Jessica

I was cleaning out my inbox this afternoon and I came across jessica's wedding pictures. I cant believe how beautiful you are, how grown-up you look. The first picture is my favorite... i remember this face when you were a little girl...your bright blue eyes, your chin, your happy cheeks. I see this same little girl in this picture.

You look like Natalie in the second picture :)

Love you

Happy Thanksgiving

Now that's just gross. 

Happy Thanksgiving Sisters!  I am thankful for each and every one of you and thankful that I don't live on this far away planet.

Have a wonderful Day!

A day in the life of Moto

Moto stared wistfully out the window as he watched his mom's car pull out of the driveway for a long day at school. However, it didn't take long for him to begin to find ways to distract himself from being left home alone with Porter. First, he goes upstairs where he finds curtain rod boxes and an old medical bag and he decides that these items did not belong upstairs, so he's going to do his mom a big favor by dragging them all downstairs to pile in the living room. Once he piled them up he decided he was curious as to what was in the medical bag, and after a few minutes he figured out how to unzip it and was excited to find a blood pressure cuff which would be his new chew toy. Moto was satisfied for only a little while however before his attention turned to the kitchen and all of the neat things on the counter tops that he could play with... First is the bag of shiny red apples, so he snatched the bag from the counter top and chewed them, licked them, and scattered them all over the place, his mom would later find them under the couch, in his curtain rod box pile, and upstairs. Once he was through with the apples he found a wedding gift that his mom and dad hadn't opened yet and decided to open it up for them... This one was one of his favorites, a silicone bake ware set that now has teeth marks imprinted on them and a spatula chewed in half... these things he also decided to place in his pile. Then he found a paper bag on the counter top which he chewed up and sprinkled like confetti all through out the house, the perfect touch to the big surprise he was going to give his mom when she got home. All the while Porter looked on horrified and amused all at once, but there was nothing he could do to stop his brother... Moto had such a long day that he needed a nap now, so he knocked all of the pillows off of the couch and layed down for an afternoon snooze.... What a busy boy.

(As cute as this story sounds, i was not amused when i got home...)

Crochet & Such

Crochet... How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

There are at least a million different things you can do with a skein of yarn and a crochet hook... The opportunities to explore your creativity are endless. I was only recently that I discovered just how much I love this little yarn-craft. It started with simple little scarves... Then I began to search the internet for more fun ideas. I found hundreds of patterns that were written in a fashion similar to this...

Materials:

• 1 skein Caron Simply Soft in grey (or whatever color you prefer, but Bella's is grey)
• 5.5mm crochet hook
• 1 large-eyed needle (for weaving in ends)

Some pre-pattern info:
I imagine you can use most worsted-weights single-stranded and accomplish the same feat; however, most of us know that Caron is not your typical worsted weight, so I double-stranded the whole thing. It's not a bad result at all. Just play around with the yarn until you're able to get the proper size to fit over your head :)

To make it look more like Bella's hat, you would use a thinner yarn and more rows in between the BPdc's, adding more length as you go. I kind of like the chunkier look.

As always, please let me know if you find any errors in my pattern :)

Special Stitches:
FPtr: Yarn over twice, insert hook around the post (from the front side of your work) of the stitch indicated; yo and draw up a lp (4 lps on hk); yo and draw through two lps (3 lps on hk); yo and draw through two lps (2 lps on hk); yo and draw through two lps (1 lp on hk)
BPdc: Yarn over, insert hook from the back side of the work right to left around the post of the indicated stitch on a previous row; yo and pull up a loop (3 lps on hk); yo and draw through two lps (2 lps on hk); yo and draw through two lps (1 lp on hk)

Pattern:
Ch 3, join

• R1: Ch3 (counts as 1st dc), 11dc's into loop, join. (12dc)
• R2: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, 2FPtr] 3x
• R3: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), dc in next st, 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, dc, 2FPtr] 3x
• R4: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), dc in next 2 sts, 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, 2dc, 2FPtr] 3x
• R5: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), dc in next 2 sts, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, 2dc, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr] 3x
• R6: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), dc in next 4 sts, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, 4dc, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr] 3x
• R7: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), dc in next 6 sts, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, 6dc, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr] 3x
• R8: Ch3, dc in top of ch3 (inc made), dc in next 8 sts, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr, [2dc in next st, 8dc, 2dc in next st, 2FPtr] 3x
• R9-R12: Ch3, 11dc, 2FPtr, [12dc, 2FPtr] 3x (work even)
• R13: Ch3, 11BPdc, 2FPtr, [12BPdc, 2FPtr] 3x (work even)
• R14-16: work same as R9
• R17: work same as R13
• R18: [Ch1, sl st] around

Bind Off.

This can be terrifying for someone that doesn't know what any of those symbols/abbreviations stand for... But after watching about 20 youtube videos, I was finally able to figure it out... So far I've made a HUGE blanket, several hats, a knit cell phone case, baby blankets, etc. The pattern you see above is for the hat pictured above... Courtesy of JennyHat. It's one of many patterns put together to replicate the hat that Bella Swan wears at La Push in the 1st Twilight movie. I started it last night. It is really simple after you understand what a FPtr is... :0)

This is a hat that I made last week... The pattern was pretty easy but sometimes I think I have a learning disorder for reading acronyms... :-) After frogging (rip-it, rip-it, rip-it apart) it like five times, I realized what I had been doing wrong... The hat is great but I don't care for how light-weight the yarn is... Even though I can wear is over my ears, it really doesn't keep any heat on my head. I think after the Bella hat, I'm going to try and cable knit... scary... :-)

2009 Christmas Ornament Exchange

I couldn't resist....






I signed up for this ornament exchange! This is the first time in my LIFE that I've ever done anything like this before! My swap partner is located in Portland, Oregon and I can't WAIT to see what kind of cute ornament I end up with!! Better get shopping/crocheting/knitting!! :0)

I will post pictures of the cool ornament I am sure to acquire!

The Great Adventure of the Infinite Soul Search-err?

Where exactly are you supposed to leave your footprints before you die? What plan is there for us when we are just tiny little being's in the womb like little peanut. Life might be easier if we had been born with our own personal guide map and compass to show us the way. However We are born naked into families with siblings and parents and then we learn about the world as we experience it. All the while we take paths either by choice or fate, wrong or right, that will lead into our great adventures. Whether it means you are a mother, wife, sister, daughter, or superhero... All of which are equally important and trying roles in life.

I have spent so much time in my life trying to conjure up the meaning. I have decided to stop searching and be still and happy in my current state, given my curiosity does not get the best of me. i have decided to just let fate run it's course. The more i have searched, the more wrong turns i have taken. The greatest things in my life have come to me unexpectedly. What a wonderful world...

A little dose of philosophy if you will ;)

Little Booger

Natalie:  Babe!  Peanut looks just like you!
MC:  Yeah, just like my booger!

I'd like to introduce you to little Booger Callahan!

Age:  6 weeks 5 days

Due: July 8th, 2010

3D images of 6 week old embryo's are not that beautiful, but man, when I saw that heartbeat...Niagra Falls.