knitting

I'm still knitting all the time and it hasn't gotten old.  It actually gets more exciting as I'm able to do more complex things.  And there's so much I want to do that I end up working too many projects at once.

I made Phoebe this skirt.  It was a pattern I found when Bella asked for a skirt but I didn't like it that much so I modified it a bit (like knitting it in the round instead of flat.)  I wanted to practice on a smaller size.  I love it and plan to make her another.  But I wouldn't be able to make Bella's the same way as it would be too big.



Oh and I love the yarn I used for it.  It's a cotton blend and super soft.  Though it's a little more expensive than I like.

Then I made Bella this hat with matching mittens.  I also love this yarn and 1 skein made the hats and the mittens (for just over $3.)



And then last weekend I got a book on how to make socks.  I wanted to learn but they seemed a bit overwhelming.  The book explained it really well and now I can make socks.  With thin yarn anyway, I've tried to knit with thin sock yarn and just can't do it.  Maybe someday.



That one is my size and not too cute.  I made one (one sock, not a pair) for Bella so far and it fits so I'm working on the other.  And it fits John too so that makes sizing a lot easier.  I'll get pictures when I finish those.  The smaller ones seem to look a lot cuter than the big one.

Sledding

We got more snow last night, big surprise right.  So today we took the kids sledding.  I'd been looking for a good hill to sled on but didn't know of any and today while out driving we missed our exit and just happened to pass this one.  So later we got all our snow stuff on and went back.  The kids had never been before and they loved it.  Great way to get the extra energy out of them in the winter.

It was funny to watch everyone jump out of the way to avoid people coming down the hill.  Like that old Atari game with the chickens crossing the road.

Long weekend

We went out of town for the long weekend.  Corey took off work on Tuesday we so had 4 days and went down to St. George to stay with Corey's parents.  It was really nice and so much warmer there, although it did snow a bit.

On Monday we took the kids (minus Phoebe) to the museum that's there.  We've been to St. George a bunch of times and always talk about going there but never actually had.  It was kind of small but had a lot of neat animals.  And they give the kids binoculars to use while inside, John and Bella loved that part.















Then after that it was only noon and a really nice day so we took a quick trip down to Las Vegas.  We went to the MGM Grand and the Coke and M&M store which are the kids favorites.



It was great but now I have a ton of bags to unpack and I really don't want to.

Yarning

John:  Why are we going to Joann's again?  How many times do we have to go?

Me:  A lot.

Bella:  Mommy will never stop going there because she'll never stop yarning.

Yaco

My dad came to visit this past weekend and brought with him Yaco, his African Grey parrot.  We got Yaco 17 years ago (when I was just 9.)  Anyway I hadn't seen Yaco in 5 years and didn't realize how much I missed her until I saw her.  I talked my dad into leaving her here, so Yaco is staying with us for awhile (and we're all very excited about that.)
I got a few short video clips of her yesterday and today, and now that I think about it I'm not sure there's any other video of her other than from when she was a baby.  As you can see she really likes to say her name.  And I just learned how to get her talking, play a video of her.  As I was playing the videos just now on the computer I could hardly hear because she's going nuts copying everything she hears.



And then some pictures of the kids holding her when my dad was here, he's the one that put her on their heads (I wouldn't do that myself.)







And Phoebe didn't really think the head thing was a good idea





And I just remembered I have a couple pictures of Yaco as a baby in my photobucket account, here she is all cute and fuzzy

Lick and stick stickers

I found the link to this on my homeschooling board  http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2011/01/diy-lick-and-stick-stickers.html (cute blog too, especially for young kids.)  Turns out you can make your own lick and stick stickers with Jello.  I had some Jello so I wanted to give it a try.

You just mix 2 tablespoons boiling water with 1 tablespoon Jello powder, then paint the mixture onto the back of paper and let it dry.  It was super easy.

Anyway I wanted a way to make it more of a school project than just stickers so I made up some worksheets and the stickers were the answers for them to stick on.

I let John and Bella cut their pictures out themselves







Then they licked





And stuck them on where they belonged (or in Phoebe's case anywhere she wanted.)














We did math worksheets too.

Overalls

I finally finished up these overalls I was making for Phoebe.  Much like John's shorts I was so ready to be done by the end.  And I didn't have a pattern for them (because I'm too cheap to buy one) so I just guessed.  Turns out my high school teacher was right, math skills are very handy to have.

I started yet another pair of shorts today (my 7th pair) a nice easy project for now.  Bella wants a skirt and I'll make her one eventually but I dread the time it'll take.  Babies are so much easier to knit for.  Can't wait to make a cute little dress for Hazel when she starts walking.

Math and Handwriting

I pulled the camera out today during school to get some pictures of the kids.  I plan to make them each a photo book for each year of school so I have to remember to actually get pictures of what we do.

As I've mentioned before they really like math and today we started subtraction.  They seemed to catch on rather well to it.  Bella was a little slower than John, but she understands addition better than him.















And then handwriting.  John's handwriting started off so bad, and he hated to practice.  We started Handwriting Without Tears and he has done so well with it.  Before Bella would finish a page in minutes and 20 minutes later John would still be crying and have gotten nowhere with his work.  Now he finishes before her and just flies through it.

This is John's handwriting when we started the year...



And this is it now... (the top sentence is my writing and his is underneath.)









And this is Bella. She's had pretty good handwriting from the beginning.


And this is what I got when I asked each of them to smile