MDSW 2012 Recap

This is one of my favourite weekends of the year. I get to spend 4+ hours in a car, get filthy, eat lots of bad-for-me-food, and have so much fun with my friends. And I haven't even mentioned the yarn yet!

We saw alpacas:



I swear I was just trying to get a profile shot of this guy, when he swung his head around and faced me at the last minute.  He had a beautiful, glossy auburn coat.

Some teeny teeny goats.  There is nothing here to really give you scale, but none of them were higher than my knees.



An even tinier bunny.  Again, I suck for a reference size, but this bunny was about the size of a small cantaloupe melon.




I was able to meet up with some of my friends in my due date group o Ravelry, including Julie (in the orange dress) and Sam (wearing her adorable son).  In the background are Nancy and Cyd, two more people I know from Ravelry groups.  I also was able to meet my friend Pam and meet the beauteous Zoe a little bit later in the afternoon.



I had to take a picture of this sheep - because either he was keeping his eyes shut to ignore the indignity of getting shorn in public, or he was fast asleep.



So, what did I buy?  As always, I'm surprised by what I didn't buy.  There are so many soft and beautiful and colourful things.  I get home, open up my tote bag and wonder how on earth I only came home with this small amount.

I picked up this Merino/Corriedale fiber - it's only 1.5oz, so it won't make a whole lot, but I loved the colours.



Verdant Gryphon Traveller:



Creatively Dyed Voodoo in Zombie:



Creatively Dyed Voodoo in Spirit:



Woolgathering Superfine Merino (4oz):



Handcrafted soaps - the belize one is primarily lemon with some spices added in:



When I got home, Piper promptly decided to try and eat this lemony treat (see the bite marks in the soap):



Adfter meeting all of my friends' beautiful children - Julie, Pam, Cyd, and Sam's daughters and Natalie and Sam's sons - I realized I missed my girls so much.  Not enough to want to bring them to MDSW next year - but enough to smother them with hugs and kisses when I saw them again.

Piper - who literally jumped for joy when she saw me come home:



And my beautiful Willow, getting ready for a birthday party:



(Yeah, I know - I have trouble coming here!)

Thank you to Michelle, Kathy, Julie, Kristin, and Patti for making the trip down this year.  This trip is truly one of the highlights of my year.  Andrew - thank you for taking care of both girls all day so I could spend the day with my friends.

Okay, Sports Fans!

Guess who made an appearance at 'Take Your Child To Work Day' at my my office? Picture courtesy of Willow, who got up close and personal and says he smells like a gym sock...

Trying

I'm trying. Really, I am. You know it's bad when my Dad doesn't even hassle me about updating the blog. I must be a lost cause. My life isn't what it was before - don't get me wrong - I have absolutely no regrets with all the changes we have made with another child, but free time definitely has been sacrificed. I know this will change as Piper gets older - but for now, most non-working time gets spent with her... and she doesn't care for Mama typing away on the keyboard and looking at the screen and not her. In the meantime, I am seriously considering hiring a cleaning service - I can't seem to keep on top of that, either. The front room is normally neat, and Andrew keeps on top of the dishes, but everything else looks like a disaster. Anyone have any suggestions/recommendations?

Anyone home?

Happy Easter

I tried. Oh my, how I tried. Maybe I need to come to the conclusion that I need the intervention of a professional photographer to get both of my girls looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. Here are my attempts at an Easter picture of Willow and Piper in their matching outfits:













Happy Easter, everyone!

Easter Egg Preparation

Willow and I dyed Easter Eggs at the kitchen table after dinner, using the Pas Pearlescent kit:



Piper was in her high chair watching us, and pitching an absolute fit because she wanted to do it, too. Unfortunately, the kit said ages 3 and above, and besides that, I was worried about her getting the dye everywhere *except* on the egg.

Then I had a flash of inspiration:



Can you see it? Once I reviewed the pic on my camera, I realized you couldn't really make out what she was doing, so I decided to take a video:



The video ended quickly because I was afraid for the poor egg - it was getting smashed about so much! I took it out of the bag and it was fine. I opened another bag, added an egg and some more dye, but that one didn't fare so well when Piper decided she was done with the dyeing and threw the egg off the high chair tray.



No matter - now we know that Piper likes hardboiled eggs!

Piper the Conquerer of Stairs

Look at me, I'm climbing the stairs!



Yes, she was up there all on her own steam.



Put the camera away, Mama! I want you to chase me!

We were at the hotel where Willow’s State Geography Bee was held, and since little children weren’t welcome, Piper and I had to meander around the hotel for 2 hours. The hotel had wifi, but watching Sesame Street via Netflix on my Nookcolor only held her attention for about 10 minutes. She spent more time than that trying to figure out how to get the fire extinguisher out of its glass case! The hotel had this dais set up in the ballroom - for weddings, I suppose - but Piper got the biggest kick out of climbing (and walking by the end!) up the stairs, then sliding back down on her bum or belly and jumping into my arms from the last step. Except she didn’t always clue me into the fact that she was going to jump, so there was the odd splat! It didn’t seem to deter her any, however.

(Geography Bee news tomorrow - our contestant has already gone to bed.)

One, Two, Three

On one of my due-date boards we have a weekly or so photo contest, each with a separate theme. The current theme is 'Favourite Outfit,' but it doesn't really specify whether it is your favourite outfit on the child, or the child's favourite outfit to wear... so I chose my favourite outfit - because I knit it for her.

So, here was my first attempt at a shot. Notice her flashing her belly and giving the camera her evil scientist look:



And then the second shot. "Let's just hide the exact thing Mama wants to take a picture of!"



I was running out of time - we really needed to leave for school, so this was my last shot:



Okay, so she isn't really looking at the camera - but it is a beautiful shot of her Little Sister's dress, which now has become more of a vest for her as she has grown. Pretty soon it will be too warm to wear it and at the rate this kid is sprouting, I'm not sure it will fit come autumn - so I am going to get as much use out of it as I can! (And maybe pass it down to one of my friends who has a little girl younger than Piper... Bez? Pam? Bev?... just because I like it so much.)

Random B&W on a Saturday

I was playing around with the settings on our digital cameras, realizing that I know very little about the non-automatic settings. To my surprise, I found out that Willow's camera can take black and white shots... so I took some!

Stretch!



No! I will not stand still for you to take a picture!



Pretty Lucky



Willow Smarty Pants



Funny. It doesn't taste like the colour purple.



Helping Daddy build a railroad.



Piper Cutie Pie



You don't need this camera, do you?



Maybe if tomorrow is sunny, I'll try the sepia setting.

Philadelphia Flower Show 2012

We went to the Philadelphia Flower Show this morning, and I was very excited because last year we had to sit the Flower Show out because Piper was only a few weeks old at the time. This year's theme was Hawaii, so for the last few days we kept joking that we were heading to Hawaii for a day trip.

This is what you saw when you entered the convention center:



It's a little freaky, but it doesn't make sense because you aren't getting the audio that goes with it - rushing waves and surf. There were thousands of white orchids everywhere.



I have to say I won't really be gushing about this year's theme. It just wasn't what I was expecting. Really, as dry and gloomy as this winter has been, I was really looking forward to something bright and multi-coloured and tropical. The lighting in the convention center wasn't just dim - it was dark. Half my photos were taken on the 'night time' setting on my camera. Add to that the fact that this was the most absolutely crowded I have ever seen the Flower Show - there were so many exhibits we just couldn't get anywhere near because there were so many people.

Anywho. I did get some great shots of orchids - and that was really the most outstanding thing about this theme - so here are some of my shots:











Going along with the Hawaiian theme, there were some neat floral arrangements dedicated to the volcano goddess, Pele:





If you would like to see more of the pictures, you can go to my Flickr photo set to see the others.

I had two other gripes - first, I didn't see a single vendor selling heirloom vegetable seeds or just other interesting vegetable seeds than I would find in my local stores. Every time I have gone to the Flower Show previously I have come home with seeds for things like golden beets and black cherry tomatoes - so I was diappointed to not see a single vendor. Secondly, I know I am walking with a stroller. I, however, am walking very carefully so as to not crash or bang into other people, and have a wealth of patience for when a break opens up in the crowd so I can get through. For those twits who see an empty spot in the crowd and lunge for it, and end up tripping over Piper in her stroller, you deserve every injury you get. It happened at least 5 times. Look where the hell you are walking! One guy even accused me of following him when he tripped the second time!

Maybe next year I will take a day off work and go on the Monday or Tuesday, after the big crowds have gone through.

Birthday Swap!

I participated in a Birthday Swap in February - the owls from my last post were what I made and sent to my downstream partner. Today I received my package from my upstream partner, which had an adorable little vest for Piper:



Of course, getting her to sit/stand long enough to take a picture was pretty much nigh-impossible today, but trust me, it's a cute vest.



(We put up the gate at the top of the first set of steps this morning, and Piper is fascinated with it.)

There were some goodies for me in the package, too:



I'm intrigued by the chocolate with chili - I've never tried that before. I know the salted caramel chocolate won't last long. And Willow has already requested socks with the yarn my partner sent - my challenge now is to keep my knitting up with her rapidly growing feet! Thank you very much!