And we ring in the new month with a cough/cold...

In other words: Same old, same old.

It wasn't until this morning that Toby woke up with the sore throat, coughing, and sneezing that make me think this is going to be a long week...cause usually when one starts it, the germies get to make the full round of visitations. I think I'm keeping him home from school today - he doesn't need to be passing this around. I wish I had known yesterday, I would have kept him home since he was around several little ones during the course of the day.

Saturday morning I went to a craft gettogether featuring Uppercase Living crafts - fun! I made 2 chalkboard placemats to keep the kids busy at the table when I'm trying to work, and decorated a little tin for Curtis to take some candy in with him to the office. He seemed a little dumbfounded at the whole "decor in the office" idea, but is willing to play along. :)

Then Saturday evening Toby had a birthday party to attend at the Englewood Fun Center - what a cute place! He loved the arcade, and the bounce houses really wore him out - so I am a fan. I will have to take both kids back sometime.

Sunday was church in the morning, church membership class in the afternoon, and then we had a Super Bowl party with our Sunday School class in the evening - of course, all of us attending have small kids, so it was more of half a Super Bowl Party, as we all left shortly after half time. Eh, what are you to do? At least Curtis got to see the end after we got home :)

And then this morning, hello germs. He's feeling fine, just acts gross. I know, what a mother I am.

Yarn Place?

This blog post - http://cfabbridesigns.com/blog/?p=6056 - inspired me, though I used beading wire and two strands of white yarn to wrap the purple around. A little flimsy, but cute!

Splish SPlash?

Both kids started swimming lessons this week - Toby's in Class 2 and Lucy's in Class 1 but since there are only 2 kids in each class, the teachers have combined them, so both kids are together in the pool.

They seem to enjoy it, although both are shivering by the time the class is over!

On Wednesday, Toby and I met friends at the rink at Riverscape. I hadn't been there before so it was fun to do something new - and on weeknights you only have to pay skate rental, so it was only $3 each for us to skate.
Toby was - ahem - not terribly talented at skating, but I think he had fun nonetheless. I KNOW he liked the Skyline hot dogs the rink serves :)

Another snowy day here - at least the roads were decent since I really needed to run to the post office this morning. And at that points we're halfway to Hobby Lobby so....the kids got to pick out a new craft project to work on. It's something that Toby spotted a long while ago and has been asking for ever since...he's really enjoying his craft time today!

Pine Cone Shawl

This was a Christmas gift for my mom, using Heart and Sole fingering weight wool/ nylon yarn. I used the Pine Cone pattern; it turned out lovely!

Flannel Pants

Sad news - My closest JoAnns went out of business this morning.
Good news: Got flannel for cheap :)

Made these "tool" pants for Toby - size 5/6. The pattern didn't go that big, so I used it as a guide and made it bigger. The hems are extra deep so as he gets taller I can let the hem out. I had just enough fabric left over to make a matching pair for his Waldorf Doll.

And Fancy Nancy pants for Lucy. Again, extra deep hems.
I have two more pieces of flannel to make more pants with...or I might wait and make shorts for summer sleeping, since they really have enough jammies for now.

Lucy wore her Fancy Nancy pants for 2 days straight after I first made them :)

A Time to Read

Not that I've been sacrificing time in the crafts department (far from it!) but I've been finding some time to read this year, and it's been fab. I haven't had time to read like this since...uh, kids.

And how, you ask. How, with kids, and crafts, and minor annoyances like laundry, cooking, and cleaning, do I have time to read?

Audiobooks.

Ok, ok, I know that these are far from a new fangled thing. I remember when our library first started getting them, and they were cassettes. But for years (um, probably decades) I've thought that I wouldn't enjoy audiobooks...I love putting my own voice, my own thoughts into each word, I love the smell of the paper, the anticipation that comes with each page turn. But then life happened, and I just haven't had time to read, much less get out and actually get my hands on books.

Last year I finally broke down and tried an audiobook...at the time I was starting up running and music, while nice, bored me. I needed something I could think about a bit more. About that time, I discovered our local library had audiobooks for download on the website.

No leaving the house. No leaving my CHAIR.

While I still appreciate the beauty of reading on my own, audiobooks have opened up a whole new world to me, one I haven't been this enamoured with since I was 11.

So far this year I've listened to "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society." I LOVED it. I made any excuse to hook up my ipod, and since I got several sets of ipod speakers for Christmas, I can listen in any room of the house. The best is in my craft room, where I can spin or weave on my new loom and listen at the same time. Pure awesomeness.

Now I'm onto "Ape House" by Sara Gruen. I loved "Water for Elephants" and the author is coming to my alma mater to speak in April, so I wanted to read some of her other work before I go. I'm really enjoying "Ape House", and best of all, have no idea how it will end, the mark of a great story, in my humble opinion.

I am still reading a little in ink and paper...right now I'm working on "Girl with a Pearl Earring," a book I bought a year ago and never made it though. I'm reading a little in the evenings when I have time.

In short, my audiobooks, my ipod, and I are a happy trio right now.

Snow Day!

They sort of waited til the last minute, but Toby's home for the day due to the snow! I'm terribly glad - the roads look terrible and I didn't want to go out at all. And bonus, Base closed early so Curtis is home too! Which makes me VERY happy since I don't have to shovel now! Woohoo!

In case you didn't know, while I think snow is very pretty to look at, I don't care to be out in it at all.

And the airport is reporting 3.9 inches of snow in the last 24 hours...and it's only 2pm and still snowing!