shows on tv?

New episodes of The Office starting tonight!

I'm still losing weight, slowly but surely and it is becoming more routine to choose the right things to eat and the right amount.
30 pounds down. I'm down to the weight I was when I got pregnant with Kai and passed a milestone I was aiming for. Yippee!

We found a place for Tess and Kai to play soccer and they both have great coaches.

All the kids are doing activities they enjoy and their schedules have worked out to enable them to do what they like without too much shuffling around for anyone. Thanks to my parents on a couple of days of the week too. I was worried someone would have to cancel something but we didn't have to resort to that so I'm happy.

Ok, that's all for now. Gotta go!