Category Archives: special events

Thankful Thursdays

Thankful Thursdays

October was another busy month for us, and so I am sorry for those of you who occasionally check up on this blog here! Evelyn seems to be getting back into a nap groove after a busy month (granted, only one nap a day now… boo!), but it’s something. It seems like every month brings new and bigger changes into our lives, but hey, that’s what we are here for, right?

Anyways, I wanted to do something to recognize an often understated holiday this month, Thanksgiving. But I find daily “Something to be grateful for” posts to be a bit tedious, and with a VERY active 16 month old, a post a day is just way too much for me to keep up with. But I know it IS important to show gratitude, especially when I have so, so much to be grateful for right now!

So, here are seven things I am grateful for from the last week. I think the hardest part is to limit what I want to say to 7!

1. I am grateful for silly holidays that allow me to show off my adorable daughter. Evie LOVED Halloween. She even got to go trick or treating with her bestie, “Q.”, and together they were adorable. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t hold still long enough to get a picture together, so you get to see this pic with Momma, instead.

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2. I am grateful for drastically changing my occupation to stay home with my sweet, beautiful girl. This is the hardest job I’ve ever taken on, but I can’t imagine how unhappy I would be if I had to leave her for the long hours I had teaching. There has been some sacrifices to make it happen, but I know that I am so lucky to have this opportunity with her.

3. I am grateful for my hard working, sexy, adorable, funny, and intelligent husband. While on paper we might not have a lot in common, we just click! And he is such a good dad to Evelyn; he can make her squeal and giggle better than anybody else.

4. I am grateful to be able to foster for IGCA Rescue. Minka Moose is quirky, but so adorable. I’m surprised nobody’s snatched her up yet because she can be so sweet and charming. But part of me is glad they haven’t, because I was able to dress her like this for Halloween.

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5. I am so grateful Evelyn has a love for animals. She loves her doggies and chickens. She sees a bird in the sky and will sign it (she’s finally using some ASL) and excitedly repeat “Bir-Bir-Bir!” Two weekends ago, we were invited to go to one of Jared’s coworkers homes that lives in a more rural area. He had week-old baby goats, day-old chicks, and bunnies. Evelyn was THRILLED. And then again, the next day, when there happened to be a 5 month old Eurasian Owl posing for pictures, Evelyn was in animal lover heaven! Her innocent love for every living thing is so amazing to witness.

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6. I am grateful for chocolate. This goes with the whole “being a mom can be a hard job”. Some days I wouldn’t make it without chocolate’s sweet, succulent goodness. Thank heavens for chocolate for those bad days. And to celebrate some of those good days, too!

7. I am grateful for eternal families. Jared is my best friend, and being married to him and becoming Evelyn’s mother has taught me so much about true love. And we have wonderful extended family that life wouldn’t be the same without!JaredandEvie

How could I live without these two?

Next Project- YOU decide!

Next Project- YOU decide!
Next Project- YOU decide!

Okay, everyone. I have recently acquired some new crochet books, and there are SO MANY CUTE THINGS I want to start making. I really can’t make up my mind. I need your help.

You see, I had my birthday. (Yay, birthdays!) And yes, it was great. Jared went out of his way to make sure it was nothing like last year. Even Evelyn cooperated, and she was much, much sweeter than her acid refluxy little self a year ago. Jared and I even went on a grown-up dinner date thanks to a good friend who was willing to spend a hour or two with Evelyn.

After Evelyn went to bed, I got to open presents. I love presents! (Anyone who has small children can understand why we waited until after Evie’s bed time to open presents. Don’t judge.) Anyways, among these great presents, “Evelyn” and her dad gave me two darling books full of fun crocheted cuties…. And now I can’t make up my mind what to make next.

LOOK AT THESE ANIMALS:

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HOW am I supposed to decide which one of these to make for Evelyn next?

On the “Creepy-Cute” side, we have the following options!

Queen Vampire:2013-08-12 10.43.23

 

Amazon lady:2013-08-12 10.44.16

 

Or Classic Grim Reaper.2013-08-12 10.44.40

 

Do you see now why I need help? Please, oh please, help me decide what to make next! Any favorite animals (That is a pattern you see above, please)? And a favorite creepy? Please leave a comment and help me out here!

Eggs-ellent Discovery!

Eggs-ellent Discovery!

Sorry for the pun, but anyone who knows my father also knows that it is implanted in my DNA to toss in the occasional pun. Just trying to make you proud, Dad.

ANYWAYS, we finally got our first egg from our girls today, and even better, it was from one of our Easter Eggers, whom apparently usually take longer to lay.
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How can I tell?

Our Barred Plymouth Rocks will (eventually?) lay medium-large brown eggs. The Easter Eggers will lay smaller-to medium slate blue and/or green eggs! And as you can tell, we have a lovely green egg! AHHH! So excited, can’t ya tell?

Oh, and we moved the ladies outside about twoish months ago, too. Here’s their outside diggs (with the dogs checking it out, too):
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We keep them inside the coop for the majority of the time, but they do get some roaming time in the back. We limit it because Bonnie is a born killer (she brought down a full-sized healthy dove a month ago… yikes!) and Stevie thinks he could go for some fresh chicken, so we don’t want to forget that they are out and then let the doggies go out there. Posted Image Also, we have that neighbor dog that has in the past dug under our fence, and while it’s been several months, I wouldn’t put it past her to try and break out again!

Oh, and they look a lot less awkward now. Here’s them enjoying the backyard at the end of May:
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Emily Bronte, the Barred Rock that I was expecting to lay first because her comb and whatnot had been deepening to a nice shade of red (you can see the difference from May!):
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And then Fliza Minnelli, Charlotte Bronte, and Xena Warrior Princess (today’s egg is from Fliza or Xena- not 100% who yet!)
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Just had to share the good news because it’s been a lot of work getting to the point where these little ladies finally are producing eggs, and this was an eggs-ellent early birthday present from the chickens.

Crocheted Yoshi

Crocheted Yoshi
Crocheted Yoshi

Okay, y’all. I am pretty proud of this particular crocheted cutie.

Internet, meet Yoshi!

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Okay, you cannot tell me that this not-so-little guy isn’t adorable. And perfect to make for any of your Nintendo geeky friends/family members. This particular guy was made for my brother Stephen’s birthday last week. When we were kids and played MarioKart 64, we would always fight on who got to be Yoshi. When we went back to Utah in June, the old N64 got dusted off, and the battled continued.

Some things just never change.

Anyways, I had already started on this Yoshi for him by then, but it just confirmed what I already knew: Stephen was gonna love his green Yoshi!

I based this Yoshi on the free pattern you can find here. Overall, I thought the pattern was well written, though I felt it pattered out a bit at the end where I could have used a little more help with assembly!

Supplies I recommend:

  • Acrylic yarn (I used mainly cotton, and didn’t love it) in
  • your yoshi color (green) – about about 275 yds since you use quite a bit!
  • boot color (orange),
  • red (for the spikes/saddle),
  • white (tummy/cheeks/saddle).
  • (I also played around with the saddle and made it brown with a red stripe… because I felt like it.)
  • Size G crochet hook (I used an I because I tend to be a very tight crocheter)
  • White and black felt for the eyes (or just have white felt and improvise with a permanent black marker…. I may or may not have done that.)
  • Tapestry needle to sew allllllllllll the parts together. (And there are lots and lots of parts.)
  • Glue for gluing the felt eyes on to your Yoshi
  • Polyfill
  • Patience (lots of it.)

Be prepared for the assembly part-that is where patience comes in handy. It. Gets. Old. Fast. I like to assemble as I go because it makes the assembly time at the end seem not so bad. The way this pattern is written, all but the ball of Yoshi’s head are assembled at the end, and I wanted to pull my hair out because I was so sick of trying to put him together.

But when it is all said and done, you end up with this cutie! He even can give you a little thumbs up if you position his arm right!

Yoshi Collage

Some things that I did that vary from the original pattern:

Legs:

(Makes two,in your Yoshi color)

Round 1: 6 sc into magic ring

Round 2: 2 sc in each st around (12)

Round 3: sc in next st, 2 sc in next st, around (18)

Round 4: sc in next 2 sts, 2 sc in next st, around (24)

Rounds 5-7: sc around (24)

Round 8: *sc in next 2 sts, dec over next 2 sts* Rep * 4 times. Sc in next 8 sts (20) ***

Round 9: *sc in next st, dec over next 2 sts* Rep * 4 times. Sc in next 8 sts (16) ***

Round 10: Dec 4 times, sc in last 8 sts (12) ***

Rounds 11-14: sc around (12)

Fasten off- no need for a tail because you will be attaching to the boots.

*** (I reversed rounds 8, 9, and 10 in the second leg- when you stuff them to put on, it creates a “mirror image” effect for those of us who are kind of perfectionists about that sort of thing)

For the saddle, I added an extra row an extra row of white single crochets since I didn’t like how small it looked on the back. If I could go back, I would have added an extra row of brown SCs, then the red slip stitches, then done the white. By this time though, I was ready to be DONE with poor Yoshi.

If you have any specific questions on what I did differently than in the original pattern, feel free to ask in the comments. I change up the saddle, the spikes, and would do the boots differently if I were to do this again any time soon! 🙂

A very special birthday

A very special birthday

Just recently, my very favorite girl in the world turned one year old.

SAMSUNGCan you believe it? I feel like she was just barely joining our family. (We never could get an answer from the doctor on why she was on the smaller side or why it was “critical” to induce. I suspect it had something to do with the doctor wanting to be paid for being on call that night.)

Anyways, we were lucky enough to spend Evelyn’s FIRST birthday with many of her extended family and some friends, and it was a wonderful day! We did a “Whoo’s Turning One?” theme, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

It started with these cards I designed using my Cricut cutting machine.

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I made this cute little gift/decoration for Evie a few weeks before hand to go with her party theme:

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I made treats and decorations and thank you bags:

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My mom kindly lent me her kitchen for a few days as I worked on Evie’s cakes. (Yes. Cakes. I know I am crazy, thank you. Jared also reminded me of this often throughout this process. “She’s only turning one!” He said. “She won’t ever remember this!” He said. Pshaw, party pooper!)

First, I baked some colorful “balls” that went inside the cakes:

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Then I made the cakes themselves, Evelyn’s mash cake and the cake for everyone else, the day before and of. I am pretty proud how they turned out!

SAMSUNGEvie’s owl mash-it-up cake!

2013-06-28 13.51.56 2013-06-28 13.52.11The formal owl cake for everyone else (covered with homemade marshmallow fondant – which turned out to be a very fun learning experience that also tasted better than the store-bought colored fondant I purchased for some of the other parts of the cakes!)

2013-06-28 15.40.38Side by side at the party!

Then there was the actual party decorations and happenings.

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(Thanks Sarah for the cute sign!)IMG_2624

Evelyn by the month birthday banner!

2013-06-28 15.41.24Cute decorations and guests!

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The spread!

Evelyn had the chance to get sung to, “blow out” her candle, mash up her cake while on daddy’s lap, play at the park, AND open some wonderful gifts. She was a very happy and tired girl by the end of the day.

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How amazing it is to me that somebody who once was this tiny, five pound baby:2012-07-04 13.54.54-1

has turned into an adorable, healthy, happy, active, curious, bright, and beautiful one year old toddler.

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Happy birthday, sweet Evelyn. We ALL made it through your first year- and there were several times I doubted that I could do it! Here is the hope that we have many, many more we will celebrate together!