It’s been some time since I have shared family photos with you all! So here are some fun snaps and a bit about what we have all been up to over the last month or so
Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you!) was on a Monday, so Doug and the girls celebrated on Sunday with lots of Star Wars toys. It was adorable.
Hello my blogland friends! How was your weekend? We had a lot of fun over here. I’ve been working a lot, but this weekend I did find some time to play with the kiddos. Here is a little about what we did and some photos of the fun!
Some nights the girls like to read bedtime stories to each other. Kyla is a big fan of the Mo Willems books. Here she is with a big stack of them, reading to Vada.
This morning was muffins for moms at the school. From 8:15 to 8:45 the K-3 children and their moms are invited into the cafeteria for muffins, bagels, fruit, juice, and coffee. I wasn’t feeling great this morning when I woke up, so I decided to drive; normally we walk when it’s not too cold or raining out. The girls and I remembered to snap a picture on the way out the door. It’s not the greatest picture, like I said, I wasn’t feeling well.
My neighbor Claudine also drove with her kids. About a block from the school, my car rolled out in front of her and stopped in the intersection. At first she thought that I saw her and had stopped to wave, but that seemed odd. Then she noticed no one was driving. She got out to see what was going on, and 2 other mothers were out there. One told her she was parking behind my car and her car wouldn’t stop and she hit mine.
That’s right. Spring breakS. Pural. Last week the girls were on spring break, and the week before it was Doug. It’s such a bummer that they do not have the same spring break. But we make the most of it. Doug took 3 days during his spring break off of his second job (tutor for Huntington Learning Center) so he would have more time with the girls. They loved when he would pick them up from school and then be home the rest of the day.
Hello my friends! It’s time to catch up a bit with you. I am still trying to find my footing with this new schedule, but I am slowly getting on top of it.
Last week I was honored that my dear friend Deborah of Designs from Grammy’s Heart, with Love, spent the week sharing about me. Aww! She started the week with a post about me, and ended the week with a round up of some of my patterns. Deborah is one of the many amazing ladies I have met since I started this yarnie adventure. She was always sharing wonderful things in my Facebook group, and there was just something about her that I really liked. I am so happy she is now on this journey with me, and I look forward to the day I finally get that hug from her.
I also have a stockpile of photos to share with you today. I have tried to put them into collages so this post doesn’t go on forever.
A few weeks ago we got our troop cookie delivery. Here is a snap of the girls in the cleaned out dining room, waiting for the cookies, and then a few snaps of all the cookies ready to be separated into piles for each Girl Scout.
Well hello there!! I know I have been all business~ie lately. I was going to wait to put up any non~business~type posts until next month, but a few of you seemed to miss the what~I’m~up~to~type posts, so I thought I would share a bit of a winter wrap up with you. Besides, I seem to have an overflow of pictures that I want to share.
My goal for National Crochet Month is still to be all caught up with the back~updates to the blog that have been piling up since I changed things a while back. I only have 10 days left!!! I also have a bit of a change to the posting schedule, which I will share with you soon, most likely on Tuesday. There are still some really fun things to on the horizon!!
Speaking of fun things, don’t forget about the coupon code for Frabjous Fibers yarn!! They made the code just for my awesome readers, and it is only good this month, so take a look here for the details. If you are making the Juliette Shawl or Skylark in Wonderland, don’t miss this chance to get the yarn those patterns were designer with at a discount!
Anyway, would you like to see a bit of what our winter has been like?
Last month we kept hearing crashing outside, and we had to investigate.
I have a lot of sharing for you today. Photos of randomness from the last week or so, some cuteness from the girls’ play date and sleepover, and a few Valentine’s Day snaps. Basically, a what I’m up to post for you today.
When my parents went on a little trip over the holidays, my dad found a few items that he knew I would love!
He didn’t know this, but I LOVE the Tom Tierney paper doll books. They are actually very true to period, and were even considered acceptable period costume research by my uber picky undergrad advisor.
He also found this pretty thimble at the gift shop outside of the Petra Treasury. I think that was were he found the earrings as well. I really love them.
Here is some colorful yarn I received from Lion Brand. Happiness in a box!
Wait!! Don’t go! You are in the right place!
I know, it’s all shiny and new over here. I needed a new look. The old one was a little too chaotic for me. I really like this look. I’m not quite done, but I like where it is going.
I am also going back through a lot of the old patterns/tutorials/videos and such. There are images to fix and tags to attach, and just lots of behind the scenes stuff that I really didn’t know when I was just doing this as a hobby. It’s a lot of work, but I have the house to myself for the weekend, so I should be able to put a big dent in it.
New things!! Lots of news and new things to share with you.
The first month of 2015 is almost over, and there has been so much awesomeness already! I don’t know that I will get it all in here today, but here is some of the fun news of the last 3 weeks.
I’m sure most of you have noticed this one already, but the very first block of The 2015 Moogly Afghan Crochet-Along is my Tamara’s Kismet Square!!! I have the niftiest friends! Actually, all the squares in this year’s CAL will be from a group of wonderful designers that I spend a lot of time with on social media. I have even had the joy of meeting several of them in person, including Tamara. 🙂
Quite of few of my free crochet patterns are listed on All Free Crochet (AFC). This year is the second year in a row that I have been listed in their Top Bloggers of the year! Actually two of my patterns made it into the 100 most popular patterns in 2014. The are the One Hour Spiral Scarf and the Stop and Stare Shawl. Yay!!
We spent the holiday weekend with my family in Beverly, MA. My mother is the oldest of 11 kids. Her parents and about half her siblings and their families live in the Beverly area. It is really the only home that has been constant through my life. There have been other places that have felt like home, but when you live in 7 different states and over a dozen different cities in the first 30 years of your life, “home” isn’t as permanent to you as it is to most. I am trying to change that. But, as I said, Beverly is the one place that has been home to me for my whole life. Every time we drive in, I feel a wave of calm and peace.
We arrived Wednesday night and checked into our hotel. Doug and the girls gave the beds a check.
Thursday we had a small Thanksgiving with my Grandparents. We had a large Thanksgiving II planned for Saturday, so the small one on Thursday was nice. Later my Uncle Mike (also my Godfather) my Aunt Nancy (also my Godmother) and my Uncle Gary and his family all came over to visit.
Kyla has a Super Power.
This year Kyla has pull out for reading, writing and spelling. For the 2 hours that her class works on those subjects, she is in the resource room with her special teacher, Ms. S. We started calling her “Kyla’s special teacher” over the summer because we did not know which resource teacher Kyla would have.
Please know that Kyla’s struggles were not caused by her previous teachers not being good enough. Her teacher last year was amazing. I will never forget the day she said to me “Kyla has not failed, we have failed. We haven’t figured out how she learns, and that is why she is struggling, but we will figure it out.” The problem really is that Kyla doesn’t learn reading, writing and spelling in the way that most kids do. It doesn’t make sense to her that way. Her struggle is not something that a mainstream teacher would be trained to handle. She needs a special program that requires special training.
At the end of last school year, when we finally had everything in order for Kyla to get the help she needed this year, I told Kyla. I told her that in second grade she would have a special teacher for reading, writing and spelling. Kyla knew she was struggling, she knew she wasn’t at the same level as her classmates. I told her when her class was having reading, writing and spelling, she would have class with her special teacher and just a few other kids. I explained that her special teacher would know better ways to help her learn. I told her what I’ve always told her: It was not her fault that she wasn’t learning reading, writing and spelling as fast as the other kids. We knew she was trying so hard, and doing the best she could. I told her that her father and I were so, so, very proud of her for how hard she worked, and for never giving up, even though it was so hard for her. I told her that she was doing everything right, she just learns things differently than a lot of the other kids, and her special teacher would be able to teach her in the way she learns. By the time I was done, Kyla was nearly in tears and was shaking with joy. She was so excited that she was going to have a special teacher who would help her learn.
