just in the nick of time!

just before Jaedyn was born i figured out how to crochet baby hats. i made her a good bunch and then decided she probably has enough to get her through the winter (and if not i'll happily oblige) but they are very cute and easy i wanted to keep going. i also decided that i had enough bits of yarn stashed away and if i wanted new yarn (which i really really do) then i needed to find a way to use up this old yarn first. so i set a goal for myself.... 10 baby hats by the new year to be donated to a hospital.

this was a pretty easy deal for me to keep as about 2 months ago we started watching ALL of the past LOST (aka greatest show of all time) episodes in preparation for the series ending season starting in February. it's hard for me to just sit mindlessly in front of the TV so i picked up my crochet hook and started making these hats. i played around with little tassel tops, ear flaps, stripes, different sizes. it ended up being very educational for me!

as of 10:30pm Dec 31st i finished hat #10!! i found this site that lists hospitals who accept baby donations and our local hospital happens to be on the list. easy enough!

year in review

last year i made some resolutions and i'd like to review them to see how i did.

1. lose 10 lbs -- as far as i know this did not happen. i'm still hovering around 130 which i'm comfortable at but would always welcome weight lose i'm just not sure it'll be in my new resolution list.

2. use only cold water to do laundry (unless we're dealing with poop or vomit) -- i'm happy to report that for a most part this resolution was kept. i didn't even notice any difference in my laundry (a good thing) so i'll keep on doing this.

3. read (at least) one book a month -- i read 9 books last year but i haven't read a book since July... sad i know! i had a great start with reading even more than my one book a month goal but then i think i got comfortable with my lead and slacked off big time. Chris got me a few books for Christmas this year and i plan on doing an internet fast until Jan 1st so i think i may actually be able to say i read 10 books this year! i really liked this resolution and may keep it on the list for next year too.

4. enjoy a family outing once a month -- unfortunately i have to report a big fat "no" on this resolution. we didn't even do the ice skating i talked about in the resolution itself... UGG! this year got away from me for sure. with me working long hours 1/2 the year and Chris not working at all this year it was a strange year to say the least. but really i wasn't even conscious about this resolution after March i'm afraid. i just plum forgot (note to self: review new years resolutions once a month!) not to say that good times weren't had.... we did manage to go camping and have a mostly lousey time :o) but we went! i'm not sure i'll revisit this resolution exactly but i might have some variation of it in the 2010 year.

so like i said i'll be off of the internet until next year. i need some time to unplug and focus on more important things. hopefully i'll get that last book read and figure out a nice direction for my life. see ya next year!

Christmas happenings

Mayden & Cameron on Christmas morning 2009

when the kids are in bed asleep by 7pm, you know it was a good day! hear's to a nice relaxing evening :o) more Christmas pictures are here if you're interested. i'll post a narrative later this weekend.

Greetings....

Merry Christmas!

from Mayden & Cameron

(mama, dada & bubbas {the pig} too!)

crafty girl

i've been trying to make it a point to let Mayden "help" me whenever she asks. it's about 1000 times easier to say "no" and just do it myself but she'll never learn that way sooooo... new plan.

recently she's been asking to help me with my crafting which has been taking up more of my time since Christmas is right around the corner. i should have learned a long time ago from my beloved Soule Mama to let kids be creative as i believe they naturally are. i have not been very good with this. learning more about myself this year i've discovered that i tend to be controlling. i am most comfortable with things are neat, organized and perfect.... this as you may have guessed is nearly impossible with children! so anyway i need to be more conscious of my tendencies and to let go much more (especially if i'm going to unschool)

about a week ago Mayden brought me this:

i knew it wasn't going to happen but i thought she deserved to give it a try if she wanted to so i humored her. she got frustrated very quickly but if we do this every few weeks she might actaully pick it up in a year or two.... who knows!


this week i've been in a mad rush to get my crafty christmas gifts made. Cameron had been sick so i was very far behind. Mayden askd if she could help me and my first instinct was to say no (i mean i was dealing with a sewing needle after all) but i got to thinking and decided maybe i could use a little help. plus Soule Mama's kids use the sewing machine and needles all the time.... i needed to give her the benefit of the doubt and see what she could do.

much to my surprise she totally did it! i mean i was blown away that she didn't once poke herself with the needle. proof that i need to let go and let her do things more often. letting go can be good, letting go can be good, letting go can be good... my new mantra!

the Christmas gift for her cousin that she did all by herself (minus the end tying) i promise you'll see more of these awesome little gifts once Christmas is over!

it is so

well, we did end up getting all that snow! 16.5 inches to be exact, it covered our little chair completely!

we've been having a lot of fun needless to say.

**let it snow**

we're suppose to be getting a significant snow storm starting midnight tonight. i set up a photo album documenting the accumulation. it will be updated every few hours starting Saturday morning. check here for pictures!!

the end of the garden 2009

our little garden has served us well this year. lots of zucchini & spinach as well as some others. i learned a lot and have bigger plans for next year. i was way off this spring/summer with a lot of my planting times so i'll need to pay more attention to that next year. i'm not sure if she was serious but my grandmother offered to email me every time my pop-pop (an expert gardener) does something with his garden... and then i'll go run out and do the same!! i can't fail that way can i?

so this is what the garden looks like now.

dead zucchini but still lovely lettuce & spinach. in fact May and i picked most of the spinach this morning and made a green smoothie. i'm happy to announce that she drank about 1/2 a cup of it!

Jaedyn in a basket