Tommy

The theme at Tommy's preschool last week was "All About Me." Yesterday he came home with a little booklet he had made. The first page listed a few likes such as:

My Birthday Wish - some more kitties
Favorite Food - snack after lunch
Favorite Game - CandyLand
Best Gift Ever - my toys

The second page included a list of fill-in-the-blanks:

I'm glad to be in school because... I like to play.
The best thing that happened this summer was when... I went swimming at the gunky place. (a.k.a. the pool-Tommy makes up words when he can't think of the one he's looking for)
This year I want to learn... my name. How to go camping.
I am very good at... listening.
I am happy when... I can do anything I want.

Yep. Still loving being a mom.

Newborn Christmas Hat

I couldn't resist.

My sister is having a December baby. She doesn't know yet whether she'll have a boy or a girl. I figure if it's a boy it will be perfect, and if it's a girl, hopefully it will still look cute with a little red dress, particularly with the matching sweater I'm hoping to make as well. (I would like to learn how to sew baby clothes too.) I just have to find the right pattern. Tommy had a little navy and cream striped hat and sweater when he was a baby, and I loved it. It was from the Gap. Of course I would love to find something similar in style to that, but I'm sure I'm narrowing my focus too much. I just need to make a couple of sweaters so I can learn how and then start making my own designs.

I also thought about making both a boy set and a girl set, and then my sister would be set either way. So many ideas. =)

Washington?

Brian and I saw some pictures of Mount Rainier on PBS this morning. What a beautiful place. What do you think? Should we move to Seattle? I've heard great things about it!

Photos from bulgar.no-ip.info/downloads/snimki/wall/ and http://www.philarmitage.net/rainier/rainier4.html

I found more really great photos here. (I particularly like Paradise Meadow 2, Doe with Fawn, and South Slope.)

Preparing for the Holidays

I missed Saturday Sky again this week, but I did get out for some Christmas yarn and ornament-making accessories. -No wooden ornaments yet. Just some copper wire for the sweater hangers - and a small wire cutter. (Who knew they were so expensive?) I'm looking forward to working with the new colors. I think they will be better displayed once knit together. In the photo they appear quite bold, but in person the green (leaf) and cream (off white) are actually quite muted. Each by itself is nothing special, but side by side they are beautiful.

Hopefully my Christmas knits will turn out as hoped. Most of the sweaters I have made so far are nothing I would actually give to anyone - or hang on a Christmas tree. My latest, however, I like. It's a bit bigger than I want for the tree, but the snowflake worked out like magic, unlike the previous sweater, during which I gave up and just made some star-like things that were sort of kind of supposed to be something like snowflakes - and then took those out in favor of a little star (that proved to be no better). We'll see if I can duplicate it. I'm also planning to make tiny mittens and stockings. It took me a while to scour the web for just the right patterns, but I think I've found a couple I can work with. -I still have studying to do, but since they are so small and quick my hope is to have at least one sample of each completed by the end of the week.

Again, it's those little things.

One - Tommy and I counted to one hundred on our way home tonight and then again to one hundred fifty. He started to understand that numbers really do go on forever and ever.

Two - Not a drop of water fell on my car the whole way home, but just as I was about to step up onto the porch I heard a rush of rain come up like a wind that rustles the leaves. I had to reach my arm out from under the overhang to confirm it really was rain. It must have started in that single tenth of a second that Tommy and I happened to step under the roof.

Three - I think this is a wonderful idea.

Four - I rescheduled my insurance exam. I'm now taking it a week and half later than originally planned (unless you consider the fact that I planned to have enough time to reschedule).

Five -


Six - We completed Tommy's first ever homework assignment tonight. It was technically termed a family project, but I still felt it must be photographed. The instructions were as follows:

"Tobias Turkey is so nervous because this is November and that means Thanksgiving! He knows that farmer John is planning on having him for dinner. Please help Tobias from being farmer John's Thanksgiving feast. Using creativity and all sorts of fun items please dress Tobias in a disguise to trick farmer John."

If you were farmer John, would you know there was a turkey behind all those leaves?

Seven - I found this little decoration at flickr the other day, and now I really want to make one. In fact I want to make a whole little village of wooden people.

Seven and one half - Some day I hope I can find some cute little crafty thing to make that people actually want to buy (or at least want to receive as gifts and show them off). I want to see others like the same things I do and appreciate them in such a way. -I'm not looking to get rich selling crafts, but I think it would be fun to have a little etsy shop and barely keep up with the incoming orders.

Eight - That's all. Goodnight!

I missed it.

My blogiversary, that is. It was yesterday. What does one do on one's blogiversary? I guess this is it.

Yeah, that's pretty much all I had to say today. I would post my Saturday Sky pic, but I snapped it in the only 2 minutes I was home on Saturday, and it didn't come out well. Maybe next weekend.

I could tell you that I made a fourth sweater ornament, but you are probably getting tired of them, aren't you? I won't photograph this one just yet. It still has to be decorated and might make its way into a Christmas card, so it will have to wait. Those little things are addictive -especially when I have two unopened books that need to be studied for next Friday's exam. I mean, really, when you think about knitting lots of little sweaters you probably just think "Why?" but when given the choice between reading two books titled Managing Bodily Injury Claims and Principle's of Workers' Compensation Claims or making cute little sweaters, what would you choose? Right. I SO don't want to read about insurance when I handle it all day every day already. But then this is my own doing. Hey, when I'm done I will have my AIC. I'll bet you don't even know what that is. Yeah, it's pretty pointless. Oh well. :)

Yet Another Mini Sweater

Right now I'm just using scraps to keep my hands busy. I really need to get some Christmas colors. Soon. First I have another test for which to study. Blah.

Happy Halloween!

Tommy was a puppy dog at school and a ghost at home. When I say he was a puppy dog, I mean he wore the ears, and that's it. I didn't know how much the other kids would dress up. It turns out he was pretty under-dressed in comparison, though I noticed they all looked pretty normal by the end of the day. I figured Tommy would want to be comfortable enough to play, so I didn't have him wear the tail, and I didn't paint his face because I figured if he had paint on his face all day long his skin would dry out, as it tends to do, and that would be no fun. I also didn't plan very well. I could have just bought all black clothes to match his ears - and probably could have found a dog mask or nose with whiskers or something. Oh well. He still loved the ears and has been saying "woof woof" since we found them. Next year I'll do better.

The reason I didn't send him to school in the ghost costume becomes clear in the photos (though I didn't post some of the ones where he just looked sooo uncomfortable); it was hard enough for him to see, let alone move around. I finally convinced him it was better if I made one large hole for his entire face, and while it was certainly less ghost-like and not a bit scary, it was far more practical, and he was every bit as happy after as before.

Brian took him out this year. Apparently he and Tommy went to one neighbor's home, and she told her husband they had a ghost at the door. The man then came over and said something about a scary ghost, to which Tommy said "Boo!" and the man jumped back. Tommy thought it was pretty fun to have scared someone. ...I'm not sure whether that was before or after the neighbor we know as "the guy with the Jag" lay on his couch right next to his door and didn't move when he heard Tommy come up, but rather called for the woman he lives with four times before she finally had to run to get the bowl of candy and offer it to Tommy. Light on. Door open. Candy ready. Man lazy. It takes all kinds, I suppose. That's what they say anyway. (Maybe he had a sore back or something. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt, but according to Brain's account, he seemed to be fine. Anywho.)

We haven't had too many trick-or-treaters ourselves. It's a bit surprising, not only to us but to our neighbors, as we live in a community with lots of homes in a small area, but we have been here for three years and have never had more than twenty or so trick-or-treaters in one night. We all buy way too much candy just in case, and then we urge kids to take lots. Tommy wasn't out for long, yet he came back with loads of candy. Tonight we have only had a total of eight trick-or-treaters: three teens that looked way too old to be trick-or-treating (but then who cares - I don't), four more who looked older than the first three, and one little girl. I think maybe the older kids see the value in coming to a place like this. Who knows. I still think it's fun. Maybe some day we'll live in a place where we'll get more. I like seeing all the costumes. And I love the little kids. They're so cute!

I hope you had a fun Halloween!