Monday, January 26, 2009

Saxton Took His First Step Today!

First thing this morning too!

He's growing up so fast.

He also has a 2.5 word vocabulary: mama, bye-bye, and a form of "hi" (sounds like "ha!") when you hold his cell phone to his ear. We're eating pretty much anything mom will give him, and he has a fondness for homemade yogurt. Yum!



I Dyed Merino Wool Yarn with Kool Aid!

I started out with Patton's classic wool merino, 3.5 oz/100 grams of worsted weight yarn in "Aran"



The turorial called for 2 pkgs of kool-aid for every 50 grams on yarn, so I started with 4



I prewashed the wool with Johnson & Johnson's origional baby shampoo in tepid water. Wet wool stinks.



I mixed the Kool Aid with 2 cups of tepid water while the wool soaked.




I added the wet wool and enough water to cover the wool.



I microwaved the wool in 2 minute intervals until the color was completely absorbed into the wool.




I let the wool cool, decided it needed more color, and added 3 more packs of Kool Aid to a cup of tepid water, mixed it and added to the yarn and repeated the microwave process.

It absorbed all 3 pkgs of color

I let the wool cool again in the bowl full of water. While the wool was cooling, Xavian stirred it with a spaghetti spoon. Keep children and speghetti spoons away if you are doing this.
After it had cooled, I dumped the bowl back into the sink and rinsed in water the same temp as the wool.

I washed the wool with a teaspoon of J&J origional baby shampoo again.

I then rinsed the wool with tepid water, and pressed out the excess water.
Here is the tangled wool drying on the counter with a skien of yarn the same color I started out with:
After much cursing and letting the wool dry by the fire while I untangled it, here is my finished product!
This is going to make adorable shorties for Saxton this summer!
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Saturday, January 24, 2009

We Went to the COOLEST Toy Store Ever, Today!

We went to Play Things Ect, just north of Buttler, PA today!

This store not only carries toys for "kids" of all ages, but it also carries toys that you won't fing anywhere else (Made in America, anyone?), AND, it donates a portion of it's sales to provide unfortunate children all around the world with toys!

The store it's self is shaped like a ginat silver spaceship



The front door is the engine exhaust




Inside, we found the controls to the space ship, along with lots of toys we could play with and try out, and employees who were playing too!

Xavian, J, and Saxton tried out the race track & race cars



Korra and Saxton walked around a bit looking at everything




Then J & Xavian found the rubberband guns, which led to me yelping "Ouch!"



Saxton decided the 1950's diner kitchen was just his size



And Korra discovered a tree house to play dolls in (her fave thing in the whole store!)



Xavian's favorite toy in the store was of course the race cars & race track, and I did some mental birthday shopping for both Xavian and Saxton. J just liked everything!

We detoured heading home via Chicorra and it's 2 remaining awsome wooden railroad trestles. J programed the Garmin (thanks MIL & FIL!) and we took the most indirect path we could getting there!

Here's J telling the Garmin where to go



What a fun day! To check out the store (& even to shop online!) go to http://www.playthings-etc.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?display=home
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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Etsy Shop Clearance!

I'm clearancing everything but the customs before I add new stock.


Tutus are 50% off, and bows are $1 off!




Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Walking in a Winter Wonderland...






Dear Old Man Winter,
We like snow. We really do. But is it neccessary to dump so much in such a short time frame? I mean, well, there's, ummmm, about 3 feet in 9 days covering the ground and everything else. It has snowed so much that at points the road crews gave up.
Thank you for listening to me fuss about our white fluff,
Jenn

I'm Learning to Knit!

J got me Stitch n Bitch for Christmas because i wanted to learn to knit. It arrived January 8th. I got right to it, and with my new book's help the directions from this website: http://www.tinybirdsorganics.com/soakers/pattern/index.html I knit Saxton a wool soaker! And it fits! Woot!




Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Ummm... Brrrrr?

Snow.

That is all.

Lots of snow.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

A Homemade Chrsitmas

Christmas this year was full of homemade goodness!



My Grandma crochet the kids each a sweater.



Saxton looking too cute for words







Korra in her stunning cardigan







which featured a basket weave stitch






Xavian in his blue striped delight






My mother-in-law K made me these fabulous hanging hand towels





I made Korra some felt food (here's a sampling)




I made Saxton a cloth book that spells his name










These are 2 cloth blocks I made Saxton, as well



Korra also received a pair of handmade Euro pants made by myself




I made J 8 bright hankies



And, of course, I made Saxton a stocking to match the ones I have made his siblings and daddy in years past




Hopefully, before next year, I will make one for myself.
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Friday, January 9, 2009

Saxton's First Tooth!!

He never really acted like he was teething, nor did we have any tooth buds. But yesterday, yesterday, after a night of little sleep & lots of crying, Saxton suddenly started acting like himself again. He put a piece of paper in his mouth, and I went to scoop it out, & there, there on the bottom left is Saxton's very first tooth!

Bring on the steak!

Monday, January 5, 2009

It's 7am

AND SCHOOL STARTS TODAY!!!!

(sorry, I'm just a little excited)

It's been a long Christmas vacation. I love my kiddos, but they are wearing mommy out, and starting to fight with each other over everything.

I'll post better later, when I've had some rest, and I'll add some pictures.

Happy first day back to school, everyone!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

100th Entry!

Wow!

I've had something to say 100 times? Really?

Wow!

How awsome that my 100th Blogger Entry would fall on the first day of 2009! What a way to start the year!

For all of you that follow our family's life, I just want to say thanks for finding us important!

Happy New Year!
And, Merry 8th Day of Christmas! lol!