Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Do I dare

Title this "It is way past my bedtime, but.... . That is the first Torrie that popped into my slept brain, but blogs have time stamps, and this one would say " 9:30 PM" and then I would look really old and lame.

But for realz, it is way past my bedtime.

I am blogging, because happiness demands to be shared, and happiness abounds.

In the form of sugar cane. Lots and lots of sugar cane. It was originally supposed to be the last 59 skeins my lys had, but she found a few more hiding, and in the end I ended up with 65 lovely skeins of self patterning sugar cane.

I haven't a clue what to do with it. I have no project ideas at all, but it was on sale and I am very in love with this yarn. Very in love indeed. Note it is mine. All mine, and no one else's. I can be generous in other areas, but maybe not with yarn. OK, maybe if someone was in great need, and I loved them more than the yarn.  That is saying a lot.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Racing the battery

I have mere minutes before my phone battery dies, but I had to post something so entirely creepy that it is keeping me up at night. If I am up at night, I want good company. You are good company.

In preparation for my wonderful brother and his family to arrive, I swept the hall. And I found this:
I have never seen it before. I have no idea how she got in my house. I am pretty sure she couldn't walk. Not with that leg anyway, right??  If her nails were bloody I would assume she dragged herself here from some Chucky set.

In other news, all those chicks previously mentioned?? 
I put twenty of them here. (Or made the oldest put them there) and put a few under another hen.

Next I intend to put some here:

That is true lazy chicken farming. Yes, indeed.

Also, did I mention that my big brother just arrived and will now be living here with his family??? I am so very giddy. My brother and I are very close. Peas in a pod. He knows me well enough that he came bearing gifts. 

Yum!!! Seriously, about my fav thing.


Saturday, April 25, 2015

And for my second baby

April, two babies. Five years apart. Jacob's birthday was yesterday. He had some friends over, and those wild kids had a blast!  We told Jacob he could do whatever he wanted. We were thinking iJump, laser tag, bowling etc. Nope. His one wish was to have his friends here for a marshmallow war. I was giddy inside. Simple, cheap. What more could a mom ask for? So we got a bag of mini marshmallows for each child, and sent them outside. Hours. They spent hours out there planning battle strategies, and hunting each other down. Best birthday ever! We got these guns from my parents for Christmas. At first I was a little puzzled, but they have been an invaluable gift. For real. My parents don't know I have a blog, and they can't actually turn on a computer, so they don't read my blog. In fact if I mentioned to them that i have a blog, they would probably try to have me medicated for the illness. So, these guns really are great!! I am not just saying that.

We finally had to force the children in to open gifts.
He was well pleased.

And I was once again awed by the simple joy. He appreciated everything to the fullest.

He got a kindle and skylanders from us. He is sure that life doesn't get much better than this.

His sister used one of her many, many talents to make him a gluten free, skylanders cake. It was SO good!!!

Of course here we have the traditional candle picture, which I make my kids pose for. Notice the bottom right hand? The sneak blower, on the prowl.

Yes!!! Got them all!!  Again, can't help point out that sneak blower is celebrating a little too much to be considered innocent. Thankfully Jacob didn't care that he had a bit of help. 

We also made ice cream from Bessie's milk for the big party. 

 Because this is a very special day, this also happened.  A whole herd of chicks hatched, just to honor the birthday boy.

Speaking of honoring. Here is to the true neglector.  Neglecting knitting (OK, blocking) daily.

Side note: only soaked for four hours. I just couldn't do it. It is cold outside. I need my sweaters... Preferably dry.

Friday, April 24, 2015

April is a lovely month

One that brought me two wonderful babies.  Yesterday my baby turned five. We spoiled him all day long, and he ate it up!

We went through the drive thru at McDonalds for lunch. With our eating style, this is a huge deal. A very rare treat.... If you can consider food that can kill you a treat anyway.  He was so happy all day, and just loved opening gifts. It was hilarious. He would open underwear, or something of the like, and scream at the top of his lungs "look!!!! Underwear!!!" With pure joy, as though it was the best gift in the world. I adore this simple joy. Love it entirely.

It is super hard to get a picture of his excitement when he is jumping and shouting.

Super hard.

But the general cuteness come through. 

He chose this toy, which is hilarious. It attaches to your hands and feet, and stretches. It came with a work out video. I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever seen, until I watched him with it. He loves it!  Just like everything else on his magical day.

And the cake??? More magic. 
He had such a twinkle in his eye. He LOVES to blow out candles, even when they are not his.



So we, being the awesome parents that we are, we both instantly covered his best candle blow. 
But he still had plenty of umph left.


And he was very pleased indeed.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

priceless times

Sometimes a picture is priceless, not because it is a great picture, but because it has such great meaning behind it.

These are some of those.

My daughter teaching her grandpa to text. 

 He concentrated super hard. We know this by the way he works his tongue. All of his children do the same.
Then he decided that talk to text might be the way to go, because he has oversized fingers.

We may have giggled a little, but it was with  and not at him, of course.

In the end he got it, by golly. Now he is sitting on the couch texting my daughter, who is still sitting next to him. 

I think we just took him forward a few generations. 

I love this man. I have been so blessed to have him as my father in law, and the grandpa to my children. He is one of this Earths great blessings. 

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Someone should teach my kids

 That if you are going to be destructive, you should not sign your name.
Or leave footprints straight to your room.

(The full mess , because who would want to miss this?)

Or leave your hand prints as evidence.

This makes me smile a ridiculous amount. I know that someday I will truly miss these little hands. I love being a mother. 

But that doesn't have to mean that I miss them today. Little turkey. 

In other news, the princess of the mess decided that she needed her hair cut. I agreed. Where we didn't agree was on the length. She wanted to cut it up to her ears. We compromised and my heart ached a little as I took about five inches off. 

 She loves it, and so do I. She looks just adorable, as usual. If I could design the perfect hair for a beautiful little child, it would be hers. I have such cute kids.

The little guy couldn't go to any easter activities because of his immune problems, so he helped hide eggs for the hunter, who was sick. He may need some practice on egg hiding.
 His aunt felt bad, and made him this lovely bunny cake. He had a blast with it. It was such a great day with my little one. Blessings, blessings, blessings.

And on the knitting front, Gramps is coming along nicely. This pattern,ohhh this pattern. So far it is one of the best I have used. Each stitch is pure love. So very relaxing. 


Thursday, April 2, 2015

Maybe I should get a second cow

I truly, truly, truly love Bessie. I can't believe the joy I feel in owning a cow. I love everything about it, and I have no idea why I waited so long to get one. I am pretty seriously thinking of getting a second one so that I have milk year round.

The decision may be more than slightly swayed by the fact that we opened our first block of home made cheddar cheese tonight. It is the best cheese I have ever had. It is a very sharp cheddar. So, so good! Trust me. I wish you could taste it, but it is mine. All mine.

And my amazing husband has decided that he needs to make more, bigger batches of cheese. So he got this little pot. The photo has not been poorly photoshopped, or stretched. That poy really is that big!