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!

Finished Object: Owlies!

These are so freakin' adorable!



I made these for a birthday swap for my February 2011 due date group, and I will be sending them off to New Zealand tomorrow - but I had to show everyone a picture of them first.

The Particulars:

Pattern: Owl Puffs (Rav link)
Yarn: Leftovers! Mostly Malabrigo, but also some soy wool I had as well as some bamboo wool.
Needles: Size 4 and 6 dpns (depending on the owl)
Would I knit this pattern again? Definitely! They take less than an hour to knit - the trickiest bit is getting the eyes sewn on and to embroider the beak. Willow and Piper have both demanded owls of their own, so I guess I need to dig through my leftover ball stash.

Um, yes, I have a large leftover ball stash.

Finished Object: Kathy's Cap

I was on a mission to get this hat finished quickly - and I loved how it turned out:



The Particulars:

Pattern: Classic Elite's Fresco Simple Slouchy Hat in size Medium
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino, 1.5 skeins
Needles: Aero size 5 - 16" circulars and DPNs
Would I knit this pattern again? This is the second time I have knit this pattern recently - the first being for Tara. It seems that I will be knitting it again soon because Andrew wants a slouchy hat like this as well. What can I say - it's cute and comfortable. And doesn't muss up your hair so much.



The Jack Daniels...? Well. My friend Kathy starts chemo on Thursday - what better way to kick cancer's ass than with a cool, sumptious hat and liquour? Good luck, Kathy! I know this isn't going to be an easy road, but we are all here for you.

There You Go, Dad!

Snotty nose and all - but Piper was loving her beets. I gave her ravioli, leftover barbeque pork, and chopped up beets and grapes - and she devoured the beets before anything else. Andrew joked that I should give her borscht next - I wish I could - I wish there was a restaurant around here that served it.

(Now Dad, I know you think you have seen enough pictures of the kids eating, but sometimes that is the only time we are in one place and still enough to take a picture.)

Catching Up

I apologize for the radio silence - we have been a plague ship around here - in very quick rotation, Piper had a stomach bug, an eye infection, and then an ear infection - and then we all caught a chest and head cold.  Lovely.  The worst part of all this is only one of me or Andrew can take cold medicine because the other one has to get up with this kids.

Anyway, this post has been sitting her unwritten for a week - I uploaded the pictures and then life got in the way.  My friend Alicia spun some more fiber for me, and I can't get over how lovely it is:



It's a little more purpley than it comes across in the photo.  It's a good thing that my Mom doesn't like to knit with wool, because if she did I think this yarn would be snatched up before I could even say, "Hey - that's mine!"

Close Up:



I envision a pair of fingerless mittens with these - I believe Alicia said there was about 270 yards of dk weight yarn.  I'm not even sure where I got the fiber for this (no comments, Terilee) - but it's so incredible how Alicia spun it up - I wouldn't have expected this to have come from the bid wad of fiber I sent her.

Thank you, Alicia!  Once again, you do lovely work!

Happy Birthday, Piper!

Piper's birthday was actually a few days ago, but didn't have her party until tonight. It will be interesting going forward - Andrew's birthday is the day before Piper's. This year I wanted Piper to have her own birthday party, but I can see us doing joing parties in the future. At least until the point where she starts having parties with friends.

My friend, Stephanie, made Piper's cupcakes and smash cake, and they were delicious!


The cupcakes for the big people


Piper's smash cake

Piper took some coaxing to get into the cake. Poor thing - she has a terrible head cold and cough right now and is utterly miserable.



She's such a funny little girl - at first she didn't want to get her hands in the cake - would only dig into it with a fork or spoon. She warmed up to it, though - and was soon using utensils and her hands:




I bet you wish you had a whole cake all to yourself!


I have icing on my face? Where?

And Willow - just for comparison :)

Friends with Talent

I am a lucky girl - and even luckier still to have friends who have talents I do not possess. A few years ago, I bought some soft, squishy, beautiful fiber and a spindle with the thought I would try my hand at handspinning. Just look at it:



I had also bought some less fancy fiber to practice with, and as it turns out, my talents do not lay with handspinning. So, this beautiful fiber languished in a ziploc bag in a Rubbermaid bin in my basement. That is, until my friend Alicia received a spinning wheel for Christmas.

Alicia is in my due date group and like me, has two beautiful girls, one of which is a few days younger than Piper. She offered to spin up any fiber we may have so she could practice using her spinning wheel - and I jumped at that opportunity! I sent her up all the fiber I had - and this was definitely this nicest fiber of the lot.

Look what she sent me:



There is about 102 yards of bulky-weight yarn, plenty for a hat for me! Here is a close up:



I can't even describe how squishy this yarn is - it is going to make a fabulous hat.

Thank you, Alicia!