"I make a birfday for you"

So, it's not Christmas, or my birthday, but here are some pictures of my sweet son enjoying his Christmas gift from Mrs. Claus (the Le Toy Van Mixer from my earlier post.) He is making a birthday for his momma.

Ethan's 3rd Birthday -- Part II

This year, my husband and I took on the tremendous endeavor of constructing a playset(which will be shown in Ethan's 3rd Birthday -- Part III) for the E-Man's birthday. Knowing that this would take us just about forever and also taking into account that another child in his school has a birthday the day after his, we decided to move his "Friend Come Over to My House" birthday party back a couple weeks. So, on his actual birthday, we attended his friend's party and then came home to a pizza, cake and ice cream with Grandma, PaPa, Aunt Lynn, Uncle John, Erin, and Dee Dee, Sharon, and Grandma Schutte (and Mommy and Daddy too.) I love the family birthday the most. I really wish we had more little kids. It would be that much better.



For his family birthday, I spent way too long trying to make a Super Why themed cake. I love decorating cakes, but I stink at it. If you have a child who watches Super Why, perhaps you will be able to tell what I wast trying to get at with the cake. It's supposed to be the Super Why book. See it? I cheated and stuck toys on it (thank goodness.)

Anyway, here are a couple pictures of the festivities. He makes my heart pitter pat.




Listening to everyone sing "Happy Birthday To You" -- How cute is that?




Blowing out his candle




Erin -- Isn't she pretty?






Jumping and playing!

First Carnival For the E-Man

So, my son is going to be a daredevil. (Worried sigh.) On Thursday and then again on Friday (because we forgot our camera- doh!) we went to the Webster Groves Community Days Carnival. I have always LOVED carnivals, so much so that I would happily hop out of the car on my way to dinner to take a couple rides. We decided to take Ethan to the carnival thinking that he would like the lights, but expecting that he would be too scaredy to go on any rides. So, when we got there and saw they had several kiddie rides, we decided to start small with the train. By the end of the night he was giggling through the "Bigger Kid Kiddie Rides" that even sort of scared me. Here are some pictures from our revisit on Friday (which was WAY more crowded and crazy than our visit on Thursday.)

E is for Easter, Ethan and Elmo?

I'm not exactly a huge fan of childhood characters. Don't get me wrong, I definitely qualify as immature when it comes to my love of cartoons and "kid" movies (at least the good ones.) However, I can't stand the syrupy, commercialized cartoon characters plastered on every kid product from diapers to baby yogurt. I also don't like to put my kid in "character"clothes. I just don't. I like the basics. Lately, however, in a quest to build my child's language skills and attention span (and to give mom and dad a break from climbing furniture, tormenting the dogs and throwing everything but what he's supposed to), we have Tivoed "Sesame Street" so that Ethan can have some quiet time. It has worked. He sits still for more than five minutes as Elmo rides his bike around talking to the same Gordon and Maria I watched 25 (maybe even 30) years ago. So, I have to admit, when he looked at his Elmo and Cookie Monster laden diapers and said ecstatically "MoMo" and "Cookie" it made my heart melt.


I really wasn't going to do anything for Easter, because he doesn't really get these things yet. He wants to throw Easter eggs, not hunt them, and God forbid he should get his hands on a bunny. Guilt (or Patti B. at my work) got to me and I decided he might enjoy an Elmo egg like the Ernie and Bert my dad made me when I was little. It was one of the most memorable things my dad did for me. I loved my Ernie and Bert eggs that he blew out and decorated. They were in my Easter basket every year. So hopefully Elmo can be in Ethan's. That is, if we can keep him from throwing it.

My first post -- How I started knitting

This is my first post to my blog. I am still unsure if I should keep this name. I like to do more than just knit, but I can definitely say that knitting is by far my most pressing current creative obsession. I really have only been knitting for a very short time. It all started in September 2007 on a family vacation with my in-laws to Crystal Lake, Michigan, which, by the way, is a beautiful lake in the northern part of the state.


Here are two pictures of the view of Crystal Lake from the cottage we rented.


I brought three little embroidery projects to work on during our week-long stay. Because of this, my mother-in-law took me to a yarn shop around the corner in the the town of Beulah. I had never picked up a set of knitting needles in my life; I thought knitting needles had curved little hooks at the end. (No Diana, that's crochet.) I just couldn't wrap my head around how one could make a fabric with straight needles. The little yarn shop in Beulah is called "The Yarn Market" and it had many pretty yarns, but what caught my eye was a book on knitting clothes, blankets and toys for babies called "Essential Baby" by Debbie Bliss. OMG! I had never seen something so cute. The little sweaters and socks were the sweetest things I had ever seen, but "No" I declared. I didn't need a new hobby. I had just started embroidery and I had enough to concentrate on. Well, I finished the three embroidery projects by the end of the week (which were by the way Christmas presents for my aunt, grandma and family friend) and I had a really good time doing them.

A week after getting home, I couldn't get the little baby book out of my head, so off to the bookstore I went and I bought it. My first project was to make the little crossover top for my darling niece, Erin. It was October, so I had three months to 1. Learn to Knit and 2. To Successfully finish the sweater by Christmas. I did it. With a little help from You Tube's instructional videos (I love that I learned to knit on You Tube!) and Debbie Bliss' "How to Knit." I think that you need to see someone make the stitches when you are first knitting. I can now read instructions and understand (most of the time) what they are talking about, but at first, you need someone to show you. If you have someone to help you in person, that would be ideal. Otherwise, here are some links to the You Tube videos that I found very helpful.

Helpul You Tube Videos

Casting On
The Knit Stitch
The Purl Stitch
Knitting Increase
Knitting Decrease
The Kitchener Stitch