My Creative Side

I have never felt like a creative person until I started to knit. I love knitting and this year I decided to incorporate some of my knitting into Christmas gifts.  I wanted to share some photos of what I've done this year.

This is a wine bottle cozy that I made for my SIL Angie

I made soap this year and had a lot of fun with that. I was making soap non-stop for a week or two. I also knit a bath poof (well, actually 2) and really like the way it turned out.

Here is a closer pic of the bath poof

I didn't make this, but I got bedding from my parents for Christmas and just love it!  I am now looking for a bed frame so it'll look even better.

Gonna try something new

I'm starting to get frustrated with blogging because I feel like I have a whole ton of stuff to write about and I either push it aside and never blog about it, or I take a week just to write the post. So, I think I'm going to attempt to blog much more frequently without worrying about the length and if it has pictures or not. Let me know what you think.

Court

Crazy Winter Stuff

**This post was started over a week ago so the timing seems funny. I feel I should be showing Christmas pics and stuff, but I still wanted to get this finished**

Wow, it has been a week of crazy weather.  We woke last Sunday to some snow on the ground and Nolan excitedly shouting "it's snowing, it's snowing!!". The kids were quick to bundle up and go play in the back yard. 

showing a little bit of love

catching snowflakes on his tongue

sliding in the snow

Monday when Nolan had school he was disappointed because I think he just thought it would be cool to not have school on a school day. After school we went shopping and Sophie immediately wanted to go see Santa. Nolan told her they weren't allowed to see Santa without having their lists, so they couldn't go that day.  I knew that wasn't going to work, so we took them to Nordstroms where they could sit at a table and color and they wrote their Santa lists on the back of their color sheets. Nolan asked Santa for an Imaginext Batman Batcave and Sophie asked Santa for a Dollhouse and a mirror. She is so funny, she loves all things girly and found a mirror you could decorate with gems that day so she added it to her list. 

showing their lists to Santa

On Wednesday there was so much talk of awful weather and freezing rain that school was closed. We actually saw no snow. This time Nolan was disappointed school was cancelled because he always goes to his friend Benjamin's house after school on Wednesdays.  He was still invited over though, so he played there all day, which is so nice.  

Friday night we went out to my parent's house in Washougal.  They had quite a bit of snow so we ended up playing in the snow at 9:00 at night.  We had quite a bit of fun and built our first snowman. 

check out my snowball!

Sophie and her measuring cup

Our first snowman!

Surprisingly the kids actually got my mom and I out playing and we had a great time.

Nolan's snow angel

On Saturday we had a bunch of snow again and I had to work again.  I cut my shift short because we only have one car with chains and Poy needed to work a full day. I'm pretty sure the kids had been asking about playing in the snow and Poy told them to wait for mom, cause as soon as I walked in the door they wanted to go outside and play.  We had fun playing some made up games and having some races.  I even pushed the kids in the recycling bin down the driveway :) Unfortunately Poy had the camera, so no pics of that fun.  We tried to make a snowman again, Sophie even found the carrots, but we couldn't make a snowball to save our lives.  The snow was so powdery it just fell apart.  

Sunday, Poy went to work and I instantly felt the cabin fever.  I don't mind staying home, but when I have stuff to do it makes me crazy.  I decided to take the kids for a little (insert incredibly long) walk to Fred Meyer. I thought maybe I could get something done, but in the end all we walked out with was the little toys I bribed the kids with for agreeing to the walk. I can't believe how much snow is out there and it's iced over on top so it's difficult for little feet to traverse.   

The beginning of our long walk

Sophie catching snowflakes on her tongue

Nolan showing off his missing teeth. The one on his right he had lost that day.

Sophie showing off her (not)missing teeth.

Nolan loved picking up big ice chunks. For some reason it drove me crazy.

The Misadventures of Sophie Juliet and her mother's not so smart moment

Today we went to Burgerville for lunch.  Nolan was at school so it was Sophie, Poy and I.  She likes to eat in the area by the bathrooms because they have a toy box there.  So, we sit down to eat and she immediately says "I gotta go potty". In my head I say "of coarse you do".  Anyway, Sophie has always been very independent when it comes to going to the bathroom in public.  Of coarse I would never let her go into a bathroom that I didn't have full supervision of who was coming or going, but it was a one person bathroom right by our table.  I opened the door and let her in and she locked the door.  She struggled a bit locking it, but she did it non the less. She was singing and having a grand old time in there and then it was time to get out.  She pulled on the door and I reminded her she needs to unlock it.  She tries... it doesn't work... she tries again... doesn't work.  Poy gets out of his chair and of coarse he says "I knew this was going to happen" "WHAT!!" if he knew it was going to happen, couldn't he have mentioned that?  Anyway, we attempt all kinds of things to open the door. At this point 3-4 Burgerville employees are trying to figure out how to help.  Sophie is crying and saying "I can't get out, I don't want to be here anymore"  All I can think is how I can get her not to panic.  She was upset, but I know her and if she went into panic mode, there would be no way to get her to do anything. She kept saying "Mommy, can you just help me? Mommy, can you unlock it?"  She had given up on the lock for a minute or so, then you could tell she was trying, but it was just a touch too high for her.  I had asked her if there was a stool, but there wasn't.  I asked her if she could stand on anything, but she couldn't figure out on her own what I meant.  Finally, I asked the employee if there was a garbage can she could stand on.  She said "yes, tell her to take the lid off the little garbage can."  I calmed her down and asked her to find the little garbage, take the lid off, flip it over and put it next to the door.  She did it and escaped without us having to break down the door.  This wasn't my finest moment... I felt pretty dumb.  So, I guess Sophie will not be going potty on her own until I know for sure that she can get out on her own.