Snow Forts

The kids were very excited by the recent snow fall. They love building snow forts and having snowball fights.

The forts aren't really big enough to protect anyone from the incoming snowballs but still fun to build.

Merry Christmas

A couple of pictures from Christmas morning. The first "socks" I ever knit were Christmas stockings, a red one and a green one. They are huge and stretch when gifts are placed inside. The kids think they are the best stockings ever but I often find it hard to fill them up. Placing bags of socks and underwear in the bottom seems to help.

We went with the rhyme again this year. Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read. The want is always the most difficult because we already have so much. But ST needed new volleyball knee pads and wanted a nice volleyball. TT needed new pj's because he had outgrown most of his old ones.

Books were the easiest because of the book fair at school, the kids had already picked out a large amount of reading materials.

Mittens- Fail

I decided to knit the Mrs. Roosevelt mittens from the new Knitty. Unfortunately, I had some problems from the beginning. First, I selected a worsted weight yarn (Cascade 220) instead of the recommended DK. This caused the gauge to be off and even though I was in denial I had to admit that it needed to be ripped out. With the help of my knitting guru, I selected Dolly for my second attempt. This morning, I knit up the first mitten while watching TT play video games.

My fingers are long and lean so I had to add a few rounds, then rip out and add a few more rounds. Ultimately, I finished the mitten and it fits, but I don't like it. I prefer rounded mittens but these are quite pointy. Also, the thumb is pointy and huge. The bottom line is that I just wanted to knit them because I liked the story: unpublished notes from Eleanor Roosevelt, a timeless patten. I am posting this picture to prove that I actually knit one because by tonight it will be frogged.

Please, Santa

ST is famous, around school, for her funny pictures. This one is classic. The Santa looks so uninterested.

Christmas Lights

Here's a few pictures from the limo Christmas light tour. Some of the houses had their lights set up to move along with music that you could tune into on your car radio. I wonder how they do that.

TT wasn't feeling so well and stayed home from school on Monday.

December weekend

What a crazy weekend!! Saturday we begin with Festival of Giving for Girl Scouts. We did some crafts, community service and tried the "new" Lemonade cookie. I was happy to see the lady from Female and Fearless. ST took her girl's self defense seminar last year and it was very informative. This time she had a new Ford and taught the girls how to pull the glow in the dark latch to get out of a trunk if they are ever stuck inside. ST said it was very dark inside once she closed the trunk.




A few hours later it was time for TT's 9th birthday party. We had 10 kids running around partying like Rockstars. Three kids slept over, but they didn't really sleep. They stayed up most of the night playing video games and being loud.


Sunday we had our first adult rec league volleyball game. We lost both games but it was fun.


Lastly, Sunday night we went on a limo ride to see Christmas lights. D and his weight lose team won the limo ride in the summer but saved it for the Christmas light tour.

The limo was huge and the kids were quite impressed. For two hours we rode around , drank soda, and ohhhed and ahhhed over the amazing lights.
The weekend was very full but overall very fun.

Winter Program

Here's a coupe of pictures from the kid's Christmas singing program. TT is wearing a black tie with little skulls on it. ST wanted to wear her Christmas dress from last year so she just got new shoes.

ST is in the choir and bucket drum group.

Last year at this time...

Here's a couple of pictures from last year's photo shoot for TT's birthday invitations. This year we went with store bought invitations because the theme is Bakugan.

With only one week of school left, I am feeling much less stress and looking forward to a nice break with lots of knitting in front of the fireplace and hanging out with family and friends.

Thanksgiving

After Thanksgiving dinner, we walked to the park for a little physical activity. S is never without her volleyball, these days.

TT is such a handsome, clever little man. He's sense of sarcasm is way beyond his years.

Sculpture

Dennis and TT have been taking sculpture class at The Secret Gallery. They have brought home some amazing pieces. This is Dennis' first attempt at a bust. It is far from finished but I am very impressed with his abilities to create.

Thanksgiving Knitting

We had a nice Thanksgiving break, spending time together as a family and eating lots of yummy food. I also got a lot of knitting done (and not a lot of homework, like I had planned)

I finished two wonderful sweater for myself. The pink sweater's pattern and yarn came all the way from Italy and the brown sweater was originally meant for TT.
Now on to Christmas knitting which I said I was not going to do this year.

A few more Marathon pictures

Kansas City Marathon 2009

This weekend I checked one item of my lifetime list, "to run a full marathon." I was very lucky to have my amazing friends traveling with me. Lori, Laura, Judy, Becca, Lanora and all the way from New Mexico, Angelique were there to cheer me on and compete in their personal goals.

The weekend started with a stop in Lawrence for lunch and a little shopping. Then on to the race expo at Crown Center in Kansas City. I was disappointed in the amount of vendors at the expo but I did get an iRun Like a Girl long sleeve shirt to wear during the race.

After the expo, the seven of us met up at our very nice hotel and then it was time for dinner at Cheesecake Factory on the Plaza. Laura and I got our cheesecake to go and stored it in the hotel fridge to eat after the race on Saturday.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and did a little knitting. I woke up Saturday morning excited and nervous. It was cold, dark and raining as we walked the mile to the start line. I started with the 5 hour pace group and started with them till mile 17 when I started to feel very fatigued. Miles 19 to 23 were the most difficult but at mile 23 I realized there was only 3 miles left and I got a little extra energy to make it to the end. I came across the finish line in 5:10:37. I am very happy with my time.

It was an amazing weekend with amazing women and I am so happy that I was able to complete this dream with these women. Thanks to you all!

Wichita Half Marathon

Sunday morning, we got up early and went to cheer on friends and strangers at the Wichita Half Marathon. We brought our lawn chairs, "Love the Pain" sign, donuts, and cow bells and set up camp at mile 9 (it's a loop so it's also mile 4) We saw a couple of knitting friends, S's teacher and a few people I didn't even were running the race. The kids tried to get a runner to eat a donut but no takers.

Laura and Lori joined us in the cheering section. (BTW, S took this photo and as you can see she is a very professional photographer)

I am very happy that we chose this place to set up because we were able to help a runner who was severely dehydrated. Two other runners were carrying her and we were able to provide a call to 911, basic first aid, and wave down the ambulance. I believe we were able to do something positive for her and that makes me feel good.

Angelique'svisit

My friend Angelique is visiting this weekend.

Regular Life

Not much going on around here. It's tough for everyone to get back into the swing of things when school starts. We all miss being at home, together, relaxing and having fun.

WSU Volleyball

Our season tickets for Wichita State Volleyball arrived yesterday.

First Day of School

5th grade

3rd grade