It's the Most Wonderful Time...of the Year!

Ah, Christmas is on the radio, in the stores...permeating the air! I love it! I used to be more of a Scrooge, but having kids has really made the season magical again. There is something about seeing Christmas through your kids eyes that just makes you feel like a kid yourself again!

On Black Friday I was up early (4:07am - the alarm was supposed to go off at 4, but someone who shall remain nameless hit the snooze before waking me up) and hit the stores. I was back home, laden with Christmas goodies, by 10am. We ate lunch and then headed out in search of the Christmas tree!

We go to a farm about 10 miles north of here. Why people go buy a precut tree for 2x as much when you can drive 20 minutes, find the perfect tree, and pay half the price is beyond me! Plus. wandering around the tree lot is half the fun - especially when it's in the 60's! I know I would be grouchy about it were it snowing, but I LOVE NC WINTERS!

Lucy loved wandering around the trees!

Here is the Perfect Tree...funny how it looks much smaller in the outdoors...

Notice the baby gate? Yes we are locking the children out of the tree this year. Yes, we could train Lucy to not touch the tree, but frankly...I'd rather use a gate this year. Next year she'll be old enough to understand better, but for my own peace of mind this year...we have the gate!

This year I bought a Little People Nativity Set to keep out on the coffee table where it can be used for decor, but at the same time the kids can play with it and I don't worry about it. Here are Mary, Joseph (well, a wise man playing Joseph) and baby Jesus in the stable.
And here's the part of the stories where the pirates come to pay homage to the new babe. LOL!

That was all Toby. He is hilarious these days.

It is also the time of year to keep sugar and flour on hand! Behold, the first sugar cookies of the season! Yum! Toby helped...he loves helping in the kitchen!

Hope you all had a great weekend. Curtis's semester is winding down, which means lots and lots of work for the next couple weeks. He's been very busy. We've had a rainy couple of days here...I was really glad we bought the tree on Friday as it's rained ever since. This morning we had 2 inches in the rain gauge! I need to go work on my Christmas cards...they aren't going to address themselves..I left them for a week just to see if they would, but no luck there! Still blank...

Take care and hope you're enjoying a nice start to the holidays!

Mmmmmmm Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are having a lovely day! We sure are!

It is a beautiful fall day here, just perfect for Thanksgiving. And we took full advantage of the weather to....GRILL our turkey! Oh yes we did and it was fantastic!

First, the finished product (sorry these are in backwards order)...

Our table...we had turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and cranbrery salad.

This was on the grill, about halfway through smoking.

Anyway, many kudos to Curtis! The turkey was awesome, and we have tons in the freezer now. I am so ready for a nap...

Tomorrow I am going to brave the crowds for Black Friday...wish me luck!

Sometimes Life sends you Lemons in the form of crock pots

Ah, yes, the demise of my beloved crock pot. It was a wedding present 5 (almost 6!) years ago...and I thought it would make it longer than this, but apparently she was D.O.N.E. Last night I was cleaning her up, preparing her to make her speciality: ribs today for Curtis's birthday. That's when I saw it - the crack. Running clear from one side to the other across the bottom of the crock. My first thought was it was more of a scratch, and while I wouldn't want to use it for food, maybe I could replace the crock and use the scratched one for dyeing yarn (yes, I have problems, I know). But I turned it over and the crack ran clear through the crock. You'd think I'd remember doing something to the crock hard enough to actually break it clean through...but nothing. I have been using it a LOT lately, but I've even been handwashing it rather than running it through the dishwasher.

Well, I was determined that Curtis would have his crock pot ribs for dinner today, so I ran to WalMArt after dinner to see if I could buy a replacement crock. No luck. Checked online - they don't even sell them in the size I need. Total bummer. So I resigned myself to making the ribs in the oven today and at some point replacing my crockpot.

So today I was making pumpkin pies and had just stuck them in the oven. Lucy was playing in the kitchen with me - in her exersaucer - and I was starting to unload the dishwasher. I reached up in the cabinet to put away a mug when I lost my grip and it tumbled down on the stack of dirty dishes on the countertop with a mighty crash. Glass was EVERYWHERE. Thank God Lucy was fine...I handed her off to Daddy and just stood there a minute surveying the damage. I have never seen so much glass in my whole life...and I didn't even know what it was from! I just started cleaning....and cleaning....and cleaning. Finally I got to the last bit of it and told Curtis I had no idea what had broken - I just couldn't picture anything sitting on the counter this big. It was way too much glass to be a cup...that's when Curtis asked if it was the crock pot lid.

Oh lordy. No question, that was it. I would never have thought a thick lid like that would shatter like that...I would have expected a few big pieces...not thousands of shards everywhere. But that was the guilty glass. So in two seperate incidents, almost 12 hours apart, I lost my crock AND the lid. Apparently she is done cooking.

I am just so thankful that neither Lucy nor I were cut...we were both right there and there was glass all around both of us. And that the pies were in the oven because I would have cried buckets if I'd had to throw them out for fear of eating glass.

Yesterday we went to a train show here in town. It was an event for the local miniature train hobby group - they have a whole scene set up in the basement of one of the local historical houses and once a year they let the public in to see their trains. We took the kids and they had a lot of fun watching the trains winding around the miniature scene. The detail was amazing!

Lucy at the train show

A picture of the track

Toby made this pilgrim hat at MOPPETS this week!

Last night the kids and I went outside to play for a bit...and it was chilly! So in the spirit of cold weather, Toby had his first taste of hot chocolate! Except he kept calling it coffee and after awhile we just quit correcting him. Of course this morning when I made a pot of coffee for Curtis and myself, Toby wanted some too! LOL!


Today is Curtis's 29th birthday! The kid woke him up wishing him a Happy Birthday...which would probably have been more pleasant had they not been climbing him :) So far it's been a nice day (for him, he didn't have to clean up the massive glass event), tonight we're eating ribs for dinner, then we're planning to take the kids to Coldstone Creamery for dessert (love their birthday club - free ice cream!)

Happy Early Thanksgiving to all!

Booties, Mid Shawl, and Penguin

Here is the start of a commissioned shawl:

A penguin for Toby for Christmas! I'm totally psyched about this considering I didn't think I'd have time to finish him up :)

Booties for a friend of mine expecting any day now. Aren't they cuuuuuuuute? Things that make you go awwwwwwwwwww.

I am working on the shawl, a couple Christmas gifts, and have some new orders coming in right now. It's a busy November - and busy is GOOD!!!

Still chugging along on my list of projects! I've had a lot come and go this month!

The Rainbow After the Storm

After 2 days of rain the sun finally peeked out just before dinner tonight - and to my delight, we had a rainbow! Now keep in mind this is the SECOND rainbow I've seen in the 5 years we've lived in NC...and Toby had never seen one before. He was so excited! Now it's "Rainbow this" and "Rainbow that"...Haha!


Today is Lucy's 11 month birthday! I can NOT believe that in just one short month she will be ONE! Aw, my baby is growing up :( She is so busy these days. She's a full time walker now. She really took off just over 2 weeks ago, and hasn't stopped since. She spends all day walking from one room to another, then back again. And when she makes stops in her room, she makes a special effort to get into her dresser and toss some clothes on the floor, usually keeping one sock to wave around while she does her rounds.


Toby had to get in on the picture action too, lol! He's so funny these days. He's always telling me something that he's seen or wants to see. Today he and I ran errands and he was such a chatterbox the whole time!

Last night we went to the Festival of Trees at the Carolina Hotel (think fancy shmancy Pinehurst resort). It's a yearly benefit for one of the Children's Centers where different organizations donate trees and all sorts of exciting auction pieces and they hold a silent auction over 3 days. There are all sorts of elaborate Christmas trees and wreaths, not to mention the neat things up for auction. Our favorite was a donation from our favorite saltwater dealer - a Nanotank reef set up; it came with fish, corals, crabs...everything you need! Of course WAY out of our budget, but fun to look at anyway! Santa was there too, but the line was ginormous and Toby didn't show a real Need to talk to Santa, so we'll do that one another time. I was really glad we went early because by the time we left it was starting to get quite crowded!

Tomorrow we've got big plans - the cable guy will be here sometime between 1 and 5 to exchange out our broken remote. The thing is evewn function, it's just that the battery cover is broken, so we need a new one. I just can't get over the fact that they're sending someone out - on a SUNday, no less - to give us a new remote! That sure is a weird one!

Well, it's getting to be bedtime (WOOHOO!), so that means kiddos to bed and time for mama to knit! Have a great fall weekend!

Finsihed Longies Sets

Despite the lack of posts, I have been busy! These longies and hats have been the project forthe last two weeks. I love them!

I was able to try a new technique on the American Girl Hat...Needle Felting! It's awesome and I'm in love! It was easy and I think once I have some more practice under my belt the possibilities are endless!

Pics from Portrait Innovations

These are the pics from Portrait Innovations last weekend...

Enjoy!