Booty

Ok, so I finally got the hang of it after a couple of tries!

This one might fit a barbie!

I finally got the stitch right the second time!

This one is better, but I am still not sure it would fit a newborn.  I was just excited to get the stitches down!  The people on You Tube make this look sooo easy.  Just so you know, it is not, and you can actually go blind looking at it!  Maybe I should have tried the scarf first.

Just because!

I was walking down our hallway the other day, and I happened to look up at the pictures hanging there.  I had to post this one just because. 

Seriously.  I just want to squish him.  I am so grateful everyday that both the boys are growing and getting bigger, but sometimes I just miss this.  The thing I miss most about this age was that he was still small enough to lay on my chest and snooze.  Now, I can barely pick him up.  And don't even get me started on Logan who is almost to my shoulders! They still want me around, though.  Logan still ask me to lunch every week, and Luke still gets excited to see me when I pick him up at preschool. I will take it because I know soon enough I will be the embarrassing mom.  Oh the plans I have for the "embarrassing mom" stage!  Right now, I will take the hugs and kisses and constant game playing, puzzle assembly and Lego building just because they want me around!

Yea!

So my bestie is having a baby girl in a few months, and I wanted to make some goodies for her.  I have plans for some sewing, but I decided I wanted to try something totally different this time!!

This is my first attempt at crocheting, so this baby girl will either have some precious pink booties or a really nice pink scarf. I will report back later when I learn how to do more than a long chain. Right now, I am just pumped that I bought the right hook!  Here is hoping the force is with me!

Bye Bye 2011!

I have been thinking about a word or phrase to describe 2011.  All that keeps coming to mind is "good riddance"!  I am not sure that I have been this excited about a year coming to end since I was getting ready to graduate from college!  This year has not been our most exciting year, but I am pretty sure it has been one of the most eventful.  There have been some really good things happen, but they all seemed to be prefaced or followed by a crushing blow.  And, I am really hoping for a surgery free, ER free, blood test free, x-ray free new year!  I know I have two boys, and that just means lots of doctor visits, but I was thinking that it would be spread out over the 18 years they lived at home, not all in one year!  I still believe that even with all that has happened, we really are blessed.  I know so many people have really suffered this year with the economy the way it is.  No one is immune to it anymore.  But, we have learned some valuable lessons and made some changes that will make things a lot simpler in the future.  There is something to be said about simple, and that will be my word starting the new year!  We have made a commitment to cleaning out and doing away with stuff that just does not serve a purpose.  I am sure it will take an entire year to do this! 
One another note, for those of you who care, I am still keeping up with my dinner calendar I made at the end of last year.  I tried a bunch of new recipes and found some yummy ones that the family has added to the "favorite" list, and we have discovered several that will not make it on the new calendar.  I did stray from time to time, and I did make some changes later in the year as we learned what worked and what did not.  But, I still love the idea of having down 365 days of meals. It is one less thing to think about and makes preparing so much easier!  My intention was to stress less about dinner and to save money.  I do believe I accomplished both, and I plan to make it even better this year!  Now that I have discovered Pinterest (thanks again to Ginger for introducing me...), I have seen several blogs about crock recipes that I will be happy to add to my calendar. I did share a lot of that in the beginning of the year for you all, but things started to get crazier and crazier as the months passed, and I just got too behind. I am not going to try that this year, but if you want some good dinner ideas, I will be happy to help out!  Just leave me a comment with your e-mail address, and I can send you some info!
At any rate, I am really excited about starting the new year! I pray you and your family have a blessed and healthy 2012!!