Update, I am still around

I know, just smack me, I haven't been keeping up to date around here lately.  Nothing very exciting it going on a Chez Yearout.

We’ve been bowling, which the girls seemed to enjoy...although my feet did not enjoy the shoes, or my wrist enjoy the weight of the ball.

Grace is still working on gymnastics, we finally got her in some private lessons to help her on cartwheels, handstands, the basic stuff.  How do you beef up a little girls arm muscles?

Anna has become the girl who learns that the best time to have to go to the bathroom is when I ask to fold the laundry or set the table or something she doesn’t want to do.  In fact, I gave Grace $2 to fold and put away Anna’s laundry last night....I would have given the $2 to Anna had she done it.  We’ll see how that goes this weekend when Grace gets to buy something and Anna does not.

Leah is learning where her body parts are, the only ones that she knows for sure are her nose and bellybutton.  The kid loves to draw on anything and everything.  I caught her with a pencil and my kitchen floor once.

I’ve been working on Christmas crafts, so I can’t share on here.  I am knitting a garter stitch shawl that’s starting to drag, I’m nearly to the part where the pattern changes and it speeds up a bit...so I’m pushing myself to get past the boredom.  I also have a baby sweater I best get started on soon (hey, Tiff!).  I’m wondering if pastel blue would be too boyish if it goes with pastel yellow and green for a gender neutral sweater?  Comments are welcome.

Halloween

We did the usual Halloween festivities this week.  (A week prior we painted some pumpkins for a contest through my employees association at work, more on that later.)  The big girls carved pumpkins, or rather, they gutted, I carved.  I’ve never been keen on pumpkin carving, but it’s not so bad when you get somebody else to take all the yuck out.  A kitty and Frankenstein.  I was gonna do one for Leah, but my bed called before I could get to it.

Last night, we went to a neighborhood in town, took a turn around a block, then went home.  We hit maybe 10 houses and got just enough loot to be satisfied.  This year we had a Rapunzel

a cupcake

and a ladybug.

The ladybug really wasn't grumpy, but it's darn hard to get a good picture when everybody just wants CANDY!

Color Affection

A couple of weeks ago I walked into a yarn shop (I know, such a shocker, eh? J) and I saw this shawl that I knew I had to make.  I’d seen the pattern on ravelry and the Yarn Harlot had knitted one, they were pretty but not something I needed to make.  I don’t know why the one, several actually, in the yarn shop made me HAVE to make it, but they did.  So I downloaded the pattern and have been obsessing about what colors to choose.  It’s a 3 color shawl, oh, I forgot to mention it’s the Color Affection shawl.  Also called the Color Addiction/Affliction because they are addicting.  I was an obsessed woman, I perused internet pictures, I looked at a bunch on ravelry and I thought I’d settled on 3 colors.  I went back to that yarn shop on Saturday to check out yarn.  Mind you, I had 3 rugrats with me, so I must be quick otherwise things usually run amok.  I settled on these colors...what do you think?  Of course, I started it right away.  (on a side note, I wish I could knit and drive at the same time)

Some Random

I was playing around with a new app on my phone, it's called pudding camera, if you're interested.  What better subjects than my kiddos, thought you might enjoy seeing them.

And in other news, Leah is walk, walk, walking everywhere.  It's easier to keep up with your big sisters that way!

Right Now I Am...

...glad that my shawl is done.  I had to rip back several times because I managed to drop stitches in my lace rows.

….sad that my shawl is done.  I’ve already been looking for a pattern for another one.  But I can’t start it until the Christmas gift I’m knitting is done.

…hoping the bridge fairies will come finish up the analysis of this bridge.  It’s just plain ugly, hydraulically, and I’m ready to be done.  It’s not even mine, I’m finishing it up for the guy who didn’t do it right in the first place.

...hoping to get my car all cleaned up inside and out this weekend.  I don’t end up in the backseat often, but I took a peek the other day and my kids have trashed it back there!

...wondering what to do for craft night tonight with the big girls.  Something they can do mostly themselves.

...wishing my hair would grow faster.  It’s in this horrible stage and I have to use a headband otherwise it’s in my face as it’s too short to tuck behind my ears, but too long to leave unleashed.

Ice Fishing Season?

Summer's unofficially over now that Labor Day has passed and you bet Jeremy's been thinking about ice fishing.  So much so in fact, he got out his ice armor that he got last year.  It's supposed to keep you afloat if you fall in and keep you warm as well.  He's been wanting to go jump in a lake with it on, just to see if it works.

He let me take a picture.  I think it's funny how I managed to get a pic with him holding his collar like that; looking coy, it was totally by accident.

With the cool weather the last few days, Jeremy's getting even more excited.  I burst his bubble by reminding him that ice fishing season won't be until at least December.

**several days after I posted this, he actually did go up to a lake nearby and checked to see if it floats.  Walked right in and flopped down.  The verdict: it does indeed float.

Cloth Diaper Update

Leah's been in cloth diapers exclusively now for a couple weeks.  All is going very well.  They aren't that hard to get all the solids off; we got a sprayer that attaches to the toilet supply line, so I can spray off a majority of the yuck.  I wash them about every day, depending on how many she goes through at daycare.  I definitely have my favorites and some are more puffy than others, giving her a big ol' diaper butt.  I've rigged up a clothes line in her room and hang them on it to dry.

This cow print is for Grandma Y, who is a cow collecting fanatic.

I caught her trying to remove all the movies from the shelf, this is one of her past times along with playing in the dog water and dumping the dog food on the floor!

I also caught her in the "time-out" chair; climbed in there all by herself.  (Nevermind the dog toy she's sucking on. J )